Medieval Vienna was situated at the main arm of the alpine Danube River, which branched out across a huge floodplain to the northeast of the city. While the river was vital to the city, floods regularly destroyed infrastructure and led to costly repairs. From the fourteenth century onwards, the Danube gradually moved away from the city. This marked the beginning of 500 years of human intervention to prevent further removal of the river and to preserve the waterway as a vital supply line.
The Project “ENVIEDAN – Environmental history of the Viennese Danube 1500 – 1890” is combining archival research and GIS reconstruction of historical river landscapes and river engineering measures to provide a useful tool for integrative research in environmental history.
