Plavna Pumping Station

The old Plavna Pumping Station is a key hydraulic structure essential for flood defense along the Danube. It connects the Big Canal with the Danube and is located on the northern side of the defense embankment, 4 km from the settlement of Plavna. Its special importance lies in its reversibility. Namely, in addition to transferring excess water from the Main Canal into the Danube’s floodplain, the system also allows for pumping Danube water into the canal network to irrigate agricultural land. The entire drainage basin and system are named “Plavna” after this pumping station.

The complex consists of regularly arranged buildings:
- the main building, the so-called machine house or pumping station—the largest structure, functionally connected with the intake structure and the canal;
- the administrative building;
- a workshop with living quarters, as well as a number of smaller auxiliary structures of various purposes (a carriage house and smokehouse; a workshop with a tool room; a shelter; and several small buildings for keeping animals, located along the northern edge of the parcel).

On the property, there is also a fuel tank embedded in the ground, as well as an artesian well.

The old Plavna Pumping Station, built in 1912, is still operational with its original equipment, which makes it unique among hydraulic engineering heritage sites.