The historical spa resort of Romania in a “continuous degradation”, brought back to life by a hand of young architects

The story of the return to life of the Herculane baths, one of the oldest spa cities in Europe that suffered a long decline on the background of corruption, was reported in a report by the France-Prese Agency (AFP).

Currently, the Romanian resort Băile Herculane has dilapidated facades, is full of graffiti and rubble. A team of volunteers, young architects, offers hope. Despite the legal obstacles, they work to revive the place that once attracted the emperors with his healing waters, writes AFP.

The architect Oana Chirila, 31, leading a team of five volunteers, says she was impressed by the beauty of the place she discovered “by chance”, eight years ago. “And, at the same time, I was shocked by his condition,” she added, referring to the state of the city in the southwest of Romania.

The restoration project of the group of Oana Chirilă is one of the many recent initiatives of the civil society launched to protect the historical monuments of Romania, notes AFP, specifying that about 800 such monuments have deteriorated or risk collapsing completely. Some of them are already a significant danger to public safety.

Visited once by Princess Sisi

The Herculane Baths were built in 1886, during the Austro-Hungarian empire, and once hosted distinguished guests who came to enjoy the sulfur treatments.

Among these illustrious visitors were the emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph, and his wife, Elisabeth, known as Sisi. Franz Joseph himself described the city as “the most beautiful spa” in Europe.

A century later, the bathrooms are in comparison, and visitors stop here only to immortalize the ruined building, notes the French press agency.

“We are afraid that it is over”

Currently, Oana Chirila and her volunteer team can carry out preservation works only at the external structure of the bathrooms.

“We are afraid that it is over,” she says. The architect explains that “most historical monuments are in the current state – that is, in continuous degradation – because they are legally blocked”, preventing the use of public or European funds for restoration.

For now, along a part of the river bank, visitors can enjoy three basins of sulfur water-which Oana calls “small bathtubs”. Her team renovated these pools and built spare boards and wooden pavilions, one of the many projects they have undertaken throughout the city.

Herculane “will heal”

The architect is afraid that his efforts are just a “weak passenger” on a broken wound, but he wants to remain optimistic. “Herculane has fallen in decadence due to corruption, but we hope that thanks to the action of motivated citizens,” she said.

In recent years, Baile Herculane, with a population of 3,800 inhabitants, has undergone a constant growth of tourism, according to local officials. About 160,000 tourists visited the resort in 2024 – compared to 90,000 in 2020 – many of them looking for spa treatments, but also hiking and climbing opportunities.

“The resort has changed,” Aura Edarita told AFP news agency. She says that the resort can regain its status of “pearl of Europe”.

“It would be wonderful for this complex to be restored as it was hundreds of years ago, of course keeping the influences of Auto-Hungarian” and to become a pearl of Europe, “said Aura Zidarita, a 50-year-old doctor, who came to” recharge the batteries “in the spring vapors.