ÖSTERREICH	AUSTRIA
Bundesland: Steiermark	Styria
Bezirk: Leoben

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The Leopoldsteiner See is a mountain lake in Styria, about 4 kilometres northwest of Eisenerz. The lake is named after the nearby Leopoldstein Castle. The Leopoldsteinersee is situated at 628 m above sea level at the foot of the Seemauer in the western Hochschwab range. The lake is 1,400 metres long and 370 metres wide, the maximum depth is 31 metres. A stream, Seebach, feeds the lake, but most of the water comes from underwater springs. The lake is surrounded by rugged mountains with mixed or coniferous forests. A 3-kilometres hiking trail circles the lake.

There is an old popular legend connected to the lake: In ancient times three fishermen caught a waterman when they were fishing here. When they took him back to their village the waterman began to struggle as soon as the Erzberg came in sight. To get free, he let them choose between three gifts: They could have either a river of gold that soon would end, a silver heart consumed in time, or an iron hat that would last forever. (In another, less-known version the choice is between gold for ten years, silver for one hundred years or iron forever.) The fishermen chose the iron and when they set him free, the waterman pointed at the Erzberg, told them that they could find iron there and disappeared in the depths of a nearby karst spring, the Wassermannsloch.

The mountain depicted in the background of the picture on glass no. 4230 [nearleft] is the Pfaffenstein, which has a height of 1,871 metres.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldsteinersee]

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