Onega Canal Onega Canal The Onega Canal () is a canal that runs along the southern banks of Lake Onega in Vytegorsky District of Vologda Oblast and Podporozhsky District of Leningrad Oblasts in Russia. It was built 1818 - 1820 and 1845 - 1852 as a part of Mariinsk Canal System, to allow small riverboats to avoid Lake Onega, where storms are frequent and where many boats had perished through the centuries. The canal is long and runs between the Vytegra River in the east and Svir River in the west. It is around wide, and lies between and from the shores
Lake Onega Lake Onega has a surface area of without islands and a volume of ; its length is about and width about . It is the second largest lake in Europe, and the 18th largest lake by area in the world. Its southern banks are mostly low and continuous, whereas northern banks are rocky and rugged. They contain numerous elongated bays shaping the lake into a giant crayfish. In the northern part lies a large Zaonezhye Peninsula (); south of it, is the Big Klimenetsky () island. To the west of them lies the deep (deeper than ) Greater Onega ()