Old Rhine (Fußacher piercing)

Appendix A to Article 3 of the State Treaty of September 30, 1892 between Austria-Hungary and Switzerland on the regulation of the Rhine

Map of the Rhine valley and the Rhine before the breakthrough. Detail from Carl Ferdinand Weiland , (1782–1847) map of Switzerland 1817.

The Old Rhine at Fußacher Durchstich is part of the old river bed of the Rhine in the St. Gallen and Vorarlberg Rhine Valley , which was cut off when the river was straightened as part of the Rhine regulation .

history

The Alpine Rhine has been dammed and straightened by the International Rhine Regulation (IRR). The once wild river has been tamed and the danger of recurring floods has largely been averted.

In 1900 the Fußacher piercing was completed after five years of construction. The Rhine Valley inland canal , which was newly constructed between 1896 and 1906, was directed into the old arm of the river near Höchst (Vorarlberg) / St. Margrethen . The result is the Old Rhine , which carries the meteor waters of the St. Gallen Rhine Valley and parts of the Appenzellerland into Lake Constance . It flows into Lake Constance near Altenrhein .

In 1923 the course of the Rhine was shortened again with the Diepoldsauer cut; the old Rhine was created near Diepoldsau .

Both bodies of water have developed into a valuable local recreation and nature reserve. The Rhine Delta nature reserve extends between the mouths of the Old and New Rhine in Lake Constance . Another nature reserve is located at Eselschwanz near Ruderbach, a district of St. Margrethen.

Painting by Max Bach (1841–1914): View of the Rheineck and the then confluence of the Rhine with Lake Constance
The old Rhine at Höchst
No mushroom picking sign in the Eselschwanz nature reserve

State border

The border between Austria and Switzerland was left in both sections along the course of the river of the Old Rhine. Thus there are municipalities in the federal state of Vorarlberg that are located on the left bank of the Rhine. The St. Gallen community of Diepoldsau is located to the right of the Rhine on a "Rhine island".

The following border crossings lead across the Old Rhine in the area of the Fußacher piercing:

St. Margrethen-Höchst
Rheineck - Gaissau

geography

Old Rhine at the Fußacher breakthrough

The Old Rhine at the Fußacher piercing is divided into three sections: Donkey's tail, the Rheineck-Gaißau section and the estuary. At the Bruggerhorn it is supplied with fresh water from the Rheintaler inland canal. In the donkey tail, it becomes wider and its flow rate decreases sharply. It is navigable in the Rheineck-Gaissau area to the mouth of Lake Constance. From Rheineck there is a connection to Rorschach operated by the "Schweizerische Bodensee Schifffahrt". This connection is part of the Rorschach – Heiden - Walzenhausen –Rheineck – Rorschach tour . In the estuary near Altenrhein there is a port on the Swiss side with space for 300 boats and a campsite . On the Austrian side, the largest nature reserve on Lake Constance extends along the lakeshore between the mouth of the Old Rhine and the Dornbirner Ach bei Hard . Almost its entire length of the Austrian bank has been renatured. There are many alluvial zones that prevent a rapid rise in the water level.

Old Rhine at the Bruggerhorn

The Bruggerloch with the Bruggerhorn restaurant

The Grenzweiher are a small, independent section of the Old Rhine, between the New Rhine at the Fußacher Durchstich and the Rheintaler inland canal. They emerged as standing water because the actual Old Rhine was connected to the Rheintaler inland canal. It is simply called Bruggerhorn on the Swiss side and Bruggerloch on the Austrian side . Both bodies of water are today, independently of one another, bathing lakes.

length

The length of the Old Rhine from the Bruggerhorn to the mouth of the lake at Altenrhein is approx. 11.6 km. The Swiss Federal Office for the Environment regards the Rheintaler inland canal as the upper reaches of the Old Rhine and thus has a total length of over 30 km.

Movie

Limitless river freedom - draft on the Old Rhine. Documentary, Austria, 2012, 22:40 min., Book and design: Ingrid Bertel, camera: Alexander Roschanek, production: ORF , series: Erlebnis Österreich , first broadcast: September 2, 2012 on ORF III , summary by ORF, ( Memento vom September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), u. a. with Alexandra Maria Nutz as Undine - reciter .

Web links

Commons : Alter Rhein - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Portrait of the community of Diepoldsau. Retrieved July 21, 2020 .
↑ Geoserver of the Swiss Federal Administration ( information )
↑ Switzerland's water network. In: Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), topic water.

47.469646 9.609947Coordinates: 47 ° 28 ′ 11 " N , 9 ° 36 ′ 36" E ; CH1903: seven hundred and sixty-three thousand six hundred seventy-seven / two hundred and fifty-nine thousand nine hundred seventeen

[1] Portrait of the community of Diepoldsau. Retrieved July 21, 2020 .

[CH_GS-2] Geoserver of the Swiss Federal Administration ( information )

[3] Switzerland's water network. In: Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), topic water.