Danube-Networkers
The Danube – a European Lifeline
Text / Picture(s): Christl and Heinz Pfeiffer
The geographic situation
Seen from a geographic point of view the source of the Danube brook is springing in the middle of a variety of landscapes at 670 metres above sea. The source of the Danube is embedded in the "Baar". Only a few kilometres to the West you will find the headwaters of the Neckar, one of the large German rivers, in the "Schwenninger Moos". While the Neckar is running West, the Danube is the only one of the important German rivers that is taking its direction to the East.
To the West the Baar forms the transition to the Black Forest, to the East to the steeply rising Swabian Jura. Accordingly there is a great variety of plant and animal life in this area. Being 2850 kilometres long the Danube is the second longest European river. It connects ten countries with ten different languages and cultures.
In the course of the centuries the city of Donaueschingen has developed all around the source of the Danube brook. The city, today one of the leading economic and cultural centres of the Baar area and the surrounding regions of Black Forest and Swabian Jura, was mentioned for the first time authentically in 1292.
The setting of the source
In the course of time the setting of the source has been changed several times. In 1538, a description and a wooden engraving appeared for the first time. In 1875, a new setting was created and a sculpture entitled "The young Danube as a child in the bosom of the Baar" was added. In 1896, this sculpture was replaced by the present group of marble sculptures "Mother Baar with her daughter, the young Danube". Today, the sculpture of 1875 can be found where Brigach and Breg flow together.
The attraction exerted by the source
Every year, the attraction of the source is demonstrated by the large number of tourists travelling by car or by bus, or riding on their bicycles to Donaueschingen. The largest number of visitors is registered in summer, but even in winter many people come to see the origin of the river. Since the fall of the "Iron Curtain" the ties connecting the different neighbouring states with each other have grown ever stronger. Around the source you will find more and more visitors from the former communist nations. Seven of these nations have already demonstrated their sympathy with the source by putting up plates with adequate texts on them.
The dispute concerning the origin of the Danube
Because of the lack of a clearly defined origin of the Danube there have always been discussions disputing this origin. Nobody can deny the fact, that the source of "little Danube brook" is situated on the boundary of Donaueschingen. As the confluence of Brigach and Breg today is internationally accepted as the origin of the Danube, the city of Furtwangen is claiming its origin, because the Breg springing from the Martinskapelle near Furtwangen is 48 kilometres long and therefore the longest of the three brooks forming the Danube. This dispute is the reason why the Danube in contrast to other rivers with a clearly defined origin, is measured from its mouth. Point zero is the lighthouse in the Danube delta at Sulina, today the easternmost point of the European Union.
The Danube crossing Baden-Württemberg
The total length of the "German Danube" is 663 kilometres. The distance between Donaueschingen and the city of Ulm, which means the territory of Baden-Württemberg, is about 200 kilometres. This section represents the most primitive and most untouched part of the river. This is due to the fact that this part of the Danube is neither wide nor steep enough to be used as a waterway. Such exploitation is made possible after Ulm. Accordingly there has been little interference into nature and the attraction for tourists is great.
One of the most impressive landscapes in this part of the Danube is between Immendingen and Möhringen where a large part of its waters disappear from the surface seeping away into a system of underground caves, so far hardly explored. In summer sometimes the waters disappear completely. While a part of the waters reappear on the surface twelve kilometres south, another part comes back to the surface near Möhringen so that the Danube can continue its way to the Black Sea.
