Wiese

Wiese
Location of the Wiese river
Country	Germany, Switzerland
Basin
Main source	Black Forest
River mouth	Rhine 47°34′58″N 7°35′13″E / 47.58278°N 7.58694°ECoordinates: 47°34′58″N 7°35′13″E / 47.58278°N 7.58694°E
Physical characteristics
Length	55 km (34 mi)

The Wiese is a river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and Basel-City, Switzerland, a right tributary of the Rhine. It rises in the Black Forest, on the Feldberg. The Wiese flows through Todtnau, Schönau im Schwarzwald, Schopfheim and Lörrach. After crossing the border with Switzerland, the Wiese flows through the quarters of Basel on the right side of the Rhine, and joins the Rhine opposite the French town Saint-Louis. Its length is 55 km.

The largest tributary is the Little Wiese (German: Kleine Wiese, which is fed from the two headwaters the Köhlgartenwiese and the Belchen Wiesemeadow, which unite in Tegernau and form the Little Wiese. From Tegernau, the Little Wiese flows south and joins the Wiese west of Schopfheim.

Name

Etymologically, the name Wiese is probably derived from the Old European root word virs or is- for water, or water,^[1] and has nothing to do with the German word Wiese, which means "meadow".

Course of the river

Die Wiese near Steinen

The Wiese rises on Mount Feldberg and flows as a mountain stream through a narrow valley with steep slopes in the Black Forest, past the towns of Fahl, Brandberg and Todtnau. After Todtnau, it flows past Geschwend and through the towns of Utzenfeld, Schönau im Schwarzwald, Wembach Fröhnd, and then past the villages of Mambach, Atzenbach and Zell im Wiesental.

Between Zell im Wiesental and Hausen im Wiesental, the narrow valley opens up and the Wiese valley becomes a wide open plain. The river flows past the towns and villages of Fahrnau, Schopfheim, Gündenhausen, Maulburg, Höllstein, Steinen and past the districts Hauingen, Brombach, Haagen, Tumringen, the city center, Tüllingen and Stetten of the city of Lörrach.

The Wiese flows into the Rhine between the Basel districts of Kleinhüningen and Klybeck

After the railway bridge in Stetten, the river leaves Germany and flows its last six kilometers across Swiss territory. It flows through the municipality of Riehen and into Basel, where it flows into the Rhine. The German municipality of Weil am Rhein is not directly adjacent to the Wiese, however, it has access to the river via the hamlet of Mühleteich.

The towns and municipalities along the Wiese all belong to the Landkreis of Lörrach, except Riehen and Basel, which are in the half-canton of Basel-Stadt.

References

• Eduard Golder: Die Wiese. Ein Fluss und seine Geschichte, Construction departement of Basel-Stadt, Department of Civil Engineering, 1991.

Footnotes

1. Krahe, Hans: Theorie über die älteste Gewässernamengebung, see also Vennemann (1994), Steinbauer (1996).

External links

• Picture gallery of the Wiese valley "from the source to the mouth"
• Facts about the "Wiese" river
• Population density of the water blackbird along the Wiese (PDF; 63 kB)
• Landschaftsentwicklungsplan Landschaftspark Wiese (PDF; 1,45 MB)
• The Wiesionen project in Lörrach