Orsova beneath the waters

Andrei Telteu
Mar 25
2 min read

Our journey begins today with a small leap into the past, and we stop in the precursor of the city of Orsova, the old settlement that over time bore several names, but for over 40 years has remained hidden beneath the waters of the Danube.

The favorable location, at the confluence of the Cerna River with the turbulent waters of the Danube, made Orsova an important port for all the peoples who have occupied the territory over time.

The foundation stone of the settlement was laid by the Romans after they entered Dacia around the year 100. Until Emperor Aurelian's withdrawal, the Fortress of Dierna, as it was known at the time, served as a strategic point and a link between the Danube fortresses.

After Aurelian's withdrawal, the old fortress had to transform into a real Roman castrum to withstand the migrating invasions during Emperor Diocletian’s reign. Unfortunately, it fell prey to the invaders on their way west.

Several hundred years later, where the Fortress of Dierna is thought to have stood, a new settlement was born, named Urscia, and it was used to halt the advance of the Pechenegs, Cumans, and Tatars westward. However, the fortress fell once again to invaders and was rebuilt by King Bela IV.

For centuries, the place we now call Orsova had significant military importance, whether during the Hungarian, Ottoman, or Austro-Hungarian occupations. Many landmarks still stand today as testimony to the battles fought for the occupation of this corner of paradise, but we will talk more about these later in our journey.

We jump forward to the time when, after hundreds of years from the first mention of the place, Orsova entered the Kingdom of Romania, in the year 1919, along with the Caras-Severin County, of which it was a part at the time. In 1923, Orsova was granted the status of a city.

Closer to our times, in 1968, following the territorial-administrative division of that period, the city of Orsova was included in Mehedinti County, even though the area has always been typically Banat, with a multiethnic and multilingual character.

And we arrive at the moment that made Orsova simultaneously the newest city in Romania, as well as one of the oldest settlements in the country – its relocation, due to the filling of the reservoir formed by the Iron Gates I Hydropower Plant. What now remains to remind us that Old Orsova once existed are the St. Ana Monastery and the Heroes' Cemetery, which stand high above the deep waters, covering centuries of history – Orsova beneath the waters.