Lake Braies

Also: Lago di Braies (Italian), Praagser Wildsee, Pragser Wildsee, Lake Prags, Naturpark Fanes, Parco Naturale Fanes, Sennes, Senes.

The Pragser Wildsee is a mountain lake in the Braies valley in the South Tyrolean community of Prague. It is located a few kilometers south of the Hochpustertal between Bruneck and Toblach in the Braies Dolomites. It is part of the nature park Fanes-Sennes-Prags and thus a protected natural monument.

The lake is located at 1494 m s.l.m. Height and has a water surface of 31 hectares. It is an average of 17 meters deep and has a maximum depth of 36 meters. The geological origin of the lake is due to the formation of a natural dam as a result of a mud drainage. The lake is dominated by the imposing massif of the Seekofel (2810 m). The lake is the starting point of the Dolomite Trail No. 1.

Lake Braies.

Lake Braies.

Lake Braies.

The lake also plays a role in the South Tyrolean world of legends. From here the subterranean parts of the empire of the Fanes could be reached by boat. The now undercover gate to the underworld is located at the south end of the lake direction Seekofel, which is why this is called in Ladin Sass dla Porta (Torberg).

Around the 1899 opened Hotel am Pragser Wildsee played at the end of April, early May 1945 an important event of the Second World War. At the end of 1944, Heinrich Himmler, the “Reichsführer SS” (Reichsführer SS), Ernst Kaltenbrunner, left the most prominent political prisoners of the Nazi state from the concentration camps in Germany to the Dachau concentration camp and finally, South Tyrolean Pustertal.

The SS guards had orders not to let the prisoners live in enemy hands. By the courageous action of the officer of the Wehrmacht Wichard von Alvensleben, the prisoners, who were finally accommodated in the Hotel Pragser Wildsee, were liberated there on 4 May 1945 by the US Army.