About Orlik Dam

Orlík is the largest reservoir in the Czech Republic, impounding 716 million cubic metres on the Vltava River in southern Bohemia. The concrete gravity dam stands 91 metres tall and was completed in 1963 as the centrepiece of the Vltava Cascade — a chain of interconnected reservoirs that together form one of Central Europe's most ambitious hydroelectric systems. The dam's primary purpose is hydroelectric power generation, providing a significant share of the Czech national grid's renewable capacity. The reservoir stretches approximately 68 kilometres upstream into the Bohemian highlands, creating a serpentine lake of remarkable beauty flanked by forested slopes and dramatic cliff faces. The flooding of the Orlík valley in the early 1960s required the relocation of several villages and the medieval Orlík Castle was raised on a rocky outcrop that now forms a peninsula above the water. Today the reservoir is a major recreational destination for sailing, windsurfing, and cycling along its shores, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year from Prague and beyond.