Almost like Lake Como: Germany transforms former coal mines into Europe's largest lake landscape
A decades-long project to transform Germany's former coal mines into a massive lake complex will reach completion this April – creating a watery landscape almost as large as Italy's Lake Como. Lake Sedlitz –...
A decades-long project to transform Germany's former coal mines into a massive lake complex will reach completion this April – creating a watery landscape almost as large as Italy's Lake Como.
Lake Sedlitz – the final addition to the 14,000 hectare Lusatian Lakeland – will be open for swimming and boating for the first time at the end of this month.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, Germany has more than 12,000 natural lakes.
In addition, there are hundreds of artificial bodies of water: 575 open-cast lignite mining lakes alone were recorded in Germany in 2003 – and their number will continue to rise in the coming decades as more mines are flooded in the former coalfields. Most of them are located in Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.
However, none of these projects even come close to what is being created in Lusatia, between Berlin and Dresden.
From open-cast mine to artificial water landscape
In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), miners extracted more than two billion tonnes of lignite – or brown coal – from depths of over 60 metres.
Mining left huge craters in the landscape, which first began to be transformed in 1967 with the flooding of Lake Senftenberg. Part of Lusatian Lakeland – now Europe's largest artificial water landscape – it draws visitors to its harbours, canals and campsites.
There is even a community in the region called Neu-Seeland, around which the water landscape created from former open-cast mines has developed.
Without mining, Lusatia would have remained a region almost without lakes, as the old moraine landscape with its permeable gravel and sand does not naturally form lakes. Incidentally, the name Lusatia goes back to the West Slavic term 'luzica' – which simply means 'marshland'.
The gigantic scale of the project
As a tourist destination, the Lusatian Lakeland comprises 23 human-made post-mining lakes with a total water surface area of 14,000 hectares. Ten of these are to be connected in future by canals for leisure boating – the plan is to have a continuously navigable water area of 7,000 hectares. Four of the 13 planned navigable canals have already been completed and six more are under construction.
The Lausitz and Central-German Mining Administration Company (LMBV) is responsible for the rehabilitation and flooding of the former open-cast mines – a federal company that was assigned 19 open-cast mining areas in Lusatia in the early 1990s and has been organising their reclamation ever since.
In total, the LMBV is developing around 50 large post-mining lakes, 24 of which are in Lusatia alone, the LMBV's Dr Uwe Steinhuber tells Euronews Earth. "This is a process that will take two generations," says Steinhuber.
What the transformation will cost
According to Steinhuber, the mining reorganisation in Lusatia has cost around €7 billion so far. The total cost to the LMBV, including the Central German mining districts, is around €13.8 billion.
Creating a single long-term safe lake costs between €200 and €600 million. The project is financed 75 per cent by the federal government and 25 per cent by the respective federal state – EU funds do not flow into mining restoration. According to Steinhuber, a further €4.8 billion will probably be required over the next 25 years.
Almost as big as Lake Como
An LMBV flooding centre in Senftenberg has been coordinating the process for over 25 years: water is extracted from the Neisse, Spree and Schwarzer Elster rivers and channelled into the lakes. Without active flooding, it would take 80 to 100 years for an open-cast mine to be filled by groundwater and rain alone. Flooding only takes place when the conditions are right – shipping, power stations and the fishing industry must not be affected.
Each emerging lake poses its own challenges: embankments have to be geotechnically secured, mineral-laden groundwater has to be taken into account and in some cases complex inlet and outlet channels have to be built, explains Steinhuber. The rapid introduction of neutral river water fulfils an important purpose: it prevents acidic water from the tipping areas from entering the lakes.
The total water surface area is currently around 130 square kilometres. In the end, it will be 144 square kilometres – almost as large as Italy's Lake Como (146 square kilometres), one of the most famous lakes in Europe.
The difference: the East German lake is not created by nature, but by decades of targeted engineering work. According to Steinhuber, 90 per cent of the volume of the residual crater has already been filled.
The lakes do not only fulfil tourist purposes: they also increasingly serve as water reservoirs for the rivers Spree and Schwarze Elster – especially during periods of low water when the region suffers from drought.
Lake Sedlitz: The last building block
Lake Sedlitz – formerly the Ilse-Ost open-cast mine, in operation from 1938 to 1980 – is the last major project component still awaiting completion.
According to the television station RBB, around 200 hectares of dead wood are still under the surface of the water and must first be removed. The history of the lake's restoration dates back to the 1990s, when the embankments were first secured, dams were built and the banks flattened. The lake reached its target water level in 2025.
At 1,400 hectares, it will be open for swimming and boating for the first time at the end of April – making it the largest recreational lake in the entire Lusatian Lakeland, around 100 hectares larger than the previous record holder, Lake Senftenberg.
"Currently, four of the five lakes have already been completed and can be fully utilised," Kathrin Winkler, Managing Director of the Lusatian Lakeland Tourism Association, tells Euronews Earth. "We expect to open Lake Sedlitz on 24 April."
Five lakes merge in summer
On 29 June 2026, Europe's largest artificial water landscape will reach its next milestone: Lake Senftenberg, Lake Geierswald, Lake Partwitz, Lake Sedlitz and Lake Großräschen will be connected by navigable canals to form a contiguous water area of around 5,000 hectares.
For comparison: Germany's largest inland lake, the Müritz, measures around 11,300 hectares. If you want to cross all the lakes by water, you would have to cover around 50 kilometres.
The newly created Ilse Canal to Lake Großräschen stands out in particular: it crosses under several railway lines and a main road on its way. "The largest man-made water landscape in Europe is taking shape," says Winkler. "The opening marks an important step for the further development of water tourism in the Lusatian Lakeland."
According to Winkler, the main focus over the next five years will be on establishing passenger shipping, new berths and accommodation capacity. The aim is to position the entire Lusatian Lakeland as a unified travel destination – from cycling and water sports to cultural offerings.
Tourism on the upswing: Especially from the Czech Republic
The change is also having an economic impact: in 2025, around 800,000 overnight stays were registered in establishments with 10 or more beds, as Winkler reported when asked by Euronews Earth.
The Czech market in particular is developing strongly: "We have been working intensively on the Czech market for several years and are already seeing great success here," says Winkler. In 2025, the region recorded 23,063 Czech overnight stays – an increase of 12.7 per cent compared to the previous year.
As a next step, the tourism association now has its sights set on the Polish market. The long-term goal of the association, which currently has more than 30 municipalities as members, is up to 1.5 million overnight stays per year.
But it is not just tourists from outside that benefit. "The local population benefits in many ways," Winkler tells Euronews Earth. The expansion of the tourism infrastructure would create new jobs in the catering, hotel and leisure industries – including for former miners and their families.
A model for Europe?
Winkler says Lusatia can serve as a model for other coal-mining regions on the continent: "The combination of comprehensive mining restoration, sustainable landscape design and the targeted development of a tourism value-added cycle provides impetus for regions facing similar structural change."
Workshops and excursions with international partners had already been organised during the International Building Exhibition (IBA, 2000 to 2010) – "and we are still involved in a lively international exchange on this topic today," Winkler tells Euronews Earth.
Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG), which still operates active open-cast mines in the region today, plans to gradually close them down from 2030 – the last one is not expected until 2038. These huge pits will then also have to be flooded.
What was once considered a wound in the landscape is thus gradually becoming one of the most unusual natural paradises in Europe.
