The Serre-Ponçon dam was commissioned on November 16, 1959, when its gates were closed to begin filling the reservoir that submerged the villages of Savines and Ubaye located below 2,559 ft (780 m). Eighteen months later, on May 18, 1961, the lake was filled. The Serre-Ponçon dam is the largest compacted earth dam in Europe, with a thickness of 2,132 ft (650 m) at the base and a width of 1,968 ft (600 m) at the crest. Its height above the bed of the Durance is 403 ft (123 m), and its volume of 14 million m³ of earthworks is equivalent to six times the volume of the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.