Lake Śniardwy

Śniardwy is the largest of the Masurian lakes, a wide sheet of water with eight islands. Its open reaches and irregular shores lie among the forests and lakes of former East Prussia. In the 1780s Frederick the Great ordered a fortified military storehouse and harbour built on Czarci Ostrów, an island in the southern part of the lake. Known as Fort Lyck, the depot served only a few years before its defences were abandoned. The lake's waters remained the defining feature of the surrounding country.