“RAUL MARE” RIVER SNEAKS DOWN THE VALLEY
The amazing photograph of “Raul Mare” (The Big River) was taken by Romanian photographer
Costin Irimia in 2013 when the dam reservoir was completely drained out for specials works on
the dam. The “Gura Apelor” dam, whose construction begun in 1975, with its staggering 168 m
height is the highest dam in Europe, built of stone and clay. A volume of raw materials almost
three times larger than that used for the construction of The Great Pyramid of Cheops was
employed for building the dam, which forms a 225,000,000 cubic meters artificial lake. 10 hydro
power stations were built along the river, downstream the dam.
The dam is also one of the entry gates to the Natural Reservation Retezat National Park, also
named “The Enchanted Blue-Eyed Land” due to the numerous glacial lakes reflecting the
intense blue sky.
