Lacul Cinciș

Lacul Cinciș is a reservoir located in Hunedoara County, on the course of the Cerna River (Cerna Hunedoreană, a tributary of the Mureș), in the Munții Poiana Ruscă, in the Ținutul Pădurenilor, near the settlement of Cinciș-Cerna in the commune of Teliucu Inferior, approximately 6–15 km south-west of the municipality of Hunedoara. The lake was created by damming the valley of the Cerna River with an arch concrete dam approximately 48 metres high, built between 1958 and 1964, with the primary purpose of supplying water to the Combinatul Siderurgic din Hunedoara; the infrastructure was subsequently also used for electricity generation and recreation. With an area of approximately 867 hectares and a maximum depth of around 48 metres, Lacul Cinciș is one of the largest reservoirs in Transilvania, nicknamed by locals "the Sea of the Hunedoara people". The creation of the lake required, in the early 1960s, the relocation of several villages and hamlets from the valley — including Cinciș, Cerna, Valea Ploștii, Bălana, Moara Ungurului and Baia Craiului — whose inhabitants were moved to the Iuba hill, in the present-day settlement of Cinciș-Cerna; the old village sites and several churches now lie beneath the waters of the lake, a fact that has given rise to local legends about a "cursed lake". On one of the lake's shores stands the Roman Catholic Church of Cinciș, a historical monument whose construction dates from the 13th–14th centuries, considered one of the oldest Roman Catholic churches in Transilvania. Today, the Lacul Cinciș area has been granted the status of a resort of local interest, with its shores developed with beaches, camping areas, guesthouses and recreational facilities; the lake is popular for fishing (carp, pike, pikeperch, catfish, crucian carp), boating, swimming and hiking in the surrounding area.