Ada Kaleh's Secrets: The 'Gibraltar' of the Iron Gates, Hidden Beneath the Danube

The Danube River's recent historically low water levels have brought attention to submerged landscapes and forgotten relics, but the former island of Ada Kaleh remains hidden beneath the surface. Located in the Danube near Orșova, upstream from the Iron Gates I dam, Ada Kaleh was a strategic island that disappeared in the late 1960s when the area was flooded to create the reservoir for the hydroelectric power plant. Although the Danube's flow has neared record lows this summer, exposing sandbanks and rocks, the site of the former island lies dozens of meters underwater. Ada Kaleh, which was approximately 1,800 meters long and 400-500 meters wide, is now only visible on pre-1960s maps, in historical images, and in preserved testimonies. The island formed in the Orșova area, upstream from the treacherous rocky passages of the Iron Gates, which made navigation difficult. It was created from gravel and sand carried by the Cerna River and stabilized by dense vegetation. During dry summers, smaller islets around Ada Kaleh sometimes merged with the mainland. The end of Ada Kaleh, home to several hundred Turkish families, came with the hydroelectric development of the Iron Gates. A 1966 report from Flacăra magazine noted the island's nostalgic beauty as tourists visited for a final farewell before the reservoir would permanently submerge it. Construction on the Iron Gates I project, Romania's largest hydroelectric and navigation undertaking of the 20th century, began in 1964. The system, including the dam, power plant, locks, and a roughly 130-kilometer-long reservoir, was inaugurated in May 1972. The Danube's water level rose by over 30 meters upstream of the Gura Văii dam, inundating old riverside settlements and the rocky thresholds that had previously hindered navigation.

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Ada Kaleh consumed its last autumn days in October, reflecting in the gentle light of the season all the colorful nostalgia of its old buildings, some of which will become museum pieces when the great reservoir permanently submerges the island beneath its waters.