Lepenski Vir Archaeological site in the Iron Gates gorge on the Danube River between Romania and Serbia
The Iron Gates is a gorge on the Danube River. It forms part of the boundary between Romania and Serbia. In the broad sense it encompasses a route of 134 km (83 mi); in the narrow sense it only encompasses the last barrier on this route, just beyond the Romanian city of Orşova, that contains two hydroelectric dams, with two power stations, Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station and Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station. The gorge lies between Romania in the north and Serbia in the south. At this point, the river separates the southern Carpathian Mountains from the northwestern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Turkish, German and Bulgarian names literally mean "Iron Gates" and are used to name the entire range of gorges. An alternative Romanian name for the last part of the route is Defileul Dunării, "Danube Gorge". In Serbia, the gorge is known as Đerdap (Ђердап), with the last part named Đerdapska klisura. The Romanian side of the gorge constitutes the Iron Gates natural park, whereas the Serbian part constitutes the Đerdap national park. Lepenski Vir is located on the banks of the Danube in eastern Serbia, within the Iron Gates gorge, near Donji Milanovac. The first excavations were made on the site in 1965. In 1966 it was listed as a cultural monument of Yugoslavia. It was only in 1967 that its importance was fully understood after the discovery of the first Mesolithic sculptures. The excavations ended in 1971 when the whole site was relocated higher to avoid flooding from a new artificial lake created in the Iron Gates gorge. The main contribution to exploration of this site was through the work of professor Dragoslav Srejović of the University of Belgrade. 136 buildings, settlements and altars were found in the initial excavations in 1965-1970. Lepenski Vir was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia.
Size: 3800px × 2544px
Location: Danube River between Romania on the north bank and Serbia on the south bank
Photo credit: © Dimitry Bobroff / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: archaeological, balkan, blue, carpathian, danube, gates, iron, lepenski, mountains, river, romania, serbia, site, vir
