Venta Rapid is a waterfall on the Venta River in Kuldīga, Latvia. It is the widest waterfall in Europe at, and becomes as wide as during spring floods. The height of the falls vary from depending on the level of water in the river.
Geology
The waterfall is formed by Devoniandolomite and its formation is due to the difference in hardness of mineral between it lower and upper parts. Below it is more brittle and erodes faster, leaving the top layer to hang over it. These upper, more convex parts, sometimes collapse and fall into the river. As a result, the waterfall slowly recedes, and since the flow in the central zone is more powerful, waterfall middle gradually retreats higher upstream than it sides.
History
The town of Kuldiga was established here because the falls formed an obstacle on the Venta medieval inland shipping route. In the middle of the 17th century, Duke of CourlandJacob Kettler planned to dig a bypass to avoid the waterfall. Excavation starts on the right bank of the river, but the idea was abandoned because the dolomite is too hard and the work was too slow and difficult. Only in the spring high water enters the shallow canal and forms the island of Martin. According to legend, Duke ordered the waterfall demolished by explosion. After the first blast, large stone blocks dislodged and the waterfall simply changed it edge line. The power of the blast cracked walls of Duke's palace, which is close to the river, and the Duke gives up the idea. In the 19th century Russia had plans to create a network of canals to unite all the seas of its European part. The idea was to create waterway between Baltic Sea and Black Sea across the Venta, Neman and Dnieper rivers. To implement these plans, Turkish prisoners of war were commandeered to build a canal. However it was quickly discovered that bedrock dolomite is too hard to dig in. In addition, Venta river was found not to be wide and deep enough for shipping. Construction was discontinued in 1831, however the canal was dug around the waterfall 30 years later. The remains of this canal are still visible today.
Fishing
In about 1640, Jacob Kettler devised an interesting way of fishing. He orders 100 large wicker baskets and fishing weirs were carved into the bedrock. During seasonal spawningsalmon and sturgeon attempting to overcome the height of the waterfall by jumping into an air. The fish that failed to overcome waterfall was swept by the current back into the canals and end up in hanging baskets. Later, enterprising fishermen begin to rent a few meters of the waterfall, placed their baskets and wait for them to fill up with fresh catch. Typical catch was about 80-100 fish and was a good supplement to an annual income. Kuldīga used to be called town where one can catch salmon in the air. The salmon and sturgeon in the river disappeared long ago, and in 1892 the last sturgeon was caught. Nowadays, mostly the vimba is being fished. However, fishing is prohibited during the spawning season.
Legends
tells the origin of the waterfall as follows. At location where the Kata Hut now stands, once lived a sorcerer who was angry with the devil himself and had intention to take revenge. Devil used to sleep at the witch's hut, and one night he'd collect a bag of stones and fly through Venta. But the sorcerer made rooster to sang morning song. The village roosters chanted and sang too. So devil was frightened and spilled stones across the river. So a threshold was formed. Another legend attributes the formation of the waterfall to the work Livonian Knights, who mined the stones for the construction of castles. The stones were indeed mined, but much later, at the time of the Duke of Courland, and in insignificant amount.
Tourist attractions
240 m from the waterfall is located the famous Kuldiga brick bridge. It was built in 1874 and is the longest operating brick bridge in Europe. Built to the building standards of the time it's wide enough for two carriages to pass. Its width is 8 m and its length is 164 m. It was modeled after the bridge on Moselle river in Germany that was erected at the time of Roman Empire. Kuldiga brick bridge was renovated in 2008 and is now in operation. A wooden path for walking and observation was made along the river and the waterfall. It is visited by 130,000 tourists annually.
Preservation
In 1977 the Venta Rapid was designated a natural monument of Latvia.
