Iron Gate (Danube)

The Iron Gates (Romanian: Porțile de Fier, Serbian: Đerdapska klisura, German: Eisernes Tor) is a gorge on the Danube River. It forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania. In the broad sense it encompasses a route of 134 km (83 mi); in the narrow sense it only encompasses the last barrier on this route, just beyond the Romanian city of Orșova, that contains two hydroelectric dams, with two power stations, Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station and Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station.

The gorge lies between Romania to the north and Serbia to the south. At this point, the river separates the southern Carpathian Mountains from the northwestern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The Romanian side of the gorge constitutes the Iron Gates natural park, whereas the Serbian part constitutes the Đerdap national park.

In English, the gorge is known as Iron Gates or Iron Gate. An 1853 article about the Danube in The Times of London referred to it as "the Iron Gate, or the Gate of Trajan."

In languages of the region including Romanian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Czech, German and Bulgarian, names literally meaning "Iron Gates" are used to name the entire range of gorges. These names are Romanian: Porțile de Fier (pronounced [ˈport͡sile de ˈfjer], Hungarian: Vaskapu, Slovak: Železné vráta, Polish: Żelazné Bramy, German: Eisernes Tor, and Bulgarian: Железни врата Železni vrata"). An alternative Romanian name for the last part of the route is Defileul Dunării, literally "Danube Gorge".

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Wikipedia