Vytegra

Vytegra stands on the river of the same name, south of Lake Onega, on an old water and portage route between the northern lakes and the Volga basin. A trading and craft settlement known as Vyanginskaya Pristan grew here at the mouth of the Vyang stream. Catherine II made it the town of Vytegra in 1773. The opening of the Mariinsky waterway in the early nineteenth century brought new traffic through the town, linking the Volga with Lake Onega and the Baltic approaches.