Movie locations

Dam Water Reservoir Harcov (under reconstruction)

The Harcov water reservoir, also called the Harcovská Dam or Liberecká Dam, is situated not far from the centre of the city, in the valley of the Harcovský Brook, surrounded with forest from one side and with a peaceful villa quarter from the other side.
Location
Address:– not available –
Contact
Web:www.pla.cz

The Liberec dam is undergoing reconstruction. It will remain without water until approximately mid-2025.

The first brick dam in Europe

Did you know that a concrete dam is better than a loose one "because mice and rats can't chew through it"? And that an arched dam is more water-resistant than a straight one? These ideas were shown to work by Europe’s best dam builder, Prof. Otto Intze from Aachen in his project designed to protect Liberec from future devastating floods. Thanks to Prof. Intze, the Harcov Dam, built in 1902–1904, was the first brick dam in Europe, and was reinforced with Liberec granite as well as concrete. 


Protection against floods

One natural catastrophe that has afflicted Liberec in the past has been high flood waters. These were not particularly unusual, but in 1897 the city was hit by a truly devastating flood. Measurements showed the highest amount of rainfall of anywhere in Central Europe (an incredible 345 mm was recorded in the Jizera Mountains), and although the floods affected the whole of north-eastern Bohemia, the Liberec region was hit the worst. Millions of crowns worth of damage were caused in the Nisa floodplain, and some 120 people died in Bohemia alone. As a result, the decision was taken to build 6 dams in the Jizera Mountains (only 5 of them were actually constructed), and these were practically the first heavy-duty brick dams in Europe.


Jizera Mountains full of dams

A total of five of the six planned dams were eventually built. Besides the one in Liberec, these were the Mšeno, Bedřichov, Fojtka and Mlýnice dams. They were built in the wake of the devastating floods in the late 19th century, particularly the one in 1897, which had catastrophic consequences for the people living in the foothill regions. The materials needed to build them were supplied by local entrepreneurs, including the Liebiegs. Johann Liebieg & Co. used water from the Liberec dam for their textile mill, and the water was also piped to the mansion of Theodor Liebieg Junior.

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