Mukhavets - river in Belarus: description and geography

The Mukhavets River in Belarus is the largest tributary of the Western Bug in the country. The description of this river, as well as a list of the cities located on it, you will find in this article.

Mukhavets River in Belarus: description

The river is the right tributary of the Western Bug - the largest river system in Eastern Europe. Mukhavets is a river that is completely located within the Brest region of the Republic of Belarus. It is small, its length is only 113 kilometers. Its waters are collected by the river from an area of 6,350 square kilometers.

Where does the Mukhavets River originate in Belarus? The description of the watercourse should begin with this aspect.

The source of Mukhavets is located near the town of Pruzhany, where the Fly stream merges with the channel Vec. Mukhavets is a river that flows completely within the plain of Polissya, so the magnitude of its fall, as well as the incline, are quite small. Thus, the difference between the source point and the mouth of the Mukhavets is only 29 meters.

The largest tributaries of the Mukhavets include Zhabinka, Dakhlovka, Trostyanitsa, Osipovka, and also Rita. Mukhavets flows into the Western Bug within the famous city of Brest.

The river valley of the Mukhavets extends from 400 meters in the upper current to two kilometers in the lower one. The floodplain of the river is bogged in places, and its channel is artificially straightened and turned into a canal. In addition, through the Dnieper-Bug canal, Mukhavets has a link to the Dnipro river-Pripyat River.

The first hydrological studies of the river were conducted only in the 1920s. The maximum water level in Mukhavets is observed at the end of March, immediately after the autopsy. The river freezes, as a rule, in the first half of December.

Characteristics of the coast

Mukhavets - a river, characterized by low banks (their height does not exceed two meters), sometimes precipitous. The slopes of the river valley are flat, which contributes to their active waterlogging. The entire southern and southeastern part of the catchment area of the river is occupied by lowland swamps, although some of them have been drained today. At the same time, there are few lakes on the banks of Mukhovets (no more than 2% of the territory).

Cities and outstanding monuments on the river

There are only three cities in the Mukhavets: Kobrin, Zhabinka and Brest. And there, where the mouth of the river is located, there is an outstanding monument of history and architecture of Belarus - the Brest Fortress.

Of recreational facilities on the river are several sanatoriums and health-improving centers. In addition, the name of the river is a hockey club from the town of Pruzhany.

Brest Fortress

The fortress is located near the mouth of the Mukhavets River . Its construction began in the 30s of the XIX century and continued, in fact, until 1914. At the initial stage, construction works were supervised by military engineer Karl Opperman.

In 1921, according to the Riga peace treaty, the Brest Fortress was transferred to the Poles. And in September 1939, after the first battle for Brest, the stronghold and the city itself became part of the USSR.

But the Brest Fortress went down in history thanks to the heroic defense in June 1941. This was the first serious battle between the Hitlerites and the Red Army of the USSR. The forces were unequal: the troops of the Third Reich in this battle in quantity exceeded the Soviet almost twice. However, the fortress held defense for nine days, according to the memoirs of an Austrian soldier who took part in that battle, "it is unclear why."

In the early 70-ies in the fortress was created a magnificent memorial complex in memory of those important events.

Conclusion

Mukhavets is one of the most beautiful rivers in Polesie, the largest tributary of the Western Bug in Belarus. In its mouth is partially preserved a unique monument of the XIX century - the Brest Fortress, which took over the first blow of the Hitlerite army in 1941.