Ceylon (Rhine Island)

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Plan for the elimination of the Rhine island Ceylon as part of the agreement between the Hochstift Speyer and the Electoral Palatinate from 1787. Oriented to the south, signature of Traitteur for the Electoral Palatinate.

The island of Ceylon was created in the 1760s in the Rhine above the city of Germersheim . From 1787 the Electoral Palatinate tried to eliminate the island, which was seen as a threat to the city, by building dams and creating an average . Today's border between Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg runs on the historic Rhine island .

history

In the area of ​​the newly created island, the Rhine ran in a loop of the river that stretched to the east at the latest at the end of the 14th century and flowed through the area now known as Elisabethenwörth . As a result of side erosion on the bend of the river loop, the course of the Rhine shifted further and further outwards and in the early 18th century reached the village of Knaudenheim , which belonged to the Speyer monastery . Knaudenheim was abandoned in 1758 after multiple floods ; the residents were relocated to the newly founded Huttenheim .

The island of Ceylon was formed in the 1760s a good kilometer downstream from Knaudenheim. In 1778, the island, which was constantly expanding, was only visible at low tide . At times the island was also referred to as Carl-Reibelts-Werth (after an electoral Palatinate chief magistrate in Germersheim) and Volckmanns before the name Ceylon caught on. In January 1774, the catch of wild ducks on the island was leased to a customs officer from the Electoral Palatinate, who was doing his job on the Rheinschanze opposite the city of Philippsburg . In March 1778 there was a transportable hut on Ceylon that was used to catch ducks.

In February 1774 a report by the Electorate of the Palatinate in Germersheim pleaded for the elimination of Ceylon: The island steers the Rhine to the left bank of the Electorate of Palatinate, which has already caused "irreplaceable damage". The report suggested setting up gold diggers on the island to clear the island through their digs. The island was also held responsible for damage on the right bank of the Rhine, which belongs to Speyer, for example in the summer of 1777 for the washing away of land and parts of the approach to the Germersheim ferry . Since 1775 Speyer had repeatedly considered claiming the island for itself and moving the ferry landing site there.

Work to remove the island of Ceylon. As of January 1788.

Beginning of 1787 was the Palatinate by the Heidelberg University Professor Johann Andreas von Traitteur two lines of a planned average by Ceylon stake . In May 1787, Speyer and the Electoral Palatinate agreed that both arms of the Rhine should be dammed. In this case, a gap 15 should be in the middle of the dams rods for the Rhine remain, be made to the average. In the summer of 1787, construction work on the Electoral Palatinate side was in progress; Traitteur assured that he did not want to damage the Speyr side and explained the start of construction work with the fact that the left arm of the Rhine was much wider than the right. According to a plan from January 1788, the dam on the Electoral Palatinate side was completed except for a small gap. Two dams with 240 and 144 shoe length, 160 shoe width and 42 shoe height were built. Almost half of the dam was built on the banks of the Speyer. More dams had been built along the planned intersection; the average had not yet fully reached the depth required for shipping. Extensive landings had arisen on the Electoral Palatinate side .

On July 12, 1788, Elector Karl Theodor inspected the building work. At the same time, Traitteur presented the elector with further plans to straighten the Rhine in the area of ​​Germersheim. According to contemporary reports, Karl Theodor took part in the production of a lowering machine called "sausage" :

"Your Churf. Dl. Put pebbles into the sausage with their own hands with a silver shovel, […] then put the ribbon around it, on which the motto was to be read in golden letters: To protect my city, Germersheim Carl Theodor, July 12, 1788 "

A complete elimination of the island of Ceylon did not succeed. When the Kurpfälzer Damm was closed, a bottleneck arose in the course of the Rhine, which dammed up high water and ice and led to flooding in the upstream districts of Rußheim and Liedolsheim . The current line shifted to the dam closure to the Speyer side so that work on the dam there only slowly came. In addition, problems arose from the French occupation of the left bank of the Rhine in the 1790s: in 1794 no dam repairs were possible on the right bank of the Rhine; Instead, emergency dams were built inland, which could not be seen from the other side of the Rhine. In 1816 dams had to be relocated again on the right bank of the Rhine. In the course of the straightening of the Rhine under Johann Gottfried Tulla , the Germersheimer average was created between 1825 and 1833. Since then, the course of the Rhine near Ceylon has been part of the Rußheimer Altrhein .

present

The dam, which was built under Traitteur in 2019. In the center of the picture, the memorial commemorating the visit of the Elector.

In the north-west of Elisabethenwörth Island , traces of the construction work to remove the island of Ceylon have been preserved. The dam, built under Traitteur, stands out as a clear elevation in the largely flat terrain. West of the dam is the up to two meter deep oxbow water from the barrier water ; it is the former left arm of the Rhine in the area of ​​Ceylon. North of the barrier water is a well incurred during dam construction Kolk ; With a depth of over ten meters, it is one of the deepest natural waters on the Upper Rhine.

Most of the areas north of the dam were created when the Rußheim Old Rhine was silted up. At the northern end of the dam are the remains of the Germersheim Fortress laundry ; the building, which was still intact in 1930, was in ruins by the 1970s. There is a memorial on the embankment that, like the field name Kurfürstenbau, commemorates Karl Theodor's visit in 1788.

literature

  • Heinz Musall: On the historical-geographical development of the Rhine lowlands near Russheim. In: State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg , Institute for Ecology and Nature Conservation Karlsruhe (Hrsg.): Der Rußheimer Altrhein. A north Baden meadow landscape. (= The nature and landscape protection areas of Baden-Württemberg , Volume 10) State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1978, ISBN 3-88251-028-5 , pp. 15–47.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Musall, Entwicklung , pp. 33, 36.
  2. ↑ Musall, Development , p. 36.
  3. ↑ Musall, Development , p. 33.
  4. ↑ a b Musall, Entwicklung , p. 37.
  5. ↑ Plan of damming the Rhine and creating an average through the island of Ceylon at Germersheim, from which it can be seen what was done from July 25, 1787 to January 24, 1788. See Musall, Evolution , p. 38.
  6. ↑ Quoted in Musall, Entwicklung , p. 39.
  7. ↑ Heinz Musall: The development of the cultural landscape of the Rhine valley between Karlsruhe and Speyer from the late 16th to the late 19th century. (= Heidelberg geographical works , booklet 22) Geographical Institute of the University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg 1969, p. 154.
  8. ↑ Musall, Entwicklung , pp. 39, 41.
  9. ^ Günther Müller, Georg Philippi: Problems and objectives of nature conservation in the area of ​​the Rußheimer Altrhein. In: State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg, Rußheimer Altrhein , pp. 599–612, here p. 603.
  10. ↑ Günther Müller, Georg Philippi: How do I get to know the nature reserve Rußheimer Altrhein and Elisabethenwört? Excursion suggestions. In: State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg, Rußheimer Altrhein , pp. 615–622, here p. 619.
  11. ↑ Musall, Development , p. 39.

Coordinates: 49 ° 12 ′ 41 ″  N , 8 ° 24 ′ 6 ″  E