Amir Kabir Dam

The Amir Kabir Dam, often simply called the Karaj Dam, closes a narrow gorge of the Karaj River about 23 kilometres north of Karaj, where the river leaves the high Alborz. Built between 1957 and 1961, it was the first multipurpose dam in Iran, designed at once to store water for the capital, irrigate the plain and generate electricity. It is named after Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, the reforming chief minister of Naser al-Din Shah in the mid-nineteenth century.

The dam is a concrete arch about 180 metres high, with a crest some 390 metres long, and it holds back Amir Kabir Lake, a long, steep-sided reservoir winding back into the mountains. Its power station has an installed capacity of about 90 megawatts. Water from the reservoir is carried to Tehran and Karaj, and in dry years the level of this lake is watched closely in the capital, since it remains one of the main sources for one of the largest urban regions in western Asia.

For travellers the dam is the first great sight on the Chalus road north, which climbs past the lake on its way over the mountains to the Caspian. Its blue-green water against bare rock makes a striking contrast, and the shores are popular with families on weekend outings from Tehran and Karaj. Swimming and boating are restricted, since this is drinking water for millions. In autumn, when the poplars and willows along the river turn gold, the drive from Karaj up to the dam is at its finest, and the cafés and fish restaurants below the dam fill with visitors.