Băile Herculane (; ; ; , ) is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...

, in

Caraș-Severin County Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Reșița ...

, situated in the valley of the Cerna River, between the

Mehedinți Mountains The Mehedinți Mountains () are a mountain range in southwestern Romania, part of the Retezat-Godeanu Mountains group. The range represents the highest relief form in Mehedinți County Mehedinți County () is a county () of Romania on the bor ...

to the east and the Cerna Mountains to the west, elevation . Its current population is 3,787. The town administers one village, Pecinișca (; from 1912 to 1918 ''Csernabesenyő'').

History

The

of Băile Herculane has a long history of human habitation. Numerous archaeological discoveries show that the area has been inhabited since the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

era. The ''Peștera Hoților'' (

Cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

of the Thieves), contains multiple levels, including one from the

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an Industry (archaeology), archaeological industry of Lithic technology, stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and We ...

period, one from the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

period (late Epigravettian) and several from the later

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

periods. The Romans established the town of ''Ad Aquas Herculis'' based on the legend that the weary

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

stopped in the valley to bathe and rest. Unearthed stone carvings show that visiting Roman aristocrats turned the town into a Roman leisure centre. Six statues of Hercules from the time have been discovered. A bronze replica of one of them, molded in 1874, stands as a landmark in the town centre. Roman baths, mapped in 1774, became the thermal spring now known as Hygea's Spring, had an area of 667 m² with 11 rooms. In the middle of the building was a circular pool of 5 m diameter with steps descending to the pool floor. There was another rectangular pool with sides of 8 x 4.2 m. On the steep Cerna bank the Romans built another five buildings around thermal springs. The ruins of the amphitheatre were 43 m from the left bank of the river. It had an outer diameter of 47.4 m. The Austrian architects took the massive ruins into account in order to create a rectangular park with terraces which still exists today in the centre. Austrian and Ottoman troops clashed here after the Ottoman victory in the battle of Mehadia on 30 August 1788. The Ottomans won the skirmish, took the town on 7 September 1788 and advanced to

Caransebeș Caransebeș (; ; , Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a city in Caraș-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. One village, Jupa (), is administered by the city. The city is located at the confluence of the Timiș River with ...

. It was retaken by the Austrians at the end of September 1789. File:Roman baths at Băile Herculane.png, Roman baths from 1774 File:Baile Herculane road 1824.jpg, The town in 1824 File:Baile_Herculane_01.JPG, The town around 1900 File:Baile Herculane 02.JPG, The town around 1900 File:Posta Romana 1991 Hotels 10.jpg, Romanian stamp of the Hotel Roman

Climate

Băile Herculane has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dfb'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

The modern spa

In modern times, the spa town has been visited for its supposedly natural healing properties:

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s with sulfur, chlorine, sodium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals, as well as negatively ionized air. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when the first modern hotel was built (i.e. H Cerna, 1930) it remained a popular destination with

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

ans. During the

Communist era A communist era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

, mass

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

facilities were built, such as the 8- to 12-storied concrete hotels Roman, Hercules A, Hercules B, Afrodita, Minerva, Diana, UGSR, etc. which dominate the skyline. It was visited by all kinds of people but was especially popular with employees and

retirees A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

, who would spend their state-allotted vacation vouchers there, hoping to improve their health. Today, they share the town with a younger crowd. New privately owned

pensions A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

and hotels appeared after 1989, along the Cerna/Tiena river banks, spread from the train station to the end of the hydroelectric dam. Some of the Austro-Hungarian-era buildings have become derelict, including many of the baths, because of bad management after privatization.Rețineri în dosarul devalizării Băilor Herculane. "Prejudiciul: 123 de milioane de lei"
''Digi24'', retrieved on 13 June 2019 In the late 2010s, an NGO called the Herculane Project was established to stabilise the buildings and eventually restore them."Romania's young history fans battle to save imperial spa resort"
by Stephen McGrath,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 1 February 2021

Natives

* Friedrich von Martini (1833–1897), Swiss engineer, designer of the

Martini–Henry rifle The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Mar ...

* Vasile Didea (born 1954), Romanian boxer * Ferenc Szécsi (1913–1974), Hungarian stage and film actor

Image gallery

File:Băile Herculane 325200, Romania - panoramio (8).jpg, Main road going into the resort File:Herkulesfürdő2.jpg, Spa File:Statuia lui Hercules, Băile Herculane.jpg, Statue of

File:Baile Herculane Piata Hercule (2).JPG, Hercules Square File:Hotel Cerna Baile Herculane.JPG, Cerna Hotel, founded in 1936 File:Hotel Roman, Baile Herculane.JPG, Roman Hotel File:Cazinoul, Baile Herculane.JPG, The Casino File:Băile Herculane, katolika preĝejo, 1.jpeg, Roman-Catholic Church File:Gara, Baile Herculane.jpg, Railway station File:Pestera Hotilor CS-I-s-B-10772 (5).jpg, Entrance to a nearby cave

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baile Herculane Populated places in Caraș-Severin County Localities in Romanian Banat Towns in Romania Spa towns in Romania Ski areas and resorts in Romania Roman towns and cities in Romania