The Our (; , ) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is a left-hand

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the river Sauer/Sûre. Its total length is . The source of the Our is in the

High Fens The High Fens (; ; ), which were declared a Nature reserve, nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a Plateau, plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of northwestern Germany, between the Ardennes and the ...

in southeastern Belgium, near Manderfeld. It flows southwards, more or less along the German-Belgian border, and after

Ouren Ouren is a village in Belgium with a population of 129 inhabitants. Ouren is a part of the municipality of Burg-Reuland and thus belongs to the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Geography Ouren is located at the Tripoint, border triangle of B ...

, along the German-Luxembourg border. The historic town of Vianden lies on the Our. The Our empties into the Sauer in Wallendorf.

Course

The

rises in the eastern

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

and western

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

on Belgian soil. Its source near the village of Losheimergraben lies northeast of the ''Eichelsberg'' mountain (653 m) at 643 m near the B 265. Just a few hundred metres away is the source of the River Kyll. The Our initially follows the B 265, which is also the Belgian-German state border. The river continues alternating between Belgium and Germany. From the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

by the Europa Monument between

(B), Sevenig (D) and Lieler (L) it runs almost entirely on the German-Luxembourg border until it reaches Wallendorf in Germany where it empties into the Sauer. It generally

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

s from north to south. For the section where it runs along the German-Luxembourg border the Our is a jointly managed

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

(the "Joint German-Luxembourg Sovereign Area"). Unilateral sovereignty only begins at the respective shore. In its upper reaches between Germany and Belgium, the state border lies, as is normal on the

thalweg In geography, hydrography, and fluvial geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg () is the line or curve of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Normally only the horizontal position of the curve is considered (as viewed on a map); the c ...

of the river.

Tributaries

– Location of the confluences measured from the source of the Our – * Ihrenbach (left, at km 21, length 15,9 km) * Braunlauf (right, at km 23, length 15,4 km) * Ulf (right, near km 30, length 17,8 km) * Irsen (left, near km 67, length 35,5 km) ;Length of tributaries over 10 km TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:xxxx ImageSize = width:500 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 top:10 bottom:40 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas Period = from:0 till:36 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 gridcolor:blue BarData= barset:riverlength Define $left = textcolor:white color:oceanblue Define $right = textcolor:black color:skyblue PlotData= width:18 fontsize:M textcolor:black color:skyblue shift:(5,-6) anchor:from barset:riverlength from:start till:15.9 $left text:"Ihrenbach (15,9 km)" from:start till:15.4 $right text:"Braunlauf (15,4 km)" from:start till:17.8 $right text:"Ulf (17,8 km)" from:start till:35.5 $left text:"Irsen (35,5 km)" TextData= fontsize:M pos:(10,20) text:km A comprehensive list that also includes the smaller tributaries is here.

Villages on the Our

The border village of Vianden, one of the most important tourist resorts in Luxembourg, lies on the Our. The Our Valley Route is a circular route that runs through Belgium and North Luxembourg. Especially worth seeing is the section between Manderfeld (Belgium) and Lieler (Luxembourg), where the route follows the Our almost all the way. It runs ''inter alia'' past Reuland Castle (Ouren) and the Europa Monument at the German-Belgian-Luxembourg

. Other villages are: * Roth an der Our *

* Sevenig * Dahnen * Dasburg *

Rodershausen Rodershausen is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North S ...

* Obereisenbach * Stolzembourg * Bettel * Gentingen * Ammeldingen an der Our * Schönberg * Wallendorf near Bollendorf. * Grüfflingen near St. Vith * Auel (village in

Burg-Reuland Burg-Reuland () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Liège (province), Liège. The name of the municipality refers to the Reuland Castle, castle "Burg-Reuland", which is located in the center ...

)

Usage

The Our is impounded north of Vianden by the Our Dam and forms the lower basin of the Vianden Pumped Storage Plant.

Gallery

Our.jpg, The Our near Dasburg-Pont. Left: Germany, right: Luxembourg. The river is a

here. Our Vianden 018.jpg, The Our near Vianden Sauer confluent Our.jpg, Confluence with the Sauer

References

Literature

* Leonard Palzkill: ''Ourtal ohne Grenzen.'' Neuerburg, 2006, .

External links

*
Official home page of the
Our Nature Park with information on tourism, the ecology and local events for North Luxembourg *
Ensebach - Upper Our Nature Reserve

Hochwassermeldezentrum The Moselle in Trier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Our (River) International rivers of Europe Belgium–Germany border Germany–Luxembourg border Rivers of the Ardennes (Belgium) Rivers of the Ardennes (Luxembourg) Rivers of Rhineland-Palatinate Rivers of Belgium Rivers of Luxembourg Rivers of Wallonia Rivers of Liège Province Rivers of Luxembourg (Belgium) Büllingen Vianden Rivers of the Eifel Rivers of Germany Border rivers