Oderteich, Historical reservoir in Lower Saxony, Germany
Oderteich is a large reservoir in the Upper Harz region, created and held back by a massive dam made of stone and sand. The water stretches for over a mile, forming a calm lake surrounded by forested slopes.
Workers from Sankt Andreasberg built the lake between 1715 and 1722 as one of Germany's first major reservoirs. The project was revolutionary for its time and remained the largest structure of its kind in the country for many years.
The reservoir forms part of the historic water management system of the Upper Harz, showing how people here deliberately controlled water flow across generations. Visitors today can still see traces of these old techniques and understand why this system was so important to the region.
You can walk or hike all around the lake and discover the surroundings from different angles. The best time to visit is in dry weather, when the paths are easy to walk.
The dam's interior has multiple layers: a core of granite sand wrapped in thick stone walls designed to hold back water for centuries. This construction method was unusually clever for the 18th century and shows how the builders understood the forces of water with precision.
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