Orava is a reservoir in northernmost Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

, which is the largest lake in Slovakia (35.2 km²). It has been constructed between 1941 and 1953 as a dam built on the former two sources of the Orava river

Orava River

The Orava is a 60.9 km long river in north-western Slovakia passing through a picturesque country, in the Orava county. Its source is nowadays the Orava water reservoir whose waters flooded the confluence of Biela Orava and Čierna Orava in 1953. It flows into the river Váh near the village...

. Several former villages had to be inundated for this purpose. Probably the best known of them was Slanica, the birthplace of the Slovak intellectual and cleric Anton Bernolák

Anton Bernolák

Anton Bernolák Anton Bernolák Anton Bernolák (1 October 1762 in Slanica (a now inundated village near Námestovo – 15 January 1813 in Nové Zámky) was a Slovak linguist and Catholic priest and the author of the first Slovak language standard.-Life:...

 (Antonius Bernolacius). Today, the reservoir is protected by the Horná Orava Protected Landscape Area

Horná Orava Protected Landscape Area

Horná Orava Protected Landscape Area is one of the 14 protected landscape areas in Slovakia. It is situated in the Námestovo and Tvrdošín districts, within the Orava region.-History:...

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