River as a flow of commodities: The reasoning behind the third Danube regulation in Bratislava by Enea Grazioso Lanfranconi

Abstract

Abstract The channel of most of the rivers is the result of long-term human endeavour to modify their shape. This paper focuses on the flow of commodities juxtaposed with the physical water flow of the river that has served over centuries as one of the main means of goods transport. The topic is closely observed on the example of the Danube regulation in Bratislava at the end of the nineteenth century and the transformation of the river into a canal. The reasons for the individual interventions in the natural riverbed differed. The third regulation (1886 - 1896) was meant to add the missing part of the canal on the route between the North and Black Seas, which would be fully adapted for freight transport by steamer. The 19th century has introduced a new paradigm to city planning. In the belief in technical innovation, the planning process was undertaken by engineers. The paper places in confrontation the oeuvre of two engineers, Charles-Joseph Minard and Enea Grazioso Lanfranconi. While the former, a French civil engineer, brought a unique way of visualizing the flow of goods between territories based on statistical data, the latter, a Hungarian hydraulic engineer, is the author of the third regulation of the Danube in the section between Devín (Theben) and Gönyű (Gönyö). For the purpose of the paper, the original theoretical work of Enea Grazioso Lanfranconi was translated and analysed. Selected data from Lanfranconi’s work was interpreted visually.