The Kulkwitzer See (Lake Kulkwitz), colloquially called Kulki, is a

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 ...

in the western part of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The lake is a part of the

Central German Lake District The Central German Lake District (''German:'' Mitteldeutsches Seenland) is a group of artificial lakes that are the result of extensive open pit lignite mining. The area around Leipzig is sometimes separately marketed as the "Leipzig Lake Distri ...

. ''Kulkwitzer See'' emerged from two former lignite opencast mining areas southwest of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. Coal was mined here from 1864, first underground and from 1937 in opencast mining. The two remaining opencast mines were flooded from 1963 and opened in 1973 as a local

recreation area A recreation area is a type of protected area designated in some jurisdictions. By country Canada In the province of British Columbia, recreation areas are lands set aside for recreational use. These lands are also being evaluated to determine ...

Location

The lake is located east of

Markranstädt Markranstädt () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 11 km southwest of the city of Leipzig and has close to 15,000 inhabitants. Geography Location Markranstädt is located about south-west of Leipzig ci ...

, north of the former village of ''Göhrenz'', 1999 incorporated as a neighborhood into ''Markranstädt'', south of the former village of ''Miltitz'', 1999 incorporated as a neighborhood into Leipzig, and west of Grünau and Lausen, both parts of Leipzig. It is named after the former village of ''Kulkwitz'', which became a neighborhood of Markranstädt in 1999.

Tourist facilities

There are substantial tourist facilities: several bathing beaches - on the western shore also one suitable for the

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

, a circular hiking

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

, a ship restaurant, the restaurant Rotes Haus (in English: Red House, formerly the control center of the opencast mine) and other restaurants and

snack bar A snack bar usually refers to an inexpensive food counter that is part of a permanent structure where snack foods and light meals are sold. Description A beach snack bar is often a small building situated high on the sand. Besides soft dri ...

s, a

camping site A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using ten ...

, a

sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...

, a

high ropes course A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or above the ground. High elements are usually constructed in tre ...

, a sledding hill,

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

, boating and surfing opportunities. In 2018, the

cycle path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

around the lake was handed over. KulkwitzerSeeL-M

Together with bathers,

angler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * ''Angler'' (video game) * The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish * More generally, any anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes * '' Angler: The Cheney Vice Pres ...

s and surfers, around 500,000 visitors visit Lake Kulkwitz every year.

Operation

From 1993 until 2021, the lake has been operated in the responsibility of the "Zweckverband Kulkwitzer See" association. At last, two cities belonged to this association – Leipzig and Markranstädt. The chairman was the respective

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Markranstädt. In 2003, the association outsourced the operation of the lake to an external private business agency - ''LeipzigSeen GmbH'' based in Leipzig.

Underwater diving and sports events

Marathon and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

events, lake festivals and other sporting events have also been held here since the 1970s. Due to its underwater flora and fauna and its good depth of visibility, the lake is applied one of the ten best diving waters in Germany and attracts around 35,000 overnight stays from tourists, mainly divers from all over

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. There are several underwater hotspots especially for divers. A small chapel, an airplane wreck and a set up scaffolding that were formerly sunk by the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

for training purposes. The Kulkwitzer See is home to various types of fish such as

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 ...

, pike,

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive ...

, carp, roach,

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

, ruff and

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

Traffic

The ''Kulkwitzer See'' is easily accessible by

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

: * Terminus "Lausen" of the

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

* Terminus of the

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

"Miltitzer Allee" * as well as bus routes. Bundesstraße 87 runs on the north side of the lake. Parking spaces, some of which are subject to a fee,Auf der Straße der Braunkohle (2003), p. 125 are connected to the Bundesstrasse both on the Markranstadt side and on the Leipzig side. On the route of the former railway line, which touches the ''Kulkwitzer See'' in the southeast, the ''Elster-Saale cycle path'' was laid out, which connects the ''

Elster Elster may refer to: Places * Black Elster (''Schwarze Elster''), a river in Germany * White Elster (''Weiße Elster''), a river in Germany and the Czech Republic ** Elster Viaduct, a railway bridge over the White Elster ** Elster Viaduct (Pirk) ...

cycle path'' with the ''Saale cycle path''.

Literature

* Kulturbund der DDR, Gesellschaft für Heimatgeschichte Leipzig (Hrsg.), ''Historisches rund um Grünau'', Leipzig 1988 (in German) * Thomas Herles, Lutz Schiffer: ''Bergbaurestseen in Mitteldeutschland. Seenkompass.'' Campus Espenhain GmbH und Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Chemnitz/Espenhain 2002 (in German) * Dachverein Mitteldeutsche Straße der Braunkohle e.V. and Pro Leipzig (ed.), ''Auf der Straße der Braunkohle'', Leipzig 2003, ISBN 3-936508-98-4, pp. 125-127 (in German) * Dieter Florian, ''Der Kulkwitzer See, ein Tauchparadies im Leipziger Westen'', in: Leipziger Blätter, Sonderausgabe Mitteldeutsche Seenlandschaft, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-938543-35-1, S. 54-56 (in German) * Horst Riedel: ''Kulkwitzer See.'' In: ''Stadtlexikon Leipzig von A bis Z.'' ''PRO'' LEIPZIG, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-936508-82-6, p. 326 (in German)

External links

European lakes

Lake Kulkwitz at the web page of LeipzigSeen GmbH

References

{{reflist Lakes of Saxony LKulkwitzer See LKulkwitzerSee Geography of Leipzig Tourist attractions in Leipzig