Attersee, also known as Kammersee, English sometimes Lake Atter, is the largest

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

of the

Salzkammergut The Salzkammergut (; ; bar, Soizkaumaguad, label=Central Austro-Bavarian) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mou ...

region in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an ...

. It is Austria's third largest lake by area, surpassed only by

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lak ...

and Lake Neusiedl, which, however, both extend beyond national borders.

Geography

The surface area extends for about from north to south and from east to west. With an average depth of , its water volume even surpasses the

Chiemsee Chiemsee () is a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany, near Rosenheim. It is often called "the Bavarian Sea". The rivers Tiroler Achen and Prien flow into the lake from the south, and the river Alz flows out towards the north. The Alz flows i ...

, which is larger by area. The main inflow is the

Seeache The Seeache is a short river of Upper Austria. The Seeache is the natural outflow of the lake Mondsee and flows after into the lake Attersee, which itself is drained by the Ager Ager or AGER may refer to: * Ager (surname) * Ager (river), a r ...

creek, which flows out of the nearby Mondsee lake in the southwest. Both Attersee and Mondsee are part of a chain of lakes, beginning with Fuschlsee and

Irrsee Irrsee is a lake in the Salzkammergut, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one o ...

. The waters flow off with the Ager River down to the Traun which itself discharges into the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

. In the southwest of the lake the Schafberg ("Sheep Mountain"), part of the Salzkammergut Mountains, rises up to , separating it from the Mondsee lake, whose southern shore borders the state of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

. The ''Höllengebirge'' (literally "mountains of hell")

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

range, with a height of up to , is located southeast of the lake. Due to its steady winds and clean water quality, Attersee is famous for attracting sailors and swimmers alike. During the season numerous sailing competitions are held. One of the most cherished winds on Attersee is the so-called "Rosenwind" meaning "breeze of roses". It is an easterly wind that crosses a castle's rose garden and fills the air across the lake with the smell of roses. The surrounding settlements largely depend on

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

, mainly in spring, summer and autumn. Because of the lake's size and despite the cold temperatures during winter the lake rarely freezes. The last time the lake was entirely covered with ice was in the late 1940s, when people were seen skating and riding motorcycles across the thickly frozen surface of the lake.

History

The name ''Atter'', derived from ''ata'' meaning "water", probably is of proto-

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

origin. The shores were already settled in the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

era. In August 1870, remains of prehistoric

pile dwellings Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. The ...

were found near Seewalchen at the northern end of the lake. The

Mondsee group The Mondsee group was a Neolithic Austrian pile-dwelling culture spanning the period from around the 4th millennium to 3rd millennium BCE, of particular interest due to its production of the characteristic "Mondsee copper" (arsenical bronze), appar ...

stilt houses since 2011 are part of the UNESCO

Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps are a series of prehistoric pile dwelling (or stilt house) settlements in and around the Alps built from about 5000 to 500 BC on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands. In 2011, 111 sites located variousl ...

World Heritage Site. Other archaeological findings denote settlement activities in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times from the 2nd century BC onwards. In the middle of the 19th century paddlesteamers were introduced on the lake to ferry mail and goods between the villages located around the Attersee. Today it is an important recreation site for people from the urban areas of Vienna and Linz. From the ''

Fin de siècle () is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context, ...

'', Attersee became a popular destination for summer guests, apart from the bustle at the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

's sojourn in nearby

Bad Ischl Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden ...

. Near the village of Litzlberg, part of Seewalchen, there is a small island castle, which

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's pr ...

frequently visited during the summer. Likewise, the German painter

Albert Weisgerber Albert Weisgerber (21 April 1878 – 10 May 1915) was a German painter whose work forms a bridge between Impressionism and early Expressionism. Biography He was born in Sankt Ingbert. From 1897 to 1901 he studied at the Munich Art Academy ...

was a summer visitor on Attersee. Lake Attersee was a rallying point for several German divisions during World War II which had retreated during the Siege of Budapest. Among these were several foreign volunteer divisions of the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

, which sought to reach Attersee where surrender to the Americans was preferable to capture by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

Fishing

Among the fish species found in the lake are: *

Northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...

Brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...

Rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coast ...

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns Spawn is the eggs a ...

(''Salvelinus alpinus'') *

Lake char ''Salvelinus umbla'', also known as lake char, is a species of char found in certain lakes of the region of the Alps in Europe. This char species usually inhabits the deeper waters of the lakes, feeding on crustaceans, insects and benthic faun ...

(''Salvelinus umbla'') *

European eel The European eel (''Anguilla anguilla'') is a species of eel, a snake-like, catadromous fish. They are normally around and rarely reach more than , but can reach a length of up to in exceptional cases. Eels have been important sources of ...

Carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

Burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. It is also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, and eelpout. The species is closely ...

Perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

* Whitefish

Panorama

Gallery

File:Attersee am Attersee, zicht op der Attersee foto7 2017-08-11 16.41.jpg, View to the lake from Attersee am Attersee File:Weyregg am Attersee, vanaf Attersee am Attersee 2e poging foto6 2017-08-11 17.00.jpg, View to Weyregg am Attersee from Attersee am Attersee File:Tussen Weyregg am Attersee en Steinwand, der Attersee foto7 2017-08-12 12.48.jpg, View to the lake from between Weyregg am Attersee and Steinwand File:Tussen Steinbach en Weissenbach, der Attersee foto8 2017-08-12 13.37.jpg, View to the lake from between Steinbach and Weissenbach

References

External links

AtterWiki - information Attersee and surrounding area (in German)

{{Authority control Attersee