Drought reveals remains of German 'Atlantis' in lake

Updated 10:09 am CDT, Sunday, August 19, 2018



BERLIN (AP) — A sustained drought in Germany has revealed the ruins of a village abandoned when a large reservoir was created more than 100 years ago.

German news agency dpa reported Sunday that a bridge and the foundations of Berich — known locally as the Atlantis of Lake Eder — have recently emerged from the waters in the central state of Hesse.

Germany's third-biggest reservoir is being drained to keep water levels on the Weser river high enough for shipping.

Like many European countries, Germany has seen remarkably little rain in recent months.

https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Drought-reveals-remains-of-German-Atlantis-in-13166727.php#photo-16036361

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The Drowned Convent and Village of Berich
As lake waters recede, a German village reemerges after more than a hundred years.

In 1905, Berich was just a sleepy village along the River Eder in central Germany. The small farming community grew up around a former 12th century Benedictine convent that had been dissolved in the wake of the Reformation. There were fewer than 200 people, but they had thriving and extensive farms, rock-solid buildings, and a nearly new stone bridge that connected them to neighboring villages.

It was an idyllic spot with deep roots and a long history, until a new dam and reservoir was planned—the largest in all of the state of Hesse—to flood Berich right off the map.

It took a few years to build the dam, but by 1914 the floodgates were ready to open. Hoping to preserve what they could before the deluge, pieces of the village were disassembled, carefully numbered, packed up and moved to a New Berich about 20 miles away. Unfortunately they weren’t able to move over seven centuries’ of graves, so plots in the cemetery were instead outfitted with concrete covers to protect them from the waters of the brand new Edersee reservoir.

Once the dam went up the basin filled, and for the next hundred years the old village of Berich was seen only by divers. That is, until recent draught conditions started drying up the lake. The water has receded so much that ruins of the village are now on full display. Sections of the stone bridge, walls of the convent and church, foundations of the local ironworks, and even the concrete-covered graves are visible again.

More:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-drowned-convent-and-village-of-berich-waldeck-germany

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Germany's sunken 'Atlantis' reappears as tourist attraction

Three villages were submerged in a large reservoir in central Germany 100 years ago. But with water levels low, the ruins have reappeared to offer tourists a glimpse back in time.

Date 12.07.2017
Author Nadine Wojcik (dpa/sh)



Reaching 48 meters (157 feet) in height, the dam in North Hesse in central Germany was a major engineering feat in the early 20th century. Holding massive amounts of water, it not only created the Erdersee, the second-largest reservoir in Germany, but also maintained the water level necessary to use the inland waterways.

The project was considered so significant to the economy that German Emperor Wilhelm II even paid a personal visit to the construction site in 1911.

Yet, as is often the case with such large endeavors, local residents were in the way, specifically, the 900 inhabitants of the villages Asel, Berich and Bringhausen, located in the Eder River valley. After residents were resettled, and many buildings taken to new locations and rebuilt, the area flooded, submerging the remaining structures.

Now, with water levels low in the summer, the sunken villages reappear to show the "Atlantis" of Hesse. The villages' ruins are in various states. The old bridge of Asel, for example, is in excellent condition. Just north in the village of Bringhausen, all that can be seen are the gravestones of previous inhabitants.

More:
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-sunken-atlantis-reappears-as-tourist-attraction/a-39645798