(German, literally ''Lake of/near Plau'') 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 ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, located at . Its surface is approximately 38.4 km² and its maximum depth is .

Location

The Plauer See is flowed through by the river

Elde The Elde () is a river in northern Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and a few km in Brandenburg), a right tributary of the Elbe. Its total length is . The Elde originates near Altenhof, south of Malchow. It first flows southeast towards the south ...

from east to west and is part of the "Bundeswasserstraße Müritz-Elde-Wasserstraße" with waterway class I; the "Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Lauenburg" is responsible. The

Global Nature Fund Global Nature Fund, established in 1998, is a private non-profit foundation with the stated goal of protecting the environment. It is headquartered in Radolfzell, Germany. The organization, which sponsors the Living Lakes Network, marks World We ...

awarded the water body the title ''Lebendiger See des Jahres 2011''. With an area of 38.4 km², the Plauer See is the third largest lake in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the seventh largest in Germany. It has a north–south extension of around 14 kilometres, a maximum width of 5 kilometres and an average depth of 6.8 metres. It has connections via the Elde to the

Fleesensee Fleesensee () is a lake in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in t ...

, the Kölpinsee and the

Müritz The Müritz (; from Slavic languages, Slavic "little sea") is a lake in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. Its area is , which makes it the second largest lake in Germany (after Lake Constance) and the largest lake located entirely within ...

in the east and to the river

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

in the west. On the western shore of the Plauer See lies the eponymous town of

Plau am See Plau am See () is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It is situated east of Parchim, and west of Waren. Etymology Around 1235 the town was called Plawe, that being the Pola ...

, which is also the centre of tourism in this region. There are many tourist facilities around the Plauer See, such as the camping sites located on the eastern and northern shores, near the town of Plau and on the island of Plauer Werder in the north. The lake is surrounded by a (largely still unpaved) circular cycle path. Lake Plauer was called ''Cuzhin'' or ''Kuzin'' in the 12th century, like the settlement and castle of the same name, Kutin or Kutsin - today's Quetzin - on the western shore of the lake.Georg Christian Friedrich Lisch: ''Das Land Kutsin oder Kutin'' in ''Jahrbücher des Vereins für Mecklenburgische Geschichte und Altertumskunde''. - Bd. 10 (1845), S. 36–41
digitalisiert auf mvdok.lbmv.de.
/ref> Only later was the lake given the name of the town of Plau, which lies on the shore. The north-western part of the lake lies in the "Naturschutzgebiet Nordufer Plauer See".

Places of interest

Plau Castle is a

lowland castle The term lowland castle or plains castle () describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The classification is extensively used in Germany where ...

on the west side of the lake, built in 1287.

References

External links

* * Lakes of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Federal waterways in Germany {{MecklenburgischeSeenplatte-geo-stub