Koenigssee

Koenigssee
	Koenigssee
Geographical location	Berlin-Grunewald
	Data
Coordinates	52 ° 29 ′ 18 ″ N , 13 ° 16 ′ 17 ″ E Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 18 ″ N , 13 ° 16 ′ 17 ″ E
surface	2.2 ha

The Koenigssee is located in the west of the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in the villa colony of Grunewald . The lake was artificially created around the turn of the 20th century to drain the formerly swampy area. It represents one of the four lakes ( Hubertussee , Herthasee , Dianasee and Koenigssee) within the glacial channel of the Grunewaldsee chain and is elongated in shape, its area is about 22,000 m². The lake is mainly fed by groundwater . In addition, there is rainwater that falls on the lakes and the adjacent road area. It is directly connected to the south-western Dianasee via a channel, which is spanned by the listed Hasensprungbrücke . In the north-east, after around 400 meters of built-up area, the Halensee joins, a pipeline ensures the water supply from the Koenigssee. The body of water represents a junction within the Grunewaldseenkette, because perpendicular to the chain to the southeast with the Herthasee , another lake joins, which is the last lake to the west to the side channel, which to the east over the Hubertussee , Fennsee and Volkspark Wilmersdorf to the town hall Schöneberg runs. At the Koenigssee this smaller Ice Age drainage channel originally flowed into the large Grunewald channel. A canal under the Koenigsalleebrücke connects the Koenigssee with the Herthasee. On the property at Koenigsallee 27a there is a magnificent copper beech , which is protected as a natural monument.

Koenigsallee

The Koenigsallee runs parallel to the lake (previously: Grunewaldallee ), where numerous celebrities lived. At the intersection of Erdener Strasse and Koenigsallee, the acting Foreign Minister, Walther Rathenau, was shot with a submachine gun from an overtaking car.

Namesake Felix Koenigs

The Koenigssee and the Koenigsallee have been named after the banker and patron Felix Koenigs (1846–1900) since 1895 . Koenigs was director of the Delbrück Leo & Co. banking house , which was formed in 1854 by Adelbert Delbrück among others . Koenigs was one of the founding fathers and financiers of the Grunewald villa colony in the 1890s and owned several properties here. The generous and art-loving collector of old and contemporary works lived on the avenue named after him in the immediate vicinity of the sculptor of the high historian Otto Lessing (1846–1912), with whom he had a love of art and with whom he once traveled to Venice to buy pictures . Among other things, Lessing built the monument to the poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in the Berlin zoo .

Landscape plan

Koenigssee, riverside hiking trail

Grunewald riverside hiking trail

Like the three other lakes in the immediate vicinity, Dianasee, Herthasee and Hubertussee, the Koenigssee is not one of the original lakes of the Grunewald chain, but was excavated in 1889 to drain the swampy area during the construction of the Grunewald villa colony. The area on which the lake was created was previously called "Langes Fenn". The villas were grouped picturesquely around the new lakes, the banks were not open to the public. Today at Koenigssee 515 meters are available as a public green area and part of the not yet completed Grunewalder Uferwanderweg. The hiking trail is intended to connect the densely built-up city center with the banks of the small lakes as far as the Grunewald forest. Plans for such a path already existed in the 1920s, but could never be realized. At the end of the 1970s, the then Wilmersdorf district took up the idea and initially made the bank areas of the state-owned properties accessible to the public. Additional games were added through acquisitions in the 1980s and 1990s. The total length of the green corridor should be 3.5 kilometers, of which just under two kilometers were completed in 2003. The expansion has stagnated since then, as funds for further purchases are not available for the time being.

General objectives of the landscape plan

At the end of the 20th century, the district put the plans for the riverside hiking trail at the center of a landscape plan for the areas of the small Grunewald lakes, which is drawn up according to the guidelines of the Berlin Nature Conservation Act . This plan is an innovation for Berlin insofar as it is the first Berlin landscape plan for a largely built-up district. On a local political neighborhood walk took environmental councilor Martina Schmiedhofer loud printed matter on July 12, 2003:

“Characteristic landscape elements such as the slope edges to the lakes, the forest trees and the generous open areas of the property have partly disappeared completely. [...] In order to safeguard and develop the quality along the shores of the lake, an average of 35 m wide bank protection zone was established, for which special protection and care measures are to be applied. "

The landscape plan defines the basic goals as follows:

Koenigssee, Hasensprungbrücke

Preservation and development of the formerly formative and typical landscape including the tree population that is appropriate to the location and typical for the region.
Protection, conservation and development of the habitats for the typical, sometimes rare, wild plants and animals.
Rehabilitation and renaturation of the bank areas of the lakes.
Creation of a closed system of paths over public green spaces from the city center into the forest areas of the Grunewald forest .
Development of the lakes and their landscape areas for the general public through a riverside path.
Preservation and care of the important historical gardens.

In view of the empty municipal coffers, not only did the completion of the hiking trail have to be suspended, but the expensive maintenance measures could only be perceived to a very limited extent. Instead of maintaining the tree population, there was deforestation in the direct bank area, which the public received with great incomprehension. Here the district chose the lesser evil, as there was no money for the collection of leaves and branches and this threatened the silting up of the already polluted lakes, the district decided primarily to keep the lakes clean.

See in more detail

to excavate the lakes and to the Hasensprungbrücke: Dianasee (Berlin)

Web links

Commons : Koenigssee - Collection of Images

Koenigssee on berlin.de
Neighborhood walk to lakes ... with Environment City Councilor Martina Schmiedhofer, July 12, 2003 (quotes and the landscape plan on page 8f. Of the print version)
Neighborhood walk ... with District Councilor Joachim Krüger, June 8, 2002
The sculptor, craftsman and painter Otto Lessing ( Memento from December 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (for data on Koenigs see note 99)