The Finow Canal

Without a doubt the Finow Canal ranks among the most ancient European waterways and people say it is one of the most beautiful canals in Germany.

First plans to connect the river Havel with the river Oder occurred around 1540. On the instructions of Elector Joachim Frederick the first canal was built from 1605 to 1620. It was 39,4 kilometers long and had eleven locks . Shortly after completion the Finow Canal was destroyed in the course of the Thirty Years War. Overgrown and with rotten locks shipping became impossible.

From 1743 to 1746, under the reign of King Frederick II. a new canal was built and on the 16 th of June 1746 the first barge, loaded with 100 tons of salt, opened the new Oder-Havel connection. Ancient documents give evidence for the ship's traffic on the canal. In the year 1749 about 1.000 barges and 300 fishing boats were passing the locks. One hundred years later about 13.300 barges and 48.000 floated logs had been counted.

In the beginning of the twentieth century the transport of goods enormously increased and another waterway was required. In the summer of 1914 the new Oder-Havel Canal was opened and the Finow Canal lost his economic importance.

Today the so-called 'Treidelweg', a trail from where the boats had been pulled by men or horses along the banks of the Finow Canal, will be restored to a bicycle path and hiking trail leading from Liebenwalde to the lock of Liepe nearby the shiplift in Niederfinow.