The Bergheider See, south of

Finsterwalde Finsterwalde (, dsb, Grabin) is a town in the Elbe-Elster district (German: Landkreis), in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. Overview It is situated on the Schackebach, a tributary of the Kleine Elster, 28 m. W.S.W of Cottbus by rail. Pop. ( ...

near Lichterfeld in the county of

Elbe-Elster Elbe-Elster is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Teltow-Fläming, Dahme-Spreewald, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Meißen, Nordsachsen and Wittenberg. The district has a partnership with the Mä ...

in Germany, is a flooded pit from the former

open cast mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

of Klettwitz-Nord, northeast of the Lower Lusatian Heath. The lake was named after the old village of Bergheide, which had to be abandoned for the

brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

pit. The flooding of the pit, under the direction of the LMBV company in charge of dealing with the consequences of lignite mining, began in September 2001 and ended in May 2014. The lake is part of the

Lusatian Lake District The Lusatian Lake District (german: Lausitzer Seenland, dsb, Łužyska jazorina, hsb, Łužiska jězorina) is a chain of artificial lakes under construction in Germany across the north-eastern part of Saxony and the southern part of Brandenburg ...

, but is isolated from the Lusatian Lake Chain as it is away from the waterways linking the other lakes. The Bergheider See has a surface area of about . On the Lichterfeld shore (north shore) are bathing facilities. The other shores have been designated as Nature Preserves. There are also restricted areas belonging to the LMBV (Lausitzer Mitteldeutsche Bergbau Verwaltungsgesellschaft = Lusatian Central German Mining Administration Company). BergheiderSee von F60 2004.jpg, The Bergheider See, the Klettwitz

wind park A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

and, in the distance, the

Lusatian Mountains The Lusatian Mountains ( cs, Lužické hory; german: Lausitzer Gebirge; pl, Góry Łużyckie) are a mountain range of the Western Sudetes on the southeastern border of Germany with the Czech Republic. They are a continuation of the Ore Mountains ...

(2004) F60P1020191.jpg, View of the F60 Visitor Mine by the clearly larger lake (2007) F60 Bergheider See 1.jpg, Three years later the shore zone began to fill up (2010) Lichterfeld EE 09-2015 Bergheider See.jpg, Bergheider See (2015) In 2002, the F60 Visitor Mine opened on the northern shore of the lake. The show mine has the largest movable piece of mining equipment in the world, long. It has been made accessible for visitors. At the top it is above the bottom. Together with the show mine, the lake is being converted into a recreation area with floating houses, a water sports centre and a holiday home park. The terrain is being used to stage events. The starting project for the scheme was the International Construction Exhibition of Prince Pückler Land from 2000 to 2010. The newly renovated ''

Landstraße Landstraße (; Central Bavarian: ''Laundstrossn'') is the 3rd municipal district of Vienna, Austria (german: 3. Bezirk). It is near the center of Vienna and was established in the 19th century. Landstraße is a heavily populated urban area with ...

'' L 60 from Lichterfeld to

Lauchhammer Lauchhammer ( dsb, Łuchow) is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Black Elster river, approx. 17 km west of Senftenberg, and 50 km north of Dresden. History From 1815 to ...

, which runs past the Bergheider See, was closed in summer 2010 but reopened in December 2015.

References

External links

Pressemitteilung der ''Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH'' (LMBV) zum Beginn der Flutung des Bergheider Sees (21. September 2001)

Website of the show mine
{{Coordinate, article=/, NS=51/34/17/N, EW=13/47/24/E, type=waterbody, region=DE-BB Artificial lakes of Germany Surface mines in Germany Former mines in Germany Lakes of Brandenburg Geography of Lusatia Elbe-Elster Elbe-Elster Land