Photo: Cvdr · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Zhrebchevo reservoir is a large lake of about 25 km² on the Tundzha, between the Kazanlak and Tvarditsa valleys, with the Sredna Gora to the south and the Balkan range to the north. It stretches from Nikolaevo and Gurkovo past Panicherevo to Banya and Asenovets, with an irregular shore of many arms and inlets.
How it formed
The dam, about 50 m high, was built between 1959 and 1966. It regulates the Tundzha and irrigates the north-east of the Upper Thracian Plain, the Sliven valley and the Yambol plain, and it has a small power plant.
History
The lake drowned the villages of Zhrebchevo, Zapalnya and Dolno Panicherevo. The 19th-century Church of St John of Rila, the only remnant of Zapalnya, still stands half in the water in the north-eastern part. Its iconostasis was moved to nearby churches, and its bell went to Tvarditsa, with a promise that it would ring when someone from the drowned village died. The ruins of a Roman fortress were also found near the dam.
Visit
Swimming
No reliable information
Tips
The church can be reached on foot in summer, when the water drops; at other times it may be almost covered, and people come by the shore to photograph it or look in from fishing boats. Water is drawn down heavily in summer for irrigation, so fishing is seasonal. The many arms hold perch, pike-perch, catfish, carp, crucian carp, bream, bleak, rudd and grass carp, with pike at the mouth of the Tundzha.
Nearby lakes
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Sources & data
- Bulgaria's 2022 Water Framework Directive reporting to the EEA: lake (LW) and transitional (TW) water bodies, field cArea, European Environment Agency (WISE WFD), reported by Bulgaria, 2022
- OpenStreetMap: яз. Жребчево (way 29558719), OpenStreetMap contributors
- Wikidata: Zhrebchevo Reservoir (Q12280199), Wikimedia Foundation
- English Wikipedia: Zhrebchevo Reservoir, Wikimedia Foundation
- Bulgarian Wikipedia: Жребчево (язовир), Wikimedia Foundation
- The sunken church of St Ivan Rilski at Zhrebchevo Dam, BG Guide