Technical monuments: The Flaje Dam

Perforation type: 12x11 ½

Subject:

14 krones. Flaje dam*

Additional:

*The Fláje Dam is a pillar-style valley dam, unique in the Czech Republic. Another such dam is in Switzerland. It is located in the Krušné Hory region bordering Germany, in the cadastre of Český Jiřetín and the former Fláje village. Its water leaves the country in and flows into the nearby border dam Rauschenbach in Saxony. Its unique structure makes it a part of the Czech cultural heritage.

The atypical design of the dam made of 35 pillars combines two pillars into an upstream face which contains water. Local material from a nearby quarry was used to build the dam. The granite base of the Fláje Dam enabled the pillar design to be used. It was built between 1951 and 1963. The Moldava Cableway was set up between the quarry and the nearest railway station, 12 km away, to easily transport material to the site. Altogether, 183 thousand cubic meters of concrete were used to build the dam which contains over 22 million cubic meters of water. The water then flows into the nearby Saxon dam.
The Fláje Dam played an important role during the 2002 flood where in one day there was so much precipitation that it equalled half-a-year’s average rainfall. This allowed residents of the adjoining areas time to prepare, which turned a potential thousand-year flood into a fifty-year flood. When at maximum water retention, the dam can reduce the culmination flow of a one-hundred flood from 51.2 m3/s to 27.4 m3/s.
The dam has several safety control systems, such as a steel-string pendulum which measures the angle between the structure and water and terrain levels, and other mechanisms, including a hydrostatic measurement system to control the tilt of individual pillars instead of the mere curvature of the structure. In the event of a collapse, the entire dam can be released within two weeks. 
The original Fláje village had to be demolished to give way to the construction of the dam. Only its small wooden church was saved (see one of booklet coupon); it was dismantled, relocated and is still in use in the nearby Český Jiřetín.

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This information has been taken from official web page of Czech Post

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See also issued FDC & FDS.

The release was dictated by the 50-year anniversary of the dam. On the anniversary was also issued a commemorative sheet with special cancellation.

Size (of sheet, booklet) mm: 269x85