Lake of Sainte-Croix

The Lac de Sainte -Croix is a French village on the border of the departments of Alpes- de -Haute -Provence and Var reservoir. It is located in the Regional Natural Park Verdon.

The damming of the river Verdon took place from 1973 onwards, with the under construction since 1971 Sainte -Croix Dam was completed in 1974. The reservoir covers about 21.80 km ² in area with a maximum depth of about 90 meters and up to 761 million cubic meters of water content. He is after the Lac de Serre- Ponçon the second largest lake in France.

Due to the construction of the dam and the lake, the village of Les Salles- sur -Verdon was flooded. 400 meters from the site of the old village, the village was rebuilt. During the damming a historic bridge from the 6th century sank in the lake that spanned the Verdon with nine arches. The bridge was built by the Bishops of Riez, but is often incorrectly referred to as the Roman Bridge.

The reservoir, which is mainly used for power generation and water supply, is a popular tourist destination. Swimming and surfing is allowed, as is driving with yachts and boats. In summer the water reaches pleasant water temperatures in the lake. The beaches on the lake are mainly gravel or rocky beaches nature.

The inflow Verdon flows through first one of the deepest gorges in Europe, the Verdon Gorge before it flows directly at the western end of the lake.