The Nussdorf weir and lock are works of hydraulic engineering located in the Viennese suburb of Nussdorf at the point where the Donaukanal leaves the Danube. Designed by Austrian architect Otto Wagner, The weir and lock were built following the adoption of a new law in July 1892, which also authorised the construction of the Vienna Stadtbahn and the transformation of the Donaukanal into a winter harbour.
The weir and lock in Nussdorf are commonly confused with one another, although they are actually two separate constructions built to serve the same purpose.
The weir and lock are located behind the Nussdorf station on the Franz-Josefs-Bahn. Although they are named after a suburb in the 19th district of Vienna, Döbling, they actually fall within the jurisdiction of the 20th district, Brigittenau.
Before the construction of the weir and lock in Nussdorf, the Donaukanal was protected from floating ice and to a large extent also from flooding by the Wilhelm von Engerth’s floating barrier, the Schwimmtor. The Schwimmtor remained in service until World War I and was finally scrapped in 1945.
The weir and lock in Nussdorf and the Kaiserbadwehr (another weir) were the only hydraulic engineering works that were ever realised as part of the plan to create a harbour in the Donaukanal. Two further weir and lock arrangements had been envisaged near the Ostbahnbrücke and directly before the harbour in Freudenau.
The construction of the weir and lock was necessary to protect the new developments on the canal (the metropolitan railway, the tributary canals and later the harbour and ships) from floods and ice, but also to maintain sufficient water in the canal so that ships could pass. Wilhelm von Engerth's Schwimmtor provided satisfactory protection from floating ice, but it only gave a very limited degree of control over the amount of water in the canal. In particular because of the need to protect the tributary canals built along the Donaukanal, it was essential that the level of water in the canal did not rise by more than 80 centimetres.
The Nussdorf weir was built between August 1894 and 1899. The walls were finished in 1897 and the steel construction was mounted by August 1898. The administration building and the chain magazine followed in 1899. Otto Wagner was employed by the transport commission for the project; the architectural plans for the weir and the Schemerlbrücke, the adjoining buildings and (possibly) the lock are the work of Sigmund Taussig. Because of the site's highly visible location – at the point at which the Donaukanal leads away from the Danube towards the centre of Vienna – Otto Wagner considered the weir (technically a needle dam but also a bridge weir) as the gate to the city and thus designed it to be particularly impressive. It features imposing columns topped with lions made of bronze. These lions are the work of Rudolf Weyr and were later the model for the logo of Gräf & Stift, an Austrian automobile producer.
The weir passed its first test in 1899, when the land on the Donaukanal was successfully protected from flooding.
The needle dam was replaced with a modern segment weir during improvements carried out on Vienna's defenses against flooding between 1971 and 1975. The new weir featured barriers that could be lowered to the bottom of the canal. Between 2004 and 2005, the Nussdorf power station was built downstream of the weir and lock without any visible changes to the historical appearance of the area. The power station's 12 turbines produce around 28 gigawatt hours per year and thus provide electricity for approximately 10,000 households.
The Schemerlbrücke ("Schemerl bridge"), also known as Löwenbrücke ("lions bridge"), [1] is named after Josef Schemerl Ritter von Leytenbach, k. k. Hofrat and Hofbauratsdirektor, who developed the first plans to regulate the Danube in 1810. His plans were not realised. He died in 1844.
The bridge is referred to using a range of variations of its name:
The truss bridge was built between 1894 and 1898. Its span measures 49 metres, arching over both the 40-metre wide canal and the 9-metre wide towpath. The construction of the bridge was made necessary for structural reasons; the three main bearing walls and the strong horizontal bar support both the weight of the bridge and the pressure created by the damming of the water in the canal (the weir is also referred to as a bridge weir as a result). The Schemmerlbrücke was however also needed for the weir machinery.
In April 1945, the Schemmerlbrücke, along with the other bridges over the Donaukanal, was intentionally rendered unusable. In 1947, a wooden structure was built which made it possible for pedestrians to cross the canal. Between 1953 and 1955, the bridge was repaired and in 1978 it was thoroughly restored.
In contrast to the Nussdorf weir, the Nussdorf lock is not very well known. Construction on the lock also began in August 1894. The chamber lock is 85 metres long and 15 metres wide, but at the same time, a canal 20 metres wide, 3.5 metres deep and with an embankment slope of 1:21⁄2 had to be built to make it possible to use the lock. This canal made it necessary to build two railway bridges for the Donauuferbahn as well as a road bridge between Nussdorf and Handelskai. It is not known for sure whether this lock was also designed by Otto Wagner, how it survived World War II, and why it was renovated between 1964 and 1966. Presumably, it was too small for modern ships and its technical features needed updating. On 25 November 1966, the City of Vienna announced that the Stadtrat Kurt Heller had officially opened the fully mechanised lock.
To ensure that sufficient water was available for the lock even when the surrounding canals are blocked with ice, a tributary canal was also built.
The three- to four-storey administration building that stands near the weir and lock was designed by Otto Wagner and built in secessionist style. The building's roof features a platform that served as an observation post.
The chain magazine is located to the south of the administration building and is a one- to two-storey building.
Alsergrund is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria. It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. As a central district, the area is densely populated. According to the census of 2001, there were 37,816 inhabitants over 2.99 square km.
Otto Koloman Wagner was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner. He was a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement of architecture, founded in 1897, and the broader Art Nouveau movement. Many of his works are found in his native city of Vienna, and illustrate the rapid evolution of architecture during the period. His early works were inspired by classical architecture. By mid-1890s, he had already designed several buildings in what became known as the Vienna Secession style. Beginning in 1898, with his designs of Vienna Metro stations, his style became floral and Art Nouveau, with decoration by Koloman Moser. His later works, 1906 until his death in 1918, had geometric forms and minimal ornament, clearly expressing their function. They are considered predecessors to modern architecture.
The Wien is a river that flows through Austria's capital Vienna.
Döbling is the 19th district in the city of Vienna, Austria. It is located in the north of Vienna, north of the districts Alsergrund and Währing. Döbling has some heavily populated urban areas with many residential buildings, and borders the Vienna Woods. It includes some of the most expensive residential areas such as Grinzing, Sievering, and Neustift am Walde, and is home to many Heurigen taverns. There are some large Gemeindebauten, including Vienna's most famous, the Karl-Marx-Hof.
Brigittenau is the 20th district of Vienna. It is located north of the central districts, north of Leopoldstadt on the same island area between the Danube and the Danube Canal. Brigittenau is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings.
The Graben is one of the most famous squares in Vienna's first district, the city center. It begins at Stock-im-Eisen-Platz next to the Palais Equitable, and ends at the junction of Kohlmarkt and Tuchlauben. Another street in the first district is called Tiefer Graben. It is crossed by Wipplinger Straße by means of the Hohe Brücke, a bridge about 10 meters (33 ft) above street level.
Kahlenbergerdorf was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. It is also one of the 89 Katastralgemeinden.
The Donaukanal is a former arm of the river Danube, now regulated as a water channel, within the city of Vienna, Austria. It is 17.3 kilometres (10.7 mi) long and, unlike the Danube itself, it borders Vienna's city centre, Innere Stadt, where the Wien River (Wienfluss) flows into it.
The Reichsbrücke is a major bridge in Vienna, linking Mexikoplatz in Leopoldstadt with the Donauinsel in Donaustadt across the Danube. The bridge is used by 50,000 vehicles per day and carries six lanes of traffic, U-Bahn tracks, two footpaths, two cyclepaths and two utility tunnels.
Nußdorf or Nussdorf may refer to:
Nussdorf was a separate municipality until 1892 and is today a suburb of Vienna in the 19th district of Döbling.
The Vienna Danube regulation refers to extensive flood-control engineering along the Danube river in Vienna, Austria during the last 150 years. The first major dams or levees were built during 1870-75. Another major project was constructed during 1972-88, which created the New Danube and Danube Island (Donauinsel). Prior to regulation, the Danube in Vienna had been an 8-kilometre (5 mi) wide wetlands, as a patchwork of numerous streams meandering through the area.
Wilhelm Freiherr von Engerth was an Austrian architect and engineer, known for being the designer of the first practical mountain locomotive. For his services he was elevated in 1875 to the baronetcy.
For a long time, it was not necessary to build a Harbour in Vienna, because the existing natural landing points were sufficient for the level of trade on the Danube. It was only when steamships began to arrive in great numbers that a harbour offering safe berths became essential. Even then however, goods were for the most part loaded and unloaded at an unenclosed river harbour that was established at the end of the 19th century.
The Schwimmtor, also known as the Sperrschiff, was a floating barrier designed to protect the areas along the Donaukanal in Vienna from flooding and ice. It was built by Wilhelm von Engerth, entered service on 13 December 1873, and was scrapped following World War II.
The New Danube is a side channel built in 1972–88 on the eastern side of the Danube in Vienna, Austria. It was created to provide flood relief by containing excess water. The Donauinsel, made out of the removed material, separates the new waterway from the main channel of the river. The project was referred to by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) as "the first truly multipurpose fully sustainable flood protection scheme."
The Vienna Museum is a group of museums in Vienna consisting of the museums of the history of the city. In addition to the main building in Karlsplatz and the Hermesvilla, the group includes numerous specialised museums, musicians' residences and archaeological excavations.
Jedlesee is a suburb of Floridsdorf, the 21st district of Vienna. An independent community until 1894, it was joined along with Leopoldau, Donaufeld, Floridsdorf and Neu Jedlesdorf to the greater Floridsdorf municipality, becoming part of Vienna in 1904. Jedlesee is most notable for being the site of the estate of Countess Anna Maria Erdődy, close friend and patron of Beethoven, who stayed there with her on numerous occasions between 1805 and 1818.
The Augartenbrücke is a bridge that crosses the Donaukanal in Vienna, which connects the 9th district (Alsergrund) and the 1st district on the southwest side of the canal with the 2nd district, Leopoldstadt, on the northeast side. There has been a bridge on the site since 1782.