Stausee Mooserboden

The Stausee Mooserboden sits high above Kaprun village in the Hohe Tauern range of Salzburg. Two dams, the Moosersperre on the west and the Drossensperre on the east, hold back the reservoir’s 1.6 square-kilometre surface. Water arrives through an 11.5-kilometre tunnel from the Margaritze lake, itself fed by meltwater from the Pasterze glacier on the Grossglockner. The lake’s level swings between 2036 and 1960 metres above sea level as it stores up to 84.9 million cubic metres of water. When full, the dam walls bend outward by about five centimetres under the pressure. The site is worth reaching for its engineering story and its memorial. Between 1947 and 1955 the construction claimed 161 lives, and a further 120 forced labourers died between 1940 and 1945. In 1959–60 the “Männer von Kaprun” raised a 14-metre concrete monument above the Heidnische Kirche, a split boulder carved with the date 1551. The sculpture, designed by Josef Magnus, symbolises Saint Barbara’s cloak sheltering the power plants and the Kaprun valley. A plaque added in 2003 honours the forced workers. Visitors walk among the massive concrete walls and the surrounding high peaks. Between the dams the Höhenburg rock outcrop rises to 2108 metres, offering a narrow cleft said to cleanse those who squeeze through. The reservoir feeds the Kaprun hydroelectric works, sending water on to the lower Wasserfallboden basin. Above all, the scene combines raw mountain scenery with the stark reminder of human cost embedded in the landscape.