Lake Steinhude, , , 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 ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

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 northwest of

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. Named after the nearby village of

Steinhude Steinhude is a village in the borough of Wunstorf in Hanover Region in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is a tourist resort on the southern shore of Lake Steinhude. Once a small, quiet fishing village, today Steinhude is well known as a re ...

, it has an area of about , making it the largest lake of northwestern Germany. At the same time, Lake Steinhude is very shallow, with an average depth of only and a maximum depth of less than . It lies within a region known as the

Hanoverian Moor Geest The Hanoverian Moor Geest () is a gently rolling landscape between Hanover and Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Nienburg in the German state of Lower Saxony covering an area of around . It belongs to the raised bog regions of northwest Germany, which cov ...

Geology

It is part of the glacial landscape formed after the recession of the glaciers of the latest

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, the Weichselian glaciation. There are two theories regarding how the lake of Steinhude was formed. One of them says that glaciers gouged out the hole and meltwater filled it. The other theory states that an ice storm formed the hole and as the groundwater rose, the lake was created. In its middle there is a small artificial island carrying an 18th-century fortification, the . Today the lake is the heart of a nature reserve, the

Steinhuder Meer Nature Park The Steinhuder Meer Nature Park (), with northwest Germany's largest inland lake, the Steinhuder Meer, at its heart, covers an area of within the districts of Landkreis Nienburg, Nienburg and Landkreis Schaumburg, Schaumburg and the region of Reg ...

, and is also used as a recreational area.

Islands

The lake has two islands, both of them artificial: * () off

Hagenburg Hagenburg is a municipality in the district of Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, 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 ...

was built between 1761 and 1765. It was turned into a military fortress between 1765 and 1767 by

William, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe Wilhelm, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg (9 January 1724 – 10 September 1777), born Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg, was a German ruler of the County of Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg, an important military comm ...

. Afterwards it briefly served as military school (one of its graduates was

Gerhard von Scharnhorst Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst (12 November 1755 – 28 June 1813) was a Hanoverian-born general in Prussian service from 1801. As the first Chief of the Prussian General Staff, he was noted for his military theories, his reforms of the Pru ...

who later became Chief of the Prussian General Staff). From 1777 until 1867 the island was used as state prison of the

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also called Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807 and a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present-day state of Lower Saxony, with its capi ...

. * () was built in 1974–75 using sand retrieved from the lake. It has a sandy beach which is popular during summer. Access to the island is via an pedestrian bridge from Steinhude. Steinhude Undines Traum

Tourism

The lake is a popular destination for locals and for vacationists. Up to three ships offer cruises; they are supplemented by smaller boats running on schedule across the lake. A bike path approximately long encircles the lake, crossing various landscapes.

References

External links

Steinhuder Meer Nature Park
* {{Authority control Ramsar sites in Germany Lakes of Lower Saxony LSteinhuderMeer