Lake Sfânta Ana

Lacul Sfânta Ana
Lake Sfânta Ana
Location	Harghita County, Romania
Coordinates	46°7′35″N 25°53′17″E / 46.12639°N 25.88806°ECoordinates: 46°7′35″N 25°53′17″E / 46.12639°N 25.88806°E
Type	crater lake
Basin countries	Romania
Max. length	620 m
Max. width	460 m
Surface area	19.3 ha
Average depth	6.4 m
Max. depth	7 m
Shore length^1	1617 m
Surface elevation	946 m
^1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Sfânta Ana (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈsfɨnta ˈana]; Hungarian: Szent Anna-tó, meaning "Saint Anne Lake" in both languages) is the only crater lake in Romania located in the volcanic crater of the volcano named Ciomatu Mare (Nagy Csomád in Hungarian) of the Eastern Carpathians, near Tușnad in the Natural Reserve of Mohoș, Harghita County, Romania.

Palynology studies concluded that the history of Lake Saint Anne began about 9,800-8,800 years ago, at the stage of peat bog and shallow lake.

It has an oval form and an area of 220,000 m².

According to measurements made in 2005, the maximum depth of the lake is 6.4 m and the sediment thickness is about 4 m. The lake is supplied exclusively from precipitations, therefore the degree of mineralization of the water is very low. The water purity approaches of that of distilled water, with only 0.0029 ml mineral

In winter, the lake is covered with a layer of ice of up to 1 m. The lake is part of the Mohos Nature Reserve.

Near the lake there is a Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to Saint Anne.

The name of the lake originates from two legends. The first one says that long ago there was a young virgin girl, Ana. She was forced by her parents to get married, even though she didn’t love her fiance. On her wedding night, Ana threw herself into the lake and lost her life. Her body was never found and since then the lake was called Saint Ana.

The second legend is about two brothers who were emperors. One of them had bragged that he had had the greatest carriage in the county. In his trial to prove that he is better than his brother, the other emperor, he built himself a carriage as well.

Then, he put reins on eight girls. One of them was a young virgin, named Ana. The weight was too much for them to handle and Ana started praying and cursing on the emperor. An awful storm started and killed the emperor, burning his palace to the ground.

This is the place where a lake by the name of Saint Ana was formed.

No animal can survive around Lake Ana due to the oxygen concentration there.