Stadtteile von Wien entlang der Donau (gesehen von Nordwesten)

The Donauinsel (Danube Island) is a long, narrow

artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those th ...

in central

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

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 ...

, lying between the

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 , p ...

river and the parallel excavated channel ''

Neue Donau The New Danube (German Neue Donau) is a side channel built in 1972–88 on the eastern side of the Danube in Vienna, Austria. It was created to provide flood relief by containing excess water. The Donauinsel (Danube Island), made out of the re ...

'' ("New Danube"). The island is in length, but is only wide. The New Danube waterway is practically an elongated (swimming) lake, technically a diluvian bed. It has been described as an "autobahn for swimmers", due to the number of people in Vienna who own amphibious cars.

Recreation and festival venue

To most visitors, the island is known as a recreational area with bars, restaurants and nightclubs. It has sports opportunities from

rollerblading Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

cycling 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 t ...

and

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

to canoeing. There is one

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

that, in its beginning, felt so exotic that it was soon nicknamed the "Copa Cagrana" as a humoristic allusion to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

's Copacabana: ''Kagran'' is the part of the 22nd District of Vienna next to that beach. In the southern and northern parts of the island, there are extensive (and free)

nude beach A nude beach, sometimes called a clothing-optional or free beach, is a beach where users are at liberty to be nude. Nude beaches usually have mixed bathing. Such beaches are usually on public lands, and any member of the public is allowed to ...

es. The

Donauinselfest The ''Donauinselfest'' (German for " Danube Island Festival") is a free open-air music festival which occurs annually at Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria. The festival is hosted by SPÖ Wien. It is the largest open-air music festival in the wor ...

is an internationally well-known annual open air festival, and Europe's biggest event of this kind, with over 3 million visitors. It takes place at the end of June (Friday through Sunday) – except for 2008 (September 5–7), due to Austria (and Switzerland) hosting the European Football Championship. On September 23, 2008, Madonna gave her first concert in

there in front of a crowd of 57,000.

Reliable flood protection

The main purpose of the island however is to be part of Vienna's highly sophisticated flood protection system. As the river Danube crosses the city (before major extensions: passed nearby), this has been a constant concern over hundreds of years. The first notable protective measures were taken between 1870 and 1875. A central bed, 280 m, was dug out, and an inundation area of 450 m was created at the river's left bank. In 1970, a new plan was conceived and soon executed: digging an additional channel to replace the former inundation area, and using the spoil to build up the remaining strip of land between the straightened bed from the 19th century flood defense schemes and the newly created one. The new channel is called the Neue Donau (New Danube). After the completion of the works it was envisaged that the resulting island should eventually be used for recreation. The flood control system is designed to protect from flash floods bringing river flows of up to 14,000 m³ per second. This has only happened once in Vienna's history; in 1501. The heavy 2002 flood brought flows of 10,000 m³ per second. It includes the

Danube Canal The Donaukanal ("Danube Canal") is a former arm of the river Danube, now regulated as a water channel (since 1598), within the city of Vienna, Austria. It is long and, unlike the Danube itself, it borders Vienna's city centre, Innere Stadt, ...

's historic Nußdorf watergate, locks at either end of New Danube, a groundwater level control system integrated into the right bank flood levee (which creates appropriate conditions for the large park area

Prater The Prater () is a large public park in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria. The Wurstelprater, an amusement park that is often simply called "Prater", lies in one corner of the Wiener Prater and includes the Wiener Riesenrad Ferris wheel. Name The ...

, once part of a wide alluvial forest zone), and the new Freudenau river plant's sluice. The works were started in March 1972 and finished in 1988. "Zwischen 1870 und 1875 gab es die erste Donauregulierung" and "1988 ..fertig gestellt." (from a test for immigrants, webpage
-->articles/97/1/Die-Donauinsel/Page1.html Auslaender-P1
applying for Austrian citizenship; official paper, in German) The river plant was added from 1992 to 1998.

Notes

References and other external links

* Donautech, Donauinsel datasheet, webpage

Danube Island Vienna
Informations and photographs from the Citymagazin www.wien-konkret.at
Copa Cagrana at night (JPG, 22k)Danube Island Free Festival
– Official information, English.

Maps

* Vienna map showing Danube Island (English): 2008, webpag
MapAustria-Vienna
* Simple Interactiv
Vienna tourist map
linked to a short English descriptions of Danube Island and other Vienna tourist spots. * Bette

by Vienna magistrate; it consists of 8 GIFs, c.100k each. {{Authority control Islands of the Danube Klosterneuburg Floridsdorf Donaustadt Landforms of Vienna River islands of Austria Nude beaches