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Weilburgs city history is strongly related with the importance of the Lahn River Valley as travel and transport axis between the Central Hesse middel mountain range areas around Marburg towards the Rhine River at Coblence and from there furtheron southward towards Switzerland and northward towards The Netherlands and The North Sea.
Between Lahnstein and Gießen the Lahn River since 1740 is build up with 24 dam walls to raise the whole years water level and provided with lock gates to level ships and boats, so that since now more than 250 years on the Lahn River can transit passenger and cargo ships until 180 tons (Unitil Steeden at river km 70).
Nowadays the Lahn River lock gates are mostly used by canoe travellers that during summer month move in great crowds over the river and selfunderstandingly also have to handle the historic boat levelling technique by themselves ...
Voyages on the Lahn River with canoes that can be rent at several canoeing sites in the town of Weilburg lead mostly until the town of Runkel meanwhile canoe-travelling until the towns of Limburg, Bad Ems or Coblence requires several days of paddleing
Weilburg itself occupies a great rock dominated river curve where old fortification walls that nowadays serve as fundament for the residencial town buildings are still witnesses of the former importance of this site as military bastion along the Lahn River transport and travelling stretch. The river valley between Wetzlar and Limburg forms at same time part of the "Saint Jacob´s Pilgrimway" from Marburg towards Mayence and then furtheron towards Paris, Basques Country and Santiago de Compostela or Sevilla, from where also the emigration to Africa, Asia and South America started.
A monument of a waiting mother with her two children on the Weilburg Lahn River Bridge reminds the former importance of the town as travelling and voyagers site, similar as coastal harbour towns. This even more, because the mountainside landscape of Taunus and Westerwald was less productive for agriculture than other regions and forced so many habitants to migrate not at least to oversea colonies
The Lahn River curve around the Weilburg Rock was difficult to transit because of its drop and wildwater rapids, so that two dam walls had to bee constructed here to level the river considerably over a relatively short distance. This strong river fall over 4,65 meters height promoted the construction of the "Weilburger Schiffahrtstunnel" between 1844 and 1847
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