Niedzica Dam (power plant)

The idea of damming the Dunajec near Czorsztyn dates back to the early 20th century - the first materials on an artificial reservoir date from 1905, and the concept was reviewed by, among others, Gabriel Narutowicz. The design for a system of reservoirs, with the main dam at Niedzica and a compensating dam at Sromowce Wyżne, was approved in 1968; work on the main dam began in the mid-1970s (sources cite 1975 as the start of construction), and the whole complex was commissioned on 9 July 1997 - just as the so-called 'flood of the millennium' struck, when the freshly filled reservoir helped reduce the flood wave. The buildings of the old village of Maniowy were submerged beneath the lake's waters, and their foundations emerge at very low water levels; some of the wooden buildings were relocated to the open-air museum in Kluszkowce.

• ★The Niedzica Dam is the tallest earth dam with a clay core in Poland - built up from about 1.7 million m³ of local gravel and pebbles, with a watertight clay core hidden at its heart.
• ★The Niedzica hydroelectric plant has a capacity of 92 MW and operates in pumped-storage mode: two reversible Deriaz-type turbines (2 × 46 MW) pump water into the upper reservoir at night, releasing it back into the grid during peak demand hours.
• ★The plant's machine hall is hidden about 40 metres underground, with water fed to it through tunnels bored through the rock - touring the dam's underground works with a guide is one of the more fascinating attractions in the area.
• ★Dunajec Castle in Niedzica stands right by the dam crest, tied to the famous legend of the Inca treasure: according to it, a will written in the knotted-cord script kipu (quipu), supposedly found beneath the castle threshold, hid clues to Inca treasures - researchers, however, do not confirm the truth of this story (it is a legend).
• ★At exceptionally low water levels, the remains of the sunken village of Old Maniowy emerge from the lake - the foundations of houses and old roads - drawing history buffs and photographers to the reservoir.