Cutting the Gordian Danube, Vienna 1875. (source) |
Half a thousand years of river bend changes in Vienna 1529-2010 (source) |
Cutting the Gordian Danube, Vienna 1875. (source) |
Half a thousand years of river bend changes in Vienna 1529-2010 (source) |
„Anno Domini 1304. Cum aqua Danubii transiens per pontem Ratisponensem omnio versus litus apuilonare declinasset, et litora prope civitatem sicca et arida reliquisset, ceves Ratisponenses artificiose et mulits laboribus et expensis ipsam aquam, ut iterum prope civitatem flueret, ad loca pristina per strues lignorum et congeries lapidum reduxerunt.”
The section of the Danube between the Naab and the Regen in 1829 (source) |
The Wöhrloch in 1638 (source) |
Sources and literature:
Le 30 mai 1875, en présence de Sa Majesté François-Joseph Ier, empereur d'Autriche et roi de Hongrie, le Danube fut inauguré à Vienne lors d'une cérémonie dans son nouveau lit rectiligne et canalisé. Le 15 avril, un mois et demi avant la cérémonie d'inauguration, la digue de protection en terre (Rollerdamm) fut ouverte et le Danube entra dans son nouveau lit canalisé juste au-dessous du pont des chemins de fer du Nord-Ouest (Nordwestbahnbrücke). Trois jours plus tard, le premier bateau à vapeur franchissait déjà le nouveau tronçon. L'histoire de la Rollerdamm est reconstituée ci-dessous sur la base des écrits du livre Wasser | Stadt | Wien.
La digue de protection en terre (Rollerdamm) à Vienne le 10 avril. 1875. (Image originale) |
La position du Rollerdamm (source) |
La section inférieure du nouveau Danube près de Freudenau à Weidenhaufen a été réalisée par la construction d'un fossé de 114 à 170 mètres de large, qui a ensuite été élargi par le Danube, emportant la plupart des sédiments vers le Marchfeld. La partie supérieure avait été entièrement excavée, mais lorsque le nouveau lit de la rivière fut dragué près de Nußdorf, les ouvriers eurent une mauvaise surprise : le lit de la rivière était jonché des restes de travaux d'ingénierie fluviale des siècles précédents. Pendant des années, les dragues à vapeur se sont efforcées de les dégager, mais les machines utilisées à l'époque étaient trop faibles pour enlever ces défenses massives. Au total, des milliers de pieux en bois datant de plusieurs siècles et 18 kilomètres et demi de structures en bois diverses furent retirés.
Pour la construction du canal, les dragues à vapeur et les transporteurs ont été utilisés pour la première fois à grande échelle et ont dû déplacer une quantité incroyable de sédiments pour l'époque. La plupart des 16,4 millions de mètres cubes de sédiments, de gravier et de sable excavés ont été utilisés pour remplir les zones suburbaines de Brigittenau et de Leopoldstadt, contribuant ainsi grandement à l'augmentation de la zone urbaine de Vienne. Le nouveau lit du Danube à Vienne comprenait la construction de digues de protection contre les inondations des deux côtés, l'approfondissement du canal du Danube et la construction de cinq nouveaux ponts sur le Danube.
Lors du dragage du nouveau lit, une étroite digue de terre appelée "Rollerdamm" a été laissée dans la partie la plus septentrionale du lit, maintenant jusqu'au dernier moment la direction de l'écoulement vers l'Alte Donau. À l'origine, cette digue n'était pas perpendiculaire au nouveau lit de la rivière, mais suivait la ligne d'écoulement de l'Alte Donau depuis la rive gauche des ponts actuels de Florisdorf jusqu'au Handelskai sur la droite. Il était également surmonté d'un chemin de fer industriel, dont l'un des terminaux se trouvait sur l'actuelle Friedrich-Engels-Platz. Le 15 avril 1875, un mois et demi avant la cérémonie d'ouverture officielle, le Rollerdamm a été ouvert sous la direction du géologue Eduard Suess, la petite brèche étant rapidement élargie par le Danube jusqu'à ce que le barrage soit complètement emporté sur la largeur du nouveau lit du fleuve.
Dans un premier temps, le Danube s'est montré réticent à occuper le nouveau lit. Après le retrait des crues de printemps, la fermeture technique de l'Alte Donau a commencé, mais dans le lit rétréci, le fleuve exerçait encore une force considérable, déplaçant les bateaux chargés de pierres enfoncés dans le lit, détruisant la digue en cours de construction et creusant de profondes fosses dans les sédiments meubles. Finalement, des structures en bois remplies de blocs rocheux ont été reliées entre elles par des câbles et mises en place sur des voies ferrées, fermant définitivement l'ancien lit de la rivière. Peu de temps après, en février 1876, le premier "test de résistance" du nouveau système d'approvisionnement en eau de Vienne a été effectué. Dans le tronçon du Danube encore non régulé de Vienne, sous le pont Ostbahnbrücke à Stadlau, la glace s'entassa et l'eau en crue, repoussée par le barrage de glace, trouva son exutoire dans le bras mort de l'Alte Donau. La digue inférieure et la digue supérieure se rompirent et les trente-trois bateaux de la compagnie "Castor, Couvreux et Hersent" furent emportés hors de l'ancien bras et mis à terre, endommagés, dans une prairie fluviale près de Fischamend. Le 25 février 1876, le London Times a également fit état de la prétendue défaillance totale des ouvrages de régulation à Vienne et publia une fausse nouvelle selon laquelle le nouveau cimetière central de Vienne était tellement inondé que les cadavres avaient été emportés hors de leurs tombes.
L'ouverture du Rollerdamm le 15 avril 1875. Au-delà se trouve le pont du chemin de fer du Nord-Ouest, construit en 1872. (source) |
On 30 May 1875, in the presence of His Majesty Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, the Danube in Vienna was inaugurated with a ceremony in its new, straight, canalised riverbed. On 15 April, a month and a half before the inauguration ceremony, they opened the Rollerdamm and the Danube entered into its new channel just under the Nordwestbahnbrücke. Three days later, the first steamship was already crossing the new stretch. The below history of the Rollerdamm is reconstructed on the basis of the writings of the book Wasser | Stadt | Wien.
The Rollerdamm in Vienna on April 10. 1875. (Original image) |
The position of the Rollerdamm (source) |
The lower section of the new Danube near Freudenau at Weidenhaufen was done by the construction of a 114-170 metre wide ditch, which was then widened further by the Danube, washing out most of the sediment towards the Marchfeld. The upper section had been fully excavated, but when the new riverbed was dredged near Nußdorf, the workers were in for a nasty surprise: the riverbed was littered with the remains of river engineering works from previous centuries. For years, steam dredgers had struggled to dredge them out, but the machines used at the time were too weak to remove the massive defences. In all, thousands of wooden piles from different centuries and 18 and a half kilometres of various wooden structures were dredged out.
To build the canal, the steam dredgers and transporters were used for the first time on a mass scale had to move an incredible amount of sediment for the time. Most of the 16.4 million cubic metres of sediments, gravel and sand excavated were used to fill the suburban areas of Brigittenau and Leopoldstadt, contributing greatly to the increase in the urban area of Vienna. The new Danube riverbed in Vienna included the construction of flood protection embankments on both sides, the deepening of the Danube canal and the construction of five new bridges over the Danube.
During the dredging of the new riverbed, a narrow earth dike called the "Rollerdamm" was left in the northernmost part of the riverbed, maintaining the flow direction towards the Alte Donau until the very last moment. It was not originally perpendicular to the new riverbed, but followed the flow line of the Alte Donau from the left bank of the present-day Florisdorf bridges to the Handelskai on the right. It also had an industrial railway on top, one of its terminal was at today's Friedrich-Engels-Platz. On 15 April 1875, one and a half months before the official opening ceremony, the Rollerdamm was opened under the direction of geologist Eduard Suess, the small gap being rapidly widened by the Danube until the dam was completely washed away along the width of the new riverbed.
At first, the Danube was reluctant to occupy the new riverbed. After the spring floods receded, the technical closure of the Alte Donau began, but in the narrowing bed the river still exerted considerable force, displacing stone-laden boats sunk into the bed, destroying the embankment under construction and carving deep pits in the loose sediment. Finally, wooden structures filled with boulders were wired together and lowered into place on railway tracks, permanently closing the old riverbed. Relatively soon afterwards, in February 1876, the first "stress test" of the new Vienna water system was carried out. In the still unregulated Danube section of Vienna, under the Ostbahnbrücke in Stadlau, the ice was piled up and the raising water, pushed back by the ice dam, found its outlet in the Alte Donau oxbow. Both the lower and upper embankment broke and the thirty-three ships of the company "Castor, Couvreux et Hersent" were washed out of the old branch and put ashore, damaging them, in a riverine meadow near Fischamend. On 25 February 1876, the London Times also reported on the alleged total failure of the regulation works in Vienna, and published the fake news that the new central cemetery in Vienna was so flooded that dead bodies had been washed from their graves.
The opening of the Rollerdamm on 15 April 1875. Beyond is the Nordwestbahnbrücke, constructed in 1872. (source) |
A sketch of the island before the flooding |
Farewell. Soon the ramparts will be swallowed by the Danube reservoir. |
True, it has nothing to do with that Haynau, born in Kassel, Germany, but there was an island of that name on the Austrian section of the Danube, namely west of the castle of Wallsee, roughly opposite Mitterau/Ledererhaufen, which was nominated in the 2023 Danube Island of the Year vote.
Haynau on the Danube (mapire.eu) |
The Csallóköz (Žitný ostrov) is typically referred to as the Golden Garden in the Hungarian literature. Exactly why this is so, perhaps because of the gold panning, will probably never be known, but it is certain that a piece of the "Golden Garden" can be found on the opposite side of the Danube, the Szigetköz, near the village of Vének. Twelve oaks form this Golden Garden, each are older than a hundred years.
Royal oaks of queen consort Elisabeth |
It's not a big garden, with just a dozen oak trees, plus the meadows underneath. It looks like an extension of the village built on a narrow river bank. Along the huge flood protection embankment that runs alongside it, trees have been felled, but at this point the rule seems to be broken. Less noticeable on the site, but the trees are planted in regular order, assessing from their size a long time ago. Unfortunately, one of them, judging by the withered leaves on one of its branches, has dried up this year. The information plaques under the oaks date their age to at least 125-127 years, since the saplings were planted in two phases; in 1896 and 1898, first to commemorate the Hungarian Millennium and then two years later to commemorate the death of queen consort Elizabeth (10 September 1898), Franz Josef's wife. The former group forms a hexagon, with the famous Árpád oak in the middle, underneath which the villagers hid a time capsule. The south-eastern part of this group of trees dried up this year, breaking the geometric shape. Five of the Elizabeth trees form the letter "X", west of the Millennium group. These shapes can be seen really well from above in the leafless season. The conservation value of this group of trees is that the saplings are said to have originated from the now deforested hardwood groves of the Szigetköz.
The golden garden in gray scale. (fentrol.hu) 1969. november 12. |
It didn't take much for the Hungarian Water Authority to cut these oaks down for flood protection reasons. According to press reports of the time, the oak grove was saved thanks to József Pados, the last school principal in Vének, who "formed a human chain around the grove with his primary school pupils, which made the people with chainsaws and their bosses, who were marching to the storage area, back off":
We escape the heartbreaking silence of the school. József Pados knows an interesting story about every house in Vének. We go from gate to gate, and old stories and mischiefs warm up in his memory. At the end of the village we stop in front of the Golden Garden. Beautiful oaks sway their branches in the warm wind.
- This is the tree of the seven chiefs. They were planted at the Millennium. According to the writings that have come down to us, the names of the people of the village at the time were placed in a jar at the base of the Árpád tree, and one of each of the coins of the time was also placed at the base of the tree.
- These were the trees you even called me to save?
- Yes. They were going to be cut down years ago because there is a regulation that there can be nothing on the ground within sixty metres of the side of the embankment. Fortunately, they were rescued. I did a lot of research, but my efforts were not in vain. Now, not only the inhabitants of Vének, but also the people of Győr can enjoy it, because more and more small weekend houses are being built on the banks of the Danube. Kolerasziget, Tordasziget, Angliakert, Szélkert, Ficsor-dűlő, Rókadomb, Ciglés, Ökörmező - you know the history of all of them and you know the area like the back of your hand.
The trees of the Golden Garden have been saved and have been protected since 1982. The school was not so fortunate, the children from Vének are now taken to school in Kisbajcs.
Resting St John of Nepomuk |
Despite the fact that one of the millennium oaks has withered, there are still a dozen trees defying water regulations, as an old black poplar tree stands on the side of the embankment north of the oaks, sheltering the statue of St John of Nepomuk, who rests beneath it. It watches the traffic of at least three dusty roads, while the Danube flows behind it, beyond the embankment.
Southern tip of the Bár Island |
The Island of Bár in 1968, during low-water (fentrol.hu) |
About what is left of Gubacsi Island in Budapest |
The Gubacsi Island right before its disappearence (1880. mapire.eu). |
The Mitterau/Ledererhaufen in the year 1930. (National Library of Austria) |
Wallsee and its surroundings in 2023. (googleearth) |
"Le Danube" the river of Verdenal |
The valley of Verdenal in 1744. (mapire.eu) |
Lorraine landscape near the village of Autrepierre, near the source of 'Le Danube'. |
Dammed section north of Verdenal. |
Bridge over the 'Le Danube' in Verdenal. |
The same bridge on a German postcard from the First World War. |
"What does a country mean to one who loves it? It means, for instance, the treasured scenes imbedded in our memories. And few parts are imbedded there so deeply as the Danube Bend and the Visegrád district. The sublime surface of the water peacefully turning, and alive with the play of light, comes almost up to our feet. We gaze and imbibe its stillness and motion, distance and proximity, and the floating hum of rare sounds of civilization that only deepen the silence.
A few years ago, a tongue of land started out towards the middle of the water, into the midst of the scene above Visegrád and Nagymaros. It makes a depressing sight. This is not the art of landscape at work, but preparations for unmistakably dismal industrial monuments of 20th century man: a concrete barrage, a concrete bridge, a concrete rim, a concrate bank and a concrete power plant. As the barrage worms its way towards the middle of the Danube, turning the hitherto unbroken surface into a muddy pool and robbing its nature of a scene of national value, a great many things have happened in Hungarian society. The developments have benn watched with aching hearts by tens of thousands of people... We must absorb a blow—the symbolic blow with which the barrage being built scars the surface of the Danube at Nagymaros.
Water, since time out mind, has symbolized the rich, ceaseless course of life, and when water dries up, it has always signified the ebbing of life. Water has played many tricks on bungling mankind during the course of history, and it will play more tricks today when a vast ecosystem is destroyed. For we have not yet closed within us the file on the barrage issue. It is not immaterial what kind of symbol Nagymaros comes to represent in our history."
Foreword by Gyula Kodolányi, April 1988.
Dunacsún 1992. X. 24. (EPA) |
The title of the booklet published in two editions and in 12 languages by the Office of the Government Spokesman in 1993 is borrowed from the famous poem by Attila József. The aim of the booklet "By the Danube" was to draw the world's attention to the disadvantages and the negative environmental impacts of the Bős-Nagymaros barrage project. From this point of view, we are dealing with a propaganda publication, but propaganda can be carried out not only for bad but also for good purposes. The volumes contain only a small amount of text, and the authors have placed more emphasis on the visual material. After a foreword by the Hungarian author Gyula Kodolányi, the booklet presents the history of the power plant project and the main events of the civil resistance organised against in chronological order. They have not bothered much with presenting the parameters of the power plant, comparing the water level of the canal with the surrounding villages and landscape is the only such figure.
A rich collection of 90 selected photos from the late 1980s and early 1990s is divided into three sections, the first of which shows the natural landscape. The focus is on the Danube bend, the landscape and scenery, islands, animals and plants, but there are also images of the Ipoly Valley and the Szigetköz. The second part shows the construction works (mainly earthworks) of the Nagymaros dam. It is likely to stir something in even the hardest-hearted pro-power plant engineers, or at least make them more understanding towards those who protest against the plant. The destroyed, industrious landscape alone is frightening enough, although the damage caused by the dam, the submerged islands, flooded archaeological sites, demolished holiday homes, planned flood protection dykes and sluices are, of course, not even visible.
In the third part, pictures with a separate black frame show the Czechoslovakian construction site in Bős (Gabčíkovo) and Dunacsún (Čunovo), where, in addition to earthworks, the power station was already being concreted and the Danube diverted. For the first image, I chose the photo that stayed with me as a small child, watching the huge reinforced concrete blocks fall into the river on TV with my grandfather. We cheered in vain for the river to destroy the dam being built, taking the blocks with it, but eventually the water began to run out, and in the end it barely seeped between the concrete and the crop stone. Then the water dried up in the Szigetköz branch system, leaving vast meanders filled with dead fish.
Although Nagymaros and the Danube bend were partially saved, the struggle is continuous. The plans of the Nagymaros (+Adony +Fajsz) power plants are constantly smouldering under the ash and flare up from time to time during periods of low water. Some things are constant, economic interests in the Danube bend currently override landscape and nature conservation interests. Whether it's new hotel investments or the huge gravel quarry planned for Pilismarót, where work was started in the past precisely because of the power plant investment in Nagymaros, in order to 'save' the gravel deposit from flooding. That is why these photos are important, so that we know what we have gained by not building the power plant in Nagymaros.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
October 1950
Professor Emil Mosonyi puts a proposal at a meeting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to draw up a programme, to be realized jointly with Czechoslovakia, consisting of two hydroelectric power stations-Gabčíkovo and Nagymaros-for the purposes of energy production, navigation and flood protection.
April 18, 1953
A group chaired by Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Ernő Gerő reviews the preparatory operations. In Gerő's view, all the aims of the construction project could also be accomplished more cheaply without the power station.
July 30, 1958
The National Chief Directorate for Water Management submits a secret proposal to the Political Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Worker's Party on joint Hungarian-Czechoslovakian utilization of hydroelectric power on the Danube Bend.
August 5, 1958
The Hungarian Socialist Worker's Party Political Committee passes a resolution on the construction of the Nagymaros hydroelectric power station.
February 27, 1962
The National Planning Office and the Chief Directorate for Water Management inform the Hungarian Socialist Worker's Party Political Committee that the feasibility studies for the Nagymaros barrage project have been completed with Soviet assistance.
April 1963
Economic committees representing the two governments agree to the construction of the hydro system. Deadline 1975.
January-February 1974
The two governments endorse the definitive version of the programme for the construction.
September 15, 1977
János Kádár and Gustáv Husák, general secretaries of the two countries' communist parties, announce the decision to build the scheme.
September 16, 1977
Prime ministers Lubomír Strougal and György Lázár sign the international treaty on the construction. Deadline for completion: 1986-1990.
May 12-14, 1980
Three years after the conclusion of the inter-state treaty, members of Hungary's technical and scientific community have their first chance to criticize and express opposition to the project at a conference in Tatabánya.
September 22, 1980
The barrage system is discussed by 400 engineers meeting at the House of Technology in Budapest. Engineers György Hábel and István Molnár criticize the plan and vote against a draft recommendation to the government supporting the project.
December 31, 1980
The Hungarian government suspends work on the project.
November 1981
The periodical Valóság publishes János Vargha's article "Further and Further from Good" (Egyre távolabb a jótól - Dokumentumok a Gabčíkovo— Nagymarosi Vízlépcső-rendszer történetéből), criticising the investment.
October 10, 1983
Prime Ministers Strougal and Lázár reconfirm the original treaty and set a new deadline for completion: 1995.
December 20, 1983
The Presidium of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences comes out in support of suspending construction, but classifies its report top secret until an investigation has been made into the likely environmental damage.
January-February 1984
Public platform debates on the project begin. The Social Committee for the Danube draws up a petition calling for the suspension of construction work until a comprehensive study of its ecological effects has been made, and begins collecting signatures.
Spring-Summer 1984
The Danube Conservation Society is refused a permit to form. Numerous professional associations and university groups and the Hungarian Writers' Association are all dealing with the damaging effects of the hydro scheme.
September 1984
The Danube Circle forms, and decides to issue newsletters without a permit.
November 1984
The Danube Circle, having gathered some 10,000 signatures to copies of a petition, submits it to Parliament and the government. No response is recieved.
December 1984
Apart from the Austrian environmentalists, the Czechoslovak government also protests officially against a projected Danube hydro station at Hainburg. The Austrian government later abandons the scheme.
May 1985
In general elections for the Hungarian Parliament, the public are permitted to put forward nominations for the first time. The problem of the hydro project features during the run-up to the elections.
June 21, 1985
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences holds a working meeting behind closed doors to discuss a proposal to halt the project made by nine independent experts: Mrs József Bozzay, Mihály Erdélyi, György Hábel, Sándor Jakab, Gyula Marót, István Molnár, Zalán Petneházy, Károly Perczel and János Tóth.
Autumn 1985
The European Parliament intervenes against the environmentally damaging project and anti-democratic harassment of the protesters against it.
December 1985
The Danube Circle receives the Right Livelihood Award, the so-called alternative Nobel Prize, in Stockholm, for its campaigning against the hydro scheme.
January 30, 1986
The group demanding a referendum on the Nagymaros project because of its environmental and economic damage reinforce their demand with 6,500 signatures and submit the petition to the Hungarian Presidential Council. The secretary of the Council politely refuses to accept it.
February 6, 1986
The Danube Circle is forced to abandon an "ecological walk" it has announced, because of threats from the police.
April 16, 1986
A political advertisement paid for by 30 Hungarian environmentalists appears in the Vienna paper Die Presse, protesting at the way Austrian firms are exploiting the lack of democracy in Hungary by providing credit and their services as technical contractors for the scheme in exchange for electric power.
May 1986
A Hungarian-Austrian credit agreement is concluded to finance the construction of the Nagymaros power station.
August 1987
The Czechoslovak and Hungarian governments represented by Prime Ministers Lubomír Strougal and Károly Grósz urge the scheme in a joint statement.
April 24, 1988
Hungarian environmentalists hold a protest march from Visegrád to Esztergom.
May 27, 1988
A demonstration is held outside the Austrian Embassy to protest against Austrian involvement in the hydro project.
July 21, 1988
Thirteen Danube conservation groups form the Nagymaros Committee to oppose construction of the barrage scheme.
September 4, 1988
The World Wildlife Fund and the Danube Circle hold a joint conference on the ecological effects of the project.
September 12, 1988
A demonstration by tens of thousands of people outside Parliament calls for a halt to the construction of Nagymaros.
October 3, 1988
Hungarian environmentalists form a human chain across the Budapest bridges, demanding a halt to construction.
October 6-7, 1988
The Hungarian Parliament holds a debate on the barrage scheme for the first time. The decision, with 19 votes against, is to continue construction but impose strict environmental-protection conditions.
October 30, 1988
A torchlight protest is held in Budapest, from Margaret Island to Parliament.
February 6, 1989
The deputy prime ministers of the two countries, Péter Medgyessy and Pavel Hrivnak, sign a protocol accelerating the construction of the project.
February 27, 1989
The Nagymaros Committee submits to Parliament about 140,000 signatures calling for a referendum on the issue.
April 3, 1989
A demonstration by 15,000 people takes place at the Nagymaros construction site.
May 13, 1989
The Hungarian government declares a two-month moratorium on construction of the Nagymaros barrage, which is already 30% complete.
July 20, 1989
The moratorium is extended until October 31. The Hungarian government refuses to agree to further work on the Dunakiliti headwater reservoir and diversion of the Danube for the Gabčíkovo station.
August 18, 1989
The Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry, in a letter of protest, demands compensation of USD 2 billion for the delay to the scheme.
August 31, 1989
Czechoslovak Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec raises the prospect of unilateral diversion of the Danube. This is the first appearance of Variant C.
September 1, 1989
The Hungarian government's reply refers to the suspension of construction, warning that unilateral continuation of the project would bring a deterioration in relations.
October 31, 1989
The Hungarian Parliament passes a resolution on omitting the construction of the Nagymaros station and on seeking to renegotiate the 1977 treaty, with consideration for the ecological aspects, the reliable scientific findings and the national interest. (Some 95% of Hungary's surface water stocks enter from abroad).
February 3, 1990
Slovak, Austrian and Hungarian environmentalists hold a joint protest, forming a human chain between Bratislava and Gabčíkovo.
May 20, 1990
The new Hungarian government formed after the free elections presents its political programme, in which it declares on the basis of expert opinions that the project is faulty, and announces its intention of beginning negotiations with the new Czechoslovak government on rehabilitation of the sites and division of the costs of the damage caused.
July 23, 1991
The Slovak government decides that if the Hungarian side refuses its cooperation, it is possible temporarily to complete the barrage and power station exclusively on Czechoslovak soil (Variant C).
May 18, 1992
After two years of abortive negotiations, the Hungarian government abrogates the 1977 treaty.
October 17, 1992
Environmentalists make a symbolic start to demolishing the part of the Nagymaros barrage that was built.
October 23, 1992
Unilateral diversion of the Danube on Slovak territory into the artificial headwater channel above Gabčíkovo begins.
October 23, 1992
The Hungarian government appeals to the International Court in Hague for legal redress against the arbitrary alteration of the course of the Danube, which forms the frontier between the two countries, and against ecological aggression.
The nothern tip of the Szentendrei Island, 1986. (Ráfáel Csaba) |
The citadel of Visegrádi, 1985. (Balaton József) |
The Helembai Islands 1988. (Weress Kálmán) |
Constructions at Nagymaros, 1989. (Asztalos Zoltán) |
Visegrád, 1988. (Weress Kálmán) |
Visegrád, 1988. (Weress Kálmán) |
The Nagymaros desert 1989. (Weress Kálmán) |
Nagymaros and Visegrád, 1992. (Weress Kálmán) |
Bős, 1986 (Kisbenedek Attila) |
Bős, 1986. (Balaton József) |
Vajka, 1991 (Cseke Csilla) |