Central German lake district is a post-mining landscape mainly in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt with small shares in the northeast Thuringia. The region in the immediate vicinity of Leipzig is also known as "Leipziger Neuseenland"
places
Other goals
background
A region shaped by lignite
In the "Central German Revier" - an unclearly defined and delimited term for the mines during its existence Helmstedt on the one hand and that Lusatian district ("East Elbe area" before World War II) on the other hand - lignite has been mined for centuries. Initially on a small scale in opencast mines above the water table or underground, later in gigantic opencast mines with dewatering, the movement of gigantic waste volumes and a whole infrastructure of excavators, conveyor belts, mine railways and the like. While it was relatively uninteresting to mine lignite before the First World War, since the coal from the Ruhr, Silesia or Alsace was much easier to use, the loss of parts of these resources due to the Versailles Treaty and the occupation of the Ruhr changed a lot and efforts were made by the Nazi era at the latest "Self-sufficiency", in which domestic lignite should replace imported crude oil, is added. Everywhere pits were dug, places devastated, people relocated and a whole chemical industry established itself in the Central German chemistry trianglewhich, using the newly developed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and other processes, produced synthetic fuel, synthetic rubber and other "war-essential" materials from lignite. House firing also remained significant and the briquette factories and, increasingly, power stations developed an enormous "hunger" for lignite. After the war, the Soviet occupiers ordered the resumption of mining even before the GDR was officially founded and within a few years the small socialist country had developed into the largest lignite producer in the world. Lignite mining was pushed by the GDR leadership with little other resources and it was even possible to extract coke from the inferior fuel material, which was sufficient for metallurgical purposes. The price was an almost immeasurable destruction of the landscape and the environment - a total of over 50,000 people had to be relocated to make way for the opencast mines. The high sulfur content of the lignite led to acid rain and a characteristic stench that still arouses a bad association with the GDR of those days. Since the seams were several meters thick, there was a mass deficit, even if the overburden was backfilled into the opencast mine after carbonization. If at the beginning of the funding no one thought about any kind of recultivation, the idea soon arose of flooding the opencast mines and transforming them into a recreational area, as had already been achieved with some success at Lake Senftenberg.
From the open pit to the lake
With the end of the GDR, completely different conditions suddenly broke out in the area. Where once a chemical industry on a global scale had an almost insatiable need for lignite, suddenly "unprofitable" operations had to be carried out as "socially acceptable" as possible and the rest to be privatized. The trust may not have covered itself with fame, but it did manage to sell some opencast mines - and even parts of the chemical industry - to investors, with the lignite sector now trading as "MIBRAG". However, the perpetual burdens of the opencast mines remained with the public sector and the "LMBV"(Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbauverwaltungsgesellschaft) founded, the aim of which was to clean up contaminated sites, to recycle areas and to repair or avoid economic and ecological damage as far as possible. It was clear that uncontrolled flooding with groundwater would have negative consequences. The mining activity had exposed huge amounts of pyrite, which now oxidized in the air and formed sulfuric acid and sulphurous acid in contact with water. It was therefore decided to use rivers in the area "Tapping" in order to form a network of lakes connected by navigable canals. The hope that the effects of the acid could be reduced by dilution were fulfilled in most cases and the LMBV helped with quick lime where this was not the case Another problem was - as was not only shown by the Nachterstedt accident in 2009 - the instability of the Dump bottoms and loose sediments. Another task of the LMBV was to stabilize where possible and to block where stabilization is impossible. Overall, the process of transformation from a "lunar landscape" of mining to a lake district, which had already begun in GDR times and is far from over, can be considered a success. "Ferropolis", the "City of Iron", where various mining machines have been arranged to create an open-air museum, and the relocation of the Highfield Festival to Lake Störmthal in 2010 are just some of the successes of this structural change. Although coal is still being mined in three open-cast mines today (2020), the "coal compromise" of 2019 means that an end to production is already foreseeable. There are already plans for the open-cast mines that have not yet been flooded, and a coherent overall concept can be seen in which recreational use, structural change and nature conservation are brought into harmony as much as possible.
language
getting there
By plane
1 Leipzig Halle Airport (IATA: LEJ). Located in the middle of the region, this would be the perfect arrival airport if the flight options were more than cargo flights and a few poor holiday charters to sunny Mediterranean destinations.
mobility
![](https://maps.wikimedia.org/img/osm-intl,a,a,a,422x420.png?lang=de&domain=de.wikivoyage.org&title=Mitteldeutsches Seenland&groups=Maske,Track,Aktivitaet,Anderes,Anreise,Ausgehen,Aussicht,Besiedelt,Fehler,Gebiet,Kaufen,Kueche,Sehenswert,Unterkunft,aquamarinblau,cosmos,gold,hellgruen,orange,pflaumenblau,rot,silber,violett)
Fortunately, the state tickets for Saxony are also valid in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia and vice versa.
Tourist Attractions
Lakes
- 1 Bockwitz lake. 168 hectares of land.
- 2 Cospudener See. 436 hectares of land.
- 3 Geiseltalsee. With an area of 1842 hectares, it is by far the largest lake in the region and until the "Cottbus Baltic Sea" is completely flooded Lusatian Lakeland the largest opencast mine in Germany.
- 4 Gremminer See (Ferropolis Lake). 541 hectares of land. "Ferropolis" is located on a peninsula in the lake.
- 5 Grosser lake. 374 hectares of land.
- 6 Great Goitzschesee. 1331 hectares of land.
- 7 Großkaynaer See (Südfeldsee). 255 hectares of land.
- 8 Großstolpener See. 28 hectares of land.
- 9 Hainer See. 560 hectares of land.
- 10 Hard Sea. 88 hectares of land.
- 11 Haselbacher See. 334 hectares of land.
- 12 Haubitzer See. 158 hectares of land.
- 13 Kahnsdorfer See. Mainly nature reserve. 121 hectares of land.
- 14 Kulkwitzer See. 170 hectares of land.
- 15 Markkleeberger See. 249 hectares of land.
- 16 Mulde reservoir. 630 hectares of land.
- 17 Neuhauser See. 155 hectares of land.
- 18 Paupitzscher See. 80 hectares of land.
- 19 Raßnitz lake. 315 hectares of land.
- 20 Schladitzer See. 220 hectares of land.
- 21 Seelhausen lake. 634 hectares of land.
- 22 Borna reservoir. 265 hectares of land.
- 23 Störmthaler See. 733 hectares of land. Location of the annual "Highfield Festival" (see below).
- 24 Wallendorfer See. 338 hectares of land.
- 25 Werbeliner See. 443 hectares of land.
- 26 Werbener See. 79 hectares of land.
- 27 Zwenkau lake. 970 hectares of land.
Open pit mines still active
- 28 United Schleenhain opencast mine
- 29 Profen opencast mine
- 30 Amsdorf opencast mine
Museums
- 31 Briquette factory Herrmannschacht
- 32 Mining Technology Park
activities
- 1 Ferropolis
- Highfield Festival