The Neckar () is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, mainly flowing through the southwestern

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, with a short section through

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

. Rising in the

Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis Schwarzwald-Baar () is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Ortenaukreis, Rottweil, Tuttlingen, Constance, the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, and the districts ...

near Schwenningen in the ''Schwenninger Moos'' conservation area at a height of above sea level, it passes through

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,00 ...

Rottenburg am Neckar Rottenburg am Neckar (; until 10 July 1964 only ''Rottenburg''; Swabian: ''Raodaburg'') is a medium-sized town in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) s ...

, Kilchberg,

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

Wernau Wernau is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg southwestern Germany. It is situated on the Neckar river, 25 km southeast of Stuttgart. Geography Location Wernau is located on the southeast bank of the Neckar river, sou ...

Nürtingen Nürtingen () is a town on the river Neckar in the district of Esslingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. History The following events occurred, by year: *1046: First mention of ''Niuritingin'' in the document of Speyer ...

, Plochingen, Esslingen,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

, Ludwigsburg, Marbach,

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Middle Ages, it developed into an important trading centre. A ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

, before discharging on average of water into the Rhine at

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

, at above sea level, making the Neckar its 4th largest tributary, and the 10th largest river in Germany. Since 1968, the Neckar has been navigable for

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s via 27 locks for about upstream from Mannheim to the river port of Plochingen, at the confluence with the Fils. From Plochingen to Stuttgart, the Neckar valley is densely populated and heavily industrialised, with several well-known companies. Between Stuttgart and Lauffen, the Neckar cuts a scenic, meandering, and in many places steep-sided, valley into fossiliferous

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest per ...

limestones and

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

. Along the Neckar's valley in the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...

hills many castles can be found, including Hornberg Castle and in Haßmersheim; the now-mothballed

Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant (KWO) is a mothballed nuclear power plant in Obrigheim, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, on the banks of the Neckar and owned by EnBW. It operated a pressurized water reactor unit from 1969 to 2005. It has been defuelled since 2 ...

and the active Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant are also located there. BurgHornbergBlickAufNeckar

Traditionally the fertile plains have been intensively used for agriculture and its steep valley sides as

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyard ...

Etymology

The name ''Neckar'' may be derived from ''Nicarus'' and ''Neccarus'' from

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

''Nikros'', meaning ''wild water'' or ''wild fellow''. The grammatical gender of the name in German is masculine (der Neckar).

Geography

River course

Drainage area Neckar catchment

Sources

The headwater region of the Neckar lies in the Schwenninger Moos between Schwenningen and

Bad Dürrheim Bad Dürrheim ( Low Alemannic: ''Diirä'') is a town in the district of Schwarzwald-Baar, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated east of the Black Forest, 8 km north of Donaueschingen, and 6 km southeast of Villingen. From 195 ...

. The traditionally marked

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a h ...

of the river lies in the city park Möglingshöhe in Schwenningen. Prior to the

Landesgartenschau A ''Regional Garden Show'' (''Landesgartenschau'') is an exhibition on horticulture that takes place on a regular basis in several German and Austrian states. In Germany, a state horticultural show at the state level is the smaller counterpart to ...

Villingen-Schwenningen 2010 the Neckar flowed in the city center of Schwenningen mostly underground. In order to protect the city better from the more frequent flooding through overflow of the duct, the river received more space through a new, mostly open riverbed. This riverbed runs largely on the newly constructed horticultural show ground, which was used as the occasion for the remodeling. Headwaters Up to shortly before

the Neckar is only a small rivulet on the Baar plateau. In Deißlingen-Lauffen it has is only, 4 meters high

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

, which is drained today. Afterward, the Neckar joins with the Eschach coming from the eastern slopes of the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is ...

which is much more water bearing. Its main tributary Glasbach, which originates at the Brogen, is

hydrographically Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primar ...

seen, the main river of the Neckar river system. With this junction above Rottweil the Neckar enters a narrow, wooded valley and for the next 80 km it bores its way towards north between the ranges of the Black Forest and the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...

. It has created two cut-off meander spurs at the Neckarburg which is spanned by the Neckarburgbrücke. Further down the river lies high above the river the old town of Oberndorf on a Calcareous sinter terrace, which fills one of the bowl-like side valleys. At Horb it turns from the Gäu Plateau towards north east and then follows the western side of the Swabian Jura ( Albtrauf). Near Weitingen the valley is traversed by the 127 m high Neckar Viaduct of the A 81. At Rottenburg it enters the wider valley of Tübingen. After

the valley narrows again. From here onwards, the surrounding elevated grounds are considerably more densely populated. Middle reaches At Plochingen the Neckar turns sharply north west at the "Neckarknie" (knee of the Neckar), the mouth of the Fils coming down from the east, from the Swabian Jura. Beginning from here the river has been expanded into a canalised waterway. It lies up to Stuttgart in a wide, urbanized meadow, which has been built over with industry and is cut through by transportation structures. Only around the Cannstatter valley bend for a short distance it is interspersed by large park areas. Here again the valley sides show limestone-sinter. Between Stuttgart and Lauffen the Neckar cuts a scenic, meandering, and in many places steep-sided, valley into

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

iferous

limestones Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when t ...

and

. After Stuttgart it turns again towards the general northern direction. In a winding and narrow valley section through the

Ludwigsburg (district) Landkreis Ludwigsburg is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Heilbronn, Rems-Murr-Kreis, the district-free city Stuttgart, and the districts Böblingen and ...

the Rems enters from the right at Remseck and then again from the right north of Marbach the Murr. After passing the Hessigheimer Felsengärten the water-rich Enz enters from the left at

Besigheim Besigheim () is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 13 km north of Ludwigsburg at the confluence of the Neckar and Enz rivers. The town has many old buildings and a tow ...

. The former rapid at the Lauffener avulsion of the meander is today under water due to the canalization. In the

Lowlands Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

around

the Neckar runs again through a wide meadow an open landscape. At

Bad Friedrichshall Bad Friedrichshall () is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated at the confluences of the Jagst and of the Kocher into the Neckar, some north of Heilbronn. Bad Friedrichshall arose by ...

it takes up within only two kilometers the other two of its large tributaries: First its water-richest tributary, the

Kocher The Kocher () is a -longincluding its source river Schwarzer Kocher right tributary of the Neckar in the north-eastern part of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The name "Kocher" originates from its Celtic name "cochan" and probably means winding, me ...

and then the officially longest, the Jagst, in total roughly doubling its discharge. Lower reaches Between

Bad Wimpfen Bad Wimpfen () is a historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar. Geography Bad Wimpfen is located on the west bank of the Rive ...

with its Stauferpfalz and

Mosbach Mosbach (; South Franconian: ''Mossbach'') is a town in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the seat of the Neckar-Odenwald district and has a population of approximately 25,000 distributed in six boroughs: Mosbach Town, Lohrbach, N ...

, the Neckar enters the

, where, again in a gorge-like valley, high, elevated, forested slopes line its riverside and especially on the right side, deeply cut valleys enter. At the last of his distinctive knees at Eberbach it turns west, enters at Hirschhorn for a short distance Hessian territory and is then up to

Neckarsteinach The four-castle town of Neckarsteinach lies on the Neckar in the Bergstraße district in the southernmost part of Hesse, Germany, 15 km east of Heidelberg. Geography Location Both by way of transport and culture, Neckarsteinach's locati ...

on long parts the border between Baden-Württemberg and Hessen. At

Neckargemünd Neckargemünd ( pfl, Neggergmin) is a town in Germany, in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies on the Neckar, 10 km upriver from Heidelberg at the confluence with the river Elsenz. This confluence of the t ...

the

Elsenz Elsenz is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It passes through Sinsheim and flows into the Neckar in Neckargemünd. See also *List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg A list of rivers of Baden-Württemberg, Germany: A * Aal * Aalbach * Aa ...

enters from the left, its lower reaches using a part of the Neckars former

Maurer Maurer is a German surname, translating in English to "bricklayer" or "wall builder." Notable people with the surname include: * Adrian Maurer (1901–1943), American football player *Alfred Maurer (politician) (1888–1954), Estonian politician ...

river loop which extended far south. At the city of

, which borders in the north the Odenwald and at the south the

Königstuhl (Odenwald) The Königstuhl (), is a high hill in the Odenwald Mountains and in the city of Heidelberg, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The Königstuhl summit allows visitors views of the city of Heidelberg and the Neckar river. On days with goo ...

, the Neckarvalley is cut in the deepest by over 400m through mountains. After passing the Heidelberger historic city, the river enters the wide

Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben (German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the s ...

and after further about 25 kilometers in Mannheim roughly at its middle it enters the

from the right.

Tributaries

The largest tributaries of the Neckar are the Enz with the largest drainage area, the

with the highest average water drainage and the longest one, the Jagst. The Kocher tributary

Lein Lein may refer to: People with that name * Allen Lein (1913–2003), American endocrinologist and medical school professor * Anatoly Lein (1931–2018), Soviet-born American chess Grandmaster * Lars O. Lein (1874–1958), American farmer and politi ...

is at its end not only longer than the Kocher, but also more water-abundant. Therefore, according to hydrographic convention, the Lein would have to be regarded as the main river of the Kocher water system, making it with then 201 kilometers the longest tributary of the Neckar.

Diagram of the tributaries with 50 plus km length

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:xxxx ImageSize = width:440 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 top:10 bottom:80 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:lightgrey value:gray(0.8) BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas Period = from:0 till:190 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:50 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:25 start:0 BarData= barset:length Define $left = textcolor:white color:oceanblue Define $right = textcolor:black color:skyblue PlotData= width:18 fontsize:M textcolor:black color:skyblue shift:(5,-6) anchor:from barset:length from:start till:50 $right text:Eyach (50 km) from:start till:63 $right text:Fils (63 km) from:start till:78 $right text:Rems (78 km) from:start till:52 $right text:Murr (52 km) from:start till:106 $left text:Enz (106 km, with Nagold 149 km) from:start till:169 $right text:Kocher (169 km, with Lein 201 km) from:start till:190 $right text:Jagst (190 km) from:start till:53 $left text:Elsenz (53 km) TextData= fontsize:M pos:(10,490) text: "The tributaries are listed in downstream order:" pos:(10,50) text:km pos:(10,30) text:"right tributaries: light blue" pos:(10,10) text:"left tributaries: dark blue"

Tributaries with 20 km length and more

Named from source to mouth. According to LUBW-BRSWEB, LUBW-FG10, LUBW-GEZG and TK25. Drainage area mostly according to LUBW-GEZG, else measured on the background map. Distances preferably according to the data sets of the LUBW-FG10, rarely measured on the background map. Namen preverably according to TK25. * Eschach (left tributary at

-Bühlingen, 38.1 km) *

Prim Prim may refer to: People *Prim (given name) *Prim (surname) Places * Prim, Virginia, unincorporated community in King George County *Dolní Přím, village in the Czech Republic; as Nieder Prim (Lower Prim) site of the Battle of Königgrätz * ...

(right tributary at Rottweil, 21.1 km) * Schlichem (right tributary at

Epfendorf Epfendorf is a municipality in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Epfendorf is located in the Upper Neckar valley between Oberndorf am Neckar and Rottweil. Neighboring communities The municipality borders to the north to ...

, 34.4 km) * Glatt (left tributary at Horb-Neckarhausen, 34.2 km) * Eyach (right tributary at Bf. Eyach, community Eutingen im Gäu, 50.4 km) * Starzel (right tributary at Rottenburg-Bieringen, 42.8 km) * Steinlach (right tributary at

, 25.1 km) * Ammer (left tributary at Tübingen-Lustnau, 22.5 km) *

Echaz The Echaz is a 23 km long river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, a tributary of the Neckar. It has its source on the Swabian Jura, near Lichtenstein (Reutlingen), Lichtenstein, south of Reutlingen. After flowing through Pfullingen, Reutlingen ...

(right tributary at

Kirchentellinsfurt Kirchentellinsfurt is a municipality in the district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, about 7 km east of the city of Tübingen and 7 km northwest of Reutlingen. Since 2015, Bernd Haug has been the mayor of Kirchentellins ...

, 22.8 km) *

Erms The Erms () is a river of the karstified Swabian Alb range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It flows into the Neckar in Neckartenzlingen. On its way from the Karst spring to the next large municipality Bad Urach, a former Erms sedimented, especi ...

(right tributary at Neckartenzlingen, 32.7 km) *

Aich Aich may refer to: *Aich, Styria, a municipality in Styria, Austria * Aich (surname), a Bengali Hindu surname * Aich (river), a river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany * Aich's Alloy, a type of brass * Gut Aich Priory, a Benedictine monastery in St ...

(left tributary at

-Oberensingen, 30.4 km) *

Lauter Lauter may refer to: People * Lauter (surname) Places *Lauter, Saxony, town in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg, Saxony, Germany * Lauter, Bavaria, village in the district of Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany Rivers * Lauter (Baunach), tributary to th ...

(right tributary at Wendlingen, 25.7 km) * Fils (right tributary at Plochingen, 62.8 km) * Körsch (left tributary west of

Deizisau Deizisau is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It belongs to the Stuttgart Region (until 1992 ''Region Mittlerer Neckar'') and the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. Deizisau is located between the towns ...

, 26.3 km) * Rems (right tributary at Remseck, 78.4 km) * Murr (right tributary at Marbach, 51.5 km) * Enz (left tributary at

, 105.5 km) * Zaber (left tributary at Lauffen, 22.4 km) *

Schozach Schozach is a river in Germany. It is a right tributary of the Neckar in the southern part of the Heilbronn district of Baden-Württemberg. It has its source near the village Vorhof near Untergruppenbach in the Löwenstein Hills and flows th ...

(right tributary at

-Sontheim, 25.6 km) *

(left tributary at Heilbronn-Neckargartach, 27.3 km) * Sulm (right tributary at

Neckarsulm Neckarsulm () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Heilbronn, and part of the district of Heilbronn. , Neckarsulm had 26,800 inhabitants. The name Neckarsulm derives from the city's location where the Neckar and Sulm rivers ...

, 26.2 km) *

(right tributary at Bad Friedrichshall-Kochendorf, 168.7 km) * Jagst (right tributary at Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld, 190.2 km) * Elz (right tributary at Mosbach-Neckarelz, 39.8 km) *

Itter Itter is a municipality in the Kitzbühel District in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 18.60 km west of Kitzbühel, 5 km southeast of Wörgl, and 2.5 km north of Hopfgarten im Brixental Hopfgarten im Brixental is a mark ...

(right tributary at Eberbach, 28.0 km) * Laxbach (right tributary at Hirschhorn, 30.0 km with the longest headwaters) * Steinach (right tributary at

, 21.9 km) *

(left tributary at

, 53.4 km)

Cities and municipalities

The Neckar touches, from the source to the mouth, the following districts, cities and municipalities: *

: Villingen-Schwenningen,

Dauchingen Dauchingen is a municipality in the district of Schwarzwald-Baar in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Some of the earliest evidence of human habitation of the area of Dauchingen are Roman and suggest a ''villa rustica'' from between the yea ...

Landkreis Rottweil Rottweil is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg region in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald regional district. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Freudenst ...

: Deißlingen, Villingendorf,

Oberndorf am Neckar Oberndorf am Neckar (; Swabian: ''Oberndorf am Näggô'') is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Neckar, north of Rottweil. It historically was and currently is a major center of ...

Sulz am Neckar Sulz am Neckar is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Neckar, 22 km north of Rottweil, and 19 km southeast of Freudenstadt. Sulz am Neckar came in the possession of the Hohe ...

Landkreis Freudenstadt Freudenstadt is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rastatt, Calw, Tübingen, Zollernalbkreis, Rottweil and the Ortenaukreis. History The district was created ...

Horb am Neckar Horb am Neckar is a town in the southwest of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river, between Offenburg to the west (about away) and Tübingen to the east (about away). It has around 25,000 inhabitants, of whom ...

, Eutingen im Gäu (Weitinger Mühle) * Landkreis Tübingen: Starzach (municipality districts Börstingen and Sulzau),

* Landkreis Reutlingen:

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

(municipality districts Altenburg, Oferdingen and Mittelstadt),

Pliezhausen Pliezhausen is a municipality in the district of Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geography Pliezhausen is located between the Neckar and the Schönbuch. Constituent communities The original municipality Pliezhausen consists of t ...

Landkreis Esslingen Esslingen is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the centre of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rems-Murr, Göppingen, Reutlingen, Böblingen and the district-free city Stuttgart. Until 15 October 1964 the ...

: Neckartenzlingen,

Neckartailfingen Neckartailfingen is a municipality in Germany, located approximately south of Stuttgart. It is located on the river Neckar. History Neckartailfingen was first mentioned in 1090 in the Hirsau codex (Codex Hirsaugiensis) as ''Tagelvingen''. B ...

, Oberboihingen, Unterensingen,

Wendlingen am Neckar Wendlingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated on the Neckar and Lauter rivers, 27 km southeast of Stuttgart. The town grew in size, officially, on 1 April 1940, when three sep ...

Köngen Köngen is a municipality in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. About nine kilometers from the district city Esslingen am Neckar and about six kilometers away from Nürtingen. It is part of the Stuttgart Region and the ...

, Wernau (Neckar), Plochingen,

Altbach Altbach is a municipality in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg. It belongs to the Stuttgart Region. (until 1992 ''Region Mittlerer Neckar'') and the European Metropolitan Region Stuttgart. Geography Geographical location Altbac ...

Esslingen am Neckar Esslingen am Neckar (Swabian: ''Esslenga am Neckor'') is a town in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, seat of the District of Esslingen as well as the largest town in the district. Within Baden-Württemberg it is th ...

(urban district), city districts Obertürkheim, Hedelfingen, Wangen,

Untertürkheim Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Swab ...

, Stuttgart-Ost,

Bad Cannstatt Bad Cannstatt, also called Cannstatt (until July 23, 1933) or Kannstadt (until 1900 in Germany, 1900), is one of the outer stadtbezirke, or city boroughs, of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Bad Cannstatt is the oldest and most populous ...

, Münster, Hofen, Mühlhausen) *

Rems-Murr-Kreis Rems-Murr is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Heilbronn, Schwäbisch Hall, Ostalbkreis, Göppingen, Esslingen, the district-free city Stuttgart and the ...

Fellbach Fellbach () is a mid-sized town on the north-east edge of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of approximately 45.430 is the second largest town in the District Rems-Murr-Kreis. The area of the town is . Fellbach was fir ...

(municipality district Oeffingen; only right shore) *

Landkreis Ludwigsburg Landkreis Ludwigsburg is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Heilbronn, Rems-Murr-Kreis, the district-free city Stuttgart, and the districts Böblingen and Enz ...

: Remseck am Neckar, Ludwigsburg (municipality districts Poppenweiler, Hoheneck and Neckarweihingen),

Marbach am Neckar Marbach am Neckar is a town about 20 kilometres north of Stuttgart. It belongs to the district of Ludwigsburg, the Stuttgart region and the European metropolitan region of Stuttgart. Marbach is known as the birthplace of Friedrich Schiller, to ...

, Benningen am Neckar,

Freiberg am Neckar Freiberg am Neckar is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Neckar, 18 km north of Stuttgart, and 4 km north of Ludwigsburg. Administrative structure The town of ...

Pleidelsheim Pleidelsheim is a municipality in the state of Baden-Württemberg, about north of Stuttgart. Pleidelsheim is situated on the right bank of the Neckar river across from Ingersheim Ingersheim is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsbur ...

Ingersheim Ingersheim is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, belonging to the Stuttgart Region. Geography Geographical location Ingersheim is located on the western bank of the Neckar about 20 kilometers ...

Mundelsheim Mundelsheim is a municipality in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. It is located in the Ludwigsburg district, about 30 km north of Stuttgart and 20 km south of Heilbronn, on the Neckar river. It belongs to the Stuttgart Metrop ...

, Hessigheim,

Walheim Walheim is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with a considerable viticulture. Besides the village Walheim there are no other places belonging to the municipal area of Walheim. Geography and climate Walheim is ...

, Gemmrigheim,

Kirchheim am Neckar Kirchheim is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germa ...

Landkreis Heilbronn Landkreis Heilbronn () is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Neckar-Odenwald, Hohenlohe, Schwäbisch Hall, Rems-Murr, Ludwigsburg, Enz, Karlsruhe and Rhein-Nec ...

Neckarwestheim Neckarwestheim is a municipality with 3524 inhabitants in the Heilbronn district, Baden-Württemberg, in south-west Germany. It is located on the Neckar river and is well known as the location of a nuclear power station, the Neckarwestheim Nucle ...

, Lauffen am Neckar,

Talheim Talheim () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is commonly known for its wine, the tennis tournament Intersport Heilbronn Open, Heilbronn ...

, Nordheim *

(urban district) * Landkreis Heilbronn:

Untereisesheim Untereisesheim is a municipality in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Ge ...

Offenau Offenau () is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's wes ...

Bad Rappenau Bad Rappenau (; South Franconian: ''Rappene'') is a city municipality in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated about northwest of Heilbronn. Geography Bad Rappenau is situated in the northeastern ...

(municipality district Heinsheim), Gundelsheim * Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis: Haßmersheim, Neckarzimmern,

(municipality districts

Neckarelz Neckarelz is a suburb of Mosbach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Geography Neckarelz is in northern Baden-Württemberg, between the Odenwald and Kraichgau, at the confluence of the Neckar and Elz rivers. On the other side of the Neckar, are the ...

and Diedesheim), Obrigheim, Binau, Neckargerach, Zwingenberg *

Rhein-Neckar-Kreis The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis is a district in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The administrative headquarters are based in the city Heidelberg, which is a district-free city. As of 2019, the district is the most populous in Baden-Würt ...

: Eberbach,

Schönbrunn (Baden) Schönbrunn () is a municipality in the Rhein-Neckar district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It consists of the villages Allemühl, Haag, Moosbrunn, Schönbrunn and Schwanheim. It is situated in the southern part of the Odenwald hills, south of ...

Kreis Bergstraße Kreis is the German word for circle. Kreis may also refer to: Places * , or circles, various subdivisions roughly equivalent to counties, districts or municipalities ** Districts of Germany (including and ) ** Former districts of Prussia, als ...

(Hessen): Hirschhorn (Neckar),

* Rhein-Neckar-Kreis:

(urban district), city districts Schlierbach, Ziegelhausen, Neuenheim, Altstadt, Bergheim, Wieblingen * Rhein-Neckar-Kreis:

Dossenheim Dossenheim () is a municipality in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis (district) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bergstraße and Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Geography Location Dossenheim lies 5 kilometers north of Heidelberg along the ...

(municipality districts Schwabenheim),

Edingen-Neckarhausen Edingen-Neckarhausen is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Neckar. Geography Edingen-Neckarhausen lies about 12 km south-east of Mannheim and some ...

Ladenburg Ladenburg is a town in northwestern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies on the right bank of the river Neckar, northwest of Heidelberg and east of Mannheim. The town's history goes back to the Celtic and Roman Ages, when it was called Lopo ...

, Ilvesheim *

(urban district), city districts Seckenheim, Feudenheim,

Neuostheim Neuostheim/Neuhermsheim is a suburb of the city of Mannheim, Germany, composed of Neuostheim and Neuhermsheim and is considered to be one of the more attractive neighbourhoods of Mannheim. It is located 3.5 km (2.2 mi) east of the city centre ...

, Oststadt, Neckarstadt-Ost, Innenstadt/Jungbusch, Neckarstadt-West A001, Heidelberg, Germany, the Old Bridge from the Castle, 1990

River history

The primal Neckar started off as an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

riverlet due to the slow rise of the

and the connected slow erosive retraction of the

South German Scarplands The South German Scarplands is a geological and geomorphological natural region or landscape in Switzerland and the south German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The landscape is characterised by escarpments. It is variously referred to ...

For a long time it flowed on the high plains of the different Gäu Plateaus created through the hard chalks of the

Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ...

. At Horb the river was redirected to the northeast due to the rift structure of the so-called ''

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

Lineament ''See also Line (geometry)'' A lineament is a linear feature in a landscape which is an expression of an underlying geological structure such as a fault. Typically a lineament will appear as a fault-aligned valley, a series of fault or fold-alig ...

'', which lies roughly parallel to the escarpment of the

. Following that the Neckar cut into the Muschelkalk

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

between Rottweil and Rottenburg as well as the younger

Keuper The Keuper is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Keuper consists of dolomite, shales or claystones and evaporites that were deposited during the Middle and Lat ...

and Jura layers in the northeast, and created narrow

water gap A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a prac ...

s in the area of the morphologically hard chalks and sandstones. Neckarmündung (001)

The river deepening was also caused by the further rise of the Black Forest as well as the retracting erosion of the attacking younger Neckar route. This younger Neckar route tapped the primal Neckar system at Plochingen (hence the ''Neckarknie''), which flowed through the primal

lone Lone may refer to: People * Lone (given name), a given name (including a list of people with this name) * Lone (musician), Matt Cutler, an electronic musician from Nottingham, United Kingdom *Lone (surname), a surname (including a list of people ...

to the primal

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. Another influence on this river area was the

Schurwald The Schurwald is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, which at its highest point is 513.2 m above sea level. It is one of the most important Recreation areas for the Stuttgart area. Over the centuries, the vast forests ...

, a dissected

cuesta A cuesta (from Spanish ''cuesta'' "slope") is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer laye ...

of the filder rift, working as a river guideline. Today's lower reaches used to be those of the primal Enz. Until, through the erosive retraction of a tributary of the primal Enz near Besigheim, the Neckar river network was tapped. That is how the Enz became a tributary of the Neckar. Another trace of the former north western extent of the Danube river network is the Eschach running from north west to south east, hence towards the primal Danube. With the retraction of the escarpment, it was tapped by a Neckar tributary and redirected by about 90° to the east. Considering river history, it was never a headstream of the Neckar. Until 2000 years ago the Neckar flowed through a pastureland in the

Oberrheinische Tiefebene The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...

in a tangle of meanders, slings, old waters and cut of arms between the Rhine in the west and the foot of the Odenwald in the east until it finally entered the Rhine only north of

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

Trebur Trebur is a municipality in Groß-Gerau district in Hessen, Germany. It is 13 km southeast of Mainz, and 8 km south of Rüsselsheim. Geography Location Trebur is located in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region. The cities of Mainz, Wiesbad ...

; roughly 50 km north of today's confluence in Mannheim. On large stretches you can still see it on aerial photos. In the 13th century, the confluence was south of Mannheim. A great flood changed the course of the Neckar in around 1275. Since then it enters the Rhine north of the city. The last change here took place in connection with the straightening of the Rhine by the Friesenheimer breakthrough west of today's Friesenheimer Island. Previously the Neckar entered the Rhine in the area of today's industrial port of Mannheim. Its new riverbed was also the reason for the relocation of the Neckar. After the old Neckar was cut off in early 1869, it followed the path of the new Neckar breakthrough, which was finished by 1880.

River landscape

Natural landscape

Narrow and widening valleys alternate along the Neckar's course. The narrows are mostly deepenings into the Muschelkalk plateau and the

Buntsandstein The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsandst ...

below. Widenings developed in the area of morphologically soft clay and marl. Wide valley meadows also developed through the strong backfilling with Aue clay since the start of settlement in the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

and the accompanying

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

and

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, a ...

. In the area of the narrows the

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

and cut-off meander spurs stand out. The meanders were formed through the primal Neckar, which sluggishly flowed through the almost even

plateau, forming the basic structures during the deepening phases and cutting into the hard Muschelkalk. The best known cut-off meander spur is the one at Lauffen; it cut through in historical times and created a waterfall (historic: ''Laufen''). At the cutbanks one can find rocks, formed by the limestone of the upper Muschelkalk. For example, the rock gardens at Hessigheim. They lie on the marls and clays of the middle Muschelkalks and can sag in whole stone packages, so-called ''Schollen'', down towards the Neckar. In the Odenwald narrow

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.gorges lead into the Neckar from both sides, as for example, the Wolfschlucht and the Margarethenschlucht.

Cultural landscape

Due to the risk of flooding the valley plains remained unsettled for a long time, but the nutritious and, due to its good structure, very

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

was intensively used for agriculture, and to a large degree the valley plains are still used agriculturally today. The fertile soil allows the cultivation of lucrative specialty crops like vegetables or

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant '' Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to w ...

, for example, between Rottenburg and Tübingen.

Gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either ...

quarrying in the valley plains takes away agricultural land, but created large lakes, nowadays used for recreational purposes. These

borrow pit Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock on the surface of Earth. Digging is actuall ...

s also became habitat for birds, amphibians and aquatic creatures. Such large borrow pits can be found for example near

and between

and

. The gravel bodies of the Neckar have an additional role as water reservoir and are in many places used for drinking water production. The paths usually went over the heights and only crossed the valleys where there were fords over the Neckar. This changed with the onset of

industrialisation Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

in the 19th century. It brought fundamental conflicts regarding the land usage of the flat valley plain. Large even spaces became sought after for industrial sites. The Neckar was mostly straightened in order to prevent flooding and to gain areas for industrial buildings. The river itself was expanded over the course of centuries. With the development into a heavy shipping lane in the early 20th century, the last freely flowing parts between Plochingen and the mouth disappeared and the whole river in this part nowadays is characterized by dam areas. In the strongly textured Neckar area the valley became the only possibility for modern transportation infrastructure. Construction of railway lines and avenues in the valley plains changed the Neckar valley from a cultural to an industrial landscape. One example is the densely populated and industrialised Neckar valley between Plochingen and

, which harbors large companies such as

Daimler AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...

(the maker of

Mercedes Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

cars) and

Mahle GmbH MAHLE GmbH is a German automotive parts manufacturer based in Stuttgart, Germany. It is one of the largest automotive suppliers worldwide. As a manufacturer of components and systems for the combustion engine and its periphery, the company is one ...

and recreational facilities with large area consumption like the Mercedes-Benz Arena, the

Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle (sometimes shortened to Schleyer-Halle) is an indoor arena located in Stuttgart, Germany. The capacity of the arena is nearly 15,000 people. The venue was built in 1983 and is named for Hanns Martin Schleyer, a German fo ...

or the Cannstatter Wasen, the second-largest fair of Germany. The term ''Wasen'' gives a clue, that there used to be a floodplain on which the fair was held. Distinctive points in the industrial landscape of the Neckar valley are the high chimneys of the

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts Nameplate capacity, capacity. They ...

Altbach/Deizisau and

as well as the assembly halls of the Daimler-engine plant in Untertürkheim and the Audi plant in Neckarsulm. Along the Neckar's valley in the

hills many castles can be found, including Hornberg Castle and Guttenberg Castle in Haßmersheim; the now-mothballed

and the active Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant are also located there. In contrast to the plains, the mostly steep slopes are often forested and in forestry use. The sun-exposed south-facing sites are frequently used for vineyards and are terraced with dry walls. There the local red wine grapes

Trollinger Trollinger, Schiava, or Vernatsch, is a red German/Italian wine grape variety that was likely first originally cultivated in the wine regions of South Tyrol and Trentino, but today is almost exclusively cultivated on steep, sunny locations in t ...

, Schwarzriesling and Lemberger are cultivated, which are also traditionally mostly drunk in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

. Especially the middle Neckar around Besigheim and Lauffen is characterized by in parts extremely steep vineyards, which can be cultivated only by hand. The vine terrasses at the Neckar together with the drainage area of the tributaries deliver the largest part of the cultivation area of the Württemberg wine region. The vineyards at the lower reaches from Heinsheim to Heidelberg are part of the Baden wine region. Until the end of the 19th century, vineyard cultivation was more extensive in the Neckar valley including unfavorable sites. Today these have been abandoned and gone fallow, reclaimed by wildlife. One example is the southern slopes of the Spitzberg above the Neckar near Tübingen. The river's course provides a popular route for

cyclists Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

, especially during the summer months. The slopes of the Neckar are preferred areas for high-level residential areas because they allow wide, unobstructed views.

Renaturation

The diverse usage of

raw water Raw water is water found in the environment that has not been treated and does not have any of its minerals, ions, particles, bacteria, or parasites removed. Raw water includes rainwater, ground water, water from infiltration wells, and water fro ...

and

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

, as well for the production of

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of ...

brought with it substantial interventions into the ecological structure of the river. Multiple initiatives are advocated for the

land restoration Land restoration, which may include renaturalisation or rewilding, is the process of ecological restoration of a site to a natural landscape and habitat, safe for humans, wildlife, and plant communities. Ecological destruction, to which land resto ...

the Neckar, the ecological enhancement of the river network, the improvement of the

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

, improved

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

and the creation of attractive local recreational areas alongside the river. Only recently within the frame of the nationwide campaign lively rivers and the initiative ''Lebendiger Neckar'' (German: lively Neckar), it was begun to free it from its partly-existing concrete corset. The river has in parts been redeveloped as a local recreational area and habitat for animals and plants. It still remains a symbol of endangered nature with the highest power plant density in Germany. At an oxygen content of below 4 mg/L power plant owners have to run specially designed turbines to inject air into the water. As of 2003, no mass die-off of fish due to lack of oxygen had occurred for 20 years.

Climate

The Neckar valley functions as a cold air basin, which means that under cloudless skies the heavier, cold, night air which develops on the sparsely vegetated plateaus and hills, flows into the basin and concentrates there. Especially during the cold season, such "cold lakes" can contribute to the creation of fog while all around on the plateaus the sun shines. The

orography Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discip ...

of the Neckar valley facilitates such inversive weather conditions. The Neckar valley is known for its wine cultivation climate and the cultivation of

, Lemberger, Kerner,

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. '' Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madelein ...

amongst other locally grown grape varieties. Wine cultivation has receded over the 20th century and cultivation of the "Württemberger Wein" is mostly restricted to the southfacing slopes with high radiation gain in the Neckar valley and its side valleys, as wine cultivation is labor-intensive and in Württemberg competitive only in the best sites.

Navigation

Various excavations of harbor installations and findings lead to the conclusion that the Neckar navigation already existed during the Roman Age in the first century. Especially on the lower Neckar. Main purpose was probably the transportation of construction material for the Limes and provisions. Later the Neckar navigation was probably restarted by the Franks.

Historical Development

Timber floating from 1100

Starting from 1100 the usage of the Neckar as a waterway with line boats and

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

s has been attested. The river was already blocked by weirs in the surroundings of several cities during the High Middle Ages. In Heilbronn a harbour was mentioned for the first time in 1146. The Neckar privilege granted by Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV in 1333 allowed the free imperial city the construction of a weir. After its construction, the continuous traffic on the river was for several centuries blocked. An annoyance for the neighbours. The permission of passage for

raftsman A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

therefore had to be determined contractually. In 1342 Württemberg, the

Markgrafschaft Baden The Margraviate of Baden (german: Markgrafschaft Baden) was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, ...

and the free imperial city signed an agreement for the opening of the Neckar for rafts between Besigheim and Heilbronn. A treaty from 1476 between the free imperial city Esslingen, Württemberg and Austria fixed free rafting trade as well. The last raft went through Tübingen down the Neckar river on October 26, 1899. The wood from the eastern

Northern Black Forest The Northern Black Forest (german: Nordschwarzwald) refers to the northern third of the Black Forest in Germany or, less commonly today, to the northern half of this mountain region. Geography The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north ...

was shipped through the Neckar and then Rhine up to

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

. Because of the developing seafaring the shipbuilding had a large demand for wood. The

firewood Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellets or chips. Firewood ca ...

from the

was combined to up to 260 Meter long rafts in Plochingen.

Navigation from the 16th century onward

The Neckar gained importance as a waterway in the middle of the 16th century due to the beginning upper German trade. Despite many interventions in the river course in order to improve navigation, the river which had a

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport w ...

, was because of dangerous rapids and shallows only navigable for smaller

barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

and this mostly only up to Heilbronn. Making the upper Neckar navigable was then pushed ahead by

Christoph, Duke of Württemberg Christoph of Württemberg (12 May 1515 – 28 December 1568), ruled as Duke of Württemberg from 1550 until his death in 1568. Life In November 1515, only months after his birth, his mother, Sabina of Bavaria, fled to the court of her parent ...

who got the necessary permission from Emperor Karl V. in 1553. The city of Heilbronn still insisted on its rights so that the river was blocked at Heilbronn which meant that the upper Neckar and therefore Württemberg remained cut off from the navigation coming from the Rhine. All shipped goods were subject to Heilbronner

staple right The staple right, also translated stacking right or storage right, both from the Dutch ''stapelrecht'', was a medieval right accorded to certain ports, the staple ports. It required merchant barges or ships to unload their goods at the port and to ...

. In the late 16th century, Duke of Württemberg,

Frederick I Frederick I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I, Count of Zoll ...

had plans for the navigation passage but discarded those in 1598 and instead planned to construct a württembergian trade port in Kochendorf. – which was as unsuccessful as his successors plans to build one in

. During the times of need in the 17th century, the navigation was insignificant. Ernst Fries 001

Immediately above Mannheim interventions were necessary due to regular floods. After 1622, smaller corrections were made at the back then-existing Neckar loops between

s Feudenheim and today's Friedrich-Ebert-Bridge. Floods still occurred and threatened the city, lastly in 1784 and 1789. The situation was then relaxed through the straightening of the river bed by means of for breakthroughs in combination with the lowering of the river bed as well as fortifications and dams. After consolidation of the situation in the 18th century, electoral palatinate market ships regularly travelled on the lower Neckar river. On the upper Neckar boats regularly travelled between Heilbronn and Cannstatt for several years around 1720; the expansion of the navigation to the Württembergian Plochingen further up the river failed due to the free imperial city of Esslingen. While the electoral palatinate shipping on the lower Neckar was quite successful, the shipping on the upper Neckar was soon stopped again as the river was not suitably enough expanded for a navigation and moreover no funding was available for the further upgrading. Württemberg and the Electoral Palatinate signed a trade agreement in order to start up the Neckar navigation between Mannheim and Cannstatt during a time of economical rise in the late 18th century. In 1782 the previous two and the free imperial city of Heilbronn agreed upon facilitations in the Neckar trade but which were only of administrative nature. The Neckar still remained blocked at the weir in Heilbronn. The

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

ic times around 1800 brought a downfall to the Neckar navigation. On the one hand – because most parts of the lower Neckar area had fallen to

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

and the free imperial cities of Heilbronn and Esslingen to

– the many disputes and obstructions of the former small states did not hamper the trade anymore. But during the

Continental System The Continental Blockade (), or Continental System, was a large-scale embargo against British trade by Napoleon Bonaparte against the British Empire from 21 November 1806 until 11 April 1814, during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon issued the Berli ...

the navigation was restricted and ships and material were confiscated. The introduction of the Mannheimer Stapels ("Mannheim stable") in 1808 meant that the merchants of Mannheim gained control over almost all Neckar trade. During the German Campaign of 1813 only small ships travelled on the Neckar, mainly military transports. The

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

demanded the freedom of traffic on the Neckar and Rhine rivers in 1814/1815.

Continuous navigability with the Wilhelmskanal in 1821

The 550-meter-long Wilhelmskanal ("Wilhelms canal") was constructed in Heilbronn from 1819 to 1821. The reason was the bypassing of the entire weir area and many mills. After further river construction measures, the Neckar became navigable all the way between the Rhine and

Cannstatt Bad Cannstatt, also called Cannstatt (until July 23, 1933) or Kannstadt (until 1900), is one of the outer stadtbezirke, or city boroughs, of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Bad Cannstatt is the oldest and most populous of Stuttgart's ...

. A lock gate at the upper end of the canal could turn it during floods into a port of refuge which was, already in 1829, expanded into a port of transshipment. In 1827 the Mannheimer Stapel was lifted through which the Neckar navigators gained back free access to the Rhine river. The Rheinschiffahrtsakte ("Mannheim Act") from 1831 and in consequence of it the ("Neckar navigation regulations") from 1832 brought, through simplified regulations and tariffs a significant rise for the navigation. But because of its shallows and rapids the river was considered one of the most dangerous in Germany. In 1836 the ("Neckar shipping guild") was dissolved, which had since 1810 tried to gain a monopoly on the Neckar trade. With the ratification of the in 1842 all Guilds were dissolved and thereby economic freedom created. Heilbronn Neckar mit Kettenschiff vor 1885

Heilbronn Neckar mit Kettenschiff vor 1885

From 1841/42 onwards the Heilbronn-based Neckar-Dampfschifffahrt introduced a regular passenger and general cargo transport from Heilbronn to Mannheim. Despite the usage of modern steam ships, horses still pulled the heavy barges on the towpath upriver. The reason was that the steam ships were not yet strong enough herefore. The competition of rail transport made steam ships as well as towing barges gradually uneconomic in the second half of the 19th century. Rafting on the other hand kept its importance, but adapted to the age of the railroad. Because trunks from the Black forest did more and more go by train to Heilbronn and only from there continued their trip on the water, a new rafting harbour was constructed in Heilbronn in 1875. Above Esslingen the rafting was only of little importance. The last raft passed the city on 28. Oktober 1899. A new recovery for the Neckar navigation came with the

chain boat navigation Chain-boat navigation or chain-ship navigation is a little-known chapter in the history of shipping on European rivers. From around the middle of the 19th century, vessels called chain boats were used to haul strings of barges upstream by using ...

begun in 1878. Despite the construction of a railroad line along the Neckar. Between Mannheim and Heilbronn steam towboats with attached barges were now able to pull themselves upriver on a 115 km long chain which had been put into the river. Through that, the trip between Mannheim and Heilbronn was shortened to two to three days. On the horse drawn ships it had previously taken five to eight days. But often the water depth was not deep enough. The vernacular name for the chain boats was Neckaresel ("Neckar donkey"). The last chain boat navigation was still done 1933 – 1935 between Neckargerach and the barrage Kochendorf. The world's first

motorboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

made during the summer of 1886 by

Gottlieb Daimler Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf ( Kingdom of Württemberg, a federal state of the German Confederation), in what is now Germany. He w ...

and

Wilhelm Maybach Wilhelm Maybach (; 9 February 1846 – 29 December 1929) was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of Designers". From the late 19th ce ...

was named "Neckar" when their ''Standuhr'' (

grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are common ...

)

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...

was tested on the river near Bad Cannstatt. The motorized cargo navigation began on the Neckar in 1925. The first motor cargo ship on the river was ordered by the brothers Ludwig (1887–1955) and Jakob Götz (1890–1977) already in 1924 at the Anderssen Werft ("Anderssen shipyard"). It was put into service in 1925 and christened "Gebrüder Götz". The motor cargo ship was operated by the shipping company drove for the shipping company Ludwig und Jakob Götz, founded in 1920. One of the best known shipping companies on the Neckar, which was also involved in the upgrading of the river to a heavy shipping waterway. In 1946 the first transportation order for

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

after the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

on the Neckar was awarded and shipped by Johann Friedrich Boßler with his motor cargo ship Elisabeth.

Upgrading to a heavy shipping waterway between 1921 and 1968

In order to provide the rising industrial area around Stuttgart a waterway connection for fully rigged ships, first plannings for channelling of the Neckar between Mannheim and Plochingen began already in 1904. The goal was to be mostly independent from natural impacts as for example low waters or floating ice. With the Württembergian side Otto Konz (1875–1965) was assigned who remained connected to the Neckar upgrading the rest of his life. A memorandum from 1910 allowed for ships up to 1000 tons, according to plans from 1919 the transportation was planned for the 1200-t-ship. Because the Neckar was earmarked as a Reichswasserstraße (literally:"realm waterway") in the Weimar Constitution in 1919 (officially from 1. April 1921), Neckarbaudirektion (literally: "Neckar construction department") was introduced in 1920 whose head Otto Konz became. The department was directly subordinated to the German Reich (often called "Weimar Republic"). In 1921 the German Reich, the Neckar adjoining states Württemberg, Baden and Hessen agreed in a state treaty the upgrading of the Neckar to a heavy shipping waterway. In order to finance the construction project they founded the Neckar AG with a construction loan from the German Reich, the three States and several municipalities in the same year. As compensation the AG received the right to use the simultaneously expanded hydropower until 2034 and to redeem the construction loan with the profits; this right transferred to the Federal Republic of Germany. As chairman of the Neckar AG were elected

Otto Hirsch Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...

from the Württembergian ministry of internal affairs and Otto Konz. In consideration of the world famous cityscape of Heidelberg and in order to bring the further barrages in unison with nature and landscape, the architect Paul Bonatz worked for the project (1877–1956). Construction began immediately along the entire distance in 1921. Along a stretch of 113 km length the first eleven barrages between Mannheim and the new canal harbour in Heilbronn were finished in 1935. This canal harbour became later through the further expansion the barrage channel Heilbronn. Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079111-0011, Bad Wimpfen, Schiffahrt auf dem Neckar

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079111-0011, Bad Wimpfen, Schiffahrt auf dem Neckar

The expansion of the Neckar to a heavy shipping waterway lead to a

shipbuilding industry Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

exclusively for the passenger traffic on the river. Already in 1926 the brothers Georg (1881–1946) and Andreas Boßler (1884–1961) founded the Personenschiffahrt Gebr. Bossler, which makes the Gebrüder Bossler pioneers for passenger navigation on the Neckar. While the river was upgraded and the barrages constructed, the Neckar-Enz-Stellung, a defensive fortification against enemies approaching from the West was constructed between 1935 and 1938. It was based between Eberbach and

on the natural obstacle of the Neckar river and from thereon followed the Enz upriver up to Enzweihingen. Upgrading works were begun near Plochingen at the upper end of the intended waterway and plans existed to make the Fils between Plochingen and

Göppingen Göppingen (Swabian: ''Geppenge'' or ''Gebbenga'') is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the bi ...

navigable. The area for a harbour in Göppingen remained reserved in spatial planning until 1978. The construction chairman Konz also ordered the planning of a tunnel through the

for a waterway

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

at the Danube in order to create a waterway between upper Rhine and upper Danube, as the State treaty from 1921 had planned. But those plans were dropped from 1968 onwards. After 1935 the upgrading slowed down. Until 1943 only six barrages above Heilbronn were constructed, but without locks. Hirsch was forced out of office and murdered in the KZ Mauthausen in 1941. Konz went into provisional retirement because of national socialist repressions. The constructions were mostly stopped during the second world war. Only in 1948 the barrage construction above Heilbronn was continued, until 1952 again led by Otto Konz. The section up to Stuttgart was finished in 1958 and Stuttgart harbour was opened by the president Theodor Heuß together with Otto Konz. With the opening of the Plochingen harbour in 1968 the expansion goal for the Neckar was reached after 47 years of construction. The river was dammed up at 27 locks and thereby had become a heavy shipping waterway from Mannheim to Plochingen. Every barrage consists of a weir with two to six openings and different gates, a double lock and a remote-controlled hydropower plant next to each other. At seven barrages, where a larger damming up was not possible due to the landscape, a parallel barrage and hydropower canal varying in length from 1.5 to 7.5 km has been constructed. At two further barrages a breakthrough exists which cuts of a river bend. In total only 17% of the entire distance from the Rhine up to the mouth of the Rems lie in an artificial waterbed, which means the river character dominates. On the last 32 km of the waterway in the area of the less water carrying upper river which is at the same time heavily used economically, almost the entire river bed had to be constructed artificially.

Today

Stuttgart-Untertuerkheim-Wangen-Gaisburg-Neckarhafen-Daimler-Gaskessel-2011

Neckar at Stuttgart-Untertürkheim through heavily industrialized area The Neckar (Ne) is being administered after taking over step-by-step from the Neckar AG since 1970 from Mannheim to Plochingen as a Bundeswasserstraße (literally "federal waterway") by the water- and navigation offices

and

. The Federal Republic is owner of the waterway. Sport boats including paddle and rowing boats are subject to the Binnenschifffahrtsstraßen-Ordnung, valid on the Neckar which for example defines the need of identification and the rules for the right of way. 159 water abstraction points and 628 water intakes show the heavy water economical usage. On the Neckar, which is nowadays classified as a "Wasserstraße des Typs Va" (waterway Type Va) from km 201.5 at Plochingen to its mouth (km 0), 7332 river boats transported in 2012 7.5 million tons. The largest parts of these tons were made up of construction material (1,9 Millionen t) and coal (1,6 Millionen t) as well as salt (1,3 Millionen t). 21.000 TEU Containers were transported. Leisure ships run by various companies travel on the river for tourists. On the upper Neckar the passenger navigation is handled by the company Neckar-Käpt'n. Stuttgart-hafen-2005

Harbour

Plochingen harbour

On December 8, 1954, the ''Neckarhafen Plochingen GmbH'' was founded. From 1960 until 1963 the last barrage was constructed near

. The construction of the ''Neckarhafen Plochingen'' started on April 29, 1964. The first ship landed in Plochingen on July 12, 1968, after it had been blessed with the name "Plochingen" by Gertrud Hartung, the mayor's wife. In the harbour 15 companies generated an annual revenue of about 500 to 600 Million Euro in 2004.

Stuttgart harbour

The Neckarhafen Stuttgart was constructed in two steps, from 1954 until 1958 and from 1966 until 1968. The harbour area covers a total area of 100 ha. The three basins including the federal waterway have a water surface of 30,7 ha.

Cannstatt harbour

The first Cannstatter "Hafen am Mühlgrün" was inaugurated by duke Eberhard Louis in 1713. It remained insignificant.

Heilbronn harbour

The Heilbronn harbour with a total factory area of 78 ha and a quay length of 7,2 km based on the turnover the 7th largest inland harbour in Germany (2010) and the largest of the Neckar. Over 50% of the Neckar turnover is done here. In total about 4 million tons per year. About 60% of the turnover are

domestic trade Domestic trade, different from international trade, is the exchange of domestic goods within the boundaries of a country. This may be subdivided into two categories, wholesale and retail. Wholesale trade is concerned with buying goods from manufactu ...

, the rest are international goods and commodities. Additionally to commodities and construction material (

Salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

) grain, iron, steel and timber are loaded.

Mannheim harbour

The Mannheim harbour is one of the most important inland harbours in Europe and the second-largest in Germany. The harbour has a total water surface of 267,9 ha, additionally there is 863,5 ha land area. About 500 companies with 20.000 employees have settled in the harbour area. In 1968 the first

Container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

-Terminal in an inland harbour was opened here. Furthermore, a

RoRo Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

-facility and since 1991 a

combined transport Combined transport is a form of Intermodal freight transport, intermodal transport, which is the movement of goods in one and the same loading unit or road vehicle, using successively two or more modes of transport without handling the goods thems ...

terminal. On the water side 7.64 million tons of goods were turned over in 2010. The largest stakes have bituminous coal 2.2 million t, food- and fodder with 0.92 million t and chemical goods with 1.59 million t. At the container terminal on the water side 120.568 units were turned over. The harbour basin spreads out around the mouth of the Neckar along the Rhine and Neckar. The overall complex includes the Ludwigshafener Rheinhafen, which is situated directly on the opposite side of the Rhine river.

Barrages

The maximum size of the river boats driving on the Neckar is limited by the locks of the 27 barrages. Those are in general 110 m long and 12 m wide; the allowed dimensions are therefore 105 m x 11.45 m. Since 1952 almost every Barrage got a second lock. 23 of those locks use almost 50% of the water of one chamber to fill the other empty chamber in order to save water (so-called twin locks). In order to prevent jams at the mouth of the Neckar, the first barrage Feudenheim received a further lock in 1973 (190 m × 12 m). The barrages have an average distance of 7 km between each other (between 0.9 and 13.7 km, see table) and are used to cover the difference in altitude of 160.70 m to the Rhine at low water. The waterway depth is since 2000 continuously 3.80 m. This means that the Stuttgart harbour can be reached by the large motor ships of the Rhine, which have a draft of 2.6 m and a loading capacity of 2200 t. In the coming years it is planned to refurbish the locks and partly extend them. In total the federal government invests 575 Million Euro for this project. For its execution, the Amt für Neckarausbau Heidelberg was founded in 2007. In order to make the Neckar navigable for 135 m long ships, one of each dual lock chamber is going to be lengthened. Furthermore, the old chambers are going to be refurbished and certain sections and turn around spots expanded. The barrages between Mannheim and Heilbronn are supposed to be lengthened until 2026. The Gundelsheim lock received the title "most water sport friendly lock" in 2012. Table of the locks at the Neckar with river kilometers and aimed stowage height in meters above Normalnull ( NN) and difference in level ( de) in meters. BadCannstattSchleuseStuttgart gobeirne

Stuttgart-Hofen -Schleuse- 2007 by-RaBoe 003

In contrast to other waterways as for example the Mosel or Main there are no boat locks except for Bad Cannstatt. Therefore, yachts and sailing boats are normally locked in the river boat locks. The rails installed at the other 26 barrages to pull boats from one side to the other are often in a bad condition or even unusable. In some places canoes can, if allowed by the locks staff, use the lock as well. This is especially used on group trips. Since 2004 the remote control center in Stuttgart-Obertürkheim (Fernbedienzentrale, FBZ) controls all locks from Deizisau to Stuttgart-Hofen on the upper Neckar.

Stream gauge and flood

Crucial for the professional and recreational navigation on the Neckar are its stream gauges. According to the Hochwassermeldeordnung (HMO, flood report regulation) of the State Baden-Württemberg the following Hochwassermeldehöhen are valid at the

stream gauge A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation (" stage") and/or vo ...

: Gauge Plochingen The gauge in Plochingen (since 1905) was the only gauge at the waterway that lay in free descent. In 1962 the moveable barrage in Deizisau was constructed. In order to keep water level differences caused by the barrage, a ridge was constructed about 100 m below the Plochingen street bridge and moved the gauge there. The large flood in February 1970 destroyed the ridge made of stones. Because the costs for a new ridge made out of concrete seemed to be too high, a more economic solution was found. Out of the stream gauges and discharge of the gauges in Wendlingen (Neckar-km 206,5 – for the upper Neckar) and Reichenbach (Fils-km 2,5 – for the Fils) water gauges and discharges are algorithmically calculated and published. Flood * 1824: The most serious flood in the Neckar area happened in October 1824. Estimates conclude for a HQ₄₀₀₀, that means a

return period A return period, also known as a recurrence interval or repeat interval, is an average time or an estimated average time between events such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, or river discharge flows to occur. It is a statistical measurement typ ...

of 4000 years. A study has been done to clustering simultaneous occurrences of the Extreme Floods in the Neckar Catchment and the results shows the Neckar catchment has been divided into three major clusters. The first cluster mainly covers the western part and is bounded by the Black Forest and Swabian Alps. The second cluster is mostly located in the eastern part of the upper Neckar. The third cluster contains the remaining lowland areas of the Neckar basin

Freeze up

* 1709: From January 18 until January 28 and from January 31 until February 13 as well as shortly after February 13 until March 23 the Neckar was frozen up.

Structures

Mills

The hydropower of the Neckar drove numerous mills, of which some are surviving to today: * In

powder mill A powder mill was a mill where gunpowder is made from sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal. Milling steps Crude grinding and mixing operations such as the Frankford Powder-Mill of Philadelphia were a cottage industry until the industrial revolution ...

existed since the 15th century which merged to the

Powder factory Rottweil A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...

in 1863. * In Gundelsheim the building of the ''Alten Neckarmühle'' (old Neckar mill) dates back to 1604. The milling was stopped following the Neckar regulation. The last miller was Meister Batz around 1935/36. There is no equipment in place anymore, for a time it was used gastronomically. Worth seeing are a large stone with a coat of arms and old inscriptions.

Power stations

At least since the early 20th century, power stations replaced the historical mills. Since then the Neckar has been used for commercial electricity production through hydroelectric power. Several transregionally known hydro plants can be found at the Neckar: * In Horb the construction of a hydroelectric plant was begun at the island front at the level of the Schillerstraße in February 2010. It started producing electricity on April 13, 2011. The hydroelectric plant is expected to produce 2.3 kWh yearly in the future – enough in order to supply about 600 four-person households with electricity. Together with the already existing, refurbished facilities it has an average total power of 437 kW. The total investments were about 5.5 million Euro. * In Rottenburgs district Bad Niedernau the Wasserkraftwerk Bad Niedernau can be found. * In

the two power plants Beim Preußischen and Tübinger Straße. Kraftwerk Kiebingen 1905-10 (EfT079A)

* In

Kiebingen Kiebingen is a suburban district of Rottenburg am Neckar in the administrative district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Geography Kiebingen is located 3 km (1.9 mi) eastern from Rottenburg and 8 km (5 mi) west ...

the Rottenburger clock factory

Junghans Junghans Uhren GmbH is a German watch and clock manufacturer. The company is located in the district of Rottweil, in a town called Schramberg, Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany. History On 15 April 1861 Erhard Junghans created the compan ...

did run since 1903 their own power plant, which still produces electricity today. For the clock factory the plant run by water and steam was over-dimensioned, therefore the overproduction was sold. Today the historic powerhouse is under monumental protection. Despite its age, the power plant is a very modern plant with three characteristics: The turbines have an innovative scoop shape which has been developed with computer simulations, special Thordon-Turbine bearings and inflatable rubber dam. A fish pass recreates since the modernization the pervasiveness for the fish migration at the weir.EnBw: ''Wasserkraft Standorte''
/ref> * The hydroelectric plant Tübingen-Hirschau is located between Hirschau and Tübingen as well as the ''Wasserkraftwerk Rappenberghalde'' which was constructed in 1930. It was refurbished in 1999 and today the two Kaplan turbines produce together with the residual water turbine at the weir upstream in Hirschau 7 million kWh electricity per year. Per second more than 22 cubic metres of water flow through a 1.7 km long supply canal to the plant. The plant uses the incline of the Neckar of 7.5 meters. Tuebingen-stauwehr

* The Wasserkraftwerk Neckarwerk in

was constructed together with the weir within the frame of the Neckar regulation as one of the first

roller dam A Roller dam is a type of hydro-control device specially designed to mitigate erosion. They are most often used to divert water for irrigation but the largest and most notable examples are used to ease river navigation. The world's first roller ...

s in Germany in 1910/1911. It is used for electricity generation as well as control of the river. Through the weir the water level of the Neckar in Tübingen center is managed. Before the construction of the weir the Neckar was full of gravel banks and hat a very flat waterfront. This can be seen on many photographs and drawings prior to the construction. Moreover, floods, which now and then flooded the back then only few buildings in Wöhrd and sometimes threatened the Neckar bridge have been eliminated with this weir and the other weirs (e.g. in Rottenburg). For fish a fish ladder has been constructed later on. The pedestrian bridge over the weir is an important connection of the two waterfronts between Lustnau and the central Eberhards or Neckar bridge. It also provides a nice view of Neckar, historic city center, abbey church and castle. Kraftwerk Oberesslingen mittel

* The Kraftwerk Oberesslingen is a

run-of-the-river hydroelectricity Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...

plant between two Neckar islands at river kilometer 195.6 in Oberesslingen. The plant was constructed in 1929 in the frame of the upgrading to a heavy waterway according to a design made by the architect

Paul Bonatz Paul Bonatz (6 December 1877 – 20 December 1956) was a German architect, member of the Stuttgart School and professor at the technical university in that city during part of World War II, and from 1954 until his death. He worked in many styl ...

. It has a capacity of 2.1 MW and delivers per year about 12.3 GWh energy. The average flow ist 45

cubic meter The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...

per second. * In Esslingen a new

plant has been constructed on the Hechtkopf. With a power of 1.25 MW and a yearly electricity production of 7.1 GWh 4000 people can be supplied with electricity. With the construction of this new power plant the last of the barrages on the Neckar has been equipped with turbines. It is framed by a weir in the Neckar on one side and the historical bridge house over the Hammerkanal (hammer canal) on the other side. Lauffen-Frankfurt 1891f

* The Drehstromübertragung Lauffen–Frankfurt was on August 25, 1891, the worldwide first transmission of electric energy with high voltage alternating three-phase current. On the occasion of the International Electrotechnical Exhibition 1891 the electricity generated by the hydropower plant at the Mühlgraben in Lauffen am Neckar was upvolted to 15 kV and transported over 175 km to

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

where it did run an artificial waterfall. The power plant was moved up river during the upgrading of the Neckar. The original generator is now located in the Deutschen Museum (German Museum) in Munich. * The hydropower plant Heilbronn lies on the old Neckar in the city center and not on the canal. Therefore, no lock exists here. Wehr Wieblingen

* At the Heidelberger Karlstor is another barrage with lock; the corresponding power plant is the only underwater hydropower plant at the Neckar. The construction permission the Neckar AG 1994 received for it in 1994 had a number of requirements. Neither were visible changes at the weir which is under monumental protection, nor should the new power plant change the historic cityscape of Heidelberg. The technical solution was a power plant embbeded invisibly under the riverbed. * At the weir in

the weir bridge connects the city districts Wieblingen and Neuenheim. Additionally, the Neckar is and has been a cooling water supply for coal and nuclear power plants. Near Esslingen-Zell the Neckar cools the Altbach Power Station, one of the most modern bituminous coal power plants in Europe. It consists of two blocks and is located on the area of the two municipalities

and

. It can including its gas turbines and the combination block 4 produce a maximum of about 1270 MW of electrical power. The Heizkraftwerk Stuttgart-Gaisburg, the incineration facility of the Kraftwerks Stuttgart-Münster, the Kraftwerk Marbach, the

Kraftwerk Walheim Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

, the Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Station, the Kraftwerk Heilbronn and the mothballed

source their cooling or evaporation water from the Neckar as well.

Bridges

Famous bridges include the Neckar Valley Bridge Weitingen, near the town

and the Old Bridge, in Heidelberg. The ladder is amongst the best known historic bridges. It already existed in the High Middle Ages and was erected in today's form in 1788. Further historic Neckar bridges are the Neckarbrücke in Lauffen am Neckar, in the core dating back to 1532, the Neckar bridge in Sulz constructed in 1742, the Pliensaubrücke, the Alte Agnesbrücke (old Agnes bridge) and the Ulrichsbrücke in Köngen. The oldest still remaining Neckar bridge is the Innere Brücke in Esslingen. The 230 meter long construction was built in the 13th century and consists of eleven stone arches. The Neckartalbrücke Heilbronn is with 1348 meter the longest Neckarbridge. The prestressed concrete construction built in 1967 is ailing and since early 2018 being replaced by a new bridge. In Neckargröningen the 85-meter longest free spanning wooden pedestrian bridge was created in 1990. The unusual structure has a triangle profile. Die älteste Spannbeton-Eisenbahnbrücke Deutschlands – erbaut 1957 – steht in Heilbronn. In the year 1905, there were already 119 bridges over the Neckar, of which, with a total length of 230 meters, the longest was the Neckargartacher Neckarbrücke built between 1903 and 1905. In 1985 the heavy waterway was crossed by 159 railroad-, street- and pedestrian-bridges and also by 126 overhead power lines and 67 Düker. In total there are today about 400 Neckar bridges of various sizes, half of it on the upper and half of it on the middle and lower reaches.

Castles and palaces

From Mannheim over

, Eberbach, Mosbach up to Heilbronn the Castle Road runs almost parallel to the Neckar and passes on this about 100 km long section of the lower Neckar numerous castles and palaces. Most notably the

Heidelberg Castle Heidelberg Castle (german: Heidelberger Schloss) is a ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demoli ...

zu nennen. Unter den Neckarburgen sind aber auch die vier Burgen in Neckarsteinach, Dilsberg Castle, Burg Eberbach, Burg Hirschhorn, Zwingenberg Castle, Burg Stolzeneck, die Minneburg, Burg Dauchstein, Schloss Neuburg (Baden), die Hornberg Castle (the castle of

Götz von Berlichingen Gottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen (1480 – 23 July 1562), also known as Götz of the Iron Hand, was a German (Franconian) Imperial Knight (''Reichsritter''), mercenary, and poet. He was born around 1480 into the noble family of Berliching ...

) and the Guttenberg Castle ( Deutsche Greifenwarte), Horneck Castle, Burg Ehrenberg. In the further course upriver to Stuttgart and continuing on, on the upper Neckar stand the Burg Horkheim and the Neippergsche Schloss Klingenberg, Schloss Lichtenegg, the

Esslinger Burg Esslinger (or Eßlinger) is a German surname. It may refer to: People *Hartmut Esslinger Hartmut Esslinger (born 5 June 1944) is a German-American industrial designer and inventor. He is best known for founding the design consultancy frog, a ...

, Burg Remseck,

Schloss Liebenstein ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogna ...

, the Weiler Burg, the Ruine Herrenzimmern, the Schloss Hohentübingen, the Schloss Weitenburg, the

Ruine Albeck Ruine may refer to: *Alter Der Ruine, a power noise group from Tucson, Arizona *La Grande Ruine (3,765 m), a mountain in the French Alps, in the Massif des Écrins * Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre, an album by English band Current 93 A num ...

near

as well as the ruins Wehrstein and Neckarburg.

Towers

Rottweil Test Tower The TK Elevator Test Tower (TK-Elevator-Testturm) is an elevator test tower in Rottweil, Germany. It is owned by TK Elevator, who have their elevator research campus nearby. It stands tall and was built to test the company's MULTI elevator syst ...

Fernmeldeturm Mannheim The Fernmeldeturm Mannheim is a concrete telecommunication tower with an observation deck in Mannheim, Germany. It was designed by the architects Heinle, Wischer und Partner and built from 1973 and 1975. It contains transmission facilities fo ...

The Neckar in literature

Der Neckar
poem by

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...

wrote a poem entitled "Der Neckar". *The Neckar is mentioned prominently in

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

's 1893 "Rheinlegendchen" ('Little Rhine Legend'), first published in 1899 in a cycle of 12 songs under the title ''Humoresken'' ('Humoresques'), today known as one of Mahler's '' Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' (Songs from ''The Youth's Magic Horn'').

Literature

* Dr. Hanns Heiman: ''Beiträge zur Geschichte des Neckarschiffergewerbes und der Neckarschiffahrt''. ''Die Neckarschiffer'' Band 1, C. Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, Heidelberg 1907,
Digitalisat
* Dr. Hanns Heiman: ''Die Lage der Neckarschiffer seit Einführung der Schleppschiffahrt''. ''Die Neckarschiffer'' Band 2, C. Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, Heidelberg 1907,
Digitalisat
* Jan Bürger: ''Der Neckar. Eine literarische Reise''. C. H. Beck, München 2013, . * Der Neckar. Das Land und sein Fluss, hrsg. von der

Landesanstalt für Umwelt, Messungen und Naturschutz Baden-Württemberg The ''Landesanstalt für Umwelt, Messungen und Naturschutz Baden-Württemberg'' (LUBW) or Baden-Württemberg State Institute for the Environment, Survey and Nature Conservation is a central institution of the German federated state of Baden-Württ ...

. Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2007, . * Franz X. Bogner: ''Das Land des Neckars.'' Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2004, . * Walter Hailer (Hrsg.): ''Der Neckar – unser Lebensraum''. Ministerium für Umwelt und Verkehr, Stuttgart; Geschäftsstelle IKoNE, Besigheim 2003. * Jörg Bischoff, Norbert Kustos: ''Der Neckar von der Quelle bis zur Mündung''. Ellert & Richter, Hamburg 2001, (Bildband). * Hartmut Müller: ''Der Neckar''. (= Literaturreisen). Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, . * Helmut Betz: ''Historisches vom Strom'' Band. V – ''Die Neckarschiffahrt vom Treidelkahn zum Groß-Motorschiff'', Krüpfganz, Duisburg 1989, * * Andrea Wehr (Hrsg.): ''Neckar-Lesebuch. Geschichten und Gedichte dem Neckar entlang''. Silberburg, Tübingen und Stuttgart 1994, . * Willi Zimmermann: ''Der Neckar. Schicksalsfluss der Stadt eilbronn'. Heilbronner Stimme, Heilbronn 1985, . * Willi Zimmermann: ''Heilbronn und sein Neckar im Lauf der Geschichte''. In: '' Historischer Verein Heilbronn. 21. Veröffentlichung'', Heilbronn 1954. * Südwestdeutscher Kanalverein für Rhein, Donau und Neckar: ''Neckarkanal 1935'', Verlag Julius Hoffmann ca. 1935, Broschur ca. 21 cm × 21 cm, 109 Seiten. * Martin Eckoldt: ''Zur Gewässerkunde des kanalisierten Neckars'', Mitteilung Nr. 62, Koblenz, 1955, Hrsg. Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde, Koblenz. * Behrendt: ''Hydrologie am Neckar'', aus Zeitschrift für Binnenschifffahrt und Wasserstrassen Nr. 9, 1973. * M. Eckoldt (Hrsg.): ''Flüsse und Kanäle. Die Geschichte der deutschen Wasserstraßen.'' DSV-Verlag 1998 * Wasser- und Schifffahrtsdirektion Südwest: ''Kompendium der Wasser- und Schifffahrtsdirektion Südwest. Organisatorische und technische Daten, Binnenschifffahrt, Aufgaben, Wasserstraßen.'' Eigenverlag, Mainz Juni 2007

Maps

* Landesvermessungsamt Baden-Württemberg: ''Freizeitkarte F513 Mannheim Heidelberg – Naturpark Neckartal-Odenwald (Westblatt).'' Stuttgart 2006, . * Landesvermessungsamt Baden-Württemberg: ''Freizeitkarte F514 Mosbach – Naturpark Neckartal-Odenwald (Ostblatt).'' Stuttgart 2006, . * Erhard Jübermann: ''Wassersport-Wanderkarten, Blatt 3, Deutschland-Südwest''. Geocenter, 2004, . * Gerhard Römer (Hrsg.), Irene-Annette Bergs (Bearb.): ''Der Neckar in alten Landkarten''. Ausstellungskatalog.

Baden State Library The Baden State Library (, BLB) is a large universal library in Karlsruhe. Together with the Württembergische Landesbibliothek, the BLB is the legal deposit and regional library for Baden-Württemberg. Library Profile Established around 1500, ...

, Karlsruhe 1988, .

References

External links

Tourism Information about the river Neckar
(German) {{Authority control Rivers of Baden-Württemberg Rivers of Hesse Federal waterways in Germany Rivers of Germany