⚙️ A unique technical waterworks in Kolín, integrating a movable weir, hydroelectric power plant, and navigation lock into the Masaryk road bridge.
🏗️ Built between 1913 and 1925, it maintains water levels for transport, generates electricity, and supports water sports.
🚢 Essential for water transport on the Elbe River
💡 Generates electricity, powering approximately 1,500 households annually
🚣♀️ Provides a space for water sports and recreation
🏛️ A fascinating example of early 20th-century engineering and architecture
The weir is structurally connected with the Masaryk Bridge and is positioned perpendicular to the river's axis. The bridge pillars also serve as the weir pillars. The weir gates are located under the second to fourth arches of the bridge deck. It consists of three 19-meter wide fields, which are controlled by lifting cylindrical gates (the middle field also has a submersible cylinder). The control mechanisms are located on the left pier of each field and are operated from a control room in the administrative building on a small island between the weir and the navigation lock.
Located under the fifth arch of the bridge, the low-pressure run-of-the-river power plant was built between 1932 and 1934. Originally equipped with four Francis turbines from the company Josef Prokop a synové (1931), the plant underwent a major modernization between 2011 and 2012. The old equipment was replaced with a set of seven modern Kaplan turbines that operate in a fully automated mode. These turbines have a runner diameter of 1,450 mm, utilize a design head of 2 m, a design flow of 49 m³/s, and have a total output of 0.95 MW. The annual electricity production has increased to 4,500 MWh, which covers the annual consumption of about 1,500 households.
Situated in a former arm of the Elbe river on the right side of the weir, the single-chamber navigation lock was constructed between 1920 and 1925. The chamber is 85 m long and 12 m wide, with a water depth of 3 m over the sill. It features steel miter gates at both ends. The lock is filled and emptied indirectly through long arched culverts equipped with segment gates, all operated by hydraulic motors. The operation is managed from a control room located on its left side wall. Uniquely for the Elbe waterway in the Czech Republic, the lock does not have a concreted bottom as it is founded on bedrock.
A chambered fish pass is located at the leftmost weir pier. It is 30.5 m long, 1.2 m wide, with chambers 2.65 m in length. Adjacent to it is a waste sluice (3.0 x 3.3 m) with a capacity of 26 m³/s, designed for fine regulation of the flow over the weir.
The reinforced concrete road bridge, named Masaryk Bridge, incorporates the Kolín lock system. It was built near an old iron bridge from 1878. The architectural concept was initially developed by Antonín Engel in 1913 and later revised by his student, František Roith. The construction was carried out by the firm Kapsa & Müller.