Seeburger See is a lake in the karst

KARST

Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

 region of Lower Eichsfeld, Landkreis Göttingen, in southeastern Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Also known as the Auge des Eichsfelds (Eichsfeld's eye) der grosser See bei Bernshausen (the large lake by Bernshausen), the shallow 86.5-hectare (0.865 km²) lake is fed in the west by the Aue

Aue

Aue is a small town in Germany at the outlet of the river Schwarzwasser into the river Mulde in the Ore Mountains, and has roughly 18,000 inhabitants. Aue was the administrative seat of the former district of Aue-Schwarzenberg in Saxony, and is part of the Erzgebirgskreis since August 2008...

 creek at Seeburg

Seeburg

Seeburg may refer to the following places:*Seeburg, Brandenburg, part of the municipality of Dallgow-Döberitz, Brandenburg, Germany*Seeburg, Lower Saxony, in the district of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany...

 and drained to the east in Bernshausen

Bernshausen

Bernshausen is a village in the Gemeinde Seeburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population of about 590. It lies across the lake, named Seeburger See, from the larger village of Seeburg proper, to the west...

 by the same creek and lies 157 m AMSL. The lake is postglacial, having formed about 500 B.C. when an underground cave collapsed. The lake is the largest natural body of water in Landkreis Göttingen. The lake is bordered in places by reedy growth and elsewhere by trees and grasslands. Other than the two villages, the surrounding land is mostly agricultural, though there is a recreational area with swimming facilities by Seeburg, and a large part of the lake's shoreline ("Naturschutzgebiet

Naturschutzgebiet

A Naturschutzgebiet is a category of protected area within German Federal Conservation Law .- Points of law :...

 Seeburger See"), and a small forested area to the north are protected nature zones. Controlled fishing is allowed in the lake, with eel being the most common (and providing a popular local specialty, smoked eel), along with small pike

Esox

Esox is a genus of freshwater fish, the only living genus in the family Esocidae — the esocids which were endemic to North America, Europe and Eurasia during the Paleogene through present.The type species is E. lucius, the northern pike...

, zander

Zander

Zander is a species of fish. The scientific name is Sander lucioperca , and it is closely allied to perch. Zander are often called pike-perch as they resemble the pike with their elongated body and head, and the perch with their spiny dorsal fin. Zander are not, as is commonly believed, a pike and...

, carp

Carp

Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...

, tench

Tench

The tench or doctor fish is a freshwater and brackish water fish of the cyprinid family found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also found in Lake Baikal...

, common rudd, trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

, and a few others.

The lake is the area of interest for locals, people from nearby cities and the Netherlands, there being camp-grounds, recreational facilities, an archaeological site,* and a nature-information center as well as a path along the lake shore.

*) In the 1980s, the Seeburger See area was subject to both extensive and intensive archaeological research, which revealed a large amount of neolithic activity as well as lesser Bronze and Iron Age presences and the medieval predecessors of today's communities.

History

In the late Middle Ages, the lake came to its greatest size . Clear evidence for fishing in the lake is found in an archival record concerning the fishermen's guild of Bernshausen and Seeburg in the sixteenth century . The lake's current most commonly used name (Seeburger See) has its earliest recorded use in 1807. Before that, it was simply referred to as der großer See bei Bernshausen.
On rare occasions, temporary islands have appeared in the lake. This has occurred early in the twentieth century. The lake and its shore were designated a protected natural area in 1952 . In 1970, the Seeburger See sailing club was founded . In 1976, the protected area became an official Naturschutzgebiet.

In literature and legend

Seeburger See is the locale of the legend of the evil Graf [Count] Isang . It is locally claimed that at low-water, the tower of the count's castle can be seen. In fact, early in the twentieth century, for a very short time, an island did appear in the lake.

External links

• Seeburg-Online guide to the area, including recreation, business, and lodging