# Schiffshebewerk Magdeburg-Rothensee

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Content updated: 2026-06-22

Schiffshebewerk Magdeburg-Rothensee stands in Magdeburg, linking the Mittelland Canal with the Elbe River. Operating since 1938, the ship lift raises vessels across a 16-metre height difference within the Magdeburg Waterway Cross.

Its trough measures 85 metres long and 12 metres wide, weighing 5,400 tonnes as four fixed spindles move it vertically. Two steel flotation bodies sit in 70-metre-deep water-filled shafts beneath the trough, giving the moving structure its unusual floating motion. The lift accommodates vessels up to 82 metres, while Rothensee Lock, built between 1998 and 2001, carries larger ships.

From the lock tower, you can look across the lock, the ship lift, the trough bridge and Magdeburg’s industrial surroundings. The nearby canal bridge stretches 918 metres over the Elbe, carrying the Mittelland Canal across the river.

- City: [Magdeburg](https://mytuur.com/en/city/magdeburg/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_SchiffshebewerkMagdeburgRothensee_67eba1de5015e576396a0e2d_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schiffshebewerk_Rothensee.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_SchiffshebewerkMagdeburgRothensee_67eba1de5015e576396a0e2d_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schiffshebewerk_Rothensee_1.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_SchiffshebewerkMagdeburgRothensee_67eba1de5015e576396a0e2d_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schiffshebewerk_Rothensee_3.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_SchiffshebewerkMagdeburgRothensee_67eba1de5015e576396a0e2d_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detail_des_Schiffshebewerkes.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_SchiffshebewerkMagdeburgRothensee_67eba1de5015e576396a0e2d_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viewing_platform_and_control_tower_water_lock_Magdeburg_Rothensee.jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Magdeburg. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

## What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.