Gazivoda Lake (') or Ujman Lake (), is an

artificial lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. Gazivoda Lake has an area of of which reside in

North Kosovo North Kosovo (, ); also known as the Ibar Kolašin (, or ''Kollashini i Ibrit''); earlier Old Kolašin, (, or ''Kollashini i Vjetër'') and colloquially known as the North (, ) is a region in the northern part of Kosovo, generally understood ...

and in Serbia. The lake is formed by the damming of the

Ibar River The Ibar ( sr-cyrl, Ибар, ), also known as the Ibër and Ibri (), is a river that flows through eastern Montenegro, northern Kosovo and central Serbia, with a total length of . The river begins in the Hajla mountain, in Rožaje, eastern Mo ...

, which flows into the lake.

History

As a project, the damming of the Ibar for the creation of a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

and thus the generation of hydroelectricity existed since the 1960s to cover for the energy needs of the population and the economy of

Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Socijalistička Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo, Социјалистичка Аутономна Покрајина Косово, separator=" / "; ; . Also abbreviated as SAP Kosovo. referre ...

which were expanding at the time. Gazivoda was created between 1973 and 1978. Some sources claim that up to 1000 or 230 people that lived in area were relocated. The project was undertaken by Energoprojekt, the state company of Yugoslavia for the development of hydropower. The main contractor was

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

-based company "Hidrotehnika". The construction of Gazivoda cost $90 million. Half of it was financed by the fund for infrastructure development of Yugoslavia, a fund which was paid for by taxation in all federal republics and autonomous regions. The other 50% was financed by loans from the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. The dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the independence of Kosovo in 2008 have resulted in a dispute between the

Republic of Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

and the Kosovo about the ownership of Gazivoda. Serbian sources maintain that it should be recognized as the legal owner of the project as most loan obligations were transferred to Serbia in the post-Yugoslav era. Kosovan sources maintain that the legal entity responsible for the loans by the World Bank was the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, while Serbia as a legal entity was not involved in the financing of the project. Kosovo further asserts that indemnities to the people that were relocated both in the Autonomous Province and Kosovo and Serbia were paid solely by the institutions of Province of Kosovo.

Archeological findings

In the area of the Ibar basin, a Roman necropolis and the medieval court of

Helen of Anjou, Queen of Serbia Saint Helen of Serbia (; – 8 February 1314) was the queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom, as the spouse of King Stefan Uroš I, who ruled from 1243 to 1276. Their sons were later Serbian kings Stefan Dragutin (1276–1282) and Stefan Milutin ...

was located in Brnjak, near

Zubin Potok Zubin Potok ( sq-definite, Zubin Potoku; sr-cyr, Зубин Поток) is a town and municipality located in the Mitrovica District in Kosovo. As of 2015, it has an estimated population of 15,200 inhabitants. It covers an area of , and consist ...

where she founded a vocational course for poor girls that locals have called ''the first school for women in the Balkans''. In the lake, tombstones, possibly medieval artifacts, Serbian Orthodox churches, and 19th-century houses have been found. Whether they are related to ancient and medieval periods remains unclear. A team of Russian archaeologists has undertaken the project of mapping archaeological findings in the lake and investigating any possible links to antiquity.

References

{{Lakes in Kosovo Zubin Potok Tutin, Serbia Lakes of Kosovo Lakes of Serbia International lakes of Europe