The Lusatian Lake Distric is a chain of artificial lakes in Germany, situated across the north-eastern part of Saxony and the southern part of Brandenburg. Through flooding as a part of an extensive regeneration programme, several decommissioned lignite opencast mines are in process to be transformed to Europe’s largest artificial lake district by 2018.
Since the end of the 19th century, the area has been an industrial region, producing lignite and electricity. With the reunification of Germany in 1990, it was decided to end this long tradition because of the dwindling quantity of lignite and the heavy pollution of the surrounding environment. Although mining continues and some big power stations continue to produce electricity with it, all industrial activity should cease by 2020.
Since the 1970s, some of the old pits left by the mining process have been transformed into a new landscape formerly unknown in this region. What was once a plain overgrown with heather and a few trees is now a lake district comparable to the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau in Mecklenburg or the Masurian Lakeland in Poland. It all began with the creation of the Knappensee and the Senftenberger See, still one of the biggest lakes in the region.
Further lakes have already been established, and plans for over twenty more large lakes have been drawn up. Lakes that have already been created include:
in the north: the Gräbendörfer See, Altdöberner See and Bergheiner See
in the centre: the Senftenberger See, Ilsesee, Sedlitzer See, Partwitzer See, Geierswalder See, Neuwieser See, Blunoer Südsee, Sabrodter See, Bergener See and Spreetaler See
in the south: the Bernsteinsee, Scheibesee, Dreiweibner See, Speicherbecken Lohse II, Silbersee/Mortkasee, Knappensee and Graureihersee.
[responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Ernst Werner Siemens was a German inventor and industrialist. Siemens’s name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He was also the founder of the electrical and telecommunications company Siemens. After finishing school, Siemens intended to study at the Bauakademie Berlin. However, since his family was highly indebted and thus could not afford to pay the tuition fees, he chose to join the Prussian Military Academy's School of Artillery and Engineering, between the years 1835-1...
