Ayderkanal

A canal waterway ran along the border between the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein , and since its construction it has been known as the Schleswig-Holstein Canal. After the First War for Schleswig , the Danish government renamed the waterway the "Eider Canal" to counter the German nationalist idea of Schleswig-Holstein as a single political entity; but when the region came under Prussian control after the Second War for Schleswig , the name returned to the old Schleswig-Holstein Canal. In modern historiography, a channel is called by any name. ^[2]

Already in 1571, Duke Adolf I of Holstein-Gottorp proposed building an artificial waterway through Schleswig-Holstein , connecting the bend of the Aider (Eider) river with the Baltic Sea to the east in order to compete with the Shteknitz channel, which is nearby for merchant ships. ^[5] At that time, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp was a vassal of the Kingdom of Denmark , but the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein were constant enemies of their Danish overlords, and the region’s political fragmentation and ongoing conflict over its legal rule constituted an insurmountable obstacle to such a large-scale project. ^{[6] The} prospect of building a canal was again raised under King Christian IV and Duke Frederick III . ^[7]

After the incorporation of Holstein into the Danish crown under the Tsarskoye Selo Treaty of 1773, geopolitical conditions finally allowed to begin in 1773 the construction and further operation of the canal. Surveying and planning for the canal began in 1773, with a preliminary plan proposed in February 1774. On April 14, 1774, Danish King Christian VII issued a cabinet decree establishing a commission to oversee the construction of the canal, led by Heinrich Karl von Schimmelmann . ^[8] Among other things, the decree said: ^[9]

“As we now see through the providence of the Almighty, being in the undivided possession of the Duchy of Holstein, we helped our dear and faithful fatherly subjects to reconcile the Baltic Sea and the North Sea by digging a canal, which - as far as nature and location permits, it should be at a depth at least 5-6 feet, thereby contributing to the expansion of trade and the promotion of all commercial roads in the country. ”

Original text (Danish)

" Eftersom Vi ser Os gennem det Højestes forsyn nu i udelt besiddelse af hertugdømmet Holsten, har Vi til gavn for vores kære og trofaste undersåtter truffet den faderlige beslutning om at forene Østersøen og Nordsøen ved at der ärn åtrörn en grave en og placering tillader det, skal være mindst 5 til 6 fod dyb, for derved at fremme og udvide handelen og fremme alle næringsveje i landet. "

Construction

Preparatory work on the canal began in 1776 with the dredging of the lower Ayder between Friedrichstadt and Rendsburg . The artificial canal was then dug up and equipped with locks to allow ships to cross the peninsula's watershed and descend to Kiel Bay on the Baltic Sea. The construction of the artificial site, ultimately 34 km (21 miles) long, began in July 1777 in Holtenau on the Baltic Sea north of Kiel , which continued until the autumn of Knop. This section partially followed the small river Lefenzau, which flowed into Keeler Forde, the bay of Kiel Bay. The section from Knop to Ratmansdorf was built between 1778 and 1779 and the highest segment (connection to Lake Flemhuderse.) Was completed in 1780. Finally, locks were installed along the natural course of Upper Ayder, starting from Rendsburg , to raise and deepen the river and make it navigable to the western end of the artificial canal.

The canal included 130 kilometers (81 Miles) of the Ayder River and a stretch of 9 kilometers (5.6 Miles) passing through the upper Aider Lakes (Obeider) in Rendsburg, with a total shipping route of 173 kilometers (107 miles). There was a difference in height of about 7 meters (23 feet) between the Baltic and the upper Aider, which required the construction of six locks located in Rendsburg, Kluvensik, Königsförde, Ratmansdorf-Hof, Knop, and Holtenau (from west to east). All construction work was completed by the fall of 1784. ^{[10] [11]}

Replacing the Kiel Canal

The Ayder Canal soon carried a significant amount of shipping, and after decades, the increasing number and size of ships wishing to cross the peninsula strained the channel's capacity. Aider’s winding bed and the need to navigate through the Frisian Islands in the western part of the canal added time to travel, and the settlement of warships at the end of the 19th century precluded their use of the canal. In 1866, following the Second War for Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein became part of Prussia , after which the German government considered a number of options for reconstructing or replacing the canal to improve trade and military access to the Baltic. ^[12]

In 1887, Kaiser Wilhelm I inaugurated the construction of the new Kiel Canal through Schleswig-Holstein. Although the western end of the new canal is further south (at the mouth of the Elbe ), most of the Ayderkanal watercourse has been reused for the new waterway. Many areas were deepened, and some were straightened, cutting off the bends that still exist as lakes. The new channel was opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1895. ^[13]

In 1783, as part of the development of the canal, three warehouses were built along the watercourse (the so-called “ packing houses ” in Germany): one at the gateway to Kiel-Holtenau , one at the gateway to Rendsburg, and one in the port area of Tönning . Infrastructure allowed the storage and transshipment of bulk goods passing through the canal, for example, wool , cereals , coffee and salt . All three warehouses are made of brick on a wooden frame, have three full floors and an attic. The warehouses in Holtenau and Tönning are comparable in size (length 77.5 m and width 12.6 m), with a living area of ​​approximately 4,000 square meters (43,000 feet); in Rendsburg, the warehouse is significantly smaller than the other two (29.5 m × 12.6 m).

In the east, the canal ended at Kiel Bay at the mouth of the Lefenzau River. The canal went west in the natural channel of the river to the first gateway, to the Holtenau warehouse, and to the second warehouse near the Knop estate. On both sides there were already existing bridges across Lefenzau. Then, at a short distance, the canal separated from Lefenzau to pass northwest from Ahtstükenberg to the third lock in Ratmansdorf, where the canal reached its maximum height of 7 meters (23 feet) above sea level. A section of the canal from Knop to the Ratmansdorf lock has been preserved, with standing remnants of the locks. To the west of Ratmansdorf, the canal returned to the Lefenzau channel and followed it to the west until it joined Lake Flemhuder, which provided the highest segment with a supply of water for the canal. ^[14]

From Flemhuderse, the canal proceeded west to the south to the Rosencrantz estate until he arrived at the fourth lock at Klein Königsförde. From there, he followed a long stretch of the Ayder River, a small hook north of Königsförde to Grünhorst, and then bend south on Seestedt to the fifth lock on Kluvenzik. The section from Klein Königförde via Kluvenzik to Hohenfelde is still preserved today, along with the remains of the gateway system. From here, the canal followed the natural bed of the Ayder River, flowing past Schirnau, Lembek and Borgstedt, before finally arriving at Rendsburg, where there was the sixth and last lock, as well as the second “packing house”. From Rendsburg, the waterway ran naturally along the Ayder River until it flowed into the North Sea in Tenning, where the third “packing house” was built.

Technical Description

The artificial part of the canal is 34 km (21 miles) long, 28.7 m (94 ft) wide at the water level, 18 meters (59 ft) wide at the bottom, and 3.45 meters (11.3 ft ) deep , making a section of the aquifer of 83 square meters (890 square feet). Ships up to 28.7 m (94 ft) long, 7.5 meters (25 ft) wide, 2.7 meters (8.9 ft) draft and 140 tons (310,000 lb) of displacement were allowed to pass through the canal. ^[15] The passage through the canal and along the Ayder River took three days or more; in adverse winds, the ships pulled the horses along the accompanying towing tracks . Over more than a hundred years of operation of the canal, about 300,000 ships crossed.

Significant parts of the former Ayder canal, along with its four gateways, are now in the conservation zone , as important components of the historical and cultural landscape of Schleswig-Holstein. Since the waterway in the 18th and 19th centuries included noble estates in the project, which lay directly on the canal, as a landscape protected area since 1939, the Alter Ayderkanal at the Kluvenzik estate site in Bovenau, measuring 33.1 hectares, and since 1961 The Alter Aydercanal plot, the manor park and the environs of the Stift estate in Altenholz, 38.3 hectares in size, are under protection. Since 1938, part of the old Ayderkanal in Altenholz as a place of conservation of a rare fern- bone- fern (Asplenium trichomanes) and fragile vesicle (cystopteris fragilis) has been protected. Protected as cultural monuments are the Holtenau Gateway, the Ratmannsdorf Gateway at Altenholtse , the Klein Königsdorf Gateway in Krumvis , and the Kluvenzik Gateway in Bovenau (together with a drawbridge ). The segments of the old canal in Bovenau and Altenholz were designated as a landscape protection zone. ^{[5] [16] [17]}

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  Warehouse in Rendsburg

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  Warehouse in Tönning

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  View of the facade of the warehouse in Tönning from Am Hafen

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  Gateway in Klein-Königferd

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  Klein-Königferd Canal

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  Gateway in Klein-Königferd

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  Gateway to Ratmansdorf

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  Gateway to Ratmansdorf

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  Gateway to Ratmansdorf

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  A look at Ayderkanal from the "Dutch" drawbridge at the gateway in the area of ​​Krumvis

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  Decorative pond from the non-functional lock pool in Rendsburg, on the side of An der Schluss.

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  View of the facade of the warehouse in Rendsburg, Hollsenstrasse 15, from An Unteider.

• Ludwig Channel

• Schleswig-Holstein Association "Channel" (in German)