Perhaps you’ve heard tales of a lake born not of nature’s whim, but of a city’s need. This is the Spandauer See. Let me introduce you to this unique body of water. The Spandauer See isn’t just any lake. It is a stretch of the Havel River. It broadens out here creating a lake-like expanse with arms and islands.
Now the Havel flows from the north. It snakes its way toward Spandau. Here it demands more space than the narrower Spree River that arrives from the east. That widening is what we now call the Spandauer See. Imagine this area before 1997. It was simply a part of the Havel. But on May 28, 1997, it officially became the Spandauer See. The name gave this part of the Oberhavel its own identity.
Look north from here. The Spandauer See stretches up to the Maselakekanal and the Hohenzollernkanal. To the south the lake ends at the Schleuse and Zitadelle. The Zitadelle Spandau is a Renaissance-era fortress on an island in the Havel. It marks the southern edge of the Spandauer See.
Consider that Spandau is older than Berlin. Spandau’s town rights were confirmed in 1232. It remained independent until 1920. Even now locals say that traveling to Spandau is traveling to the city. Going to Charlottenburg is going to Berlin.
Today Spandau is the westernmost borough of Berlin. It sits where the Havel and Spree rivers meet. The Havel forms much of the district’s eastern border. Spandau’s landscape includes a wealth of lakes along the Havel. Some view it as part of the Havelland region.
But Spandau is better connected to central Berlin than to its Havelland neighbors. Travel is easier thanks to well-developed transit systems. Still, the surrounding Havelland offers its own attractions.
The Spandauer See is crossed by the Spandauer-See-Brücke. This steel bridge connects Hakenfelde and Haselhorst. It serves the Wasserstadt Oberhavel development. The bridge was completed in 1997. It provides access to residential areas developed since the 1990s.
So the next time you see the Spandauer See remember its story. It’s a tale of rivers merging and a district defining itself. It is about a place where history and nature intertwine. It is also about how a part of the Havel became a lake in its own right.