Greifensee () is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the

canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

in Switzerland.

Geography

Greifensee is located to the east of the city of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, separated by the Pfannenstiel from

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

. As the second largest lake in the canton of Zürich (Lake Zurich being the largest), it is about long and at the widest point, with a maximum depth of . The

Aabach (Greifensee) The Aabach (also ''Aa'', or ''Ustermer Aa'' for disambiguation with the Mönchaltorfer Aa) is a minor river in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland. At a length of , it flows from Pfäffikersee to the Greifensee. Its valley is known as '' Aatal ...

(or just Aa) is the main supplying river, while its outlet is the Glatt. On its southeastern end the Mönchaltorfer Aa (or just Aa) enters the Greifensee.

Nature

The lakeside is under UNESCO

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard something against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although ...

, and buildings are not allowed, resulting in

reed bed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

and a rich

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

and

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

: Around 400 plant species in the lake and 19 species in its tributaries. The nature reserves are important for the birds breeding there including more than 120 migratory species.

Cultural heritage

The lake was known as ''Glattsee'' (after the Glatt) in the medieval period Greifensee (''Grifense'') was at first the name of the fort built by the

counts of Rapperswil The House of Rapperswil respectively Counts of Rapperswil (''Grafen von Rapperwil'' since 1233, before ''Lords'') ruled the upper ''Zürichsee'' and ''Seedamm'' region around Rapperswil and parts of, as of today, Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, ...

in the 12th century, recorded as the name of the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

in 1260. This was adopted as the name of the lake by the 16th century.''von Murr ab dem Gryffensee'', GHR 55, 67, 83, 84, 85 (1504); Conradi Türst,
De situ Confoederatorum descriptio
' (1544) "Et iterum dominatum circa paludem Griffense cum vico eiusdem vocabuli ac servitute, qui interseccatur v mille passibus a Turego, de quo ad bis mil. pass, contermina eacdem paludi arx Ustri" Located on the lakeshore, the Prehistoric pile dwelling settlement Greifensee–Storen–Wildsberg is part of the 56 Swiss sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ''Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps'', and the settlement is also listed in the

Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance #REDIRECT Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance {{R from other capitalisation ...

as a ''Class object''. Because the lake has grown in size over time, the original piles are now around to under the water level of .

References

External links

* *
Schifffahrts-Genossenschaft Greifensee: Boat schedules

at Greifensee {{Authority control Lakes of Switzerland Lakes of the canton of Zürich LGreifensee

Geography

Nature

Cultural heritage

See also

References

External links