River Danube

RIVER DANUBE

River of Life River Danube In England it is known as the Danube, a French word that was imported into the english language during the Norman Conquest of 1066. Elsewhere, it is the Dunav, Dunaj, Donau, Duna, Danubio, Donava, Dunare or Dunarea. The dan- don-, danroot means ‘to flow’ or ‘to run’.

The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany at the confluence of two streams, the Brigach and Brege, which join at Donaueschingen. At this point, the Danube (or Donau as it is there) is born.

The river flows eastwards (uniquely for a major European river) for a distance of some 2,857 km (1,771 miles) before emptying into the Black Sea via a delta system. The Danube, the second largest river in Europe after the Volga, collects the waters from some 300 tributaries and runs through the most capital cities of any river: Vienna (Austria), Bratislava (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary – pictured below left) and Belgrade (Serbia).

No other river in the world is so international in its reach. The Danube flows through, or forms a part of the borders of, ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. In addition, the Danube’s drainage basin includes parts of nine more countries: Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Albania.

More than 80% of the length of the Danube has been embanked, there are three major dams and fifty-eight locks and weirs along its length. But in the middle and lower stretches of the river, and in the spectacular Danube Delta, it is still largely untamed. Here are some of the richest wetland areas in Europe and these support unique habitats and globally important species of flora and fauna In recent years, the political landscape in the Danube basin has changed dramatically. In 1989, the area was largely were under Communist rule and Yugoslavia was still intact. Four Danube basin countries joined the European Union in 2004 (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia); a further two in 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania) and Croatia is currently a candidate country.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River of Life Danube Cycle Path The old river towpath has been developed in to the Danube Cycle Path, which is reputed to be the most beautiful cycle path in Europe.

Originally, the towpath was used by teams of up to sixty horses to drag ships laden with salt and other highly valuable commodities up against the current of the river. These days, cyclists pedal the 335 km from the German border town of Passau (km 2227) to the Austrian capital of Vienna. The trip is a leisurely six to eight day ride on wellmaintained, traffic-free paths that slope gently downhill.

You can continue on by bike from Vienna to Budapest. The 340 km ride is generally done in seven days. The cycling gets tougher from here, but Budapest to the Black Sea, some 1,200 km, is also possible and this can take a further three weeks.

The first major town on the cycle route is Linz (km 2135). Like many Danube settlements, Linz grew rich by charging tolls on river traffic and for centuries, the town’s prosperity was intimately linked with the river. During the Nazi era, the riverside was blighted by the construction of large steel and chemical works that polluted the Danube. Further downstream at Monthausen (km 2112), another ancient toll station, the Nazis erected a concentration camp where some 335,000 prisoners were held.

One of the most romantic stretches of the Danube is the Wachau valley, which winds just 30 km between Melk (km 2036) and Krems (km 2003 pictured above).

Sixty castles and palaces lie on this route and some of Austria’s best white wines are produced here. Photographs from the Wachau region are often used to illustrate the picturesque Danube to the accompaniment of Johann Strauss’ famous waltz, The Blue Danube, which was first performed in Vienna in 1867.

Dürnstein (km 2009 below left) is famous for the medieval dungeon where Richard th the Lionheart was held prisoner on his return from the Crusades in the 12 century.

The story goes that his faithful manservant Blondel searched by singing his master’s favourite songs beneath battlement walls. At last he came to Dürnstein where Richard joined in the chorus. A ransom was paid and Richard was freed.

Once clear of the Wachau hills, the Danube used to flood the flat plains around Vienna (km 1929). To prevent this, the Donau Canal was built in 1875, diverting the river through the city’s suburbs. Before the canal, the Danube brought goods and people from east and west directly into the heart of the city; but after the canal, Vienna effectively turned its back on the Danube.

Just beyond Vienna there was a buffer zone between what was East and West, between capitalism and communism, and as a consequence, the area remained undeveloped. When the Iron Curtain was torn down, this no-man’s land has become a nature reserve, preserving one of the last pieces of wild Danube marshland.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River of Life Bratislava to Belgrade Just 61 km from Vienna is Bratislava (km 1868), the capital city of Slovakia.

This area was taken from Hungary as part of the retributions following World War II and handed to the newly created nation of Czechoslovakia.

Bratislava’s riverside architecture displays socialist construction at its worst: anonymous, poorly built and depressing. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, hundreds of thousands fled to find better lives elsewhere. Then, with independence in 1993, Slovakia became one of the world’s youngest countries.

The Nový Most (New Bridge – below left), otherise known as The UFO Bridge, because its main suspension pylon is crowned with a giant saucershaped viewing platform, has since become the emblem of the reborn city.

Beyond Bratislava is the Gabcikovo dam (km 1768), which has inundated huge areas of natural Danube marshland and been the cause for considerable friction with neighbouring Hungary. For long stretches, the Danube’s banks become inaccessible thanks to abandoned industrial installations surrounded by barbed wire fencing.

The town of Esztergom (km 1718) was built around a strategic hill, and was Hungary’s first capital and royal seat until the Mongol invasions of the 13th century.

The area here is characterized by beautiful wooded hills and picturesque towns and is famous for a hairpin bend in the river, called the Danube Bend. The town of Szentendre (km 1668), which lies opposite one of the Danube’s biggest river islands, is pictured above.

The Chain Bridge, constructed in 1840, joined the two riverbank cities of Buda and Pest and these were subsequently unified to form Budapest (km 1647) in 1873.

More than any other city, Budapest is the city of the Danube. In Vienna, the river has been relegated to the suburbs, the Sava River is a more significant presence in Belgrade (see map left) and in Bratislava the historic city is set on higher ground well back from the river itself. Beyond Budapest is the Puszta, the Great Hungarian Plain - huge expanses of flat, monotonous landscape.

Belgrade (km 1170) was historically a major crossroad between West and East and is now the capital and largest city of Serbia with a reputation for a vibrant nightlife.

The city appeals to young men and women travelling on cheap flights for stag and hen weekend packages. To cater for the party crowds, numerous river barges have been converted to nightclubs and these line the banks of the Sava and Danube offering music, dancing and drink into the very early hours.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River of Life Danube Delta The huge Iron Gates dam and lock complex (km 1059 to 934), the largest hydropower dam on the Danube, was built between 1960 and 1971.

Before then, the gorge was the most dangerous and dificult place to navigate on the whole river.

When it was finished, it slowed the river down to a virtual stand-still, a pace it maintains for the remaining 940 km before it empties in to the Black Sea. The Danube is characterised by its many hundreds of river islands. Sometimes these islands are integrated into a flood defense scheme, occasionally they are locations for festivals and events, mostly however, they are valued as refuges from the developed banks of the main river. They are wildlife sanctuaries and people use them as beaches and places to fish and relax. The Belene Islands (km 574) however, are used for an altogether more sinister purpose.

They were the site of a large prison camp, modelled on Stalin’s gulags, which housed political prisoners, dissidents and criminals and it is still in use as a prison today.

The opening of the Danube-Black Sea Canal in 1984 at Cernavoda (km 300) has shortened the distance for cargoes to reach the Black Sea from 300 km to just 60. Cernavoda, which means ‘black water’ is also the site of Romania’s first nuclear power station which opened in 1991. There is big industry downstream too at Galati (km 150) which is Romania’s largest port on the Danube and also home to its biggest iron and steel works.

At about km 80, the Danube splits into two channels and then, 10 km downstream, it splits again. A classic triangular-shaped delta is formed with the top branch, the Bratul Chilia running northeast and this is the border between Romania and Moldova and the Ukraine. The Bratul Sfantu Gheorge runs southeast and the triangle is bisected in the middle by the Bratul Sulina which runs east and, thanks to regular dredging, is the main navigable channel for shipping.

The Delta is the breeding, feeding and resting area for some three hundred bird species. 70% of the world’s Great White Pelicans (left) summer on the Delta. The area is very important for freshwater fish and in particular for sturgeon. Otter, stoat, mink and wildcat are also found on the floating islands and over 3,400 species of aquatic fauna, representing 98% of the European total.

The Delta is becoming increasingly valued as one of Europe’s last remaining areas of wilderness, one of its last free flowing stretches of river. But as it is becoming better known, it is attracting more birdwatchers, fishermen and ecotourists.

Worringly, more and more of the area is being developed as fisheries or exploited for agricultural purposes. A quarter of the waterways in the delta have been embanked and over 80% of its wetlands and floodplains have been destroyed.

Pollution from upstream and oil spills from heavy cargo boats on the Black Sea are an ongoing concern to this fragile environment.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River of Life Caviar & Clams The Danube river system was originally home to six types of sturgeon. But two of these are now extinct and a further two are close to extinction. The remaining two, the Beluga (pictured left) and the Stellate are highly endangered and extremely rare.

Sturgeons are found only in the Northern Hemisphere, from the coasts of the Atlantic and the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Black and Caspian seas, and also in large river systems like the Danube.

The Beluga reaches sexual maturity between the ages of fifteen and twenty. During its spawning season, from spring to summer, the females lay sticky, brownish-green eggs. Two weeks after they hatch, the young sturgeon is ready to feed. They migrate to the ocean between their first and third years, always returning to their spawning grounds year after year. Sturgeon can live up to sixty years of age and can grow to eight metres in length.

There are many reasons for the decline in the numbers of sturgeon in the Danube basin. The construction of the huge Iron Gates dams in the 1970s and 80s effectively blocked their migration routes upriver. Another cause for their decline is that they feed on invertebrates living on the riverbed and these are particularly vulnerable to the rise in river pollution. But perhaps their greatest threat is overfishing, a direct result of the huge profits to be made from the sale of caviar. Beluga caviar is the most expensive of all, costing just under £500 per 50g.

Incredibly, the Danube is the European river with the greatest fish diversity. A recent survey identified 71 separate species. However, some shrimp, clams and carpets of weeds are unwelcome foreign species that have invaded the Danube River basin. Dikerogammarus villosus (left) is a voracious predator, also called ‘killer shrimp’ it attacks small fish, killing its prey by biting and shredding them with its powerful mouthparts.

Asian clams are also highly invasive. They release up to 2,000 one millimetre-long juveniles per day and more than 100,000 in a lifetime. The clams are particularly damaging because they can attach themselves in huge quantities to boats, docks and water pipes and they litter the foreshore.

Water Hyacinth (left) is considered to be one of the worst aquatic weeds in the world and is now an invasive presence on the Danube. It is a fast growing plant with populations known to double in as little as 12 days. Infestations of the weed block waterways, limit boat traffic, swimming and fishing, and prevent sunlight and oxygen from penetrating the water surface.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Polluted River Dirty Water Eighty one million people live in the Danube River Basin and more than a quarter of these depend directly on the Danube in one way or another for their drinking water.

Thanks to Strauss’ famous waltz, the river is referred to as the Blue Danube, although its waters are actually a muddy brown. It is this colour not through the effects of pollution, but because river eddies and currents churn up the soft sediments on the riverbed into a cloudy muck.

The muddy brown Danube is polluted with raw sewage from cities, pesticides and chemicals from fields, waste from factories and bilge oil from ships. Both the river’s habit of flooding and the filtering action of its shallow reed beds used to purge the river of many of these pollutants. But the Danube has now been dredged to deepen its navigable channel and it is enclosed for up to to 80% of its course by manmade embankments, so once pollution enters the Danube it has little chance to escape.

Romania still leads in overall levels of hazardous wastes discharged into the Danube, although advanced economies like Germany also contribute to pollution problems downstream. What the Germans save in hazardous pollution they more than make up by discharging massive quantities of low-level waste.

The Danube’s use as a dumping ground for toxic pollutants ramped up significantly since World War II. Initially, the Nazis built heavy industry to fuel their war machine and then, during the Communist period, factories were built with little on no regard for environmental impact. Today, we are all living with the consequences of this irresponsibility.

The last 5 years have seen a number of crises and disasters affect the Danube.

During the 1999 war in former Yugoslavia, the bombings of chemical factories and other targets resulted in widespread contamination. And in January 2000, unrelated to those hostilities, some 100 tons of highly toxic cyanide spilled into the Danube from the Tisza River in Romania following an accident at a gold mine. At that time, hundreds of dead and dying fish were seen floating at the junction of the Danube and the Tisza (see left), 50 km upstream from the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Polluted River Danube Surveys Between July and November 2005 the German photographer, Andreas MĂźllerPohle traced the Danube from its spring to its mouth. He took pictures with his camera halfimmersed in the river to capture both what is above and under the surface. Each photograph includes a line of data along the bottom edge showing the pollutants found in water. He assumed that the river would become more polluted the closer he got to the delta and while it is true that there were higher concentrations of pollutants after Croatia, the most nitrate was detected near the source in Germany, and the highest quantity of mercury was found in Vienna.

The Joint Danube Survey 2 (JDS2) was launched in 2007 from Regensburg in Germany. Three ships traveled down the length of the Danube testing pollution and water quality and examining its ecology. Findings confirmed that water quality was improving and that there were significant natural populations of flora and fauna in the river.

JDS2 made three key recommendations. Firstly, more waste water treatment plants need to be established, particularly in Budapest, Belgrade and Bucharest.

Secondly, pollution control efforts from industry on major tributaries needs to be intensified and there must be a reduction of pollution from agriculture. Finally, the positive efforts that have been made to restore damaged natural areas, such as the floodplains east of Vienna and the Danube Delta need to be continued if the ecological condition of the river is to be improved.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Resourceful River Hydropower The Danube is a relatively slow-moving, shallow river that, in its natural state, changes course and was prone to frequent flooding.

The first attempts to contain the river were the dyke systems built on the river from the 16th century. The taming of the Danube began in earnest in the early 1800s, with embankments and other flood protection works together with dredging to create a straighter and deeper channel to improve navigation.

Today, over 80% of the Danube is regulated for flood control and its power is harnessed by sixty-two locks, dams and weirs. Fifty-nine of these are upriver of Budapest.

The others are in Slovakia and at the Iron Gates between Serbia and Romania. On average, on the Upper Danube the river is interrupted by a dam and accompanying impoundment every 16 kilometres. As a consequence, very few stretches of the river can be said to be free-flowing.

Perhaps the most controversial dam of all is Slovakia’s Gabcikovo dam (see above), originally planned as one of a pair, with the other at Nagymaros in Hungary’s picturesque Danube Bend region. The cross-border barrage aimed to eliminate regular floodings (like the disastrous ones in 1954 and 1965) and provide a clean source of electric power. The dams would also allow year-long navigability in an area that had hitherto been a patchwork of channels and islands.

In 1989, the new Hungarian administration decided to pull out of Nagymaros on environmental and cost grounds. They were also influenced by the popular protests against the project and its association with the old communist regime. Unfortunately, the Slovaks went ahead and began construction of Gabcikovo. By the time it was completed in October 1992, they had diverted 80 to 90% of the river into a new canal. The dam changed the river valley and it ended the natural, beneficial flooding that added moisture and nutrients to the surrounding soil. It also reduced the ability of the wetlands and marshes to filter surface water and trap sediments.

Hydropower generation has come with significant environmental cost and this has created a point of contention between the two countries that still sours relations today. On the other hand, hydropower produces significant clean energy; it accounts for 30% of national generation capacity in Romania and around 60% in Austria.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Resourceful River The Iron Gates The Iron Gates is Europe’s largest river gorge and makes for one of the most dramatic landscapes on the Danube. The gorge is formed in the meeting of the Balkan mountains and the Carpathians and the Danube squeezes through this narrow gap to reach the low-laying flat lands beyond.

For hundreds of years, the Iron Gates were the most treacherous stretch of river to navigate. It was so notoriously difficult that when the Roman Emperor Trajan (98 to 117AD) completed a road through the area he set a carved marble tablet into the rockface to commemorate his achievement.

The Iron Gates became properly navigable only after 1890, when a channel was blasted through the most difficult stretch, but even here the current was so strong that, for the next eighty years, ships had to be dragged upstream by locomotive.

Construction of a pair of dams along the 117 km stretch of the Iron Gates, a joint Romanian-Yugoslavian project, commenced in 1964. When completed in 1972, the water level behind the dams rose in places by as much as 35 metres, submerging whole villages. Around 17,000 people had to be relocated and the island of Ada Kaleh (below), famous as a smuggler’s nest and for its thousand twisting alleys and distinctive Turkish architecture was lost under the rising waters.

The dams have had a major impact on the environment. They changed the depth and width of the river and this altered flow rates and effected the migration routes of animals. The spawning routes of several species of sturgeon were permanently interrupted.

Although improving navigation on the Danube was high on the agenda, more important to the two developing countries was the huge amount of hydropower that could be generated.

When construction started in 1960, the annual output, which was to be shared equally between the two countries, amounted to slightly less than the total output of what was then Yugoslavia and to just over a third of Romania’s total output.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Resourceful River Flood / Drought 2005 was a particularly cold year, which saw Eastern Europe and the Balkans covered in snow for months. The Spring thaw in 2006, combined with unseasonably heavy rainfall and this led to severe flooding in southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

In April that year, the Danube in Budapest was over 28 feet higher than its normal level; in fact it was the highest level for more than a century. The authorities worked frantically to shore up flood defences as hundreds of people were forced to flee their homes. City officials took the drastic step of deliberately flooding farmland and forested areas to protect urban infrastructrue.

Incidents like this are a regular occurance. May 1999 saw the worst flooding on the River Danube in decades which forced the evacuation of a hundred thousand people from their homes in southern Germany.

Authorities in Bavaria put the cost of repairing the damage at more than three quarters of a billion pounds. Melting snows in the Swiss Alps and heavy rains were once again blamed for the flooding which affected towns in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Vienna solved its flooding problems by digging a pair of embanked channels within which the Danube is now contained. The excavated material was used to landscape a 21 km long island between the channels called Donauinsel. To most visitors, this island is known for its beach facilities, bars, restaurants and nightclubs. But its main purpose is to be part of Vienna's highly sophisticated flood protection system.

Flooding yes, but many people would not associate the Danube with droughts; but in fact, they are a normal and common feature. Droughts can damage crops and result in water supply shortages. Experts predict that because of changes in land use, increases in water demand and the effects of climate change, droughts will become more frequent and more severe in future.

Following a very hot and dry summer in 1992 there were droughts in Bulgaria and Hungary causing a severe loss of agricultural production.

In 2003, low rainfall and high temperatures led to the lowest levels on the Danube for over a century. Ships were stranded and barges grounded from southern Germany to the Romanian lowlands.

Romania's Cernavoda Nuclear Power plant, which draws coolant water from the Danube, was forced to shut down for nearly a month.

With so much of the Danube now embanked and regulated, natural floodplains are extremely rare. The Danube Floodplain National Park, between Vienna and Bratislava, was artificially preserved for decades as the no-man's land between the Western and Eastern blocs. Despite mounting pressure for motorways, bridges, industrial parks and other developments, the area has been preserved as a nature park. It is the last intact floodplain on the upper Danube. Today, the park is an important area for rest and recreation for people from the Austrian and Slovak capitals.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Working River Romans & Crusaders Geographically, the Danube is unique in the sense that it is the only major river in Europe that flows from west to east. As a consequence, it has been used as a transport artery between northern Europe and Asia Minor since very early times.

Greek records show that the Danube was used as a water road to move goods like salt, hides, iron and amber. This trade in Danube amber has been traced back to 1400 BC and archeological remains on the Danube, like the world famous Willendorf Venus (left), date back even further to 28,000 BC. The Romans arrived in 27 BC, under Emperor Augustus. They called the river Danuvius in the Middle and Upper Reaches and Ister in its Lower Reaches and it marked the northern limits of their Empire. The Romans used the river both as a defensive barrier and as a supply line to feed, equip and move men to their garrisons stationed along its length. Outposts were established at Castra Regina (Regensburg – see photo below), Castra Batava (Passau), Lentia (Linz), Vindobona (Vienna), Posonium (Bratislava) and Aquincum (Budapest).

When the Roman Empire fell, trade along the Danube increased, perhaps because it was less dangerous during these uncertain times than traveling and trading by land. Also, without Roman engineers to maintain the roads, they soon became overgrown and impassable whereas the river always remained open.

From the 4th century, the Danube plain was overrun by fearsome hordes of Goths, Attila’s Huns and Avars. Emperor Charlemagne drove them out in the 8th century, but they were followed by Magyars. Settlements grew up beside the Danube and towns were awarded lucrative rights to levy tolls on vessels wanting to moor as river trade became well established.

Hungary’s conversion to Christianity in 975 makes the Danube a safe overland route for pilgrims going to the Holy Land. Many French and German Crusaders choose it in 1096 for their pillaging progress through Austria and Hungary to “save” Constantinople and Jerusalem from Islam.

In 1396, an army of 100,000 Germans, French, Hungarians, Poles, Bohemians, Italians and Spaniards congregates at Budapest and advances down the Danube to meet crushing defeat by the Turks at Nicopolis (pictured left) now Nikopol in Bulgaria.

Rather appropriately, the name Nicopolis is from the Greek meaning ‘Cry of Victory’.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Working River Ottoman Rule In the 16th century, the Danube became the route of a “crusade” in reverse, as Suleiman the Magnificent’s Ottoman Turks carried Islam west from the Black Sea. By 1521, they had taken Belgrade. They defeated the Hungarians in 1526 and three years later advanced to the walls of Vienna. They captured Budapest in 1541, holding the city for the next 150 years. A second siege of Vienna is repelled in 1683, and after that the Turks were expelled from the Upper and Middle Danube.

Land previously occupied by the Turks was given as a reward to noblemen who offered troops to help drive out the Ottoman Empire. The vacated land needed to be settled and farmed so the Austro-Hungarian aristocrats promised work and wealth to craftsmen, labourers and farmers willing to make the journey east. In the 18th century, the German town of Ulm became an embarkation point for thousands of people who set off looking for a better life downstream. In an exodus that has been compared to the North American gold rush, more than 200,000 set off on crude box-like boats, known as Ulm Boats (pictured above).

In the new territories these pioneers created their own communities, rarely intermarrying and keeping their own folk traditions and language alive. As a result, German became the lingua franca of the Danube. During this period, the river is personified by Noeck (pictured below), the Prince of the Danube and his daughters, the Donauweibschen. Noeck is an ugly hybrid, half old man, half giant fish. He lives in a palace at the bottom of the river and entices travelers with promises of jewels and gold and then drowns them in the swift-flowing currents. The Donauweibschen, as if to make up for his ugliness and unnatural ways, are beautiful girls who like to flirt whenever they can.

By the turn of the 19th century, there were some two million ethnic Germans living in pockets of Central and Eastern Europe. Most felt allegiance and loyalty to the Fatherland rather than to the countries they were living in. Early 20th century Nazism fuelled their patriotism, they were a bridgehead into these lands and were eager recruits into the SS, Hitler’s personal guard. Unsurprisingly there were fierce retributions after the war and these Germans living on another’s soil were ostracized from their adopted land. When the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989, many thousands flocked back to Germany where, despite their absence for over 150 years, they had full claim to pensions and benefits.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Working River Cargo to Cruise Right up to the age of steam in the mid 19th century, the vast majority of trade and travel was a one-way route, going with the flow of water from west to east. Most was done on crude rafts, loaded with cargo and passengers, which drifted downriver to their destinations and were then unloaded and broken up for timber. Only valuable cargoes like salt, which increased in value over 400% from source to destination, warranted the huge cost of being hauled upriver by teams of horses against the river flow.

The first Danube steamship company, the DDSG, was established in Vienna in 1829.

They dominated Danube transport for over a century (the poster on the left is from 1899) and they are still in business today. Steam revolutionized river transport and paddle steamers become popular in the 1830s and 40s. Even by the mid-19th century there was no railway line linking one end of Europe with the other. Travel by river was faster and a good deal more civilized than travel by road.

Since the Danube at this time was largely undredged, and water levels could vary significantly from season to season, a paddle system of propulsion was preferred to propellers and they were built right up to the beginning of World War II. After that, boats had steerable propellers enclosed in a cylinder that squirted out a jet of water and protected the blades from snagging in shallow waters.

After World War II, the Danube was effectively divided between West and Eastern Bloc countries with the Upper Danube in the west and the Red Danube in the east.

River trade and travel continued, but the Danube became better known as a frontier: between Austria and Czechoslovakia (8 km), Czechoslovakia and Hungary (140 km), Yugoslavia and Romania (230 km), Bulgaria and Romania (470 km) and Romania and Russia (120 km). With the collapse of the Communist government in 1989 and the escalating civil war in the Balkans, the river economy collapsed. The Danube carried 92 million tones in 1987 and only 20 million in 1994.

In 1999, NATO bombs destroyed three bridges in Novi Sad (see left) and five more Danube bridges elsewhere. The debris from Novi Sad blocked the river for four years, bringing Danube shipping to a complete halt. During this period, a temporary pontoon bridge allowed traffic to cross the river for a couple of hours a day and this, together with the remains of the bridge, was finally removed in 2005.

With all the countries en route now open for business, cruising on the Danube is now the biggest growth area in shipping terms. There are services between Passau on the German border with Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade and through the Iron Gates dams to the Black Sea and beyond with many variations between.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

Working River Deeper Waters These days, the Danube is navigable by ocean-going vessels from the Black Sea to Brăila in Romania and by river ships for a distance of 2,411 km or 87% of its length to Kelheim in Germany; smaller craft can navigate further upstream to Ulm, although conditions can be impeded by ice in winter and by seasonally varying water levels.

The opening of the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in 1992, just upriver of Regensburg, forged a 3,500 km connection from the Black Sea via the Danube and through the canal to the Rhine and then on to the Port of Rotterdam on the North Sea. However, the canal and the German reaches of the Upper Danube still runs at a fraction of its freight capacity because water levels can be so low as to prevent navigation. There is a stretch of the river here that cannot be dredged to increase its depth because it has been designated a nature reserve.

Its preservation as the last piece of free-flowing Danube left in Bavaria is fiercely protected by environmentalists.

To cut costs and be more competitive, river freight is now managed by a push-tug system. Barges are chained to the tug’s bows and controlled from the pusher’s bridge. These barges can carry the same volume of goods as 93 railway wagons or 173 trucks.

On the Middle and Lower Danube, the return of peace to the Balkans has allowed unhindered travel from the Black Sea to Germany and this is propelling a new golden age of Danube shipping. The number of freight ships plying the river is increasing by about 10 percent per year. Bigger ships and new navigation facilities have helped increasing amounts of freight move from road to river.

The European Commission is predicting that freight on inland waterways will grow by 44 percent in the next 10 years. But the new container ships need deeper water.

Just east of Vienna, the Danube flows through one of the last true natural river stretches: the Donau Au National Park (see left) and here the river is shallow, causing delays and danger for shipping. Just as in Bavaria, environmentalists believe plans to deepen the river to suit the new ships will damage the fragile environment of the forests and flood plains.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River City Bridging Buda and Pest The Romans arrived in the area currently caleld Budapest in 14 BC. They named their settlement Aquincum after the abundant thermal springs they found there. Around their fortified military camp, the Romans constructed roads, amphitheaters, baths and houses with heated floors. For them, the Danube (or Danuvius), marked the northern limits of their Empire and, although they campaigned in the hostile lands beyond, they often retreated back to the safety of Aquincum on the south side of the river frontier.

Barbarian tribes eventually sacked Aquincum in 206AD and then the Goths took control in 409, followed by the Magyar in 896 who ruled interrupted only by the 1242 Mongol invasion until 1526, when their 25,000 strong army was annihiliated by the Ottoman Turks. For over 150 years, Buda was a Turkish city. Then, in 1686, Buda fell to the Austrians and became absorbed into Austria-Hungary, an empire which extended across to Transylvania and incorporating bits of what are now the Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, the Czech Republic and even Italy.

The 19th century was dominated by the Hungarians' struggle for independence and modernization. The Chain Bridge (left) was opened in 1849, linking the riverside cities of Buda and Pest. In 1873, these two were officially merged with Óbuda (Ancient Buda), creating the new metropolis of Budapest. During the last 30 years of the 19th century Budapest, Vienna and Prague were the economic and cultural centres of Eastern Europe.

World War I brought the Golden Age to an end. In 1918 AustriaHungary lost the war, collapsed and declared itself an independent republic. But punitative measures exerted by the British, French and American allies at the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 resulted in the country's partition and Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory.

Seeking restitution of its land, Hungary sided with Hitler and Fascist Italy in the 1930s. When it came, World War II was just as disasterous for Hungary as the 1914-18 war. The Germans departing gift was to dynamite all the bridges over the Danube. The war had destroyed or severely damaged three quarters of Budapest’s historic buildings. In 1949, Hungary was declared a communist People's Republic. In 1956, mass demonstrations led to the collapse of the Stalinist dictatorship, but Soviet tanks entered Budapest to contain the uprising and the Hungarian Revolution was crushed.

After forty years, socialist rule began to unravel and in July 1989, Hungary demolished the electrified fence separating it from Austria.

Towards the end of that year, the communists agreed to give up their monopoly on power, paving the way for free elections in spring 1990.

Hungary joined the European Union in May 2005.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River City Margaret Island The 13th century King Bela promised that if ever Hungary emerged victorious from the war with the Mongols he would build a convent on one of the city’s river islands and have his daughter Margit raised as a nun. Victory came, the convent was built and Margit duly despatched. She grew into an extremely beautiful young woman and was much admired by the King of Bavaria. Bela tried to persuade his pious daughter to marry the king, but Margit refused, saying she would rather cut off her nose and lips than leave the convent. And so she stayed on the island and died there at the tender young age of twenty-eight.

In 1541, when the Turks began their occupation of Budapest, they converted the convent into a harem from which all infidels were barred. After the Ottoman period, the island was named after King Bella’s beautiful yet virtuous daughter.

There were disasterous floods in March 1838 and as a result, river embankments were constructed to protect the facing riverside cities of Buda and Pest. Although these were substantially destroyed in World War II they have been subsequently rebuilt and restored to their former glory and are now officially recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. After heavy rains or thaws upstream, the river can still swell to twice its volume and flood riverside streets in Budapest. The worst flood in recent years was in April 2006 when Margaret Island was completely inundated.

The island has been a public park since the mid-19th century and is linked to the mainland by Margaret Bridge to the south and Árpád Bridge to the north. Of Budapest’s nine bridges, Margaret Bridge is unique in that it doglegs in order to stand at right angles to the Danube.

The island has a hotel complex, one of Budapest’s most modern thermal spas, a Japanese Garden and many shaded walkways and parks. The island is a great place for sports with cycling tracks, two swimming pools and an urban beach. Margaret Island Crystal Water, one of the more popular brands of mineral water in Hungary, is sourced and bottled here.

Within the city boundaries, the river encircles a number of other islands.

Csepel Island is the largest and Luppa is the smallest. The Roman Emperor Hadrian built a palace on Óbuda Island and today developers are following suit with entertainment complexes, apartment buildings, hotels, casinos and a marina. It also hosts one of Europe’s biggest music events, the Sziget Festival, which attracts over 400,000 people.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River Culture The Danube Bend Shortly after the Danube enters Hungary from Slovakia, the river makes an abrupt turn south. The Danube Bend, as this region is known, has long been famous for its beautiful rolling hills and historic villages and is one of the most important and popular tourist destinations for the country.

Even though some 300,000 international passengers arrive in Hungary each year on luxury riverboats, most travelling south via Vienna and Bratislava, and many smaller cruisers take thousands tourists from Budapest to the towns upstream along the Danube Bend like Szentendre, well known for its local arts and crafts, tourism on the Danube Bend is down. People tend to flit in and out whereas the locals want tourists, both foreign and domestic, to stay in the region for longer. While low cost airlines are bringing more foreigners into Budapest, local businesses on the Danube Bend argue that doesn't mean more tourists are visiting them since most just come to Hungary for one or two days.

Businessmen from the picturesque town of Szentendre are looking carefully at their near neighbours in Esztergom who have invested in a modern, luxury spa and health centre near the riverfront. The hope is that initiatives like this will capitalise on Budapest’s spa reputation and encourage tourists to visit the area for longer.

Budapest is one of the richest cities in the world in terms of thermal and spa waters. Some hot spring facilities on the Buda side date back to the Roman times.

The 150-year Ottoman rule left its mark in bathing culture too, when real hamams were built for Ottoman pashas and bashas (high-ranking leaders). The number of baths increased again in the middle of the 19th century and Budapest became a destination for those seeking a treatment for arthritis, circulation problems, asthma, chronic bronchitis and other complaints. Today, there are 118 natural thermal springs within the boundaries of the capital.

Hungary is working rapidly to develop health tourism since it is not subject to the vagaries of seasonal weather and tourists tend to stay longer and have time to visit other places. These days, there are some 25 four-star hotels with spa facilities in Hungary whereas six years ago, there were only four.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River Culture Danube Day Even more important than the size of the Danube basin, which is nearly 10% of the total surface of the European Continent, is the fact that it comprises nineteen different countries, which makes it the world’s most international river basin. Only through a shared commitment and a joint effort can environmental problems be addressed.

Recognizing this the Danube River Protection Convention was signed in 1994 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Danube Day was initiated at the 10th anniversary of this convention whose signaturies include: Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, BosniaHerzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.

Held annually on 29 June, Danube Day is an international day honouring the Danube and the rivers that flow into it, paying tribute to the vital role they play in providing water, food, power, recreation and livelihood. It aims to raise awareness about the Danube through festivals on the riverbanks, public meetings and educational events.

Holding events across all its member countries demonstrates the need for countries and organizations to join forces and work together. Celebrating Danube Day helps to ensure that the Danube and its tributaries are protected, so that they can be used and enjoyed by generations to come.

Over 169 events in 14 countries involving tens of thousands of people took place in 2008. Danube Day celebrations in Vienna are pictued above. Highlights included the simultaneous blowing of river boat horns along the entire length of the Danube at precisely 2pm as well as the continuation of the popular Danube Art Master school competition (pictured left) which attracted 4,000 students whose water-themed artworks were displayed along the river banks.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER DANUBE

River Culture Danube Festivals The Bridge Festival (below) takes place on and around Szechenyi Chain Bridge, arguably Budapest’s most beautiful bridge. When it opened in 1849, it was the first permanent crossing between Buda and Pest and the aristocracy, previously exempt from any taxation, were scandalized to learn that they too had to pay a toll to use it just like everyone else.

The Chain Bridge is closed to traffic in August and on each weekend, there are activities for children and adults like jugglers, musicians, dancers and street artists. There are stands serving cold drinks, gastronomic specialties, chimney cakes, bread dough and ice-cream. As well as many stalls selling the products of Hungarian craftsmen and folk artists.

The Sziget Festival (left), a week long festival held annually in August is now one of Europe’s largest rock festivals, attracting upwards of 400,000 music fans. Like Glastonbury and other progressive music festivals, Sziget programmes acts from many different musical genres and there’s also other attractions like cinema tents, theatre and dance arenas, craft and food stalls and an abundance of alcohol. The festival is popular with young people from all over Europe.

Donauinselfest in Vienna is a free rock festival attended by an astonishing three million visitors. Like Sziget, it takes place on one of Danube’s river islands. It takes place at the end of June (Friday through Sunday) on a 6½ km site in the middle part of the island. There are some 21 areas (called islands), each with a stage, many of which are sponsored by local radio stations and newspapers.

Although all concerts are free, financial experts calculate that Vienna's economy profits from this event by almost forty million euros, mostly due to increased tourism.

River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org