The First Photo of Ada Kaleh And The Last Photo of Fort Elisabeth

MAGYARUL

"Progress has now placed the whole of this landscape underwater", as Partick Leigh Fermor writes in his epilogue in his book "Between The Woodsa and the Waters, from the Iron Gate gorge, at a table in a submerged café in Orsova. The laconic realistic pessimism of the final sentence could not better express what has happened here: "and everything has fled". There are many ways of expressing the loss, but if only one image were needed to illustrate it all, one could look no further than Amand Helm's photograph from the same place from sometime in 1867. 

Ada Kaleh and Fort Elisabeth before 1868. Source: Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

On the Donauinslen blog, a single photo can sometimes get a special article if it is unique enough. By unique, we mean that the section of the Danube or the riverine landscape depicted has some additional meaning that not only details the landscape, but also has the chance to make the post a book-length long, with background information explained in diversified train of thoughts. The photograph of the fortress of Ada Kaleh (Fort Island in Turkish) by the Austrian photographer Amand Helm (1831-1893) shows the western tip of the island with the entrance to the Iron Gate gorge in the background, photographed from the Hungarian side, Orsova, and opposite the island a fortress on the Serbian coast, Fort Elisabeth, which, like the island, was most probably under Turkish rule at the time the photograph was taken. 

Amand Helm's original collection of his Danubian photographs from 1868, called the "Donau Album" compilation, from which this photograph originally came, costs nowadays for around a million Hungarian forints (€2500).  Moreover, the price is not for the whole album, from source to the delta, but for a single section of the series. Some of Helm's photographs are also available online, but this particular image is not among the Danube images in the Albertina collection in Vienna.

Born in Teplitz-Schönau (Teplice) in the Czech province of the Habsburg Empire, Amand Helm opened his first photographic studio in St. Wenceslas Square in Prague, but from the mid-1860s he worked in Vienna and Lower Austria, sometimes photographing railway construction projects such as the Crown Prince Rudolf railway. In 1868-69, he photographed the most notable sites along the Danube from source to the delta, from which he compiled the Donau-Album series mentioned above. In his photographs, the landscape appears like a painting, capturing almost the last natural, often ancient, moments before the effects of the Industrial Revolution, which arrived belatedly in Central Europe. 

However, there is another twist to the story of the exceptional picture, which belonged to the French geographer Élisée Reclus (1830-1905), who donated it to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in 1886.

Forced into exile by his activism during the Paris Commune, he wrote his monumental 19-volume series 'La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes', published by Librairie Hachette, during his stay in Clarens, Switzerland, which consists the photo of Ada Kaleh in the third volume, called the "Central Europe, Austria-Hungary, Germany, 1878."

Fort Elisabeth was built in 1736 on the right bank of the Danube, not far from today's Tekija, when the Serbian side of the Danube was also under Habsburg rule after the Peace of Pozsarevac, according to Serbian historian Professor Miloš Petrović. The construction work was led by Johann Andreas von Hamilton, a Scottish-origin military officer, as commander and military governor of the Timis Banat, and the eponym was none other than the wife of King Charles III of Hungary, the most beautiful woman of her time, Queen Maria Theresa's mother, Princess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. 

Fort Elisabeth was probably part of a complex of forts built on the island of Ada Kaleh to control the Danube border and the shipping traffic through it. It had several levels, the central part of the fortress being at the level of the Danube, with a watchtower built on the steep hillside above it. According to the usual superstitious beliefs about the Danube, an underwater tunnel connected it to the island of Ada Kaleh, but if not a tunnel, a temporary bridge might have connected the two fortresses. Fort Elizabeth continued to exist and expand after its transfer from Austrian to Ottoman hands, and was regularly depicted on maps of the Lower Danube, most recently on the section of the Second Military Survey dated 1858. Although the area around the fortress became part of the Serbian Principality in 1833, it remained under the direct administration of the Ottoman Empire, with some 500 Turkish soldiers stationed there until the mid-19th century.

What man has created, man has also destroyed around here. Fortress Elizabeth was demolished by the newly independent Serbian state in 1868 at the Turkish request. The ruins were dismantled by the local population, then further destroyed by the construction of a road, and the ruins of the lower parts were submerged at the same time as the neighbouring Ada Kaleh Island, after the construction of the Iron Gate I hydroelectrical power plant.The water level of the Danube was raised by about 30 metres in this stretch, and the flooded coastal road was built that much higher, cutting irreparable wounds in the landscape on the sides of the mountains that tower in the background. 

Finally, if the significance of Amand Helm's unique photograph were to be summed up in a single sentence, it is the very first photograph of Ada Kaleh Island that we know of, and the last and only known photograph of Fort Elizabeth. 

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Ada Kaleh buried by Danubian sediments

MAGYARUL

It's been more than fifty years since the island of Ada Kaleh, with its adventurous past, monuments and fort, was buried under the Danube after the construction of the Iron Gate I hydroelectrical power plant. Since then, it has been lost to sight, sleeping in its eternal slumber at a depth of about 30 metres. But a recently discovered sonar image gives us a rough idea of the decades the island has spent in the depths, and also reveals that, contrary to legend, the tower of the Turkish minaret will no longer emerge, even if the reservoir level drops.

Ada Kaleh in a watery grave (source) 

In the first days of December, Ada Kaleh's underwater sonar image was posted on several Facebook groups. However, the post, which included a source tag and information on the image, was later deleted, but by then the image had been downloaded. The image was also published in the Romanian media on 13 December, but aktual24.ro only reported the story of the island and the imaging process in a paragraph. According to this article, the image was taken with a multibeam echosounder (MBES) at an unknown time. The MBES is based on a sonar mounted on a floating structure, which emits sound waves in the direction of the seabed in the shape of a fan and calculates the distance from the reflection time. The sound waves from Ada Kaleh's deep-hidden ramparts and buildings return sooner because they are closer to the surface than the deeper forms of the Danube bed. The distance data are represented by a colour scale, where blue represents deep and red shallow. Unfortunately, the image does not provide any specific data in the form of a legend.

The sonar image shows only the western part of Ada Kaleh, lying like a wreck in the Danube. The sparsely built-up garden area to the east has been left out, probably because the survey was limited to a small area. It is worth comparing with the sketch of the island as a whole. The two-street settlement itself was located within the inner ramparts. In addition, there was an outer wall system, but the western tip of the island was also fortified with bastions with eaves in the mid-18th century. The Turkish settlement also included a mosque with a slender minaret expanding from it, which stood roughly in the middle of the island, above the eastern gate. If it is true that the fortress was demolished by the Romanian state before the flooding to build a replica of the bastions from the bricks on Simian Island, relatively minimal work was done, as the fortress walls are still sharply defined in the sonar image. Although the sketch does not show the topography, contemporary photographs or postcards show that the moat system between the outer and inner ramparts was standing water, while a small forested island grew in the southern inner curve of Ada Kaleh.

A sketch of the island before the flooding

From a hydrological point of view, the sonar image can be described as extraordinary. It contains extremely important information about the sedimentation processes that took place after the flooding. So far, the blog has published two large-scale articles on the sedimentation of the Iron Gates, one on the three towers of Trikule and the other on the Crown Chapel near Orsova, which illustrated the process of filling in the section of the river that was backwatered by the Iron Gate I power plant. The same can be done for the island of Ada Kaleh, where the sonar image gives a very detailed picture of the altered flow conditions and the associated sediment movements.

Farewell. Soon the ramparts will be swallowed by the Danube reservoir.

Let's take a look at the sonar image, especially the longitudinal positive shape extending to the right of the fortress. At first glance it looks like a long dune in the desert. Several similar forms can be observed within the fort area and in the western foreground. All of them take the same direction and are characterised by being 'lee shaded', i.e. they are formed behind a large projecting wall section or bastion. They do not follow the course of the Danube branches that surrounded the island of Ada Kaleh from two directions, but appear to run straight through the longitudinal axis of the island. It is also revealing that, apart from the ramparts and one or two houses, the settlement's street network is not visible. One reason for this is that the Romanian state has done a thorough job of systematically destroying the houses of the Turks, extracting as much building material as possible. Another is the aforementioned filling of the reservoir.

Once the island was submerged, the flow conditions changed fundamentally. The drift lines that had been bypassing the island in two directions merged just above the island, as evidenced by the direction of the sediment plumes. As Ada Kaleh remains in the centre line of the estuary, unaffected by the construction of the streamside alluvial cone, the sediment deposited in the fort moves in the direction of the Iron Gates dam in the centre line of the estuary. Where the water flow encounters an obstacle, such as along the line of the ramparts, it first deepens the bed by breaking through the obstacle and deposits the sediment washed out in quieter areas such as the western foreshore, the interior of the fort, or even the eastern extension of the island. The sonar image shows that the most significant erosion is at the base of the wall of the fort in the south-west corner of the island. This outcrop probably formed a significant depression in the riverbed before the flooding.

This suggests that the sediment conditions of the former island are not primarily determined by the sediment that is being deposited from the filling reservoir, but by the sediment that is being washed locally due to the changed flow conditions in the bed, and to a lesser extent by the trapping of transported sediment from further away. And it is the demonstration of this that gives the sonar image its importance, and we can only hope that measurements will be taken at regular intervals so that the data can be compared and possible trends in sediment accumulation and leaching can be identified, preferably for the whole island.

Versunkene Kindheit, Ada Kaleh

IN HUNGARIAN

One of the blog's most often translated article started when I wrote an email to Adele Kehl-Geafer—who was an inhabitant of Ada Kaleh, before it submerged—to write about her childhood on the island. Later this Hungarian language article was translated into German and Romanian.   

This article made it to the largest Hungarian news site, Index, they later approached me if I can arrange a video interview with Adele. The interview with the painter, who lives in Switzerland now, took place in Budapest with the Margaret Island as a background. I had no other task in this besides arranging the meeting and helping to correct the narration, but it was still a pleasure to be involved. The below Hungarian language video has been published in May 2015, now the narration is also available in German and Romanian language: 

Versunkene Kindheit

Seit meiner Kindheit war diese Insel eine neuzeitliche Atlantis für mich. Kaum aus dem Boot gestiegen und Inselboden unter den Füssen erwischt uns ein Zauber, was es aber war, wusste niemand.
Narrator: Ade Kaleh war eine kleine Insel in Rumänien unweit von Orsova. Zwischen den 60-er und 70-er Jahren wurde das Eiserne Tor I für die Wasserkraft gebaut.
Damit fiel diese Insel den Fluten zum Opfer. Adele Kehl hat ihren Künstlernamen von dieser Insel abgeleitet. Sie hatte einen grossen Teil ihrer Kindheit an diesem besonderen Ort in der Donau verbracht.
Ich bin in einer Zeit geboren, wo mir die Insel das Gefühl vermittelte von Harmonie Frieden und Liebe. Auch unter Hunger hätte man dort nie gelitten denn die vielen Feigenbäumen und andere Früchte liessen uns immer satt werden. Auch frieren hätte man nie müssen, denn die riesige Kasamatten Anlage hätte genug Schutz geboten, denn durch die dicken Wände war es dort nie zu heiss und nie zu kalt. Auf dieser Insel lebten die verschiedensten Konfessionen ohne Probleme miteinander, als eine grosse Familie. Der Inselschutzheilige Miskin baba sorgte für Ordnung. Der Miskin baba sollte eigentlich ein Usbekischer Sultan sein, doch hatte er den Traum, dass seine Aufgabe es ist, für die Inselbewohner zu sorgen und zu lehren. War etwas ungerechtes geschehen so ging man zum Grab von Miskin baba und im Traum erschien dann die Lösung. Er lehrte auch in gleicher Weise die Leute ihre Gesundheit zu behalten. So sorgte er nicht nur für Ordnung über sein Leben hinaus, sondern war auch immer ein guter Ratgeber.
FILM. Sehen sie dort Herr Fabula, dort ist eine kleine Insel.
Narrator: Auf der Insel Ada Kaleh hatten ein paar 100 Leute gewohnt. Der grösste Teil von ihnen waren Türken, aber auch Deutsche, Rumänen und Ungaren bewohnten diese Insel. Der Schriftsteller Jókai Mór wurde nach der Legende von dieser Niemandsinsel für sein Roman „goldener Mensch“ inspiriert. Der Film wurde auf einer Nachbarinsel gedreht. Die grösste Inspiration war diese Türkische Vorherrschaft. Es wurde hauptsächlich Türkisch gesprochen, doch bereits in meiner Kindheit mischte sich rumänisch dazu. So sprachen wir Kinder ein wildes Durcheinander von Türkisch und Rumänisch. Wir konnten uns praktisch selbst versorgen, bis auf ein paar wenige Ausnahmen. Schweinefleisch war nicht erlaubt.
Es wurde zwar einmal versucht Schweinefleisch mit dem Schiff zu bringen doch sie wurden ihre Ladung nicht los. Die Hauptbeschäftigungen waren die Fischerei und der Fährdienst, eine kleine Tabakfabrik und Konfektionsfabrik. Die türkischen Spezialitäten Sudjuk und Lokum aber auch andere Süssigkeiten wurden auf der Insel gefertigt. Sogar ein Kino besass die Insel.
Narrator: Es waren auch einige Leute auf die Insel gekommen, damit sie von Rumänien nach Jugoslawien schwimmend durch die Donau flüchten konnten. Die meisten Touristen kam aber aus lauter Neugierde auf die Insel.
Aufregend war für uns Kinder immer wieder, wenn Schiffe ankamen aus Österreich oder Ungarn. Kaum hörten wir die Schiffssirene rannte wir zum Zentrum, wo bereits die ersten Passagiere die Strassen in Beschlag nahmen. Jeder der die Insel besuchte, wusste zu wissen, dass hier eine andere Welt begann. Es war eine besondere Stimmung, Luft und Schwingungen, als ob wir in eine andere Dimension eintraten. Mein ganzes Leben dachte ich darüber nach, was da nur gewesen sein konnte. Es war einfach anders, und erklären lässt sich das nicht. Als ich etwa 10 Jahre alt war, sprach man bereits darüber, dass an diesem Ort, in etwa 7 Jahren ein Wasserkraftwerk gebaut wird. Man konnte zwar schon auf der Uferseite die ersten Bauten sehen doch für uns Kinder war das wie, man redet wohl darüber, aber das wird sicher nie realisiert.
Narrator: 1964 begann man mit dem Bau des Wasserkraftwerkes Eisernen Tor I.
Man wusste auch, wenn die riesigen Schleusen fertig gestellt sind, wird sich der Pegelstand der Donau heben. Bis dann müssen auch die Leute evakuiert und die Gebäude der Insel abgerissen sein, denn dann wird die Insel überflutet sein.
1967 mit etwa 16/17 jährig, war ich das letzte Mal auf der Insel. Viele meiner Freundinnen und Spielkameraden fehlten. Auch viele Familien waren schon weg. Es wurden auch schon viele Häuser abgerissen. Meine Grossmutter wollte aber im Hause bleiben. Sie erzählte mir später, erst als die Panzern zum Abriss vor der Türe
standen und man ihr sagte: „Frau Geafer sie müssen weg hier“ erst dann fügte sie sich und verliess sie das Haus.
Die Insel Ade Kaleh und die Ortschaft Orsova wurden dem Wasserkraftwerk geopfert. Viele andere Ortschaften wurden auch geopfert. Doch würde die Insel mit
ihrer ober- und unterirdischen Kasamaten Anlage und ihrer Geschichte, heute zu den Weltkulturerben zählen. Den Leuten wurde damals viel versprochen. Sie bräuchten nie mehr Strom zu zahlen und sie würden Entschädigt.
Narrator: Vom Versprochenen wurde nicht viel eingehalten. Die Leute sind umgesiedelt in alle Windrichtungen aber auch in andere Länder. 1971 hat die Donau die Insel mit Wasser zugedeckt.
Bei der Überflutung schauten sicher viele Leute zu. Ich bin sicher dass sie mit Tränen in den Augen zugeschaut haben. Viele Leute haben auch keine Heimat mehr gefunden. Auch mich befällt immer eine Traurigkeit, wenn ich von der Insel erzähle.
Ich habe meinen Kindern viel über die Insel erzählt. Ich habe ihnen so viel erzählt dass sie praktisch jeden Stein kennen. Nun heute geht es mir gut und ich habe mein Schicksal akzeptiert. Was mir jedoch immer noch fehlt ist meine Heimat.

Mi s-a scufundat copilaria, si cu ea intreaga insula

Este mica noastra Atlantida – cred – Atlantida contemporana. Paseai din barca pe mal, si acolo erai atinsa de o magie. Ce era – nimeni nu putea sa spuna.
Narator: Ada Kaleh a fost o mica insula pe teritoriul Romaniei de azi, in apropiere de Orsova, inundata la cumpana dintre anii ’60-’70 odata cu construirea hidrocentralei Portile de Fier I. de pe Dunare.
Adele Kehl, care si-a insusit numele artistic inspirandu-se din toponimia insulei, si-a trait copilaria aici si sustine ca a fost cel mai dosebit loc de pe cursul fluviului.
Eu m-am nascut in acea perioada a insulei pe care as denumi-o a armoniei, a pacii si a dragostei. Aveam atatia smochini incat, la drept vorbind, nimeni nu putea sa moara de foame. Fructe aveam. Nu putea nimeni sa inghete de frig, pentru ca se putea locui in cazemate. Aveau pereti atat de grosi incat acolo niciodata nu era frig, nu era cald. Era numai bine. Nu era nici o problema religia practicata. Era ca o familie foarte mare si cred ca pot spune ca Miskin Baba, sfantul insulei, era autoritatea suprema. Bunaoara niciodata nu aveam probleme. Miskin Baba a venit pe insula in urma unei viziuni conform careia locul Lui era aici pe insula si nu in rolul de sultan in Buhara. Ii invata pe oameni cum sa se vindece, ii si vindeca, uneori prin minuni. Daca cineva dorea sa se faca dreptate, ori il macina ceva, se ducea la Miskin Baba si i se arata in vis solutia.
Era ordine si pentru ca se stia ca adevarul va iesi la iveala. Va fi visat si gata.
FILM (frgm.): Dle. Fabula – in indepartare o mica insula!
Pe Ada Kaleh locuiau cateva sute de oameni, aproape toti Turci, printre ei cativa Gemani, Romani si Maghiari. Conform legendei „Insula nimanui”, (magh. Senki Szigete) din romanul „Omul de aur” (magh. Aranyember) de Jókai Mór, a fost inspirata de aceasta insula.
Turnarea filmului a avut loc pe o insula invecinata dar cred ca Jókai a fost inspirat in orice caz de aceasta linie turceasca de pe Ada Kaleh. Aproape toata lumea vorbea turceste si in vremea aia deja vorbeam si in romaneste. Eu deja m-am nascut in acest multilingvism. Copii fiind, cand ne jucam, in general vorbeam turceste dar amestecam limba cand cu una cand cu alta. Ne descurcam in general pe cont propriu. Produsele ca painea, graul erau aduse din afara insulei. Carnea de porc nu era permisa pe insula. S-a incercat odata dar au fost goniti.
Ocupatia de baza era pescuitul, calauzitul cu barca, am avut si o mica fabrica de tutun, o fabricuta de confectii, dar erau intreprinderi mici. Se facea rahat, sugiuc, dulciuri din aceasta categorie si era cinematograful.
narator: Erau oameni care veneau pe insula ca sa evadeze inot, printre curenti, in Iugoslavia. Bineinteles multi turisti veneau doar din curiozitate.
Veneau vapoare din Austria, din Ungaria. Cand auzeam sirenele navelor cu aburi alergam in centru si ii asteptam pe vizitatorii care deja soseau dinspre mal. Ada Kaleh avea un mister pe care il simtea oricine ajungea acolo. Adica, parca aerul avea o vibratie aparte, totul era diferit. Uitai complet de lume, de toata asa zisa civilizatie si era o alta vibratie. Totul era altfel. Era un fapt interesant. Cand am devenit mai mare ma gandeam des la asta. Ce o fi fost? Parca am fi pasit intr-o cu toltul alta dimensiune.
Aveam vre-o zece ani cand am aflat ca se planuieste constructia unei hidroecntrale. Stiam ca in sapte ani va disparea insula. Era un fel de – pentru noi copiii mai ales – ca da, se
discuta despre asta, dar nu am crezut ca se va si infaptui. Se vedeau deja pe malul celalalt ecluzele in constructie.
in ’64 a inceput constructia hidrocentralei Portile de Fier I. Autoritatile stiau ca din cauza barajului va creste nivelul Dunarii si au inceput sa mute locuitorii de pe Ada Kaleh si sa le demoleze cladirile.
Aveam 16-17 ani cand am fost ultima data pe insula – in anul ’67 – si deja se incepuse distrugerea. Disparusera cele mai bune prietene si tovarasele de joaca. Incepusera sa lipseasca din oameni. Am vazut si mi-a povestit bunica ca la inceput refuza sa isi paraseasca casa, apoi au venit sa o constranga... frau, djaffer, doamna... nu mai stiu. In final a trebuit sa se supuna ca deja sosisera tancurile.
Au sacrificat aceasta insula si au sacrificat si vechea Orsova. Desigur au fost si alte locuri sacrificate din motive asemanatoare, dar aceasta insula era de patrimoniu mondial. Aceasta fortareata, acest sistem de aparare, era deosebit si la suprafata si sub nivelul suprafetei. Promisiuni au fost multe. Cei care provin de pe insula nu vor fi obligati sa plateasca curent toata viata lor. Primesc despagubiri totale. S-au promis o serie de lucruri fantastice...
Din promisiuni nu s-au realizat prea multe. Locuitorii insulei s-au mutat in diferite tari. In final, in 1971, Dunarea a acoperit incet insula.

The two bridges of Ada Kaleh

IN HUNGARIAN

The island of Ada Kaleh was famous of many reasons; its Turkish inhabitants, its rose petal jam, its cigars, its minaret, its fate and history. And it was famous for its fortress, the survivor of many sieges. This fortress was not only built to hinder the Turkish forces sailing up on the Danube, but it also guarded a river crossing. This crossing has been witnessed by two bridges in the 18th century.

Ada Kaleh in the 18th century

The first fortress of Ada Kaleh was started to built in 1691 by Veterani, a general of the cavalry of the Habsburg monarchy. This general gave the name of the famous Veterani caves nearby. Due to its strategic position the fortress witnessed many sieges. At the end of the 17th century the fortress was built up by weak earth ramparts so a Turkish counter attack captured it and the peace treaty of Karlowitz (1699) left the island in Turkish possession. In 1717 Habsburg troops besieged Ada Kaleh and after months of encirclement eventually they captured it in August and two years later the Treaty of Passarowitz confirmed the conquest. 

After the peace treaty a new fortress has been constructed with twenty year's effort. The rectangular shaped fortress was made up by stones and bricks, positioned in the middle of the island, but ramparts and bastions protected the entire area. On the right side of the Danube (then Turkey, now Serbia) a watchtower has been built and named fort Elizabeth. This tiny outpost was connected to Ada Kaleh through a pontoon bridge — according to a contemporary drawing. Fort Elizabeth has been demolished by the independent Serbian government in 1868. 

The new fortress on Ada Kaleh remained in Austrian possession until 1738, when a new war broke out between Austria and Turkey. After several month of siege, the Turkish army managed to capture the island with the just finished fortress. The seriously damaged Ada Kaleh was rebuilt and the German settlers has been ousted and replaced by Turkish people. 

Ada Kaleh in 1790. (source)

After a half century's peaceful period a new Austro-Turkish war broke out and the fortress changed its owner once more, however only for a short time. In 1790 Austria captured Ada Kaleh, but they were forced to leave after the peace treaty of Sistovo. 

This short Austrian rule is represented with another pontoon bridge, which can be found on mapire.eu, the map of Wallachia in year 1790. The bridge connects Ada Kaleh with the left side of the Danube and obviously served military purposes. This second bridgehead was situated near a gap on the ramparts seen on the 1737 situations plan. There is no such gap on the other side, facing Fort Elizabeth, this pontoon bridge might have a bridgehead near one of the bastions. I found no evidence if these two bridges co-existed, but it might have happened during times of war or when Fort Elizabeth and Ada Kaleh has been built at the same time. 

The two bridges of Ada Kaleh

After 1790 a peaceful era started on the island lasting with only one period of war (1916-1918) until 1972, when the whole island submerged due to the construction of the Iron Gates 1. dam. The Turkish military did not maintain the two pontoon bridges, as the fortress slowly lost its military importance (and garrison as well). With the decline of the Turkish rule on the Balkans Turkey has first lost the left side of the Danube, and later the right banks as well. But Ada Kaleh itself remained in Turkish possession until 1912. The inhabitants had to use boats and regular Danubian passenger ships to leave the island. But that is another story...

Ghost on the Danube

MAGYARUL

There is a spectre haunting these pictures. Visions of a long lost Danubian world coming alive again, like a ghost in an ancient manor house on Alexandru Cristian Beșliu's pictures. He uses Danube View, Google's new development like an expert, on which we can see the river's most scenic part just like as on board of a cruiser ship. Old postcards stick to the Danube View in the Iron Gates, where an island, Ada Kaleh sleeps her dream 33 meters below the Danube's surface.  

A view on the Danube from a porch of Ada Kaleh (imege: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

 

Alexandru Cristian Beșliu uploads these postcards pinned to the Danube View images to his own album on facebook. There is a minor distortion, because the Iron Gate I. hydroelectrical dam has been risen the Danube's surface since the pictures were taken, so there is at least 33 meters between the water level of Danube View and of the postcards. The main guidelines are the mountain ranges. 

Images of  the drowned island are not only shocking for those who lived there. We know of many villages like Ada Kaleh, drowned in a reservoir. We may get goose-bumps of the past little enclave of Turkey. The surrealistic view could be intensified with the divers stumbling on the bottom of the Danube.

Turkish houses on the Austrian walls (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Mosque transformed from a XVII. century Franciscan monastery with the old minaret in 1909. (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

The mosque's new minaret. (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Mosque of Ada Kaleh, built in the 1720s (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

A view on Ada Kaleh (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Many houses were build on the old fortress wall, due to the floods. (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Water sparkling in the moat (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Ruins of the fortress which gave the name of the island (Ada means island and Kale is fort in Turkish language) (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

The port of Ada Kaleh (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Ghosts amongst the ruins... (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Characteristic Turkish tombstones in the cemetery, located in the eastern part of the fortress. (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

The island from the Romanian side - the blue road sign says: Ada Kaleh (image by: Alexandru Cristian Beșliu)

Let's hope there will be more pictures where these came from, and will be no more drowned village like Ada Kaleh! 

Agonia insulei Ada Kaleh

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Zilele trecute, ziarul Adevarul a publicat fotografiile lui Mejdi Ibrahim despre ultimele clipe ale insulei Ada Kaleh. Sunt fotografii apasatoare. Pe langa cladirile demolate sau in curs de demolare, din care se salveaza  materiale de constructie refolosibile, stau muncitori si soldati. Case goale, cu geamuri scoase stau si privesc ulitele depopulate. Au disparut turcii cu tot cu pipe, turbane si dulceturi de trandafir. Inainte de a se ridica nivelul apei s-a lichidat cimitirul, s-au demolat case seculare. Am reusit sa luam legatura si cu un insular vorbitor de limba maghiara. Adele Kehl-Geafer, in copilarie, isi petrecea verile pe insula si ne-a povestit despre ultima vizita din vara anului 1967.

Todeskampf von Ada Kaleh

MAGYARUL

In jüngster Zeit hat die rumänische Zeitung Adevarul Ibrahim Medjis öfters Fotos über die letzte Zeitepoche der Insel Ada Kaleh veröffentlicht. Diese Bilder sind wie der Niedergang der Insel sehr deprimierend. Arbeiter, Soldaten stehen zwischen den abgerissenen Gebäuden, von denen sie alle Baustoffe gewonnen haben. Ausgeplünderten Gebäude, gähnende Leere der Fensterlosen Öffnungen starren auf die verlassenen Straßen. Die Türken verschwanden samt Rosenmarmelade, Pfeife und Turban. Die Friedhöfe wurden ausgegraben und in einem Massengrab „entsorgt”. Jahrhunderte alte Häuser wurden abgerissen, bevor die Flut alles verschlungen hat. Wir haben es geschafft, eine ungarischsprachige Inselbewohnerin zu kontaktieren. Als Kind verbrachte Adele Geafer ihre Sommer auf der Insel und hat für uns ihren letzten Besuch im Jahr 1967 verewigt.

Das genaue Datum der Überflutung konnte nicht erruiert werden. Das Wasserkraftwerk Eiserne Tor I. wurde 1972 in Betrieb gesetzt, aber die Überflutung dürfte bereits früher begonnen haben. Die Bilder zeigen den Prozess der Zerstörung von Häusern, bis an den Punkt, an dem von einer Insel kaum mehr was zu sehen war. Es ist daher sehr wahrscheinlich, dass einige der Bilder 1971, während die letzten 1972 fotografiert wurden.

Between the woods and the water - Rose-petal jam of Ada Kaleh

MAGYARUL

One of the most important parts of the journals of Patrick Leigh Fermor is describing Ada Kaleh between the two world war. This little island, drowned in the name of 'progress' comes alive once more. Turkish language fills the summer air with smell of coffee, they linger together on the narrows streets, we can hear the hodja's voice from the minaret stuck in the ground like a sprear, while the old river - the Danube gently embraces the fortress island. This ethereal view can only be observed through Fermor's lines.

After the bridge at Turnu Severin, the doctor travelled on to Craiova and I caught a bus back to Orsova, picked up my stuff, bought a ticket for the next day's boat, then walked a couple of miles downstream again and found a fisherman to scull me out to the little wooded island I had my eye on ever since rejoining the Danube.

I had heard much talk of Ada Kaleh in recent weeks, and read all I could find. The name means 'island fortress' in Turkish. It was about a mile long, shaped like a shuttle, bending slightly with the curve of the current and lying a little closer to the Carpathian than the Balkan shore. It has been called Erythia, Rushafa and then Continusa, and, according to Apollonius Rhodius, the Argonauts dropped anchor here on their way back from Colchis. How did Jason steer the Argo through the Iron Gates? And the the Kazan? Medea probably lifted the vessel clear of the spikes of magic. Some say Argo reached the Adriatic by overland portage, others that she crossed it and continued up to the Po, mysteriously ending in North Africa. Writers have tentatively suggested that the first wild olive to be planted in Attica might have come from here. But it was later history that had invested the little island with fame.

Between the woods and the water - Ada Kaleh, the drowned island

 IN HUNGARIAN

It has been 40 years ago the Romanian authorities flooded dozen Danubian villages upstream the Iron Gate gorge in the name of „progress”. Patrick Leigh Fermor returned here once more, and devoted the epilogue of his book ’Between the woods and the water’ to this appalling devastation. Ada Kaleh, this little island with the Turkish inhabitants were forced to move to Simian Island downstream the hydroelectric station. Thier mosque has also been moved with the old fortress, but just like the old trees, their community did not survive. They disappeared in every corner of the world. Everything has fled.

Thoughts at a Café Table Between the Kazan and the Iron Gates

Progress has now placed the whole of this landscape underwater. A traveller sitting at my old table on the quay at Orsova would have to peer at the scenery through a thick brass-hinged disc of glass; this would frame a prospect of murk and slime, for he would be shod in lead and peering out of a diver’s helmet linked by a hundred feet of breathing-tube to a boat stationed eighteen fathoms above his head. Moving a couple of miles downstream, he would fumble his way on to the waterlogged island and among the drowned Turkish houses; or, upstream, flounder among the weeds and rubble choking Count Széchenyi’s road and peer across the dark gulf at the vestiges of Trajan on the other side; and all round him, above and below, th dark abyss would yawn and the narrows where currents once rushed and cataracts shuddered from bank to bank and echoes zigzagged along the vertiginous clefts would be sunk in diluvian silence. Then perhaps, a faltering sunbeam might show the foundered wreck of a village; then another, and yet another, all swallowed in mud.

He could toil many days up these cheerless soundings, for Rumania and Yugoslavia have built one of the world’s biggest ferro-concrete dams and hydro-electric power plants across the Iron Gates. This has turned a hundred and thirty miles of the Danube into a vast pond which has swollen and blurred the course of the river beyond recognition. It has abolished canyons, turned beetling crags into mild hills and ascended the beautiful Cerna valley almost to the Baths of Hercules. many thousands of the inhabitants of Orsova and the riparian hamlets had to be uprooted and transplanted elsewhere. The islanders of Ada Kaleh have been moved to another islet downstream and their old home has vanished under the still surface as though it had never been. let us hope that the power generated by the dam has spread well-being on either bank and lit up Rumanian and Yugoslav towns brighter than ever because, in everything but economics, the damage is irreparable. Perhaps, with time and fading memories, people will forget the extent of their loss.

Simian, the "new Ada Kaleh" island

Like wax on a dead island's face - last drawings of Ada Kaleh

In summers of 1964, 1965 and 1967 the Romanian island, Ada Kaleh was swarmed by students. They arrived from the Ion Micu University, Bucharest and their task was to make an achitectural survey of the area which will be flooded by buliding the Iron Gate hydroelectic power plant. Their aim was to document the monuments to be demolished, and to make plans for those buildings to be reconstruct later. It was like pouring wax on a dead island's face. The drawings remained in a hand-written, photocopied folder. With these artworks we can look inside the last days of this disappeared island. When these students put down their pencils, the deconstruction took place immediately. 

  

Farewell, little island!

IN HUNGARIAN

The other day, someone shared this short animated film on the Danube Islands facebook page. I watched it immediately, and in the subsequent absolute silence I told myself that others must see this! Ada Kaleh, the small Turkish Danubian island found its watery grave 40 years ago, when the Iron Gate dam was built between Romania and Serbia.

The director, Sándor Reisenbüchler not only commemorates the loss of Ada Kaleh (Fortress Island in Turkish language). There were other “riverside developments” in years 1986/1987. We may recall the story of the small Transylvanian village, Bözödújfalu (Bezidou Nou). The communist regime in Romania decided to build a reservoir in its valley. They begin to relocate the Hungarian villagers in 1985. Clothes, patterns, houses and the people appearing in the animated film are a clear reference what has happened in Bözödújfalu. The church tower emerging from a lake is a symbol of this devastation.
But there is another meaning of this film. In those years the Czechoslovakian government has just began to construct another dam on the Danube at Bős (Gabcíkovo). There is a feeling, that once happened in the Iron Gates can happen again, now in the Szigetköz (Hungarian-Slovakian border) and in the Danube Bend. The Islands of Zebegény, Helemba, Fogarasi and Törpe could also disappear. Fortunately emerging waves of protest caused this plan partly abandoned when the communist regimes were collapsed in Central Europe. Perhaps because they also watched Farewell, little island then!

This film is not for the faint-hearted!

Thanks for the link, Pál Szabó! And thanks for sharing!

Last spring on Ada Kaleh

It is very hard to say anything new of the sunken island of Ada Kaleh. Many memoirs, pictures, and literature can be found of this lost paradise, even on the internet, on many languages. In Hungarian, Romanian, German, English and Turkish as well. But very few films remained of it. This Romanian video shows the islands last spring, in two parts, before the complete island was flooded by the Iron Gate hydroelectric dam between Serbia (Yugoslavia and Romania)in 1968. It is not necessary to understand all that has been said by the narrator. The orchards of this lost world, the fort, the people, their houses, the peach trees, the unique rose-petal jam, the home-made cigars. The whole island, with its turkish inhabitants is gone. It is flooded by 30 meters (100 yards) of Danube water. The village and the fortress was torn town, taken on ships to rebuild almost everything on a somewhat downstream island, the Simian. This communist human experiment was unsuccessful, the turkish community dispersed as the petals of their peach orchard. Nothing remained.