Çubuk-1 Barajı Rekreasyon Alanı

The Republic's first dam. Surveyed from 1927, the concrete arch dam was built by a Turkish firm between 1930 and 1936 and opened by Atatürk on 3 November 1936; it is 25 metres high and holds 12.5 million cubic metres. With the filter station beside it, it set up Ankara's first modern drinking water system, and its lake was the city's promenade for years. Pollution and silting stopped water intake in 1994; after a renewal begun in 2019, the 413,000 square metre recreation area reopened on 29 October 2020, and at the end of 2021 the dam held water again. There is an Atatürk House, the inscribed Kitabeli Kapı gate, the Bayrak Tepe viewpoint, walking and cycle paths and a large picnic area; EGO lines reach it.