The Thaya ( cs, Dyje ) 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 wate ...

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

, the longest tributary to the river Morava. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

is . It is ( with its longest source river German Thaya) long and meanders from west to east in the border area between

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

(

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) and South Moravia (

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

), though the frontier does not exactly follow the river's course in most parts. Its source is in two smaller rivers, namely the German Thaya (''Deutsche Thaya'') and the Moravian Thaya ( cs, Moravská Dyje, german: Mährische Thaya), flowing together at Raabs an der Thaya. The confluence of Thaya and Morava is the southernmost and the lowest point of

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

. Its name means "the inert". There is also a small village which bears the name

Dyje The Thaya ( cs, Dyje ) is a river in Central Europe, the longest tributary to the river Morava. Its drainage basin is . It is ( with its longest source river German Thaya) long and meanders from west to east in the border area between Lower Au ...

, located near

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian R ...

Geography

In its upper reaches, the Thaya flows through deep gorges ( Podyjí), along which it passes many

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s and chateaus. In Moravia, it has been dammed in several locations. Thaya gathers waters from the western half of

and the adjacent part of

. Its biggest tributaries are Svratka and Jihlava, flowing together into the middle one of the

Nové Mlýny reservoirs The Nové Mlýny reservoirs ( cs, Vodní dílo Nové Mlýny) are three reservoirs behind the Nové Mlýny Dam on the Thaya River in the Czech Republic. The lower reservoir, 1,668 ha in area, is the Novomlýnská (or Nové Mlýny) Reservoir, the ...

. Important cities and towns along the Thaya: * Raabs an der Thaya *

Drosendorf-Zissersdorf Drosendorf-Zissersdorf is a town in the district of Horn in Lower Austria, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is ...

Vranov nad Dyji Vranov may refer to places: Czech Republic * Vranov (Benešov District), a municipality and village in the Central Bohemian Region *Vranov (Brno-Country District), a municipality and village in the South Moravian Region *Vranov (Tachov District), a ...

* Hardegg *

* Laa an der Thaya *

Lednice Lednice (; german: Eisgrub) is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,100 inhabitants. It is known as part of Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritag ...

Břeclav Břeclav (; german: Lundenburg) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Town parts of Charvátská Nová Ves and Poštorná are administrative parts of Břeclav. Etymol ...

Dams

All the dams are situated in Czech Republic. They are used for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

and flood protection.

References

Rivers of the South Moravian Region Břeclav District Znojmo District Rivers of Lower Austria International rivers of Europe * Rivers of Austria {{CzechRepublic-river-stub