Markkleeberger See is one of the lakes created from former open-cast mining land south of Leipzig, part of the region's remarkable shift from industrial scars to leisure landscape. Today it offers beaches, walking and cycling paths, paddling, sailing, and a white-water canoe park nearby.
It is especially useful in warm weather, when Leipzig locals head south for swimming and open air. The lake also tells a bigger story: how Central Germany has been reshaping its mining past into a network of public landscapes.