Wif they knew how valuable they are. Stoically grazing, four rustic cattle move across a pasture near the Rhine. How could they have guessed, as a recently unveiled plaque indicates, that they have been chosen to bring their ancestor, the aurochs, which became extinct in the 17th century, back to life by crossing them with “ancient” breeds. In addition to the sheltered Hammer Aue near Groß-Rohrheim, four other locations in Germany serve this purpose. In contrast to domesticated species, the animals from Spain, Hungary and Italy are characterized by a slimmer physique, a longer head and, above all, distinctive horns. Since corresponding finds are documented for the Hessian Ried, the Lauresham open-air laboratory, which is part of the World Heritage Lorsch Abbey, took on the matter.
However, the 20-year breeding program is not intended to put the aurochs in the meadows in Lorsch or elsewhere. Rather, it should be released into the wild on a large scale so that flora and fauna can develop at least partially in the same way as they were shaped by bison, big game and cattle before the appearance of humans. Their browsing controlled the growth of trees and hedges in favor of a semi-open landscape. Even the footprints and scratching points had important tasks. Rare plants thrived in them, which attracted insects, many of which fed on birds, and so on.
As if she knew her importance, the cow “Alma” shows herself to visitors at the enclosure fence. She, a cross between the breeds Sayaguesa and Hungarian steppe cattle, is part of the project to bring the aurochs, which became extinct in the 17th century, back to life by breeding them back. In addition to three other “old” cattle breeds from Italy and Spain, the animal is in a protected meadow on the banks of the Rhine near Groß-Rohrheim in the Hessian Ried.
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Image: Thomas Klein
Such thoughts were foreign in the 19th century. The main focus was on dominating nature and gaining agricultural land. Nothing else originally challenged the straightening and diking of the rivers. The “Rhine correction” by the Baden hydraulic engineer Johann Gottfried Tulla and his Hessian counterpart Claus Krönke was aimed at fighting floods and the risk of infection emanating from floodplain areas. As a side effect, pasture and farmland were created because the groundwater level dropped due to the higher flow rate. For this “beneficial effectiveness of the “Grossh. Hess. Superintendent Dr. Krönke” the grateful population erected a monument to him in 1836 on the road between Groß- and Klein-Rohrheim.
Krönke’s most well-known act is shown on the reverse – the only 24-metre-long puncture of the Rhine in what is now the Kühkopf nature reserve in 1829, which shortened the river by ten kilometers. Further cuts followed, after which some communities were left stranded or found themselves on the other side of the river. Without straightening, the Hammer Aue would be in Rhineland-Palatinate today. Now it is separated from its namesake by the river, which has been widened to 400 meters.
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A smaller community like Groß-Rohrheim also benefits from a main railway line. There is a dense sequence of regional trains in the rather inconspicuous place with its rows of gabled houses typical of the Hessian Ried. They are larger near the train station and the streets are wider, which opens up parking possibilities. There is also one on Rheinstrasse.
There it goes from the station to the right through Wilhelmstrasse and left to Falltorstrasse. From the Rheinstraße, turn right to the end of the town, where you have to choose the left side for the cycle/footpath. It leads 500 meters towards a high car bridge. The Krönke monument is just in front of it on the other side, between the railway embankment and the road.
Even the mighty dams to the left of the roadway did not exist in Krönke’s time. But they could have been from him, after all the son of a North German family of dikes carried out extensive protection work in Hessian Ried. Yellow level marks indicate how far the floods reached. The historic high of 1882/83 is now well below the crown of the earth walls, which were raised to five meters until 1991, to ward off “two-century floods”.