Orava is a reservoir in northernmost Slovakia, forming the largest lake in Slovakia (35.2 km²). It was created by the construction of a dam between 1941 and 1953 on the former two sources of the Orava river. Several former villages had to be inundated for this purpose. Probably the best known of them was Slanica, the birthplace of the Slovak intellectual and cleric Anton Bernolák (Antonius Bernolacius).