Theresienfeld in the southern Vienna Basin was founded in 1763 at the behest of Empress Maria Theresa as a colonist settlement with a planned irrigation system. Almost half of the first settlers came from Tyrol, mainly from the area around Landeck, Imst and Nassereith. The newly constructed 5.3 km long ‘Tirolerbach’ supply canal was dug by a company of soldiers in the first year to bring water from the hills near Wöllersdorf to the colonist settlement. At the highest point on the edge of the village of Theresienfeld, the water is divided via the main distributor at a ratio of 1:2:1 into the ‘quarter channels’, which are the main channels supplying the four large neighbourhoods of Theresienfeld. The distribution channels branch off from them and lead to the individual properties. The entire irrigation network with all the secondary channels covers around30 kilometres and is still in operation today.
Read more and discover:
Book volume (in German): Traditionelle Bewässerung – ein Kulturerbe Europas, Band 2, Regional Documentation
Austrian National Commission UNESCO www.unesco.at
Theresienfeld water cooperative.
The water division of the Tirolerbach before Theresienfeld into 4 equal canals. © Ingeborg Vonderstrass