56 Fun Facts About Rhine

The Rhine empties into which sea?

The Rhine empties into the North Sea: after running north through Germany it swings west across the Netherlands and reaches the sea through the distributaries around Rotterdam.

The Rhine begins in which Swiss canton?

The Rhine rises in Graubünden, Switzerland's largest canton, where both of its headstreams, the Anterior and Posterior Rhine, begin high in the Alps.

Roughly how long is the Rhine?

At about 1,230 km the Rhine is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe after the Danube, draining a basin of roughly 185,000 square kilometres.

The Rhine's name derives from Rēnos, a word from which ancient language?

Rēnos is Gaulish, the Celtic language of ancient Gaul; it comes from a root meaning 'to flow', shared with Italy's river Reno, and the 'Rh' spelling reflects the Greek form Rhēnos.

Where do the Anterior and Posterior Rhine join to form the Alpine Rhine?

The Anterior and Posterior Rhine meet at Reichenau in Tamins, just west of Chur; the Anterior Rhine arrives there through the Ruinaulta gorge cut into the Flims rockslide debris.

Which tiny country's border with Switzerland is formed by the Alpine Rhine?

The Alpine Rhine forms the whole 41 km Liechtenstein–Switzerland border; downstream it also separates Switzerland from Austria before reaching the big lake.

The Rhine flows through which large body of water shared by Germany, Switzerland and Austria?

Lake Constance, the Bodensee, is Central Europe's third-largest lake; the Rhine enters its Obersee near Bregenz, crosses the 4 km Seerhein and leaves the Untersee at Stein am Rhein.

What are the dimensions of the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen?

The Rhine Falls are 150 m wide and 23 m high, carrying an average of about 370 cubic metres per second, one of the largest flows of any plain waterfall in Europe; they formed 14,000 to 17,000 years ago.

Which tributary, joining near Koblenz in the canton of Aargau, more than doubles the Rhine's flow?

The Aare, Switzerland's longest wholly domestic river, enters the Rhine near Koblenz in Aargau carrying more water than the Rhine itself; its basin holds the Finsteraarhorn, 4,274 metres, the highest point in the Rhine system.

At which city does the 'Rhine knee' turn the river from flowing west to flowing north?

At Basel the 'Rhine knee' turns the river from its westward course north into the Upper Rhine Plain; the bend lies in Swiss territory and marks the end of the High Rhine.

Which engineer is credited with 'domesticating' the Upper Rhine by straightening it in the 19th century?

Johann Gottfried Tulla, a Baden engineer, began straightening the Upper Rhine in 1817, shortening it by dozens of kilometres and draining malarial marshes; near Istein the deepened river cut down to bare rock and formed rapids.

Which French city on the Upper Rhine is the seat of the European Parliament?

Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament, fixed by the EU treaties; it also hosts the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, and the Ill flows through it into the Rhine.

Which two French departments in Alsace are named after the Rhine?

Bas-Rhin (Lower Rhine) in the north and Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) in the south, with its prefecture at Colmar, were created in 1790 when revolutionary France divided Alsace into departments.

Which river joins the Rhine opposite Mainz?

The Main flows in from the east opposite Mainz, at the Mainspitze by Mainz-Kostheim; among the other big tributaries, the Neckar joins upstream at Mannheim.

The Rhine Gorge between Rüdesheim and Koblenz was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in which year?

UNESCO listed the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, the 65 km gorge from Bingen and Rüdesheim to Koblenz, as a World Heritage Site in 2002 for its castles, vineyards and historic towns.

How tall is the Lorelei, the slate rock at Sankt Goarshausen famed for its siren legend?

The Lorelei rises 132 metres above the river at a narrow, fast bend of the gorge; the name likely means 'murmuring rock', from the echo of the rapids off the slate.

Which of the 40 hill castles between Bingen and Koblenz was never destroyed or left to decay?

Marksburg, above Braubach and first mentioned in 1231, is the only hill castle on the Middle Rhine never destroyed nor allowed to decay; the German Castles Association bought it in 1900 and is headquartered there.

The Deutsches Eck in Koblenz is the promontory where which river joins the Rhine?

The Moselle meets the Rhine at the Deutsches Eck, named after a Teutonic Order commandry founded there in 1216; the headland carries a huge equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I, rebuilt in 1993.

Koblenz began as a Roman military post founded around 8 BC by whom?

Drusus, Augustus's stepson and commander on the Rhine, set up the post around 8 BC; the name comes from Latin Confluentes, 'the merging rivers', for the meeting of two rivers there.

At which city, where the Sieg flows in, does the Rhine leave the gorge and become the Lower Rhine?

From here it drops from 50 to 12 metres above sea level across the North German Plain.

Cologne Cathedral, on the Rhine, was begun in 1248 and finished to its medieval plan in which year?

Cologne Cathedral was completed in 1880, 632 years after work began; at 157 metres its twin spires made it briefly the tallest building in the world, until the Washington Monument in 1884.

Which Rhine city hosts Europe's largest inland port?

Duisburg's port, Duisport, at the mouth of the Ruhr, is Europe's largest inland port by cargo handled, feeding the sea ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Amsterdam.

The Rhine-Ruhr region, which the Lower Rhine flows through, is what?

The Rhine-Ruhr region is Germany's largest conurbation, with around ten million people in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Essen, Dortmund and the other Ruhr cities, and much of the river's industry.

Which Dutch distributary carries about 65 percent of the Rhine's water?

The Waal, the Rhine's main Dutch branch, takes roughly two-thirds of the flow, running about 80 km west past Nijmegen towards Rotterdam; the remaining third goes down the Pannerdens Kanaal.

The IJssel branch of the Rhine flows north into which body of water?

The IJssel runs north past Deventer, Zwolle and Kampen into the IJsselmeer, the freshwater lake that replaced the tidal Zuiderzee after the Afsluitdijk dam closed it off.

The Old Rhine (Oude Rijn) reaches the sea through a sluice at which Dutch town?

The Oude Rijn passes Leiden and meets the sea at Katwijk through sluice gates, its natural mouth having silted up in the Middle Ages; the branch once marked the Roman frontier line.

About 11,000 years ago, where was the Rhine's estuary?

Sea level was then far lower, so the Rhine ran south-west across dry Doggerland and had its estuary in the Strait of Dover; the sea flooded the southern basin over the following few thousand years.

Together with the Danube, the Rhine formed much of the northern inland frontier of which ancient power?

The Roman Empire used the Rhine and Danube as its northern inland frontier for centuries; where the rivers fell short, the Limes Germanicus plugged the gap with palisades, watchtowers and forts.

The Limes Germanicus stretched from the Rhine's mouth to which town on the Danube?

The Limes Germanicus ended near Regensburg, the Roman Castra Regina; its land section left the Rhine at Rheinbrohl, north of Koblenz, and ran about 550 km to the Danube.

Whose Symphony No. 3, the 'Rhenish', was inspired by the Rhineland?

Robert Schumann wrote his Symphony No. 3 in E-flat, the 'Rhenish', in 1850 soon after moving to Düsseldorf; its solemn fourth movement was prompted by a ceremony at Cologne Cathedral.

The Nibelungenlied, written around 1200, is set largely at the Burgundian court in which Rhine city?

The Burgundian court of the Nibelungenlied sits at Worms, where Siegfried comes to win Kriemhild, sister of King Gunther; Hagen later sinks the Nibelung hoard in the Rhine nearby.

In Wagner's Ring cycle, the dwarf Alberich forges his ring from what?

Alberich forges the ring from gold stolen from the Rhine, snatched from the three Rhinemaidens after he renounces love; Das Rheingold opened the first full cycle at Bayreuth on 13 August 1876.

Which white grape, Germany's most planted, is believed to have originated in the Rhine Valley?

Riesling, first documented in 1435 at Rüsselsheim near the Rhine, is Germany's most planted grape, covering about 23 percent of the country's vineyards; the Rheingau is the most Riesling-dominated region.

Legend says which emperor had the first Rheingau vineyards planted near today's Schloss Johannisberg?

Better documented is the role of Eberbach Abbey, which controlled Rheingau winemaking for centuries.

The patriotic song 'Die Wacht am Rhein' was written by Max Schneckenburger in response to what?

Schneckenburger wrote the poem in 1840 during the Rhine crisis, when French premier Adolphe Thiers pressed the Rhine as France's 'natural' eastern border; Karl Wilhelm's 1854 melody made it a national song.

Prussia reorganised the Rhineland as what in 1822?

The Rhine Province (Rheinprovinz) was formed in 1822 by merging Prussia's provinces of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg, with its capital at Koblenz; it lasted until 1946.

US troops captured the Ludendorff Bridge across the Rhine on 7 March 1945 at which town?

It was one of the few Rhine bridges still standing; the 1969 film The Bridge at Remagen dramatised the fight.

What happened to the Ludendorff Bridge ten days after its capture?

Weakened by the German demolition attempt, shelling and ten days of heavy traffic, the bridge collapsed on 17 March 1945, killing 28 US Army engineers working on it and injuring 93.

Which field marshal commanded Operation Plunder, the Allied Rhine crossing of 23 March 1945?

Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group mounted Operation Plunder, crossing at Rees and Wesel on the night of 23 March 1945, with the Operation Varsity airborne landings following the next morning.

The 1986 Sandoz chemical fire at Schweizerhalle killed much of the Rhine's population of which animal?

Firefighting water washed pesticides and mercury compounds into the Rhine, turning it red and wiping out eels for hundreds of kilometres downstream; the fish kill prompted the 1987 Rhine Action Programme.

The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, completed in 1992, runs from Bamberg to which town on the Danube?

The 171 km canal joins the Danube at Kelheim, at the mouth of the Altmühl, whose valley it follows; opened in 1992, it lets ships travel from Rotterdam to the Black Sea.

Which Dutch programme, begun after the 1953 flood, dammed most of the Rhine and Meuse estuaries?

The Delta Works, built from 1954 to 1997, closed or barred the estuaries of Zeeland and South Holland with dams and storm-surge barriers; the Oosterscheldekering (1986) and the Maeslantkering (1997) are the largest.

Distances along the Rhine are measured in 'Rhine-kilometres', a scale introduced in which year?

The zero point is the old bridge in the centre of Konstanz.

Mainz, on the left bank of the Rhine, is the capital of which German state?

The parts of the city on the right bank were handed to Hesse by the occupying powers in 1945.

Which Rhine hill with a ruined castle did Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage make an international attraction?

The Drachenfels, a 321-metre hill between Königswinter and Bad Honnef, drew English tourists after Byron's lines on 'the castled crag of Drachenfels' in Childe Harold (1816); a rack railway has climbed it since 1883.

What is the Rhine's average discharge at its mouth, roughly?

The Rhine's mean discharge at its mouth is about 2,900 cubic metres per second, fed by Alpine snowmelt in early summer and by rain in winter, which keeps its flow unusually even through the year.

Why was the Alpine Rhine diverted into a canal in Austria before entering the lake?

The Fussach cut of 1900 moved the mouth east to stop constant flooding and silting of the delta around the old outlet; the cut-off Alter Rhein silted up, and the new delta became a bird reserve.

In which city is the 0 km datum of the Rhine-kilometre scale?

The zero point is the old Rhine bridge in the centre of Konstanz, where the river leaves the Obersee; the scale runs from there to Hook of Holland at kilometre 1,036.20.

The Posterior Rhine starts from which ice field near the Rheinwaldhorn?

The Posterior Rhine (Hinterrhein) rises at the Paradies Glacier on the northern side of the 3,402-metre Rheinwaldhorn, then runs through the Rofla and Viamala gorges to meet the Anterior Rhine.

Roughly how wide is the Upper Rhine Plain that the river crosses north of Basel?

The Upper Rhine Plain, a rift valley between the Vosges and the Black Forest, is about 300 km long and up to 40 km wide; the 19th-century straightening of the river lowered its water table sharply.

At which village does the Rhine cross from Germany into the Netherlands, reaching its widest point?

The Rhine crosses the border at the village of Spijk, just beyond the German town of Emmerich; a few kilometres on it begins dividing into its Dutch branches.

The Rhine first divides, at the Pannerdensche Kop, near which Dutch village?

The split comes at the Pannerdensche Kop, just downstream of Millingen aan de Rijn; the Pannerdens Kanaal then carries a third of the water on to the Nederrijn and the IJssel, which branch near Arnhem.

Which 1421 disaster reshaped the Meuse's course and the Rhine delta's coastline?

The St. Elizabeth's flood of November 1421 drowned dozens of villages and created the Biesbosch; the Meuse then merged with the Rhine's main branch at Gorinchem to form the Merwede, until 1904.

In which year did the Afsluitdijk close the Zuiderzee, the lake the IJssel feeds?

The Afsluitdijk was closed on 28 May 1932, cutting the Zuiderzee off from the Wadden Sea; the enclosed water gradually turned fresh.

Which Roman legionary base on the Rhine became Strasbourg?

Argentoratum was founded as a legionary base under Augustus around 12 BC; Legio VIII Augusta held it for most of the imperial period after Legio II Augusta left for Britain in AD 43.

Which Roman general first bridged the Rhine, in 55 BC?

Julius Caesar had a timber bridge thrown across the Rhine in ten days in 55 BC, made a brief show of force in Germania, then tore it down; he repeated the feat in 53 BC.