Reschensee landmark: why is there a tower in the lake?

The tower in the lake Reschensee is impossible to miss, so why is it actually there? One thing is as solid as the tower itself: it looks remarkably good.

A Reschensee landmark

Enthusiasts who want to skate on natural ice for the pleasure of it can head to the Italian Reschensee, or its ‘little brother’ the Haidersee. In winter the ice here is very thick, and all of it between high mountains.

During a skating holiday you may well want to seesomething as well. A special building, for instance, or something along those lines. The Reschensee has exactly such a landmark sticking out of the ice: the tower in the lake.

The attraction appears, among other places, in a Netflix series (Curon).

Why is there a tower in the lake?

Which leaves the question of what the Romanesque tower is doing there. The story behind it turns out to be less rosy than the picture. Let us start at the beginning:

• 1920 – The government in Italy wants to generate electricity with a dam. That plan could raise the water level by 5 metres. Not yet a problem for the villages of Reschen and Graun.
• 1939 – The earlier idea is shelved because of political developments. A very large company revives the plan. With one crucial detail: the water will rise by a full 22 metres.

A water level that high would mean the end of nearby villages. Even so, construction looked set to go ahead. Or did it? The Second World War broke out. A postponement. Only… not a cancellation.

• 1947 – Two years after the Second World War construction really does go ahead. The residents along the Reschensee even try to enlist the pope to stop the project. Without success.
• 1950 – It is summer, though misery hangs in the air. The lake is dammed up, hundreds of hectares of land end up under water. The Reschensee is a good deal bigger, at the cost of the region's heritage.

Reschensee: and what about the residents?

How did it end for the residents? A logical follow-up question. Their houses were demolished. They had to live somewhere else. The compensation amounted to very little.

Villages were wiped away for the water. Residents of Graun ended up in a sort of pop-up barracks that were poorly built. There were families, too, who simply had to emigrate.

Old Graun is gone, but there are still buildings by the reservoir, higher up. Reschen moved higher up too. You can happily stay here for a week, with a few side trips perhaps.

The tower in the lake: a symbol of Vinschgau / Val Venosta

Only the tower still stands in the lake itself, to this day. Because the striking building was on the list of protected monuments. Everything and everyone was moved when the water came; the church tower held its ground.

The tower in the lake now serves as the cultural object of the Vinschgau region, or Val Venosta in Italian. The imposing structure rises above the ice, an impressive sight.

Once a symbol of grief, by now a proud symbol of steadfastness. Many had expected the tower to give way under the pressure of the water. And thanks to the boost it gives tourism, the landmark does provide a small measure of ‘compensation’ after all.