Băile Herculane Spa TownBăile Herculane

History

Roman settlers founded Ad Aquas Herculis around the town's thermal springs, naming it for the legend that Hercules himself bathed and rested here on his labors — traces of their baths and an amphitheatre are still built into the resort's grounds. Under Habsburg rule in the 19th century, Austrian architects turned it into a fashionable spa town, building the ornate bathhouses, colonnades, and terraced park that still give the center its character. During the Communist era it expanded again with large concrete sanatoriums built for workers' therapeutic stays, a contrast that's still visible next to the older Habsburg buildings. It remains one of Europe's oldest continuously used spa destinations, though several of its 19th-century buildings have fallen into disrepair and are the focus of ongoing restoration campaigns.