River · Czechia, Germany
Elbe
The Elbe rises in the Giant Mountains of Czechia and flows north-west through Germany to the North Sea. On its way it passes Dresden, Magdeburg and the great port of Hamburg.
Picture credit: che (CC BY-SA 2.5) · Mozzihh (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Ferriesworldwide (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Elbe?
The river starts here: Giant Mountains (Krkonoše), Czechia, at almost 1 400 m.
It ends in the North Sea near Cuxhaven.
Countries on the river: Czechia, Germany.
The story behind it
In Czech the Elbe is called Labe, and its name probably simply means 'river'. It starts high in the Giant Mountains, about 7.5 kilometres north-west of the town of Špindlerův Mlýn. Near the German border it cuts a passage about 40 kilometres long through the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. At Magdeburg a huge water bridge carries a canal over the Elbe, so that barges can cross the river without ever sailing on it. On 25 April 1945, near Torgau, American and Soviet soldiers met at the Elbe, shortly before the end of the Second World War. Later the river formed part of the border between East and West Germany. Today a long stretch of the river landscape is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. White storks nest in many villages along the middle Elbe, and beavers have come back to its banks. In Hamburg, the tides of the North Sea push water up the river into the busy harbour.
Questions children ask
How long is the Elbe?
What is the Magdeburg Water Bridge?
It is a bridge filled with water that carries a canal over the Elbe. Barges can cross the river on it without having to sail on the Elbe itself.
Which animals live along the Elbe?
White storks nest in many villages along the middle Elbe. Beavers have also returned: in 2004, about 300 were counted in the Elbe valley in Lower Saxony alone.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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