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Map to the video

Vienna’s lost streams

A stream runs under many streets in Vienna. Here you see all of them: how they ran around 1820, where they still flow in the open, where they vanish into sewers. And whether one ever ran past your address.

  1. A stream runs under Krottenbachstraße

    The street only exists because Vienna covered the Krottenbach piece by piece from 1893 to 1930. Brown: how it ran around 1820. Dashed blue: where it lies in a sewer today.

  2. About 50 streams from the Vienna Woods

    About 50 streams from the Vienna Woods flow through Vienna, and you can no longer see two thirds of them. Blue is what still flows in the open, dashed is what lies underground according to the City of Vienna.

  3. Around 1820

    The Franciscan cadastre (surveyed 1817 to 1829) shows 199 km of streams in today’s city, plus the arms of the Danube. 83 km (41 %) no longer flow in the open: 27 km run in sewers according to the city, 39 km have vanished from view, 16 km were moved. By length it is less than two thirds, because the upper courses in the Vienna Woods still flow openly.

  4. Then came cholera

    Houses used to drain their sewage straight into the streams. In 1831 cholera hit those living by the streams hardest. From 1837 Vienna put them underground, one after the other, first inside the Linienwall, today’s Gürtel.

  5. Where they went

    In the sewer the streams flow on with the wastewater. Grey: 312 km of sewers carrying a lot of wastewater, which the city lists for heat recovery. The whole network is about 2,500 km long.

  6. The big sewer

    Shortly before the treatment plant in Simmering the sewer is 9 m wide and 4.5 m high. In dry weather about 6,300 litres per second pass here, as computed by the city. Wastewater and rain from a third of the city area come together here.

  7. In heavy rain

    In heavy rain the sewer gets too full. Then rain and wastewater run through the Krottenbach’s old channel into the Danube Canal, at Heiligenstädter Lände, exactly where the stream used to flow in. Every covered stream has such an overflow.

  8. Open streams still flood

    Where streams flow in the open, they can still burst their banks: light the areas flooded statistically every 300 years, dark those every 30 years (City of Vienna).

  9. Your turn

    Search your address: did a stream ever run past it? Or tap the map.

    Move and zoom the map with two fingers.

  • stream today
  • stream sewer (stream network, City of Vienna)
  • stream around 1820
  • Danube, ponds, marshes around 1820

How much stream ran through your district?

Stream length in the 1820 cadastre, of which no longer flowing in the open today, and the named streams. Tap a district.

Vienna’s streams from A to Z

Every named stream in the 1820 cadastre with its course in today’s city: what still flows openly, what runs in a sewer, what has vanished from view. 133 of 199 km carry a name; the rest of the streams appear on the map without one.

  • Alsbach

    around 1820 8.3 km · open 2.7 km · in a sewer 5.4 km · gone 0.3 km

    Covered over: 1840 to 1845 (up to the Linienwall), in Hernals 1877 to 1899.

    17. Hernals, 9. Alsergrund, 14. Penzing

  • Ameisbach

    around 1820 5.0 km · open 0.2 km · in a sewer 1.6 km · gone 3.3 km

    Covered over: 1893/1894, 1908 and 1913.

    14. Penzing, 16. Ottakring

  • Anderbach

    around 1820 1.1 km · open 1.1 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    16. Ottakring

  • Dornbach

    around 1820 0.9 km · open 0.9 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    Covered over: 1899.

    16. Ottakring, 17. Hernals

  • Dürre Liesing

    around 1820 5.1 km · open 5.1 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    23. Liesing

  • Eckbach

    around 1820 1.6 km · open 1.6 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    17. Hernals

  • Erbsenbach

    around 1820 4.2 km · open 2.6 km · in a sewer 1.6 km · gone 0.0 km

    Covered over: 1894 to 1896, further sections 1954/1955 and in the 1960s.

    19. Döbling

  • Erlenbach

    around 1820 0.9 km · open 0.9 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    17. Hernals

  • Geroldbach

    around 1820 0.7 km · open 0.7 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    18. Währing, 17. Hernals

  • Glasgraben

    around 1820 2.9 km · open 2.9 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Grünauerbach

    around 1820 2.9 km · open 2.9 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Gspöttgraben

    around 1820 0.3 km · open 0.3 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    19. Döbling

  • Gütenbach

    around 1820 6.4 km · open 6.4 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing, 23. Liesing

  • Haidgraben

    around 1820 0.5 km · open 0.5 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    19. Döbling

  • Hainbach

    around 1820 3.6 km · open 3.6 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    14. Penzing

  • Halterbach

    around 1820 6.3 km · open 6.3 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    14. Penzing

  • Hirschenbach

    around 1820 1.0 km · open 1.0 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Jägerwiesenbach

    around 1820 1.2 km · open 1.2 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    17. Hernals

  • Kaisergraben

    around 1820 1.4 km · open 1.4 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Kasgraben

    around 1820 0.8 km · open 0.8 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    14. Penzing

  • Katzengraben

    around 1820 2.5 km · open 2.5 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Knotzenbach

    around 1820 5.1 km · open 3.0 km · in a sewer 0.5 km · gone 1.7 km

    Covered over: 1949 to 1957.

    23. Liesing

  • Krottenbach

    around 1820 4.2 km · open 0.0 km · in a sewer 2.9 km · gone 1.3 km

    Covered over: 1893 to 1930, in three sections.

    19. Döbling

  • Kräuterbach

    around 1820 1.8 km · open 1.7 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.1 km

    17. Hernals

  • Lainzer Bach

    around 1820 4.3 km · open 1.9 km · in a sewer 2.0 km · gone 0.5 km

    Covered over: 1895 to 1900 (parts as early as the 1870s).

    13. Hietzing

  • Liesingbach

    around 1820 15 km · open 15 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.2 km

    23. Liesing, 10. Favoriten

  • Marienbach

    around 1820 1.6 km · open 0.6 km · in a sewer 0.7 km · gone 0.3 km

    Covered over: by 1875 (400 m), extended 1907, finished 1916.

    13. Hietzing

  • Mauerbach

    around 1820 4.6 km · open 4.6 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    14. Penzing

  • Nesselbach

    around 1820 3.5 km · open 1.1 km · in a sewer 2.3 km · gone 0.2 km

    Covered over: piecemeal 1870 to 1888, rebuilt 1900 to 1903.

    19. Döbling

  • Ottakringer Bach

    around 1820 1.8 km · open 0.0 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 1.8 km

    Covered over: 1837 to 1840 (inside the Linienwall), the upper course only after 1960.

    16. Ottakring, 7. Neubau

  • Petersbach

    around 1820 1.0 km · open 0.7 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.3 km

    23. Liesing

  • Pointenbach

    around 1820 0.5 km · open 0.5 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    17. Hernals

  • Reisenbergbach

    around 1820 1.2 km · open 1.2 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    19. Döbling

  • Rosenbach

    around 1820 2.9 km · open 2.5 km · in a sewer 0.1 km · gone 0.3 km

    Covered over: before 1906 (exact year not recorded).

    14. Penzing

  • Rotwassergraben

    around 1820 6.1 km · open 6.1 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Schablerbach

    around 1820 1.0 km · open 0.9 km · in a sewer 0.1 km · gone 0.0 km

    19. Döbling

  • Schallautzergraben

    around 1820 1.4 km · open 1.4 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Schreiberbach

    around 1820 2.5 km · open 1.9 km · in a sewer 0.4 km · gone 0.1 km

    Covered over: 1885.

    19. Döbling

  • Seilergraben

    around 1820 0.8 km · open 0.8 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Steinbach

    around 1820 4.3 km · open 4.3 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

  • Veitlissengraben

    around 1820 0.4 km · open 0.3 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.1 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Vösendorfergraben

    around 1820 1.6 km · open 1.6 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Waldbach

    around 1820 1.8 km · open 1.8 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    19. Döbling

  • Wallnergraben

    around 1820 1.4 km · open 1.4 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    13. Hietzing

  • Wiener Graben

    around 1820 0.4 km · open 0.4 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    23. Liesing

  • Wolfsgraben

    around 1820 1.7 km · open 1.7 km · in a sewer 0.0 km · gone 0.0 km

    16. Ottakring, 17. Hernals

  • Währinger Bach

    around 1820 3.2 km · open 0.0 km · in a sewer 2.6 km · gone 0.5 km

    Covered over: 1848 (up to today’s Gürtel), further up until 1901.

    18. Währing, 9. Alsergrund

How the map is computed
  • Streams around 1820: the Franciscan cadastre draws streams as areas. We trace their centre line on a 5 m grid and split it into pieces.
  • Today: a piece counts as open if an open watercourse of the city’s stream network lies within 40 m, as in the video. Otherwise “in a sewer” if a “Kanal” line lies there, “moved” if the piece lies by the Wien, Liesing or Danube, otherwise “no longer visible”.
  • Names: from streets that lie above a stream according to the sources, and from named lines of the city and OpenStreetMap within 40 m.
  • Same computation as the video: map and video agree to within 1.5 km for every state.

Sources for the video “The vanished streams”

Watch the video:TikTokInstagramYouTube

Data

For the film we cropped, converted and redrew the data.

Pictures

  1. August Stefan Kronstein (artist), 17., Bergsteiggasse - Offener Alsbach mit Wehr, 1872. Photo: TimTom, Wien Museum. Wien Museum, inv. no. 24783. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Change: cropped to portrait format, with a slow zoom.
  2. Tobias Dyonis Raulino (watercolourist), Der Bau des großen Unrathkanal am linken Ufer der Wien zur Zeit der Cholera 1831. Kaiser Franz besucht die Arbeiten. 1831. Wien Museum, inv. no. 31627. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Change: cropped to portrait format, slow pan.
  3. Pd4u, Kanal Wien 3. Mann Tour (05), 2009. Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC0 1.0. Change: cropped to portrait format, with a slow zoom.
  4. Herbert Ortner, Wienfluss-Hochwasser Lobkowitzbrücke 2024-09-15, 2024. Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Change: cropped, captioned “Wien river in heavy rain, 15 Sep 2024” in the film.
  5. Donald Judge, 18.7.22 Vienna 004 (overflow of the Alsbach into the Danube Canal), 2022. Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY 2.0. Change: cropped to portrait format, with a slow zoom.

AI, voice and music

The painted views are created and animated with AI, following these data. Voice, music and sound effects are AI-generated (ElevenLabs).

Evidence for the statements

Which stream flows under which district

Vaulted sections. Where sources give different years, the first documented one is shown.

1st, 4th, 5th, 6th
the Wien river itself, vaulted over beneath Karlsplatz and the Naschmarkt
7th Neubau
Ottakringer Bach, vaulted 1837 to 1840
9th Alsergrund
Alsbach (1840 to 1845), Währinger Bach (1848), Döblinger Bach (around 1850)
11th Simmering
Choleragraben and Klebindergraben, piped; this is where the large sewer ends, at the treatment plant
13th Hietzing
Lainzer Bach, Marienbach, Lackenbach
14th Penzing
Ameisbach, Rosenbach
16th Ottakring
Ottakringer Bach, Roterdbach
17th Hernals
Alsbach, Dornbach
18th Währing
Währinger Bach
19th Döbling
Krottenbach (1893 to 1930), Erbsenbach, Nesselbach, Schreiberbach (1885)
23rd Liesing
Knotzenbach
3rd and 15th
no stream sewer of their own, but the large collector sewers run through
2nd and 20th
no vaulted stream; arms of the Danube were filled in there
10th, 21st, 22nd
no vaulted stream known
8th and 12th
we found nothing certain