Many people view the Rhine as romantic but along the Liechtenstein border, it is a shallow torrent flowing between high stone banks that prevents flooding in the spring. The Rhine is born high up in the Alps in the Rheinwaldhorn Glacier of Switzerland flowing northwards 1,320 km (820 miles) to the North Sea. The name Rhine comes from the Celtic word “renos" that translates as “raging flow”. The western third of Liechtenstein lies along the flood plain of Rhine that forms the border with Switzerland for 27 kilometres from Balzers in the south to Ruggell in the north. To the east lies the Rhätikonassif, a part of the central Alps, rising more than 2,438 meters (8,000 feet) above sea level
The castle of Gutenberg is perched on a big rock at Balzars. Years ago, the Rhine used to come right up to its base on the west and north side while a marshy lake lay on its east and south side. This natural fortress protected the road from Italy to Germany by the Luzienass and the Upper Rhine valley.
In the Schaan area of the Rhine, the land used to be swampy and often flooded by the Rhine. Much of the land was reclaimed when a canal was built. For centuries, much of the low-lying Rhine valley was useless swamp. Eventually over 2,500 acres were drained and used for farming by the construction of dikes and skskillfulrrigation.
Near the villages of Schaan and Eschen the Escheuns river flows through marshy meadows where a lake once existed.
Ruggell, the most low-lying commune in Liechtenstein (430 m above sea level) lies on the edge of the Eschnerberg in the flat Rhine valley plain. Until the 19th century, the village was subject to the wild whims of the Rhine and devastated by its frequent floods. Except for the high ground of the Eschnerberg the whole area was swamp. When Swiss farmers across the river in St. Gallen built dikes, the floods became worse.
For thousands of years, the peasants of Liechtenstein suffered repeatedly from Rhine’s flooding and subsequent flooding. Since the Liechtenstein family purchased the two counties in the early 1700's, which became the present day Principality, there has been major disastrous floods in 1739, 1762, 1775, 1785, 1789, 1816, 1817, 1821, 1839, 1846 and 1855.
