The creator of the Slepianka Water System has died. It seems the unique canal may also soon die

Barys Yurtsin and the main work of his life — the Slepianka Water System

Barys Yurtsin was born in 1932 in distant Chita. After graduating from Lviv Polytechnic Institute in 1958, he worked on development projects in Novokuznetsk and Almaty, before receiving a fateful invitation to Minsk in the early 1970s.

Павялічыць

Barys Yurtsin talks about the Slepianka Water System. Photo from social media

The Belarusian capital became his main canvas. For more than thirty years, from 1973 to 2005, Barys Yurtsin was the permanent head of the landscape architecture workshop at the "Minskproekt" institute, created precisely on his initiative. All significant green and water objects of the city from that period — from the improvement of the Svislach embankment to the reconstruction of Chelyuskintsev Park and the creation of Mikhailovsky Square with its famous city sculptures — are the work of his team.

The Green Belt of Minsk

Barys Yurtsin's main triumph was the Slepianka Water System. This grand project was created in the 1980s. Initially, engineers faced an exclusively technical task: to provide water from the Vileika-Minsk water system to industrial enterprises in the eastern part of the city. Usually, for such purposes, ordinary underground pipes were laid, and the initial plans were exactly that.

Павялічыць

A cascade of the Slepianka Water System in Zialiony Luh. Photo: Yandex Maps

However, a team of architects led by the project creators, including Barys Yurtsin and Mikalai Zhloba, proposed a completely different, revolutionary approach. They decided to let the water flow openly, transforming the technical canal into a full-fledged recreational zone more than 22 kilometers long.

Павялічыць

Slepianka Water System in Zialiony Luh. Photo: Onliner

In place of former landfills, swamps, and wasteland, a man-made river appeared with 14 reservoirs and 13 unique cascades, each with its own distinctive design. The elevation difference throughout the entire system was more than 30 meters, allowing for spectacular waterfalls. Hundreds of thousands of Minsk residents gained the opportunity to relax by the water literally a step away from home.

Павялічыць

A cascade of the Slepianka Water System in the area of Uralskaya Street. Photo: Yandex Maps

No city in the Soviet Union had seen landscape works of such a scale. In 1989, the author's team was awarded the highest award of the country — the USSR State Prize — for the creation of this architectural and landscape complex. This is the only Minsk object that received such recognition.

Heritage Under Threat

Unfortunately, the last years of the master's life were overshadowed by the condition of his main work. The Slepianka Water System, created with such enthusiasm and designed for constant care, is now gradually degrading.

Concrete cascades are crumbling, canals are overgrown with algae, and unique green and air corridors are ruthlessly blocked by elite cottage developments and commercial business centers. The lack of a single owner for the object and piecemeal development are destroying the continuity and harmony that the architects initially laid into the project.

Павялічыць

Man-made concrete rocks of the Slepianka Water System in Zialiony Luh. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Barys Yurtsin himself observed this process with bitterness. In his interviews, he repeatedly expressed indignation at how "everyone's land went to the chosen few" and how an outstanding landscape idea was sacrificed to localized commercial interests.

"This is an urban planning crime," he characterized the appearance of elite residential complexes that literally cut off part of the Slepianka system from the city.

Barys Yurtsin has passed away, but the Slepianka system, even in its current, not-best state, remains a living monument to a man who believed that a city should be not just functional, but also beautiful, and that architecture must serve people.

• 7
• 1
• 0
• 0
• 1
• 35
• 0
• 2