The Grandeur of the Old Rhine and Rheineck
7 November 2023
The creation of the Old Rhine (der Alte Rhein) was the result of the International Rhine Regulation (Internationale Rheinregulierung or IRR) between Switzerland and the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1892.
The Old Rhine near Rheineck
This treaty remains in force and aims to prevent floods in the Rhine area, specifically in St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Vorarlberg (Austria). The office of the IRR is located in St. Margrethen (Canton of St. Gallen).
Floods occurred regularly, and the construction of dams on both sides of the Rhine, i.e. on the Austrian, Liechtenstein and Swiss borders, was not an adequate solution. The construction of two side canals, the Werdenberger Canal (Werdenbergerkanal) and the Rheintal Binnen Canal (Rheintaler Binnenkanal), needed to be improved to prevent floods.
Although these canals captured water from dozens of streams, the Rhine basin was partially flooded in large parts every three years, from Sargans to Lake Constance.
Picture: Tschubby/Wikipedia
By 1906, the first canalisation of the Rhine was complete. Near St Margrethen (canton of St Gallen), the Rhine was deflected about 8 kilometres to the right. As a result, the town of Höchst (Vorarlberg) was left on the Rhine bank.
The opposite situation occurs at Diepoldsau (canton of St Gallen), which is on the right bank of the Rhine due to a later canalisation. With most of canton Schaffhausen and the municipalities of Riehen, Bettingen and Kleinbasel in the city of Basel, it is the only Swiss area on the right Rhine bank.
The Alte Rhein owes its existence to this intervention, and it has remained the border between Austria and Switzerland. The Alte Rhein still flows into Lake Constance, although it has lost much of its grandeur.
Gaissau (Vorarlberg) seen from Rheineck, transport upstream by horses. Picture: unknown artist and undated. Picture: Gemeinde Rheineck
Rheineck, transport downstream, on the left timber rafts, on the right a sailing ship from Lake Constance. Picture: unknown artist and undated. Picture: Gemeinde Rheineck
Yet the shore still offers the appearance of a Golden Age. Rheineck was the city where goods were stored and transported downstream from Chur via Lake Constance to Schaffhausen for centuries. Upstream, it went from Rheineck to Feldkirch and Hohenems, primarily transporting corn from southern Germany.
From 1291, the Rhine was a so-called Freie Reichsstrasse, meaning it was freely accessible for shipping (apart from tolls). From Chur, 400 to sometimes 1,200 wooden rafts sailed annually to Rheineck, carrying, among other things, skins, wine, textiles and rice. The wood was subsequently sold in Rheineck, with around 20,000 trees annually!
The town had city rights since 1276 and, until the Rhine was canalised, was even the highest Rhine port with a Schifflände.
The castle ruins, the church, and several monumental merchant houses, along with paintings, depict this prosperity. Salt from Salzburg and the north-south route were the basis of trade and prosperity.
Canonballs in the walls of the castle ruins.
If climatologists’ forecasts are correct, in about 100 years, the Rhine will have approximately the same water volume as today’s Alte Rhein. It is a small comfort for this once-mighty tributary of today’s Rhine, which has flowed into Lake Constance in Austria since 1906 and is no longer a border river from St Margrethen onwards.
Rheineck, The Löwenhof (1746), the largest mansion in the canton of St. Gall
(Source: Office of Internationale Rheinregulierung and the town of Rheineck).
