Level House (Koblenz)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The water level house with a glass roof in the Rhine systems of Koblenz

The gauge house is a former Rhine crane in the Rhine facilities of Koblenz , which is now used as a Rhine gauge and restaurant.

history

Old Rhine crane, view of Koblenz before 1801, painting by Conrad Zick (1816), exhibited in the Middle Rhine Museum
The Rhine gauge Koblenz at the gauge house
Portal with the high water marks

Today's level house was originally built as a crane on the Rhine between 1609 and 1611 on the initiative of Elector Lothar von Metternich according to plans by Koblenz's master craftsman Peter Werner and Jülich architect Johann von Pasqualini . The expansion coincides with the general expansion of the city's fortifications. The urgently needed new Rhine crane also served as a bastion . The building had a crane, an icebreaker and a rotating roof.

The building served as a gauge house from 1839 after an iron gauge had been installed there in 1819. In addition to the entrance to today's restaurant, high water marks mark the high water levels in the Rhine . Next to it is a blue level clock that was installed in 1887 and uses a float to indicate the water level in the Rhine. On the banks of the Mosel end was the 19th century a Mosel shipyard . Around 1900 the crane on the roof of the water level house was removed. For the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show , the level house was extended by one floor, equipped with a glass roof and is now a panorama restaurant.

Koblenz gauge

The Koblenz gauge at Rhine kilometer 591.49 is one of 22 gauges relevant for Rhine navigation that measure the water level along the Rhine. The measured values ​​are transmitted to the Bingen Waterways and Shipping Office , the branch office of the General Direction for Waterways and Shipping in Mainz and the Federal Institute for Hydrology in Koblenz.

The level zero point is 57.667 m above sea ​​level . The high water mark I is reached at a level of 4.70 m. A speed limit of 20 km / h then applies for shipping and ships are only allowed to sail in the middle third of the fairway . At 6.50 m, when the high water mark II is reached, shipping is stopped. In the period from 1998 to 2017, a mean low water level (MNW) of 0.83 m, mean water level (MW) of 2.32 m and a mean maximum water level (MHW) of 6.18 m were measured.

The following table lists the ten highest water levels in the Rhine in Koblenz since 1882:

space date Highest level [cm]
1. December 23, 1993 949
2. January 1, 1926 930
3. January 16, 1920 923
4th January 30, 1995 922
5. November 28, 1882 920
6th May 29, 1983 877
7th April 13, 1983 868
8th. January 19, 1955 863
9. March 28, 1988 861
10. February 24, 1970 861

The city of Koblenz lies on the rivers Rhine and Moselle. Because of this location, it is particularly often and severely affected by floods . The Koblenz flood protection system is intended to protect the districts affected by flooding.

On October 22, 2018, a low water level of 0.17 m was measured.

construction

The level house is a simple, brightly plastered building with an octagonal floor plan. Like the neighboring Rheinkavalier , it stands on a hump-squared substructure, above it a high plinth with squared corners. To the right and left of the portal are pilasters (columns protruding from the masonry) with plant ornamentation and Ionic capitals . The year 1611 is on the architrave above. The Rhine side has a balcony that rests on a basalt console. On the land side there is an iron gauge from 1819 and a gauge from 1887 with a case by C. B. Kappert from Bremen . This level clock works on the principle of communicating tubes . One tube is connected to the Rhine water, the other moves the pointer on the level clock by means of a float.

Monument protection

The level house is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located in the old town of Koblenz on Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer .

The level house has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 .

literature

  • Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz . Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt
    • Vol. 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era . Theiss, Stuttgart 1992. ISBN 3-8062-0876-X
    • Vol. 2: From the French city to the present . Theiss, Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8062-1036-5
  • Fritz Michel : The art monuments of the city of Koblenz. The profane monuments and the suburbs , Munich Berlin 1954, pp. 176–180 (The art monuments of Rhineland-Palatinate first volume).
  • Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate Volume 3.2. City of Koblenz. City center , edited by Herbert Dellwing and Reinhard Kallenbach , Speyer 2004, p. 158, ISBN 3-88462-198-X
  • Press and Tourism Office of the City of Koblenz: The Rheinanlagen Koblenz. From the beginnings till now. with contributions by Willi Hört, Franz-Josef Heyen, Katharina Richter, Detlef Wahl u. a., Koblenz, 1992, brochure

Web links

Commons : level house in Koblenz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Level house. koblenz-touristik.de, accessed on April 6, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Overview of the Koblenz level in: hochwasser-rlp.de
  3. ↑ [1] Low water level
  4. ↑ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz (PDF; 1.5 MB), Koblenz 2013

Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 30.8 ″  N , 7 ° 36 ′ 17 ″  E