First published: 17/07/19.

Klaus Freisinger 2.5

Water Management System Of Augsburg

Water Management System of Augsburg (Inscribed)

Water Management System of Augsburg by Klaus Freisinger

Augsburg is a great historic city with many interesting features and one would have expected a nomination of the historic centre and/or the Fuggerei (the social housing complex built by the world's wealthiest family at the time). The nomination of the water management system came as a bit of a surprise to me, but I guess this is a way to stand out from the crowd of medieval cities and to put a more unique angle on their historic heritage. It's of course not the only WH site focussing on water management, but it does give a rare overview of its historic development from Roman and medieval to modern times. Basically any visit to Augsburg will bring you in contact with this site, and it is very pleasant to walk through this historic city and admire its many beautiful buildings. First, though, I took a taxi out to the Hochablass weir on the Lech River, one of the most important sites which originally dates from the Middle Ages (the current construction is early 20th century, though). You can walk across the weir to the canoe course built for the 1972 Olympics. From there, my taxi took me back into town to the Rotes Tor (Red Gate), the oldest existing waterworks in Central Europe. From then on, it was easy to explore the city on foot. There are many canals and millwheels (at the Vogeltor) to see, plus several interesting buildings like the Stadtmetzig (17th century), which used the canal for disposing offals. In the immediate city centre, close to the beautiful Town Hall, there are three fountains (Augustus, Merkus, Herkules) that symbolize the city's connection to water. So, all in all, Augsburg as a city is definitely worth a visit and once there, it is quite easy to pick up some components of this WH site, which to me was definitely very interesting.

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