Rappbode Dam, Dam in Harz District, Germany

The Rappbode Dam is a concrete gravity structure in Harz District, Saxony-Anhalt, whose massive wall holds back a long reservoir winding through forested valleys. The water stretches upstream for several kilometers between wooded slopes that rise gently on both sides.

Work on the dam started in the nineteen-forties, then stopped during wartime and resumed only after the conflict ended. The project reached completion in the late nineteen-fifties under a different government administration.

The name comes from the Rappbode River, which flows down from the Harz highlands before entering the reservoir. Local visitors walk along the paved paths on the dam crest and pause to look down at the water surface far below.

Country roads connect the site to nearby towns such as Thale and Rübeland, with parking areas located close to the structure. Walking paths lead up to the crest, where you can look out over the reservoir and forested slopes beyond.

The dam wall is divided into 30 segments, each up to 16 metres wide, and contains about 860,000 cubic metres of concrete. Its crest overflow, split by eight piers into nine bays, can discharge 120 cubic metres of water per second. Since June 2022 the structure has been listed as a Historic Landmark of Engineering in Germany.