Calbe
Encyclopedia
Calbe is a town in the district of Salzlandkreis
Salzlandkreis
Salzland is a district in the middle of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is bounded by the districts Harz, Börde, Magdeburg, Jerichower Land, Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Mansfeld-Südharz and Saalekreis.- History :...

, in Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

It is situated on the Saale River, approx. 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of Bernburg
Bernburg
Bernburg is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the district of Salzlandkreis. It is situated on the river Saale, approx. 30 km downstream from Halle. The town is dominated by its huge Renaissance castle featuring a museum as well as a popular, recently updated bear pit in its...

, and 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) southeast of Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

. It is known as Calbe an der Saale, to distinguish it from the smaller town of Kalbe
Kalbe
Kalbe is a town in the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel , in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approx. 15 km north of Gardelegen, on the river Milde. To avoid confusion with Calbe, it is also called Kalbe an der Milde....

 on the Milde in the same state. Pop. (1905) 12,281.

It is a railway junction, and among its industries are wool-weaving and the manufacture of cloth, paper, stoves, sugar and bricks. Cucumbers and onions are cultivated, and soft coal is mined in the neighborhood.

The town has a statue outside its city hall, of a man named Roland. Roland is a symbol who represents many small and medium sized towns in that region of Germany, he stands for free trade and prosperity. The town also has a very old church which is currently undergoing renovation, and a tower known as the "Witch Tower", in which the townspeople imprisoned accused witches and tortured them in the Middle Ages.

The river Saale runs on the east side of the town, and over a weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...

. This is a small kind of dam where the water flows over the structure allowing passage of shallow draft barges up or down — moreover rather than being channeled through it the water is used off this flow to generate energy and it raises the water level only a relatively small amount.

At the weir the Saale is partly diverted, while some of the river flows over the weir and continues on its natural path, the rest is channeled through an artificial path, known as Mühlgraben. This takes the water between two (now abandon) buildings which used to harness the power of the water to mill grain into flour, and the other to make paper. After flowing between the mills the water continues on an artificial path for a couple of miles before returning to the Saale proper.

The small island of land between the actual Saale and the artificial one is called "Gottesgnaden" in German, which means "God's Grace" in English. The island is used to grow onions mostly and is connected to the city of Calbe by a bridge on the far side and also by a small ferry on the opposite side, which swings back and forth between the town and island using an anchor and cable system. The name of the town comes from the verb calbe, which means to calf (for a cow to give birth) in old German. In Calbe stands the Bismarcktower at the Wartenberg.
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