Lake · Poland
Śniardwy
Śniardwy is the largest lake in Poland, covering about 114 km². It lies in the Masurian Lake District in the north-east of the country, where many lakes are linked to each other.
Picture credit: Nostrix (CC BY 3.0) · Lesnydzban (CC BY-SA 4.0) · GringoPL (CC BY-SA 3.0 pl) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Śniardwy?
Countries on its shores: Poland.
Largest lake of: Poland.
Middle of the lake: 53.77° N, 21.75° E
The story behind it
Śniardwy was made at the end of the last ice age. As a huge sheet of ice melted and slowly moved back, floods of meltwater dug out the hollow that the lake fills today. The lake is about 22 kilometres long and 13 kilometres wide, bigger than any other lake in Poland. Even so, it is quite shallow: on average the water is only about 6.5 metres deep, and the deepest spot reaches about 23 metres. Eight islands rise from the water. One of them is called Czarci Ostrów, and in 1784 a small fort was built on it. Śniardwy is linked to many other lakes, so boats can travel from one lake to the next. Unusually, the water flows out in two directions: through the Jeglin Canal and through the Wyszka River. Villages such as Popielno and Okartowo lie on its shores. In German it is called Spirdingsee.
Find it on the globe
Śniardwy is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Śniardwy?
Śniardwy covers about 114 km², which makes it the largest lake in Poland. It is about 22 kilometres long and 13 kilometres wide.
How did the lake form?
It formed at the end of the last ice age, when a huge sheet of ice melted and moved back. Floods of meltwater dug out the hollow that the lake fills today.
Where does the water flow out?
Śniardwy is one of the few lakes with two outflows: the Jeglin Canal and the Wyszka River. It is also linked to several other lakes, such as Mikołajskie and Roś.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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