In 1939 Josef Stalin ordered several damns to be built along the Volga River. The most famous caused the flooding of a town called Molga. The pointed tower in the one picture, located in the deepest part of the damn, is the St.Nicolas Bell Tower 74 meters high. What is seen here is only about 10 meters that shows above this flooded town. A small island was later built around the tower's base. The buildings in the background were built later along the flooded area's shore. The other picture of the decaying structure is along the damn the edge. The purpose of the damns was to create a sluice to generate hydoelectric power.