page_title: Neckar
section_title: Cultural landscape
hierarchical_section_title: Neckar / River landscape / Cultural landscape
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Hessigheimer Felsengärten, aufgenommen mit einer Ricoh Caplio Rx.
context_page_description: The Neckar is a 362-kilometre-long river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis near Schwenningen in the Schwenninger Moos conservation area at a height of 706 m above sea level, it passes through Rottweil, Rottenburg am Neckar, Kilchberg, Tübingen, Wernau, Nürtingen, Plochingen, Esslingen, Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg, Marbach, Heilbronn and Heidelberg, before discharging on average 145 m³/s of water into the Rhine at Mannheim, at 95 m above sea level, making the Neckar its 4th largest tributary, and the 10th largest river in Germany. Since 1968, the Neckar has been navigable for cargo ships via 27 locks for about 200 kilometres upstream from Mannheim to the river port of Plochingen, at the confluence with the Fils.
  From Plochingen to Stuttgart, the Neckar valley is densely populated and heavily industrialised, with several well-known companies. Between Stuttgart and Lauffen, the Neckar cuts a scenic, meandering, and in many places steep-sided, valley into fossiliferous Triassic limestones and Pleistocene travertine.
context_section_description: Due to the risk of flooding the valley plains remained unsettled for a long time, but the nutritious and due to its good structure very arable land was intensively used for agriculture, and to a large degree the valley plains are still used agriculturally today. The fertile soil allows the cultivation of lucrative specialty crops like vegetables or hops, for example, between Rottenburg and Tübingen.
  Gravel pit quarrying in the valley plains takes away agricultural land, but created large lakes, nowadays used for recreational purposes. These borrow pits also became habitat for birds, amphibians and aquatic creatures. Such large borrow pits can be found for example near Kirchentellinsfurt and between Freiberg am Neckar and Pleidelsheim. The gravel bodies of the Neckar have an additional role as water reservoir and are in many places used for the drinking water production.
  The paths usually went over the heights and only crossed the valleys where there were fords over the Neckar.
  This changed with the onset of industrialisation in the 19th century. It brought fundamental conflicts regarding the land usage of the flat valley plain. Large even spaces became sought after for industrial sites. The Neckar was mostly straightened in order to prevent flooding and to gain areas for industrial buildings. The river itself was expanded over the course of centuries. With the development into a heavy shipping lane in the early 20th century the last freely flowing parts between Plochingen and the mouth disappeared and the whole river in this part nowadays is characterized by dam areas. In the strongly textured Neckar area the valley became the only possibility for modern transportation infrastructure. Construction of railway lines and avenues in the valley plains changed the Neckar valley from a cultural to an industrial landscape.
  One example is the densely populated and industrialised Neckar valley between Plochingen and Bad Cannstatt, which harbors large companies such as Daimler AG (the maker of Mercedes Benz cars) and Mahle GmbH and recreational facilities with large area consumption like the Mercedes-Benz Arena, the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle or the Cannstatter Wasen, the second largest fair of Germany. The term Wasen gives a clue, that there used to be a floodplain on which the fair was held. Distinctive points in the industrial landscape of the Neckar valley are the high chimneys of the coal-fired power station Altbach/Deizisau and Heilbronn as well as the assembly halls of the Daimler-engine plant in Untertürkheim and the Audi plant in Neckarsulm.
  Along the Neckar's valley in the Odenwald hills many castles can be found, including Hornberg Castle and Guttenberg Castle in Haßmersheim; the now-mothballed Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant and the active Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant are also located there.
  In contrast to the plains, the mostly steep slopes are often forested and in forestry use. The sun exposed south facing sites are frequently used for vineyards and are terraced with dry walls. There the local red wine grapes Trollinger, Schwarzriesling and Lemberger are cultivated, which are also traditionally mostly drunk in Württemberg. Especially the middle Neckar around Besigheim and Lauffen is characterized by in parts extremely steep vineyards, which can be cultivated only by hand.
  The vine terrasses at the Neckar together with the drainage area of the tributaries deliver the largest part of the cultivation area of the Württemberg wine region. The vineyards at the lower reaches from Heinsheim to Heidelberg are part of the Baden wine region. Until the end of the 19th century vineyard cultivation was more extensive in the Neckar valley including unfavorable sites. Still today have been abandoned and gone fallow, reclaimed by wildlife. One example are the southern slopes of the Spitzberg above the Neckar near Tübingen.
  The river's course provides a popular route for cyclists, especially during the summer months. The slopes of the Neckar are preferred areas for high-level residential areas because they allow wide, unobstructe
caption: View from the Hessigheimer rock gardens into the Neckar valley
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