Reuss (river)
The Reuss River in Lucerne
The Reuss under the Spreuerbrücke
The Reuss is a 164 km long river in Switzerland, with a catchment area of 3425 square kilometers. This makes it by Rhine, Aare and Rhône of Switzerland 's fourth largest river. The upper reaches of the River Reuss was formerly thought to * Sila, as required to explain the place name silenes. The present name is first occupied in 1296 as Rusa, in the 16th and 19th centuries it appears sometimes as the cause.
Course
The Reuss rises in the Gotthard massif, the Gotthard Pass and the Furka Pass at 2,431 m above sea level. M. Gotthardreuss and Furkareuss unite in Urserental and flow to the east. One of the headwaters of the Furka Reuss is the Witenwasserenreuss.
In Andermatt, the river turns to the north and crosses the Schöllenenschlucht. The impassable Schöllenenschlucht with its steep, hundreds of meters high granite walls was the obstacle to the completion of the Gotthard Pass, which could only be overcome through difficult structures such as the Urnerloch and the Devil's Bridge in the Middle Ages. In the Schoellenen is also the Suvorov monument, which was dedicated to the Russian General Suvorov and commemorates the Battle of 1799.
In Göschenen exit and highway the Gotthard tunnel tubes. Until Erstfeld follow more canyons, then it goes through the wide plain of the Urner Reuss Valley until the Reuss flows near Flüelen in Lake Lucerne.
In Lucerne, she leaves the lake again and flows as a broad river with many loops and turns in first east, then north through the Reuss valley past ancient towns such as Bremgarten and Mellingen until it is below Windisch at the " water castle of Switzerland " in the Aare flows.
Importance
Of historical importance is the Reuss insofar as it was in the Middle Ages since the 10th century for about 200 years, the border river on Swiss territory between the Kingdom of Burgundy and the German Empire, respectively temporarily to the other parts of the Empire.
The most important Reuss valleys are:
- In the Canton of Uri: Göscheneralptal, Maderan Erstfeldertal, Schächental, Isental
- In the canton of Schwyz: Riemenstalden, Muotatal
- In the canton of Nidwalden: Engelbergertal
- In the canton of Obwalden: Sarneraatal
- In the Canton of Lucerne: Valley of the Little Emme / Entlebuch
Gallery
Devil's Bridge in 1900
The Chapel Bridge in Lucerne
Lorzemündung at Maschwanden, right the Reuss
The autumn Reuss just before the confluence with the Aare in the "water tower "