A view of Valide Dam (Valide Bendi) in the Belgrade Forest, Istanbul. I filmed and photographed it on February 18, 2023.
Valide Dam (Valide Bendi)
The Valide Dam (or also known as the Valide Sultan Dam) is located to the north of Bahçeköy in Sarıyer, within the Bentler Nature Park that forms a part of the Belgrade Forest.
The Ottoman Sultan Selim III (reigned 1789-1807) constructed the Valide Dam in 1796 intending to supply water to the donations in Eyüp (a district of the city of Istanbul that extends from the Golden Horn all the way to the shore of the Black Sea) that belonged to his mother, Mihrişah Sultan (c. 1745-1805), who held the title of Valide Sultan during his reign.
The dam has a catchment area of 1.825 km2 (0.705 square miles). It is a solid gravity dam constructed in masonry, with its crest and waterside wall covered in marble. Two buttresses at 6.30 meters (20.7 feet) distance at the toe are attached to the downstream wall to reinforce the structure.
The height of the dam is 11.25 meters (36.9 feet) from the thalweg. It is 103.90 meters (340.9 feet) long at crest. The crest is 4.72 meters (15.5 feet) and the base is 6.30 meters (20.7 feet) wide. The dam has a reservoir capacity of 255,000 m3 (9,000,000 cubic feet).
Sources
- Valide Dam on Wikipedia
