Băile Herculane ( la, Aqua Herculis; german: Herkulesbad; hu, Herkulesfürdő; cz, Herkulovy Lázně, tr, Lazarethane) 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 in 1668. H ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

, 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 ( ro, Munții Mehedinți) 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 ( ...

to the east and the Cerna Mountains to the west, elevation 168 meters. Its current population is approximately 5,000. The town administers one village, Pecinișca ( hu, Pecsenyeska; 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 (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

era. The ''Peștera Hoților'' (

Cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

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

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the latt ...

period, one from the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (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 is often used synonymous ...

period (late Epigravettian) and several from the later

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

periods. Legend has it 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 center. 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 center.

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

and Ottoman troops clashed here after the Ottoman victory in the battle of

Mehadia Mehadia ( hu, Mehádia; german: Mehadia; tr, Mehadiye) is a small market town and commune in Caraș-Severin County, Banat, Romania. It lies on the European route E70, in the Cerna River valley. The town is located on the site of the ancient Ro ...

on 30 August 1788. The Ottomans won the skirmish, took the town on 7 September 1788 and advanced to

Caransebeș Caransebeș (; german: Karansebesch; hu, Karánsebes, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a municipiu, city in Caraș-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the Timiș (river), River Timiș ...

. It was retaken by the Austrians at the end of September 1789. 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 freezing ...

(''Cfb'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

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 produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 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 countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to 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 P ...

, mass

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

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 (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

and hotels appeared after 1989, along the Cerna/Tiena river banks, spread from the train station to the end of the hydroelectrical 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 A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

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 broadca ...

, 1 February 2021

Natives

Vasile Didea Vasile Didea (born 1 April 1954) is a Romanian boxer. He competed in the men's light middleweight event at the 1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights e ...

Ferenc Szécsi Ferenc Szécsi (11 July 1913 – 1 March 1974) was a Hungarian stage and film actor with one directing credit at the end of a long career. In 1916, at the age of three and credited as Szécsi Ferkó, he appeared in the film ''Elnémult harangok' ...

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