PhD student Matthias Settele offers a guided tour in English through the exhibition *“The River Lech: From Wild River to Cyborg.”* The exhibition presents historical photographs, maps, and materials that document the transformation of the Lech from a natural river landscape into a technical infrastructure — and explores perspectives for its future development. All interested visitors are welcome.

Matthias Settele, PhD student at the WZU at the University of Augsburg and co-organizer of the exhibition??The River Lech: From Wild River to Cyborg?

offers a guided tour for English-speaking visitors from the IDK and beyond. Everybody welcome!

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When? 10.07.2025, 10:30-11:30 am

Where? Central Library of Augsburg University Library (outside the building)

Guide: Matthias Settele

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The exhibition shows previously unpublished materials that impressively convey how an untamed wild river was transformed into a technical facility primarily used for hydropower generation. The river is well-known to us: it is the Lech, which flows between the towns of Füssen and Augsburg. The historical images have been made available by Dr. Eberhard Pfeuffer. They show the river Lech before the dam was built, starting from the 1940s, and juxtapose this legacy with current photos showing a completely transformed landscape. Historical maps from the University Library’s collection add even more historical depth to the event by shedding light on the condition and use of the Lech since the 16th century.The exhibition “From Wild River to Cyborg” was made possible by Prof. Dr. Jens Soentgen and doctoral student Matthias Settele. As Soentgen from the University’s Environmental Science Center (WZU) points out, it is “against the backdrop of advancing climate change” that “the exhibition also takes a look at future prospects for a more ecological Lech.”

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Visitors can expect an exciting exhibition of historical and current landscape photographs that reveal the dramatic transformation of the river Lech.

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Exhibition highlights:

• Germany’s first nature conservation film “Nature in Danger” (1952, Otto Kraus, Eugen Schumacher) already addressed the reconstruction of the river Lech


• Numerous historical maps documenting the original river landscape.


• materials from the river Lech that tell stories about its past and present

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