The Nyamiha (, ; , Nemiga, ) is a river in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. Today it is contained within a fabricated

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

. It discharges into the

Svislach Svislach or Śvislač ( be, Свiслач, ; russian: Сви́слочь, Svisloch; pl, Świsłocz; yi, סיסלעוויטש or ''Sislevitch''; lt, Svisločius) is a town in the South-West of Grodno Region, Belarus, an administrative center of ...

. The first mention of the river in historical chronicles is connected with the disastrous

Battle on the Nemiga River The Battle on the Nemiga River ( be, Бітва на Нямізе, russian: Сраже́ние на Неми́ге) was a battle of the Kievan Rus' feudal period that occurred on March 3, 1067 on the Niamiha River. The description of the battle is ...

, which took place on the riverbank in 1067, when the forces of the prince of

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

defeated the forces of

Polatsk Polotsk (russian: По́лоцк; be, По́лацк, translit=Polatsk (BGN/PCGN), Polack (official transliteration); lt, Polockas; pl, Połock) is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina River. It is the center of the Polotsk Dist ...

princedom. The medieval epic

The Tale of Igor's Campaign ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' ( orv, Слово о пълкѹ Игоревѣ, translit=Slovo o pŭlku Igorevě) is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campai ...

refers to the "bloody river banks of Nyamiha." Lines from the famous epic detail the battle: ''On the Nemiga the spread sheaves are heads,'' ''the flails that threshare of steel,'' ''lives are laid out on the threshing floor,'' ''souls are winnowed from bodies.'' ''Nemiga’s gory banks are not sowed'' ''goodly-sown with the bones of Russia’s sons.'' For a long time it was the second largest river flowing through Minsk, until it was adapted for its urban location by containment within a network of pipes. One part of the river was put into a pipe in 1926, and the rest in 1955. Today the river is a minor feature of the city environment, and the name Nyamiha more commonly refers to the street above.

Niamiha Street Niamiha Street (also Nyamiha, Nemiga; be, Вуліца Няміга; russian: Улица Немига) is a street named after the river of the same name in central Minsk, Belarus. From the 1960s to the 2010s, the street was completely reconstruc ...

is part of a shopping district famous for its

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

craftwork. The Nyamiha metro station on the street was the site of a human stampede on May 30, 1999. Another incident on Nyamiha Street occurred on July 25, 2004, when a two-hour downpour in Minsk caused the storm sewers to overflow. Nyamiha Street and its environs were flooded.

Trivia

In Lithuanian ''nemiga'' means insomnia.

References

{{coord, 53, 54, 24, N, 27, 33, 17, E, type:river_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title Rivers of Minsk Rivers of Minsk Region Rivers of Belarus Tributaries of the Berezina