The Falkenhof Museum team invites you to a special lecture about the Ems as a waterway on Thursday, September 5 at 7 pm. The Ems has shaped the history of the city of Rheine since its beginnings, it is a historical trade route, natural space and recreational area. This can usually be experienced in the museum using the city models from Rheine and Ems paintings by various regional artists.
A speaker who knows the Ems and the Dortmund-Ems Canal like no other has now been brought in to talk about the current focus topic “Ems”: Hermann Poggemann has been an employee of the Ems-North Sea Waterways and Shipping Authority for more than forty years. He manages the outlying district of Rheine and, as a public relations officer, communicates the work of his office to the interested public. In his presentation entitled “The Ems, Germany’s smallest river – a waterway for canoeists and cruise ships”, he begins with a historical review of the development and maintenance of the Ems as a waterway since around 1815/1820. As Germany’s smallest river, the Ems rises in the Senne near Hövelhof and after more than 370 km and a height difference of 135 meters, it flows into the Dollart near Emden and thus into the North Sea. It has been accompanied by the Dortmund-Ems Canal for 125 years.
Narrow and frequent bends, strongly fluctuating water levels and the sand it carries pose a particular challenge for the continuous navigability of shipping. In the second part of his presentation, Hermann Poggemann will give an outlook on the current tasks of the Waterways and Shipping Authority resulting from the new European Water Framework Directive and the associated ecological continuity. Weather permitting, there are also plans to visit the weir system and lock below the Falkenhof together after the lecture. Admission is free. Information: 05971