The Titisee 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 southern Black Forest in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. It covers an area of and is an average of deep. It owes its formation to the Feldberg

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

, the moraines of which were formed in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

epoch and nowadays form the shores of the lake. The lake's outflow, at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

, is the River Gutach, which merges with the Haslach stream below Kappel to form the Wutach. The waters of the Titisee thus drain eventually into the

Upper Rhine The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the ...

between Tiengen and Waldshut. On the north shore lies the

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He ...

of the same name, today a part of the municipality of

Titisee-Neustadt Titisee-Neustadt () is a municipality in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is made up of the six communities of Neustadt, Langenordnach, Rudenberg, Titisee, Schwärzenbach and Waldau. The town ...

History

A glacial lake is created when the glacier remains stationary for a long time and the weight of the glacier excavates the landscape. Where the glacier is less powerful, the subsoil is less excavated and rises. In addition, it is possible that a moraine (deposit of rock material that is transported with the glacier) prevents the runoff. When the ice melts, water is dammed up to the moraine and a lake is created. The Titisee owes its formation to the last ice age (

). Up until 10,000 years ago, a glacier stretched from the Feldberg to what is now Lake Titisee. The basin carved out by the glacier and the terminal moraine form the Titisee today. The first records of the lake date to 1050 and the abbey of Allerheiligen in

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimate ...

, where the name ''Titinsee'' is mentioned. The name ''Dettesee'' is also mentioned in a deed from the parish of Saig that dates to 1111. The name of the lake adopted its present from around 1750. In the valleys around the Titisee (Altenweg, Spriegelsbach, Schildwende and Jostal), people usually worked in the agricultural sector, breeding cattle. Craftsmen like

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

wagon makers A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

and shingle makers would work nearer to the lake. For a long time, there have been scattered farms around the lake. At the beginning of the 20th century, the construction of the Höllentalbahn and the onset of tourism led to a central village emerging at the lake. In 1840, two

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

made of worked

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

were found below a knoll by the outflow of the Gutach from the Titisee. In 2011, the archaeologist, Andreas Haasis-Berner, published an article stating that they had to date to the period between 700 and 900. Hitherto, it had been thought that the High Black Forest had been unsettled during the first millennium.

Origin of the name

There are various theories about the origin of the unusual name ''Titisee'': * In the

Alemannic dialect Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alamanni ("all men"). Distribution Alemannic dialects are spoken by approxim ...

''Teti'' means "little child" or "baby". ''Tetisee'' or ''Titisee'' would then be a lake from which, according to local legend, small children came, similar to the story told in other places that babies are delivered by a

white stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to e ...

. Stories about babies coming from lakes were widespread in Central Europe (c.f. Frau-Holle-Teich). Consistent with this theory, is the fact that the Titisee is a very high altitude lake and that, also according to legend, it is bottomless. Such lakes were formerly attributed with special numinous powers. * According to another theory, the Roman general,

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...

, was supposed to have camped in the area of the Titisee. The lake was said to have impressed him so much that he gave his name to it. This is also the reason why, today, a crude replica of a Roman galley plies the Titisee. * According to a legend a nobleman called ''Titini'' hunted in the area around the lake in the 12th century. * Also the arum lily, formerly known in the region as the ''Tittele'', could be the origin of the name, even though it no longer occurs by the Titisee.

Tourism

At the north shore of the Titisee lies a popular

of the same name. Lots of wellness and health hotels are settled there. Spa therapy offers include Fango applications (mudpack applications with hot, odorless mineral mud), healing climate, Kneipp facilities, moor as well as breathing aerobics, movement therapy in thermal mineral water, relaxation therapy, terrain spa trails, physiotherapy, and medical and wellness massages. In the summer, the lake invites tourists to swim, sail, windsurf, hire

pedalo A pedalo (British English) or paddle boat (U.S., Canadian, and Australian English) is a human-powered watercraft propelled by the action of pedals turning a paddle wheel. Description A pedalo is a human-powered watercraft propelled by the ...

es, hike around the lake, and stroll along the promenade. Furthermore, plenty of open-air events are organised around the lake each summer. In winter, the 1.2 km long Saig-Titisee toboggan is open. The largest natural ski jump in Germany, the

Hochfirstschanze The Hochfirst Ski Jump (''German: Hochfirstschanze'') is a ski jumping hill located in Titisee-Neustadt in the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The ski jump is named after the mountain Hochfirst (1197 m) in the Black Forest. It is the big ...

, is also located at the Titisee. The ski jump is host to various ski jumping events like the 2020–21 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup.

Winter freezing

The Titisee takes a long time to freeze over in the winter owing to the winds, which keep the surface of the water moving almost all continuously. For the frozen lake to be opened for use, it must have a solid ice thickness of at least (solid ice or compacted ice has virtually no air pockets). When conditions appear favourable for the opening the lake, daily ice measurements are taken by the Titisee-Neustadt municipal authorities at three or four places. If opening the ice to public use is possible, and those responsible give it their blessing, specific, demarcated areas of the lake are opened, but never the whole lake. These regulations were put in place after an accident in 1966. Up to that time, the lake had been used in winter as a

landing strip According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, o ...

for small

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

. On 14 January 1966, a

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

with a

snowplough A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to re ...

was clearing the landing strip of snow when it broke through the ice and sank to the bottom of the lake, taking the driver, Walter Wilde (29), with it. His body was only recovered 2 weeks later.

Fauna and flora

In the nutrient-poor Titisee there are large predatory fish ( pike-perch, sea trout and a large stock of

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

), schooling fish ( whitefish, roach and

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 ...

) as well as carp, chub 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 ...

in shallower areas. This variety of species is joined by brown trout, char and rainbow trout where the streams enter the lake, and by

eels 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 ...

and

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 closel ...

on the lake bed. In addition there are small fish varieties such as sunbleak,

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are c ...

and

brook lamprey The brook lamprey (''Lampetra planeri'', also known as the European brook lamprey and the western brook lamprey) is a small European lamprey species that exclusively inhabits freshwater environments. The species is related to, but distinct from, ...

. Around the lake,

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

may be seen. The shores of the Titisee are home to two rare types of quillworts, the spring quillwort and the lake quillwort.

Photo gallery

File:Karte_Titisee.png, Map of Titisee File:Titisee 1909.jpg, View over Titisee from the south (postcard, about 1909) File:Titisee01.jpg, North shore with boat rental File:Titisee Rundfahrt.JPG, Pier for a touring boat that circles the lake. Winter scene

References

Other sources

External links

Official website of the municipality Titisee-Neustadt

Touristic information about the TitiseeWebcam Weiherhof of the Titisee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Titisee Lakes of Baden-Württemberg Black Forest Mountain lakes Lakes of the Black Forest LTitisee