Plau am See

Plau am See
Plau am See
Town
	Lock and former mill
	Coat of arms
	Location of Plau am See within Ludwigslust-Parchim district
	Plau am See Plau am See
	Coordinates: 53°27′29″N 12°15′45″E / 53.45806°N 12.26250°ECoordinates: 53°27′29″N 12°15′45″E / 53.45806°N 12.26250°E
Country	Germany
State	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
District	Ludwigslust-Parchim
Municipal assoc.	Plau am See
Subdivisions	9
Government
• Mayor	Norbert Reier (Left)
Area
• Total	115.99 km2 (44.78 sq mi)
Elevation	70 m (230 ft)
Population (2020-12-31)
• Total	6,055
• Density	52/km2 (140/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	19395
Dialling codes	038735
Vehicle registration	PCH
Website	www.stadt-plau-am-see.de

Plau am See (German: [plaʊ̯ am ˈzeː] (listen)) is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated 28 km east of Parchim, and 29 km west of Waren.

Around 1235 the city was called Plawe, that being the Polabian field name for the place where rafting is practiced. The name lasted until the 16th century and was then written according to its German phonetic form Plau. On 11 January 1994, the name of the city was modified by the addition of am See (on Lake) to remove confusion with the similarly named towns of Plaue, Plauen and Plaue.

At the edge of town, there is a protected forest habitat named Plauer Stadtwald (literally: Plau city forest). Among the sights in town are a historic church building, the ruins of the Burg Plau castle and a bridge that may be vertically lifted to allow boats on the channel below to pass through.^[2]