Leitha

The Leitha is a river in Austria and Hungary, flowing 120.8 km before joining the Danube. Its two headstreams, the Schwarza and the Pitten, rise in the Northern Limestone Alps near Schneeberg and Rax. Between Ebenfurth and Leithaprodersdorf, and again between Bruck an der Leitha and Gattendorf, the river marks the border between Lower Austria and Burgenland. East of Nickelsdorf it crosses into Hungary, ending west of Szigetköz Island. Wiener Neustadt, Bruck and Mosonmagyaróvár lie along its course. The Leitha has shaped history as the eastern frontier of the March of Austria founded in 976. In 1246 Duke Frederick II fell in the Battle of the Leitha River against King Béla IV. After the 1867 compromise the river gave its name to Transleithania for Hungary and Cisleithania for the Austrian lands. The Treaty of Trianon in 1920 moved the West Hungarian Lajtabánság into Austria, making the Leitha an internal border. At Lanzenkirchen the Leitha Ursprung trail begins with a plaque and three wooden figures of the Leitha witches. A hiking path follows the river through Seibersdorf and Hof am Leithaberge, where most water is diverted for canals and power plants. Downriver from Katzelsdorf the bed often lies dry unless upstream flow is unusually high. The river’s legend tells of small, hunchbacked witches under bridges who punish those who tease them.