The Amselsee (also ''Amselsee Rathen'') is a small

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

in the spa town of

Rathen Rathen is a village in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, in Saxony, Germany, about southeast of Dresden. The village occupies both banks of the river Elbe and, as of 2020, has 339 inhabitants. Rathen is a popular tourist destination, the main sigh ...

Saxon Switzerland Saxon Switzerland (german: Sächsische Schweiz) is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sand ...

. It is located in the Free State of Saxony in Eastern Germany.

Reservoir

To create the Amselsee in

, in 1934 a stream, the ''Grünbach'' (or ''Amselgrundbach''), the main waterbody in the Amselgrund valley, was impounded by the municipality of

just above its confluence with the

Wehlgrund The Wehlgrund in Saxon Switzerland in Eastern Germany is a right-hand, side valley of the Amselgrund, between the Bastei massif and the ''Kleiner Gans''. Amongst the steep rock faces of the upper valley and the heavily divided head of the valley ...

that joins from the rights 1934. The dam is around five metres high. At 127 m above sea level the curved, narrow, roughly 550 m long trout pond is used in summer for boat rides (using slot machines!) as well as for fish breeding and also provides flood prevention. Round trips have been possible since 1969. The

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

stock is sometimes mixed with American rainbow trout. Amongst the lakeside vegetation broad-winged damselflies or demoiselles may be seen.

Dam

The barrier is a straight gravity dam made of

rubble stone Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an i ...

masonry. It was built in 1934 and taken into service in 1935. According to an article in the

Sächsische Zeitung ''Sächsische Zeitung'' (; "Saxon Newspaper") is a regional German daily newspaper. The paper is published in Dresden. Its circulation is around 227.940, a fall of around 40% since 1998. Around 93% of copies sold are delivered to subscribers. De ...

of 31 July 2004 the period of construction lasted from 21 July 1934 to 19 December 1934. It has a drainage outlet with a diameter of 50 cm and a flood

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

with 7 openings, each 2 m wide, in the centre of the dam.

Gallery

File: Bastei - Amselgrund mit Amselsee, Lokomotive und dem Talwächter.jpg, The Amselgrund with the Amselsee, Lokomotive and the Talwächter File:Sächsische Schweiz Amselsee (01).JPG, View of the dam

External links

{{commons category
Further information on the Amselsee
Dams completed in 1934 Reservoirs in Saxony Dams in Saxony LAmselsee Bodies of water of Saxon Switzerland Rathen Buildings and structures in Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge 1934 establishments in Germany