Fühlinger See is a series of connected lakes in the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

suburb of

Fühlingen Fühlingen is a village in the northern part of the city of Cologne. It is part of the Stadtbezirk, borough of Chorweiler. Fühlingen is well known for its artificial lake, Fühlinger See. Location The town is located in the north of the city of ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

. The artificial lake covers an area of and is a major attraction. There are

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

routes around the lake, and the horse riding club ''Reiterverein Oranjehof'' is located nearby. Fühlinger See has an international rowing course, and was the venue for the

1998 World Rowing Championships The 1998 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 9 to 18 September 1998 in Cologne, Germany. The World Rowing Championships are organized by FISA, the International Rowing Federation. Medal summary Men's e ...

. Men competed in 14 categories for world titles, whilst there were 10 events for women. Germany came out on top of the medal table. The lake was created from 1912 when aggregate was excavated; according to the German Wikipedia entry, this was for what are now

Bundesautobahn 4 is an autobahn that crosses Germany in a west–east direction. The western segment has a length of , the part in the east is long. Works to continue the A 4 are in progress, but currently no plans exist to fill the gap completely. T ...

(

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

–Cologne) and Bundesautobahn 3 (

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

–Cologne), but according to a newspaper article from 1935, the fill was used for work on the railway line from

to Cologne (which was indeed widened to four tracks from 1912 onwards). With the river

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

nearby, the excavated hole quickly filled with water. From the 1930s onwards, people came to the lake to swim while excavations were still going on. In 1967, the lakes were officially turned into a recreation area. A total of seven lakes are interconnected, all grouped around a central rowing facility. The various lakes have different purposes: one is for swimming and diving, one for fishing, one for windsurfing, and three for swimming and boating, and one for rowing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuhlinger See Lakes of North Rhine-Westphalia Rowing venues Sports venues in Cologne