The Jablonec Dam is celebrating its hundredth anniversary, and it is also on a silver medal

source: geocaching.com

Jablonec nad Nisou - The Jablonec Dam Mšeno is celebrating 100 years since its completion this year. This is also commemorated by a silver anniversary medal that the Czech Mint is issuing these days for its 18th anniversary. The author of the medal's design is Jiří Dostál, the director of the Jablonec Art High School, as stated by the mint's director Radek Šulta to ČTK.
    The Jablonec Dam is one of the popular tourist destinations in the city. The forty-hectare reservoir is practically located within the city, surrounded by development. Although it was built at the beginning of the last century to protect against regularly recurring floods, today it mainly serves recreational purposes. On hot summer days, up to 5,000 people daily use it, not only from Jablonec and neighboring Liberec, but also from nearby Saxony, for example.
    The dam is part of a system of retention reservoirs built in the foothills of the Jizera Mountains from 1902 to 1911. Five dams in Liberec on the Harcovský stream, in Bedřichov on the Černá Nisa, in Fojtka on the Fojtský stream, in Mlýnice on the Albrechtický stream, and in Jablonec on the Mšenský stream were constructed following the design of German architect Otto Intzem after the devastating floods that affected the area in 1897.
    The dam of the Mšeno reservoir underwent reconstruction several years ago. In the repairs, which were completed at the beginning of 2001, nearly 38 million crowns were invested by the Elbe Basin Authority. The dam, which is 20 meters high and 425.5 meters long, was built from quarried stone between 1906 and 1910. However, after more than 80 years of trouble-free operation, water seepage began to increase in the mid-90s, threatening the stability of the dam. Therefore, a 263-meter-long tunnel was built under its foundation.
    The Elbe Basin Authority, in cooperation with the Jablonec City Hall, is also preparing the construction of another underground tunnel costing about half a billion crowns, which would protect the city from floods. Financially, this is the most demanding flood protection measure that water managers have ever undertaken. The tunnel is expected to measure about 1500 meters and, in case of floods, will drain excess water from the city that the dam cannot accommodate to the area of the confluence of the White and Lužice Nisa rivers. This will prevent flooding and damage to property valued at about one billion crowns.