Konnyaya Lakhta or Kontu Lakhta — "courtyard by the bay"

Lakhtinsky Ave., 100A, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197229

The village of Konnaya Lakhta was first mentioned in the 1573 Inspection Book of the Spassko-Gorodensky Pogost under the name "Kovduya" ("Konduya") as part of the village of Lakhta. The name "Konnaya" is a distortion of the Finnish word "kontu," which means "yard" or "farmstead." Literally translated, Kontu Lakhta means "yard by the bay." The city name Kandalaksha has a similar etymology.

Petersburg: Interesting Toponyms

Konnaya Lakhta is a historic district of Saint Petersburg (Primorsky District), bordering Olgino to the north. Currently, it is part of the intracity municipal formation of Saint Petersburg, the Municipal District Lakhta-Olgino.

The village of Konnaya Lakhta was first mentioned in the 1573 Inspection Book of the Spassko-Gorodensky Pogost under the name "Kovduya" ("Konduya") as part of the village of Lakhta. The name "Konnaya" is a distortion of the Finnish word "kontu," which means "yard," "farmstead." Literally translated, Kontu Lakhta means "yard by the bay." A similar etymology is found in the name of the city Kandalaksha.

In 1617, the village became part of Sweden and was deserted for several decades. Permanent residents reappeared in Konnaya Lakhta only around 1680. It was returned to Russia during the Great Northern War in 1703. Initially, the village was owned by the treasury; in 1724 it was attached to the Dubkovsky Palace and the Sestroretsk Armory. Since 1766, it was part of the Lakhta private estate. Among its owners were Counts Grigory Orlov, Yakov Bruce, and from 1845, the Counts Stenbock-Fermor.

In 1768, the Thunder Stone was discovered in the vicinity of Konnaya Lakhta. During the winter months of 1769-1770, a grand operation was carried out to transport it using a special "ball machine" to the coast of the Gulf of Finland, from where on September 23, 1770, it was delivered by water to Saint Petersburg, to Senate Square, where the stone formed the base of the monument to Peter I by Falconet, the Bronze Horseman. The approximately 8-kilometer journey from the forest tract to the pier was completed in less than five months by the stone weighing about 1800 tons. On January 20, 1770, Catherine II visited Konnaya Lakhta and personally observed the movement of the Thunder Stone. In honor of the successful completion of the operation, a medal was struck with the inscription "Daring is like." At the place where the Thunder Stone was extracted from the ground, a pond called Petrovsky was formed. The water-filled ramp used to lift the stone from the pit turned into a canal indicating the direction of its movement. The pond is surrounded by a high embankment of earth removed from the pit. The transportation of the stone was carried out along the route of Konno-Lakhtinsky Prospect.

Source:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Конная_Лахта

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