Gopło

Gopło
View from the Mouse Tower of Kruszwica
Gopło Location within Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Location	Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Coordinates	52°35′08″N 18°21′15″E
Primary inflows	Noteć
Primary outflows	Noteć
Basin countries	Poland
Max. length	25 km (16 mi)
Max. width	3.5 km (2.2 mi)
Surface area	21.8 km2 (8.4 sq mi)
Average depth	4.7 m (15 ft)
Max. depth	16.6 m (54 ft)
Surface elevation	77 m (253 ft)

Gopło ([ˈɡɔpwɔ]) is a ribbon lake in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland, near the city of Gniezno. It gives its name to the protected area called Gopło Landscape Park.

Gopło is the largest natural water reservoir in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and the historical Kuyavia (Kujawy) region, being the eleventh largest lake in modern Poland.

In early Middle Ages, the shores of Lake Gopło were home to a Lechitic tribe known as the Goplans. At the northern end of the lake stands the "Mice Tower" of Kruszwica. Its name derives from a legend of the corrupt Prince Popiel, who fled to the tower from his rebelling population, and was devoured there by mice. Some historians and archaeologists consider the area the heart of the first state of the Polans, the "founding" tribe of Poland.

References

• Lozny, Ludomir (2004), "The Transition to Statehood in Central Europe", in Grinin, Leonid E, et al. (eds.), The Early State, Its Alternatives and Analogues, Saratov: Uchitel Publishing House, ISBN 5-7057-0547-6, pp. 278–87