The Piesau is a right

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

Lichte image:Wallendorfer Porzellan Manufaktur.jpg, 220px, Wallendorfer Porcelain Manufacture, Oct. 2006 image:Talsperre Leibis Lichte in August 2009.jpg, 220px, Leibis-Lichte Dam, 102.5 m high Lichte is a village and a former municipality in the Sonn ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

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 approximately long. The name is derived from the municipality of Piesau.

Sources

The Piesau has its source close to the

Rennsteig The () is a ridge walk as well as a historical boundary path in the Thuringian Forest, Thuringian Highland and Franconian Forest in Central Germany. The long-distance trail runs for about from and the valley in the northwest to and the ...

south of the municipality of Piesau in the

Thuringian Highland The Thuringian Highland, Thuringian Highlands or Thuringian-Vogtlandian Slate MountainsKohl, Horst; Marcinek, Joachim and Nitz, Bernhard (1986). ''Geography of the German Democratic Republic'', VEB Hermann Haack, Gotha, p. 7 ff. . ( or ''Thüringis ...

Course

The Piesau rises as the ''Piesau Kieselbach'' and flows through the

Thuringian Forest Nature Park Thuringian Forest Nature Park () is one of two nature parks in the state of Thuringia, Germany. Founded in 1990, and expanded in 2018, the nature park now covers and area of more than . It extends around the Rennsteig and comprises almost the ent ...

, first from the Rennsteig, to the municipality of Piesau. Then it merges with the ''Bärenbach'', becoming the ''Piesau River'', and flows north to the district Bock-und-Teich of the municipality of

, the so-called ''Piesauknie''. The Piesau then flows alongside the street ''Saalfelder Strasse'' in parallel to B 281. In Wallendorf, close to the Lichte East railway station, it flows under the rail viaduct over the ''Piesau Valley''. In the centre of Lichte (in the Wallendorf district) the Piesau joins the

Name

According to old written traditions, the original name of the river was ''Schmiedebach''. This referred to the lower reaches, in the area of Bock-und-Teich of the municipality of Lichte. The present-day name of the river appears only after the foundation of the municipality of Piesau in 1627, derived from the name of the founder, ''Pisa''.

Tributaries

Tributaries of the Piesau river are from the left the Kupfertalbach and from the right the Bärenbach, the Kulmbach, and the Taubenbach.

Particularity

The Piesau and Lichte have unusually steep and deep gorges, the difference between hilltops and valley bottoms often exceeding 100 m. The Piesau and Lichte and their tributaries in the surrounding valleys have been known for centuries for deposits of placer gold and are considered the most significant sources of gold in Germany. Recreational placer miners continue to find occasional gold nuggets.Rich. Christian Kreibich
Goldwäscherei

References