Three Sentences on Haynau

IN HUNGARIAN

True, it has nothing to do with that Haynau, born in Kassel, Germany, but there was an island of that name on the Austrian section of the Danube, namely west of the castle of Wallsee, roughly opposite Mitterau/Ledererhaufen, which was nominated in the 2023 Danube Island of the Year vote.

Haynau on the Danube (mapire.eu)

Now that the 150 years have passed and it is safe to write about this island, which originally belonged to Upper Austria, it is worth mentioning first that Haynau (also known as Hain Au, or, in English, a Danubian sandbank with groves) is, like many of its Austrian Au counterparts, a young landform, because, like the Gemenc region in Hungary, islands and reefs on this originally braided stretch of river were very often born, disappeared or transformed.

Haynau was formerly part of a larger river bend, Grünau, in the south, and only later became an 'independent' island, sometime in the 1870s, as it first appears on the sections of the 3rd military survey, while its present form as a tied peninsula is due to the Wallsee-Mitterkirchen hydroelectric power station, built between 1965 and 1968, which eventually connected it to the Lower Austrian riverside.

Royal Oaks of Vének

IN HUNGARIAN

The Csallóköz (Žitný ostrov) is typically referred to as the Golden Garden in the Hungarian literature. Exactly why this is so, perhaps because of the gold panning, will probably never be known, but it is certain that a piece of the "Golden Garden" can be found on the opposite side of the Danube, the Szigetköz, near the village of Vének. Twelve oaks form this Golden Garden, each are older than a hundred years.  

Royal oaks of queen consort Elisabeth

It's not a big garden, with just a dozen oak trees, plus the meadows underneath. It looks like an extension of the village built on a narrow river bank. Along the huge flood protection embankment that runs alongside it, trees have been felled, but at this point the rule seems to be broken. Less noticeable on the site, but the trees are planted in regular order, assessing from their size a long time ago. Unfortunately, one of them, judging by the withered leaves on one of its branches, has dried up this year. The information plaques under the oaks date their age to at least 125-127 years, since the saplings were planted in two phases; in 1896 and 1898, first to commemorate the Hungarian Millennium and then two years later to commemorate the death of queen consort Elizabeth (10 September 1898), Franz Josef's wife. The former group forms a hexagon, with the famous Árpád oak in the middle, underneath which the villagers hid a time capsule. The south-eastern part of this group of trees dried up this year, breaking the geometric shape. Five of the Elizabeth trees form the letter "X", west of the Millennium group. These shapes can be seen really well from above in the leafless season. The conservation value of this group of trees is that the saplings are said to have originated from the now deforested hardwood groves of the Szigetköz.

The golden garden in gray scale. (fentrol.hu) 1969. november 12.

It didn't take much for the Hungarian Water Authority to cut these oaks down for flood protection reasons. According to press reports of the time, the oak grove was saved thanks to József Pados, the last school principal in Vének, who "formed a human chain around the grove with his primary school pupils, which made the people with chainsaws and their bosses, who were marching to the storage area, back off": 

We escape the heartbreaking silence of the school. József Pados knows an interesting story about every house in Vének. We go from gate to gate, and old stories and mischiefs warm up in his memory. At the end of the village we stop in front of the Golden Garden. Beautiful oaks sway their branches in the warm wind. 

- This is the tree of the seven chiefs. They were planted at the Millennium. According to the writings that have come down to us, the names of the people of the village at the time were placed in a jar at the base of the Árpád tree, and one of each of the coins of the time was also placed at the base of the tree. 

- These were the trees you even called me to save? 

- Yes. They were going to be cut down years ago because there is a regulation that there can be nothing on the ground within sixty metres of the side of the embankment. Fortunately, they were rescued. I did a lot of research, but my efforts were not in vain. Now, not only the inhabitants of Vének, but also the people of Győr can enjoy it, because more and more small weekend houses are being built on the banks of the Danube. Kolerasziget, Tordasziget, Angliakert, Szélkert, Ficsor-dűlő, Rókadomb, Ciglés, Ökörmező - you know the history of all of them and you know the area like the back of your hand.

The trees of the Golden Garden have been saved and have been protected since 1982. The school was not so fortunate, the children from Vének are now taken to school in Kisbajcs.

Resting St John of Nepomuk

Despite the fact that one of the millennium oaks has withered, there are still a dozen trees defying water regulations, as an old black poplar tree stands on the side of the embankment north of the oaks, sheltering the statue of St John of Nepomuk, who rests beneath it. It watches the traffic of at least three dusty roads, while the Danube flows behind it, beyond the embankment.

Danubian Island of the year 2023

This is the 11th time the Donauinseln blog announces the traditional poll for the Danubian Island of the year!

You can vote for the three nominated islands between 13th October and 30st December 2023!

MAGYARUL

Last year's winner: The Prímás Island at Esztergom, Hungary

The aim of this contest is to focus attention on the often unknown islands of the Danube. Most of you probably visited the Seychelle Islands before any Danubian Island. This is the ninth poll, and we are happy we have started a tradition and more and more people will learn about these islands across the World.

The winners so far (you might noticed, this is a Hungary-based blog):

2013. Kompkötő Island, Vác

2014. Helemba Island, Esztergom

2015. Kismarosi Island, Kismaros

2016. Szalki Island, Dunaújváros

2017. Csallóköz/Žitný ostrov, Slovakia

2018. Molnár Island, Soroksár, Budapest

2019. The Great Island of Rácalmás

2020. Kerekzátony Island, Ráckeve

2021. The Island of Mohács, Hungary

2022. Prímás Island, Esztergom

This year, a long-planned change to the voting process has been introduced. For 10 years, readers could nominate two of the three islands to be joined by the blog's candidate in the final vote. As the majority of the blog's readers live along the Esztergom-Dunaújváros stretch of the river, the islands here have become over-represented, and often the same islands have been competing we've seen in the past. From this year, we present you the three candidates, representing one existing island, one disappeared island and one island beyond Hungary's borders.

We present the candidates in alphabetical order, which is also the reverse order of the river's flowing direction:

The island of Bár lies on the Hungarian stretch of the Danube between Baja and Mohács. Its speciality is its diverse fauna, which is derived from the area's wide variety of wetland types. This landscape has been created and is being destroyed by anthropogen impacts. A tributary of the island was closed by a stone dyke, that is why its side-arm is constantly being filled-up, and since the 1970s several hectares of floodplain forest have grown up on the sand banks. In the meantime, what is left of the island on the main branch is gradually dying, with erosion processes characterised by impassable banks and waterlogged trees. The area belongs to the Danube-Drava National Park.

Southern tip of the Bár Island

The Island of Bár in 1968, during low-water (fentrol.hu)

There is almost no trace of Gubacsi Island in Soroksár. Only those who know what they are looking for will find remaining traces of the island, despite the fact that the island, named after the nearby Árpád village, existed less than a century and a half ago. Its fate was sealed by the closure of the Soroksár Danube in 1871, its tributary drying up as a result of the water level descending in the northern section, which over time has been eroded by agriculture and a clay mine for brick-making. What makes it special is that it is now a veritable urban jungle in the Wild West sense of the word. 

About what is left of Gubacsi Island in Budapest

The Gubacsi Island right before its disappearence (1880. mapire.eu). 

The island of Mitterau, also known as Ledererhaufen, near Wallsee in Austria, is a pseudo-optical illusion to look for in old and present-day photographs. If you want to identify the island from an aerial photograph taken in 1930, today's best guess would be the island next to the Wallsee-Mitterkirchen hydroelectric power station. However, this island has since been extensively reshaped and is located directly opposite side of the Wallsee castle. However, the river has been creating new reefs and removing old islands on this once very braided section. Mitterau/Ledererhaufen was finally connected to the opposite left bank by river regulation, and since then nature has largely forested the sediment deposited in the closed tributary.

The Mitterau/Ledererhaufen in the year 1930. (National Library of Austria)

Wallsee and its surroundings in 2023. (googleearth)

Voting closes at noon on 30 December 2023. Results will be announced in the first post of 2024!

online polls