Starnberger Lake

Lake Starnberg — called Lake Würm until 1962 — is Germany's fifth largest freshwater lake in terms of area and, due to its great average depth, the second largest in terms of water volume, after Lake Constance. The lake and its surroundings are an unincorporated area within the rural district of Starnberg; the lake itself is the property of the state of Bavaria and is administered by the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes.

Located in southern Bavaria 25 kilometres southwest of Munich, Lake Starnberg is a popular recreation area for the city and, since 1976, one of the wetlands of international importance protected by the Ramsar Convention. The small town of Berg is famous as the site where King Ludwig II of Bavaria was found dead in the lake in 1886. Because of its associations with the Wittelsbach royal family, the lake is also known as Fürstensee. It is also mentioned in T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land.