Heiliger See (English: Holy Lake) 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 ...
within the city limits of
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...
,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
,
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 ...
, located northeast of the city center and bordering the historic park known as the
New Garden. Together with the lakes
Sacrower See and
Groß Glienicker See to the north it forms a chain of lakes resulting from a glacial
tunnel valley
A tunnel valley is a U-shaped valley originally cut under the glacial ice near the margin of continental ice sheets such as that now covering Antarctica and formerly covering portions of all continents during past glacial ages. They can be as l ...
. The lake is 1.33 km long and 300 metres wide on average.
Because of its picturesque location amidst the historic parks and palaces of Potsdam, with the
Marmorpalais
The Marmorpalais (or Marble Palace) is a former royal residence in Potsdam, near Berlin in Germany, built on the grounds of the extensive '' Neuer Garten'' on the shores of the '' Heiliger See'' (lake). The palace was commissioned by King ''Friedr ...
on its west shore and
Cecilienhof
Cecilienhof Palace (german: Schloss Cecilienhof) is a palace in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, built from 1914 to 1917 in the layout of an English Tudor manor house. Cecilienhof was the last palace built by the House of Hohenzollern that ruled ...
near the north shore, the lake is a popular goal for excursions and has an attractive residential area on its eastern shore.
On the north shore there are informal places for swimming and sunbathing, as well as a connection to Lake
Jungfernsee
The Jungfernsee (translated "Virgin Lake") is north of Potsdam, Germany. It was a glacial kettle and is now part of the River Havel, which runs along its southeastern shore, which is also the only part of its shores that is in Berlin. The rest of ...
and thus to the
Havel River’s extensive network of waterways via the Hasengraben, a short canal where the water is kept dammed up to maintain a high water level for the lake. This is done to keep the wooden piles on which the Marmorpalais is built from being exposed to the air and drying out.
The lake suffers from an overload of
biomass, especially from falling leaves which are decomposed by bacteria on the shallow bottom, depleting the lake of oxygen in the process. In summertime the depths can be virtually without oxygen, causing
dead ecological zones.
File:Heiligersee-1.jpg, Heiliger See, with the so-called “Red House” on the left
File:Heiligersee-2.jpg, Heiliger See, with the Marmorpalais in the center-right background
File:Hasengraben, Potsdam.jpg, The Hasengraben lake outlet
File:Stadtplan Potsdam.jpg, The Heiliger See is to the north between Neuer Garten and Tiefer See.
File:Plan-von-der-Gegent-bey-Potsdam.png, Historical map from 1773 showing the Heiliger See (in the upper right quarter) in the context of the Potsdam waterways.
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Lakes of Brandenburg
Geography of Potsdam
Tourist attractions in Potsdam