Iron Gates Reservoir

How it formed

The lake is man-made. The Iron Gate I dam was a joint project of the governments of Romania and Yugoslavia, started in 1964 and completed in 1972, and it floods a stretch of the Danube gorge, which is a compound river valley of several gorges, the longest breakthrough gorge in Europe.

History

The small inhabited island of Ada Kaleh was submerged when the dam was built. The gorge has been important for much longer: the Iron Gates Mesolithic culture is named after it, and Lepenski Vir, on the Serbian bank, is regarded as one of the most important archaeological sites in Europe and its oldest planned settlement. Đerdap National Park was established in 1974, and in 2020 the wider area became a UNESCO global geopark.

Fortress, tablet and carved face

Day trips usually combine three stops. The medieval Golubac Fortress, with its towers and gates, stands at the western mouth of the gorge, and boat trips pass it from the water. Lepenski Vir, a settlement about 8,000 years old, was found during excavations connected with the Iron Gate I dam. Cruises through the gorge pass the Great and Little Kazan, Trajan's Tablet, and the huge rock-carved face of Decebalus.

Nature

Both banks of the reservoir are protected: Đerdap National Park in Serbia and the Iron Gates Natural Park in Romania. The terrain above the river is mountainous and karstic, with caves, pits, gorges, springs and small lakes.