This bell tower is famous because it appears to spring from the water of the lake. I went all the way up to the Resia pass to take a picture, but the water is now quite low and the effect is not as dramatic as I expected it to be. You can see the darker area where the water usually arrives.The tiny figure behind the tower is a family walking on the emerged piece of land and it gives you an idea of the size of the tower
The story of this tower and of the lake that surrounds it is quite sad for the local people. In fact instead of the lake there was once a village with old houses, 700 inhabitants, In 1939,during the fascist era, it was decided that for the sake of power generation the area was flooded, the houses destroyed, the people forcibly removed, without any reimbursement. Only the tower, being built in1340, was saved.
Better on black, if you have come this low in reading!
What a wonderful photo. And thank you so much for the information - the history of your country is so interesting. P.S. - I love the way the little people give you such perspective.
This is a very, very interesting photo in itself. Even more so when your narrative is added to it, thanks for the history lesson. Australia too has drowned at least one town (probably more) to create huge dams for irrigation and/or hydro power.
@golftragic@mastermek thank you and yes that happens often. Do you remember Abu Simbel or the valley of the Kings? What’s sad here is the way the inhabitants of the valley were treated…luckily the bell tower was not destroyed
Beautiful image Caterina and a sad story behind it. I've heard similar tales over the years, too. There's a church steeple that used to appear out of the water somewhere here in England, but the church was later demolished over health and safety fears I think :/
@franceslivelife@paul10@ziggy77@graemestevens Thank you for your comments and fav's. You might be interesting in knowing that in the valley there is a legend saying that at night sometimes you can hear the sound of the bells of the tower (removed when the rest of the houses were destroyed). Creepy!
Love this shot and your narration. A real Fav! The light and the detail on the tower are sublime. The people add a sense of scale in an unobtrusive manner. They did something similar here to build the Dodger's baseball stadium. No water involved. But plenty of power. They displaced a whole working class neighborhood and promised to build a new one for all those displaced, but never did.
