Upper Harz Water Regale - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Upper Harz Water Regale - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Upper Harz Water Regale (, ) is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the mines in the Upper Harz region of Germany. The term regale, here, refers to the granting of royal privileges or rightsLangenscheidt's Muret-Sanders German-English dictionary (Berlin, 2004) gives one translation of the German word Regal as "regale", a legal and historical term. (droit de régale) in this case to permit the use of water for mining operations in the Harz mountains of Germany. Read more on Wikipedia
Source: en.wikipedia.org