The settlement in the Buziașului Depression has been known since Roman times, under the name of Ahibis. Documentary attestation is from the 14th – 15th centuries. Declared a spa town since 1819, the town itself is located on the upper terrace of Timiș, at the contact between the East Banat Plain and the Banat hills – Silagiu Hill, in the south-eastern part of the country’s largest county, Timis County (8,678 km2 surface or 3.6% of Romania’s territory).
Rust, rotten wood, trash as far as the eye can see
Today, all you see are locked doors, broken windows, fallen walls, collapsed roofs, dilapidation everywhere. This is what the Buziaş resort in Timiş looks like, after three decades of neglect, even if it used to be one of the most popular spa resorts.
Attested and approved by the World Health Organization for recovery through natural healing factors since 1819, Buziaş quickly became one of the most famous mineral water resorts in Europe.
The charming settlement had hotels, baths, restaurants, even a casino. She was often admired by Empress Sissi, for whom Emperor Franz Joseph built a neo-Gothic wooden colonnade. The wooden lace shop is still standing today because one million euros were invested in its rehabilitation.
The elegant and bohemian air of Buziaş has disappeared
Sorin Munteanu, mayor of Buziaş: “The important tourism we have is that for health, health tourism, the Buziaş resort being a resort of national interest, recognized for its carbonated mineral waters for cardiovascular diseases. Practically everything we see around us, all the buildings around us are ruins.
Because at the national level there was no, and I say this with all conviction, there was no interest in what the development of tourism in Romania meant. It is the problem of the Law of Retrogression. By not solving this problem, dragging on for so many years, we were left with these buildings that were in processes, were in continuous processes and in finding, let’s say, the owners”.
On the alleys of the park, you can only see the dilapidated building: “So here we have the Casino building, the old Casino Building and the promenade area of the park, which connects the beach and Bath 2. That is, it connects a closed beach and a bathroom that is in desolate”, says the mayor.
European funds, the only hope for the Buziaș resort
In fact, with European money, the big change in the face of Buziaş has already begun. 5 million euros were raised for the dendrological park in the heart of the resort, spread over 24 hectares. The alleys were redone, a high-performance lighting system was introduced. It is 80% ready.
Sorin Munteanu: “When the state fails, European money saves, at least here… Only European money, because otherwise we would not have managed and we are talking, as money, of over 20 million euros. Buziaş’s chance is to complete these projects that we already have in progress. We started, so to speak, step by step to recover the buildings that we consider important from the locality’s heritage. And here I am referring to Baia 2, to the former Casino, for which we are in negotiations and we have filed our right of preemption even over the beach”.
While Baia 2 will become a museum, there are plans for the casino to turn into a cultural center. Once on everyone’s tables, Buziaş mineral water is also just a memory today. This is the story of the resort that turned from a treasure to a dusty and ignored place for three decades.
2023-07-30 18:46:31
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