Ösling

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In the Ösling

Ösling ( Luxembourgish Éislek , German also Islek , in the southern part of East Belgium also called Eeslek ; the name is probably of Germanic origin) is the Franconian-Germanic name for the Ardennes . Nowadays, however, only the eastern part of the Ardennes is named that way. The Ösling comprises the north of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourg Ardennes, about a third of the country's area), western parts of the Eifel district Bitburg-Prüm and a small part of the Vulkaneifel district . In Luxembourg, it essentially includes the cantons of Clervaux , Diekirch , Redingen , Vianden and Wiltz . In Germany, especially places from the Arzfeld - Lützkampen area feel part of the Islek. You have joined forces with other municipalities from Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to form a European economic interest group ( Islek without borders ).

Originally, the term was still broader and today also included parts of historical Luxembourg that belonged to Belgium . Former German place names such as Fels im Ösling ( La Roche-en-Ardenne ) point to this. The Obersauer Nature Park and the Our Nature Park are in the Ösling . The South Eifel nature park also includes part of the Islek.

Geography and climate

The Ösling is on average 400 to 500 meters above sea level . The landscape is characterized by plateaus on the one hand and deeply cut river valleys with distinctive valley meanders on the other. You can take advantage of the great difference in altitude on the Our near Vianden . The largest pumped storage power plant in Europe is located there . The Kneiff in Wilwerdingen (municipality of Ulflingen ) is at 559 m the highest point in the Grand Duchy. The climate has relatively high precipitation (800 to 1000 mm per year) and low annual mean temperatures (7.5 to 8 ° C).

The most important river in the Ösling is the Sauer . The reservoir above Esch supplies a large part of Luxembourg with drinking water. There are also the Wiltz with the Klerf , its largest tributary, and the Our, which marks the border between Luxembourg and Germany here.

geology

Geologically, the region belongs to the Ardennes and thus to the Rhenish Slate Mountains . Accordingly, it is through a series variskisch trending saddles and troughs divided. Only rocks from the Lower Devonian ( Emsium and Siegenium or Pragium ) are to be found here. It is mainly slate and quartzite . To the south, along a line from Roodt (municipality of Ell ) to Roth an der Our (D, near Vianden ), the transition to the Triassic rocks marks the border between the Ösling and the Gutland . Just like the mountain folds , this border follows the variskish stroke. The Ösling continues in the German Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm , but is also counted as part of the “ Belgian Eifel ”.

Natural structure

In the handbook of the natural division of Germany , the Ösling forms the main unit 280 and belongs to the main unit group 28 West Eifel . It is further subdivided as follows:

  • 280 Islek and Ösling (designation of the sheets Cochem and Trier; manual: Islek )
    • 280.0 Eastern Islek
      • 280.00 Lascheider plateau
      • 280.01 Middle Prümtal
    • 280.1 Middle Islek
      • 280.10 Arzfeld plateau
      • 280.11 Neuerburg Enz Valley
      • 280.12 Karlshausen plateau
    • 280.2 West Islek
      • 280.20 Leidenborner plateau
      • 280.21 Winterscheider plateau
    • 280.3 Middle Ourtal
      • 280.30 Urb-Viander Ourtal (Cochem sheet; Trier sheet: Viandener Ourtal )
      • 280.31 Gentinger Ourtal
    • 280.4 Southern Schneifel foreland
    • 280.5 Islek precursor

vegetation

The Ösling is the most wooded part of Luxembourg (55% of the Luxembourg forest area). The natural forest community, the Hainsimsen-Buchenwald, only occurs on 15% of the area today. The tilled hedges , an oak peeling forest, still comprise 35% of the forest area. The deciduous forest has been largely replaced by coniferous forest (spruce and Douglas fir), especially since the Second World War, and today comprises almost 50% of the forest area. In addition, many wet meadows were reforested in coniferous forests in the narrow side valleys. On the steep and dry, south-facing slopes, there are warmth-loving oak forests, while on the north-facing slopes and in narrow stream valleys there are also forest communities with a canyon-like shape.

In the Ösling you will find a number of rare animal and plant species such as the wild cat , the hazel grouse and the black stork or wild daffodils and pasque flowers (near Lellingen ). There is a project on the Our to protect and raise freshwater pearl mussels . The beaver also seems to be slowly settling in again.

Worth seeing

In the sparsely populated Ösling there are some small historic towns such as Diekirch , Vianden , Clerf , Wiltz or Esch-Sauer .

The castles and castle ruins of the Ösling are also worth seeing, z. B. in Vianden , Burscheid , Clervaux and Brandenburg .

See also

Web links

Commons : Ösling  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. entry Eeslek , in: Abraham Jacob van der Aa: Aardrijkskundig woordenboek der Nederlanden , Volume 4, p 70th
  2. Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Volume 22, p. 325ff.
  3. Heinrich Kaspers, Comitatus Nemoris, Duren and Aachen in 1957, 89 ff.
  4. Jules Vannérus: L'ŒSLING et ses rapports avec l'Ardenne, in "Mélanges Camille de Borman: recueil de mémoires relatifs à l'Histoire, à l'Archéologie et à la Philologie, offert au Baron de Borman / et publié par ses amis et admirateurs ", Liège 1919, p. 57ff.
  5. ^ Geographical Land Survey 1: 200,000 - Natural Spatial Structure of Germany, sheet 137 Cochem
  6. Heinz Fischer, Richard Graafen: Geographical land survey: The natural space units on sheet 136/137 Cochem. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1974. →  Online map (PDF; 5.6 MB)