The Bruche () is a river in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, in north-eastern France. It is a left-side tributary of the Ill, and part of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

basin. It is 76.7 km long, and has a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of 720 km².Conseil Général du Bas-Rhin
Its source is in the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

, at the western foot of the mountain Climont, near the village of Bourg-Bruche. It flows through the towns

Schirmeck Schirmeck () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the location of the Alsace-Moselle Memorial museum. The name of the town means "protected place". In Lorraine dialect it is called "Chermec". ...

Mutzig Mutzig ( or ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Grand Est, in north-eastern France. The commune of Mutzig is located at the entrance of the Bruche (river), Bruche river valley, on the Route d ...

, Molsheim and Holtzheim. It flows into the Ill in the city of

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, southwest of the historic centre. Its largest tributary is the river Mossig. At Wolxheim, where the Bruche and Mossig meet, part of the water feeds the Canal de la Bruche, built in 1682 to link the

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

quarries at Soultz-les-Bains with Strasbourg. The canal remained in use until 1939.

References

Bruche Rivers of Grand Est Rivers of Bas-Rhin {{France-river-stub