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either new farms could be found nearby or new houses were built. Above all, many of the farmers and their descendants who lived in what is now the
Forggensee area can still be found in the surrounding communities today. Construction of the dam began in early 1951 after new access roads and a residential camp for up to 1,000 workers had been built. To ensure the dam structure was watertight, the entire dam and its associated structures were built directly on rock; For geological reasons, this did not happen directly at the breakthrough of the Lech through the Illa's Gorge as originally planned, but about a kilometre downstream, so that the ecologically valuable gorge was lost in the process. On the lakeside, a five-meter-thick concrete apron was installed up to 20 meters deep into the rock. In the spring of 1952, the Lech was dammed here and diverted through a tunnel that had been built in the meantime. In the remaining two years until its completion at the end of 1954, the remaining structures were built and the dam was flooded. The building materials were largely obtained from the reservoir itself.
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BAWAG, meanwhile only responsible for expanding the Lech dams, began building the Lech
Reservoir in 1950. This led to strong protests from the residents, who founded a protective association and reached a largely satisfactory agreement with BAWAG in the 1952 Schwangau Agreement. For those affected,
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near today's Füssen district of
Weidach was completely relocated, 32 families having to leave their homes. Of the affected buildings, only 14 houses from Deutenhausen survived: They were bought by Bavarian Hydropower in 1952 from
391:), from south to north these are the strata of the Deutenhausen Formation, the clay marl strata, the rock strata and in particular the Weißach strata of the Lower Freshwater Molasse (Illasberg, Zwieselberg, Senkele).
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This lake may be viewed as the forerunner of the
Forggensee and the smaller Pre-Alpine lakes in this region, most of which have survived. The foothills of the Alps were finally free of ice around 14,500 years ago.
628:, the owner of the spinning mill of the same name in Kaufbeuren, demolished in the fall of 1954, and rebuilt by expellees in the area. Figures of saints from the Deutenhausen chapel, on the other hand, are now in
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The increasing demand for electricity in the interwar period aroused renewed interest in building a Lech storage reservoir. A draft paper from 1936/37 envisaged a storage target of
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flows through it. The
Forggensee is known primarily as a tourist destination for aquatic sports and recreation. Besides Füssen, other settlements on the lake include
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would have resulted in larger resettlements of 1,500 to 2,000 people and, especially in the area around
Schwangau, significant loss of agricultural land. The
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Even though the
Forggensee is not a natural lake today, it is located in a basin that was filled by a much larger lake after the last ice age: when after the
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A few hundred metres from today's shore, on the former path from
Brunnen to Forggen, you will come across the foundation walls and brick remains of a Roman
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to
Forggen in 1644, was probably the most important building among the larger individual farms; today its foundation walls are crumbling on the lake bed.
611:, including 16 farms with 800 hectares of land east of the Lech were impacted by the flooding of Lake Forggen in 1954. On the west bank, the lower
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in the south could be a Roman road that has fallen into oblivion, which perhaps represents a connection from the Roman settlement of
Tegelberg to
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The Roßhaupten Dam was renovated in 2018, which is why the lake was not filled in 2018 (as it is every spring). In 2019 the lake was reflooded.
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castles. With a surface area of 15.2 km, it is the fifth-largest lake in Bavaria and the largest reservoir in Germany by area. The
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zone adjoining them to the south) at the southern end of the Murnau Depression at the northern end of the present-day Forggensee.
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whenever the glacier halted temporarily or advanced briefly again. These ridges can still be seen in today's landscape.
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local researcher Sigulf Guggenmos (1941–2018) discovered various important archaeological sites, including traces of
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with a height of 34 m, a crown length of 140 m and a total capacity of 65 million m was to be built. The
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ridges were formed from the masses of debris carried by the ice from the mountains piled up at the edge of the
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near Roßhaupten and received a licence to build a hydroelectric power plant, which, however, expired in 1907.
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Official Settlement Register for Bavaria, based on the census of 13 September 1950, Munich, 1952, column 1288
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gradually carved out through the southern wing of the Murnau Depression near today's barrage no. 1 at
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The lake provides ideal conditions for surfing, sailing, fishing, and boating. The lake is stocked with
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that were cleared in 1974. Such manor houses supplied travellers on the Roman roads. According to the
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in a relatively short time. Lake Füssen also visibly silted up, but it also flowed out through the
518:, the Lech reservoir project was resumed. After tough negotiations, the storage target was set at
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Altogether 32 residential buildings with 256 inhabitants (1950) from the Schwangau villages
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and its trading station at Osterreinen. It is, therefore, possible that an additional
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could be built in the years 1940 to 1950 - the smaller plants could be built faster.
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and economically difficult post-war years prevented the realisation of this project.
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on the old road was demolished as were individual buildings near Dürracker and
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The resulting lake basins were filled with clay and silt deposits from glacial
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gave an impression of the scale of this when the lake level on 22 May 1999 at
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886:"Projekt Staudamm Roßhaupten – Informationen zur Erneuerung der Dammdichtung"
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or BAWAG) was founded to build hydropower stations on the Lech, the Lower
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Only small lakes in the hollows of the former lake bed have survived: the
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Aerial photograph of the Forggensee at low water from the SE (March 2020)
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379:. In this gorge, the Lech cuts through the steep strata of the tertiary
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was just over a metre lower than the originally planned water level.
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469:) published a memorandum on the utilization of water power on the
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Northern end of the Forggensee with a view of the Illasberg Gorge
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may be seen in the foothills to the left; to the right is
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View from the terrace of the Neuschwanstein Music Theatre
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The Forggensee from the north. In the background are the
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Boat landing stage at Füssen for the Forggen Navigation
721:. Two ships navigate the lake on two different routes.
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bought the first plots of land in the area of the Lech
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The Via Claudia Augusta between Rieden and Roßhaupten
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In 1910, the "Royal Supreme Construction Authority" (
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continued to melt, initially forming large masses of
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Southern end of the Forggensee with a view of Füssen
273:. The lake takes its name from the former hamlet of
454:were made at the end of the 19th century. In 1898,
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794:Remains of the hamlet of Forggen in the Forggensee
430:that came down from the mountains wintered there.
293:. In the course of its retreat, as in the entire
635:The former episcopal mill, which was moved from
921:Armin Guggenmos, Birgit Gehlen (January 2019),
564:Forggensee Dam from the east aerial view (2019)
552:Forggensee Dam from the west aerial view (2019)
865:"Der Forggensee bleibt diesen Sommer trocken"
671:Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection
332:was one of these glacial lakes, Lake Füssen (
8:
806:Tiefental Bridge of the former Bundesstraße
522:- the originally planned storage height of
277:which has been submerged by the reservoir.
249:and one of many lakes in the region around
325:, after which lakes formed in the basins.
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21:
491:In 1940, the Bavarian Hydropower Works (
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697:saddle and via the Roman settlement on
642:At the northern end of the lake, the
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16:Lake in Ostallgäu, Bavaria, Germany
233:, is a reservoir located north of
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532:782.91 m above NHN
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587:Lech-Füssen area in Roman times.
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71:, Füssener Ache, Mühlberger Ache
524:784 m above NHN
520:781 m above NHN
486:784 m above NHN
446:The first plans for using the
338:790 m above NHN
1:
863:Christian Rost (2018-04-30).
701:, which was used seasonally.
467:Königliche Oberste Baubehörde
184:780.5 m above
36:Aerial view of the Forggensee
595:Conservation and archaeology
285:Following the climax of the
104:Elevation at crest
493:Bayerische Wasserkraftwerke
108:785 m above
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359:Silting up of Lake Füssen
29:
923:"Nachruf S Guggenmos BA"
385:Lower Freshwater Molasse
76:Height (foundation)
650:hunting stations and a
473:, according to which a
52:Construction began
927:Bayerische Archäologie
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867:. Süddeutsche Zeitung
621:Lower Weidachsiedlung
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514:After the end of the
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216:Neuschwanstein Castle
197:
180:Normal elevation
958:at Wikimedia Commons
528:1999 Pentecost flood
456:Siemens & Halske
381:Lower Marine Molasse
267:Rieden am Forggensee
231:Roßhaupten Reservoir
138:Active capacity
683:Via Claudia Augusta
448:hydroelectric power
164:Maximum length
147:Catchment area
589:
576:Forgensee overflow
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229:, also called the
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212:Tannheim Mountains
172:Maximum width
117:Width (crest)
954:Media related to
677:in the north and
237:in the county of
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156:Surface area
60:Dam and spillways
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981:Lakes of Bavaria
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19:Dam in Ostallgäu
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369:Illasberg Gorge
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186:sea level (NHN)
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125:Dam volume
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84:Height (
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693:through the
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626:Theodor Momm
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605:Deutenhausen
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371:, which the
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334:Füssener See
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315:Würm Ice Age
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287:last ice age
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964:, lakes in
929:(in German)
652:Late Celtic
637:Waltenhofen
630:St. Coloman
613:Osterreinen
416:Lech Valley
309:Lake Füssen
975:Categories
962:Forggensee
956:Forggensee
933:2019-10-30
896:2019-04-30
871:2018-05-26
850:References
705:Recreation
687:Roman road
648:Mesolithic
452:Roßhaupten
442:Forggensee
377:Roßhaupten
373:River Lech
365:meltwaters
346:Cretaceous
297:area, new
295:Pre-Alpine
291:Kaufbeuren
271:Roßhaupten
259:River Lech
227:Forggensee
25:Forggensee
986:Ostallgäu
699:Tegelberg
689:ran from
660:sacrifice
658:place of
505:Landsberg
460:water gap
434:Reservoir
426:; so the
408:Weißensee
404:Schwansee
396:Bannwald-
239:Ostallgäu
208:Thaneller
200:Tegelberg
133:Reservoir
128:650,000 m
55:1950–1954
46:Ostallgäu
691:Pinswang
675:Auerberg
644:Dösinger
509:Schongau
428:red deer
389:Tertiary
383:and the
323:dead ice
299:morainic
263:Halblech
151:1,594 km
65:Impounds
42:Location
725:Gallery
679:Säuling
609:Forggen
601:Brunnen
400:Hopfen-
342:molasse
275:Forggen
247:Germany
243:Bavaria
204:Säuling
159:15.2 km
86:thalweg
966:Füssen
890:Uniper
695:Alpsee
619:; the
617:Füssen
501:Danube
412:Alpsee
410:. The
349:Flysch
317:, the
281:Origin
235:Füssen
220:Füssen
175:2.8 km
167:8.7 km
141:168 Mm
96:Length
715:trout
656:Roman
424:flora
420:fauna
99:320 m
717:and
711:pike
607:and
507:and
497:Isar
471:Lech
422:and
406:and
269:and
253:and
225:The
210:and
120:10 m
91:37 m
79:41 m
69:Lech
719:eel
654:or
475:dam
241:in
977::
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888:.
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387:(
88:)
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