Lac d'Auzon-Temple

Lakes Amance and du Temple are the two human-made lakes that together form the Aube reservoir. They are located in the Aube department, in the Grand Est region of France. The former is Europe's largest lake reserved for motorboating, and the latter is Europe's largest non-nautical lake. While their normal capacity is 170 hm3, with a total surface area of 23.2 km2 they could, if combined as a single lake, be the third largest man-made lake in France, matching the size of Lac d'Orient. Completed and commissioned in 1989, they are among the last of the great Seine lakes to have been built. Like the neighboring Lac d'Orient, they are part of the Orient Forest Regional Natural Park, created in 1970, twenty years before the project was completed. The two lakes, linked by a channel, were designed to protect Paris and its conurbation from the devastating floods of the Seine, into which the Aube flows. They were also given secondary functions: while Lake Amance, to the east, was dedicated to motorboating, Lac du Temple, to the west, was given over to nature discovery.