Topolnitsa Reservoir

Directions

язовир Тополница

The Topolnitsa reservoir lies in the Sredna Gora, on the upper middle Topolnitsa, where the river divides the Ihtiman Sredna Gora from the main range, at about 400 m. Muhovo stands at the dam and Poibrene at the far end. It is the largest and lowest of three reservoirs on the river, with Zhekov Vir and Dushantsi above it.

How it formed

Studies began in 1936 and building in 1948, with completion around 1963. The concrete dam is 78 m high and 336 m long, with a small power plant in the wall. The lake mainly irrigates the Upper Thracian Plain between Pazardzhik and Plovdiv, including rice fields.

History

In 1965 the people of twelve hamlets in Panagyurishte municipality were resettled because of the dam, and some neighbourhoods of Poibrene were flooded.

Visit

Swimming

No reliable information

Tips

The lake is about 75 km from Sofia and 18 km from Panagyurishte, on road III-801 at both Muhovo and Poibrene. Many villas and bungalows line the shore, and anglers fish for pike-perch, carp, crucian carp, rudd and perch.

Poibrene has shops, a restaurant, cafés and a small hotel, a mineral bath fed by a hot spring, a church of 1830 and two medieval fortresses above the gorge, Asenovo Kale and Shishmanovo Kale. The historic site of Oborishte is nearby, with the village about 9 km east of Poibrene.