Add to favourites

On stock 462 pcs

Technical monuments: Orava Dam Issue number
634
Date of issue
21.04.2017
Face value
0.95 €
Sell price
0.95 €

The Orava, an unpredictable river, brought benefits as well as a lot of misery to the residents who, in the past, lived near the confluence of the rivers Biela and Čierna Orava. This is also proven by archived records. The most terrible flood, also referred to as “Palackého veľká voda” (Palacky’s Great Flood), took place in 1813. Repeated flooding sparked the first ideas and designs on how to reduce the power of the Biela and Čierna Orava as early as 1830 and later in 1842, 1870, 1918, 1923 and 1933, each time after flooding. Archived records show that the first measurements and research activities took place as early as 1871. The studies considered building different types of dams with a reservoir of up to 850 million m3. As many as 9 alternative design concepts for the dam, dating from the beginning of the 20th century, were preserved in the archives of the state administration authority in Ústie nad Oravou. Several of them were created during the construction of the dam (after 1941). Doubts regarding the choice of design began to appear once the execution of the concrete gravity dam began. The Orava Dam was, at that time, the first large hydro-technical structure in Czechoslovakia to be built under such difficult geological conditions. Issues with geotechnical stability, aggressive groundwater and high compressibility of the rock complicated the already difficult construction conditions. The Orava Dam had become not only a national problem, but a problem of a European magnitude. Experts from Switzerland, Germany and Poland were invited to the construction site. Eventually, these problems were solved with an original concept for the Orava Dam, as it is known today. It is a concrete gravity dam, relieved, with horizontal reinforcement blocks covered by a layer of clay insulation with a grout curtain at the sub-base (Dr. Jiroušek et. al., 1949). In the field of dam engineering, the Orava Dam represents a unique solution which guarantees not only safety from flooding, but is also a rare technical innovation of European significance.
                                                                                                                                                                                      Emília Bednárová

Show less

Similar products

  • Page of 15
The 175th Anniversary of Slovak Rail Transport Issue number
798
Date of issue
18.08.2023
The 150th Anniversary of the Establishment of ŽOS Zvolen, a.s. Issue number
768
Date of issue
22.06.2022
Technical Monuments: the Saltworks in Prešov Issue number
743
Date of issue
11.06.2021
Technical Monuments: The Historical Power Plant in Piešťany Issue number
662
Date of issue
18.05.2018
Technical Monuments: Traction engine Umrath (1894) Issue number
609
Date of issue
15.04.2016
Technical Monuments: 498.104 Albatros Issue number
586
Date of issue
17.04.2015
Technical Monuments: Steam Locomotive 464.001 Issue number
587
Date of issue
17.04.2015
Technical Monuments: Historic Motorcycles – Manet M90 Issue number
561
Date of issue
17.04.2014
Technical Monuments: Historical Mills - Windmill in Holíč Issue number
537
Date of issue
26.04.2013
Veteran Motor Cars – Aero 30 Issue number
501
Date of issue
01.07.2011
  • Page of 15