Testimonials in stone and burnt bricks of some romantic ages, placed in a particular charm of nature’s areas, the Bacau County palaces over which unfortunately the mist of oblivion has settled for a long time and hence the ignorance, bring the traveler thirsty of beauty or novelty a lot of distinction, unexpected architecture and, in particular, traces of a past where the good taste mixes with the local traditions.

The local authorities currently try through a dialogue with the owners to open them to the tourists.

Stirbei Palace of Darmanesti — a construction unique, victim of hypocrisy and carelessness

In one of the several woods close to the town of Darmanesti, presiding at over 600 meters over the Valley of river Uz, rises as the locals say ‘The palace of the Romanian aviation princess’ Marina Stirbei — the first Romanian female who has ever flied a plane and the first female military pilot in our country.

The locals tell how the princess Marina was landing, to the surprise and joy of the ones in the area on the airfield developed on a sloping lawn right in front of the palace’s main gate, after which she shared gifts to the children who were staring to the flying machinery touching down.

Likewise, the princess remained in the memory of the locals also because she has transformed rooms of the palace into a recovery hospital for the wounded from the battles which took place in the nearby mountains during the two WWs.

The palace was erected by her parents, Gheorghe Stirbei and Elisabeta Baleanu, who wished to spend their summer holidays in that beautiful area, with the help of some Italian and German craftsmen, following the plans of architect Nicolae Ghika Dudesti.

It’s a huge stone and red brick construction, disposed on four floors (a basement, ground level and two stories, G+1 partially in the semi-circular patio’s area), with an L ward with only ground floor and a storey, as well as other two ground body buildings, attached to the latter.

The main entry is allowed through a large stairs patio. The main building’s chambers destined to the formal reception area, the grand parlour, the living-room, the studies, the greenhouse, the main staircase are up to 10-meters in opening. Here too is possible the access to the opened, semi-circular patio. The lateral body building with smaller rooms, on two stories, is the palace’s administrative area. The facades, a plaster, brick and stone masonry game, display windows with false brick frames and balconies with wooden decorative elements. The pedestal is high, made of quarry stone. The roof of the entrance tower, as well as of the two lateral elements is made of ceramic tile framing.

Concomitantly to its historical, architectural value, the Darmanesti Palace would find a well-deserved place in a history of the technique too, as at the Stirbei residence is still operating the oldest water inlet in Moldavia’s region, carried out in 1908 by German engineers.

The palace lays in the very core of a garden crossed by alleys shaded by oaks, beeches and firs, with three artesian wells.

For 40 years, after 1906, when the construction was finalized, the life of the inhabitants has had two landmarks: the arrival of the prince’s family and its guests in May and the departure with the first signs of the autumn in September.

Prince George Stirbei was killed by the typhus during the WWI. Princess Elisabeta yet remained the locals’ core of attention as they loved her dearly. After WWII, the three princesses — Elisabeta and her daughters Marina and Sanda — were expropriated from their assets and banished, without being allowed to take their family properties. They succeeded to reach France eventually.

The palace was looted and the locals remember the ”horrendous day” when a bunch of aliens led by a ”bodily strange, stunted man, with physical impairments at his feet and malice in his eyes’, has put out on the lawn where the small airplanes had landed or taken off, hundreds of books, some wrapped in leather, furniture, curtains and other goods from the house and put them all on fire ‘singing and dancing as if in pagan processions’ around the flames which ‘rose to the top of the trees’.

The mirrors’ crystal was shattered by unskilful hands, the same with the canvas paintings or the vintage furniture. Au scăpat, ca prin minune, impresionantul șemineu de la parterul castelului, rafturile bibliotecii de lemn sculptat, în care încă se mai păstrează călimara prințului Știrbei, câteva scrinuri și lăzi de zestre, trei oglinzi de cristal și un tablou scorojit.

The ruining of the building furthered on the communist authorities transformed the Stirbei residence into a pneumophthisiology hospital, and subsequently the palace became a school camp, closed before 1989.

In 1994 a restoration plan was approved and was immediately cancelled, once with the palace being claimed by the Stirbei family.

The palace was claimed after the year 2000 by the Stirbei family heirs, who have gained in court the property rights, yet subsequently sold the building and the park to a businessman.

After more than 60 years, the local authorities have initiated some ambitious projects to introduce the palace in the tourist circle of this area of a ”spectacular delight for the eyes and odour too’, as the mayor of Darmanesti, engineer Constantin Spiridon, says.

According to him, talks are currently underway with the owners to purchase the property by the town hall.

”The natural gems offered by the Nemira, Ciuc and Berzunti Mts., cut by the delightful valleys of the Uz and Trotus rivers, the natural reserves and with wild areas yet, the ancient traditions among which the Bears’ Game unique in the entire world, treasures passed on from generation to generation, next to the hospitality of the inhabitants, those who have a gourmet recipe that makes you lick your fingers, would capture, by introducing the Stirbei palace into the tourism circuit, a jewel whose karats would be a milestone and a core point of attraction for the worldwide tourists’, mayor Spiridon says.

The Cantacuzino — Pascanu Waldenburg Palace reunites romanticism and science

In Lilieci village, Hemeiusi commune, some 8 km off the Bacau municipality, in the very middle of an important Dendrology Park rests a posh building, known in the era it was erected, 1864 — 1867, under the name of ‘The Red Palace’, due to the colour of the unplastered bricks used to the walls’ construction.

The building presents a ground level, a level and a partial semi-basement, and has ‘elements’ in its structure and décor belonging to 19th century’s Western Europe”, says the Bacau-based architect Doru Anghel.

”We encounter thus a blend of Gothic, Baroque elements (tower, fronton, windows’ frames) with Oriental elements such as the side entrance with rich decorated columns and chapiters , décor elements on the façade’, the architect specified.

The palace belonged to the related by marriage families of Costache Pascanu, the treasurer of Moldavia, and Grigore Cantacuzino. Lucia Cantacuzino Pascanu, the hereditary heir of this building, married to a Schonburg — Waldenburg prince of the William the Conqueror family. The two have settled in the ‘Red Palace’ of Hemeius, where they had Cristian Adolf, a graduate of the Essen Forestry Academy from Germany as a guest. The latter has dedicated a great part of his life to transform the Hemeius estate in a unique something. Rare species of trees and shrubs were purchased and acclimatized, and the roses’ collection was deemed to be one of the most valuable in Europe.

Due to its scientific value, the state requisitioned the Hemeius estate in 1919, leaving only the palace to the Schonburg — Waldenburg — Cantacuzino family’s property, from which, after 1944, the princes have fled abroad.

The building was used by the Russian Army which has devastated it on the inside, then after the Russian troops withdrew, it was a shelter for a children orphanage, subsequently entering under the foresters’ administration.

The long of the time, the estate has suffered from degradation, especially following the 1977 and 1999 earthquakes. Since 1955, both the palace and the park became the property of the branch of the Forest Management Planning and Researches Institute (ICAS), the Hemeius Forest Researches Station, respectively.

In the year 2000, the Bacau branch of Romsilva initiated a restoration project of the palace, willing to transform it in an edifice dedicated to the culture, once with the introduction of the Dendrology Park and the former stalls in a permanent tourism circuit.

„We have commenced the restoration following the initial plans, but thinking that the indoor large spaces, completely ruined, to be dedicated to the chamber concerts, the art exhibitions, the scientific events, including the most representative permanent hunting shows with trophies harvested the long of the years by the sport hunting’s enthusiasts of the Trotus Valley area’s woods, very rich in high quality game”, says engineer Viorel Ghelase, the Romsilva Bacau manager.

Unfortunately, after 2005, the works were put off. The palace is currently under conservation, after a great deal of the outdoor finishes were completed, as the ICAS owner did not have the necessary funds. Hence, the tourists who drive on the Bacau — Piatra Neamt road still dream of the promises of pony rides on the alleys of the Dendrology Park which, on rd 50 hectares has, besides a valuable collection of trees and shrubs specific to the area, over 1,300 species of exotic plants from various regions of the world and the largest collection of roses of Romania in terms of variety.

The Ghika Palace of Comanesti

Bold people, endowed with the gift of the research or revolutionary spirit, defenders of the culture and economic progress, the Ghika family members have scored, through Prince Dimitrie, the area of the Comanesti town too. Being at the head of this town, architect Albert Galleron, the one who has subsequently conceived the plans of both the Romanian Athenaeum and the National Bank of Romania’s building, envisaged and completed in 1890 the Palace of Comanesti.

The building is placed in a beautiful public garden, and the edifice consists of two stories, made of bricks and stone, in the style of the Eclecticism of those days which dominated the end of 19th century’s spirit of Western Europe.

The façade owns a tower on its north side where initially stood the family’s coat of arms and a clock ruined unfortunately after the year 1946. To the West there lays the second façade of the building endowed with a balcony which offers a pleasant view of the mountains and of the Trotus Valley. The ground floor opens with an impressive hallway where a ceramic fireplace is still preserved, and on the wall two wooden moose heads are mounted, hunting trophies brought by Nicolae D. Ghika, and a huge Venice mirror too.

From this hallway is the entrance to a large room, with the ceiling standing on columns. The bright windows open the view to the mountains also offering an astounding view of the park. The room’s ceiling is garnished with moldings finished with floral ornaments. In this room an original tiled stove of the palace and a library still exist where, in the inter-war period, cultural activities were organized supported by Princess Ioana Ghika next to the young local women.

The access to the floor is guaranteed by a wooden staircase, a nice piece of work which due to the large mirror offers the ensemble a feeling of grandeur. The windows lighting the wooden stairs have had stained glass which was partially destroyed after 1960.

Guarded by two massive columns which support the floor’s loggia, the entrance in the palace is made on stone stairs with stone-paved terraces too.

Urged by biologist Grigore Antipa, Dimitrie Ghika and his son Nicolae have covered several expeditions to Africa and North America from where they brought cca 60 species of unknown plants until those times, which they acclimatized in the garden around the building or preserved them by putting them next to the hunting trophies captured during some hunting in the area or in the exotic countries’ expeditions, in an ad-hoc museum organized in the very core of their residence of Comanesti.

The end of the WWII also meant the end of the palace’s glow. According to the locals, the owners have loaded a train from the local station, which used to borrow from the palace’s architecture and was connected through a secret tunnel, the valuable objects they had. But the train has never reached its destination, and very valuable objects have vanished.

During the communism years, the palace received several destinations, among which receiving centre for the war orphan minors, a vocational school, a general school, a headquarters of the Pioneer’s House. Just in 1979 restoration and development works began, and from 1989 it operates as a Museum of Ethnography and Arts under the name of ”Dimitrie N. Ghika”.

Declared a historical monument, the Ghika Palace of Comanesti was the object of a trial between the authorities and the heirs of the family who were settled abroad and claimed the estate.

The Ghika Palace of Dofteana — awaiting for the sunset charm

The Ghika Palace of Dofteana commune was erected in an area of a particular picturesque at the end of the 19th century by Nicolae Ghika, the governor of the National Bank of Romania, a member of the boyar family who gave 10 rulers to the the country.

Placed on the Trotus Valley, the grandiose building has been designed in the Romantic style from the 19th to 20th centuries’ border.

The construction was thought by an Italian architect, and materials from abroad were used, as a four-storey castle, semi-basement, ground floor, a floor and a French roof, and two asymmetrical towers. The one from the right of the main façade has a winding staircase leading from the semi-basement to an outdoor patio disposed on the top of the construction. On the facades, balconies and terraces are placed opening themselves to the near mountains and to the lake from the Dendrology Park, a collection of over 660 species of trees stretching on 24 hectares.

The wooden panels, the monolith fireplace and a U-shape interior staircase are the few décor elements in the palace, except from the spectacular appearance.

The edifice has had a troubled history after its owners had to flee the country at the end of WWII. Between 1941-1944, the Wehrmacht — German Army Command — was set here. On retreat, the German troops took with them the most valuable art objects from the castle. Then came the Russians and took what was left and valuable too, after which in 1949 the entire estate was nationalized and became a state property. Then the palace became a TB hospital, a children house and a child rheumatology sanatorium, subsequently.

Devastated by the people and fire, the sumptuous building of marble and red brick stayed, as appearance, still in front of its unhappy destiny, unveiling even today to the passer-by an enchanting view to whom the troubled past has not altered its charm. At the Ghika palace of Dofteana the movie ”Domnisoara Christina” was shot, probably the first Romanian ”horror”, after a book by Mircea Eliade.

The Dofteana palace is currently the property of a local businessman, who has bought it from the town hall, because no heir of the former owners claimed it. Five years ago he started restoration works. Unfortunately a terrible fire destroyed the building and daunted the owner.

”These are our historical monuments … so full of material value and historical sense, with their surroundings devastated, with their contents deserted, with the centuries’ skate on each and every one, so different and genuine as regards their types. Where will you see them, to recognise them, to respect and rise them, if you’ve got the power, from their ruin and forsaking”, historian Nicolae Iorga wrote around year 1935.

The words of the scholar regarding the attention we should give the national heritage are currently valid too, urging the officials and owners to draft the salvation of such buildings from the dust of oblivion and ruin.AGERPRES

Slanic Moldova, the spa town dubbed ‘the jewel in the tourist crown of Moldavia’ lies in a valley surrounded by beech and fir trees, at 530 meters height, at the foot of the Nemira Mountains, on the Slanic river, a Trotus tributary; the resort combines the scenic views with the healing water tradition and futurist projects that have the ecological criterion at their forefront, the town mayor Andrei Serban says.

The town is mentioned in documents as far back as in the 17th century, but its true natural wealth — the healing mineral springs — was discovered in 1801 by Mihalache Spiridon, a landlord from Trotus area who was hunting in the Nemira Mountains forests. He noticed water springing from between two stones, leaving a yellowish trace behind. Spiridon took a water sample and gave it to the chemists of the time to analyse it. They told him that the water discovered at Slanic had the same qualities as the one used in Western Europe ‘to heal illnesses’.

On hearing of this miracle healing located not far from his landlord’s residence, Mihalache Spiridon tried to drive a way through the rugged forest to reach it. As he was engaged in this enterprise, he discovered yet other five springs that proved to have healing qualities. Meanwhile, other 14 springs were captured and arranged, containing extremely efficient carbonated, bicarbonate, slightly sulphurous, chlorine, salty, hyper-tonic, hypo-tonic waters if drank for a wide array of eating-system disorders or liver diseases, but also for degenerative and endocrine rheumatism, if used as bath.

Half a century later, people began settling at Slanic Moldova and the town flourished, particularly after analyses made in renowned European laboratories of the time revealed that the mineral waters discovered at Slanic compared to the mineral springs of Vichy, Spa or Aix la Chapelle in France or Czech Karlsbad.

The Slanic spring waters later got gold and silver medals at the International Balneology Exhibition in Frankfurt am Main, in 1881, the specialised Exhibition in Vienna in 1883 and a top recognition at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900. They all made the resort famous.

The fame of Slanic was even more boosted after the visit paid by King of Romania Carol I in 1891, who declared himself ‘a great admirer’ of the resort and by composer and violinist George Enescu giving his first public concert there in 1889, stunning the audience by his virtuoso violin playing at the tender age of eight.

The glitzy Racovita Hotel built in 1887 and displaying a baroque architecture specific of the mountain resorts that were famous in Europe at that time gave the starter signal to building villas and pavilions absolutely measuring up to those in Karlsbad. The hotel was used in World War One by the German troops as the command headquarters of the army stationed in the area, with the German commander staying at the splendid Rica villa, that can be admired even today, the same as Racovita Hotel; both buildings were turned to private hands after 1992, in the same way as most Slanic hotels, restaurants and villas.

Another highlight of the resort is the Casino, raised by Italian masters immediately after the end of the First World War. The beautiful building overlooking the Slanic Moldova Park had theatre and concert halls and ballrooms, besides the gambling rooms; it is currently rated group A of the historical monuments of a national and universal value, alongside Racovita Hotel.

After the nationalization from 1949, the resort becomes a popular destination for the masses. The communist authorities of the time were not keen to tend to the image of the old villas, which began deteriorating, as they preferred to raise new hotels designed in a proletariat-culture manner, bearing no particular feature to make them stand out or be in keeping with everything that had given the resort its urban shining style.

The resort, however, had an even harsher plight after 1990, when everything seemed to head out towards ruin, by neglect and forgetfulness. Nevertheless, there came a moment of inspiration for the county authorities, who backed the privatisations starting in 1993. The result is that nothing has been built in Slanic Moldova in the last 20 years other than by respecting the architectural note of the inter-war buildings; the spring area as well as the town park have been thoroughly restored.

A project conducted over the last four years was the upgrading of the former Balneal Sanatorium building located in central Slanic Moldova, the modernised spaces of which offer quality services in the medical recuperation of adults and children, both by staying-in or coming to treatment every day, mainly for breathing pathology and liver-digestive diseases.

The spa treatment offered by Slanic Moldova Balneal Sanatorium is more efficient if associated with treatment prescribed by the general practitioners based on air therapy, mineral water therapy, mofetta therapy, therapeutic gas emissions having carbon dioxide concentrations of more than 70 percent used in vascular conditions as well as specific therapy in the Salt Mine at Targu-Ocna, located 18 kilometers from the resort. Slanic, moreover, offers accommodation to those coming to the resort for treatment or tourism. It also has five hotels, 14 villas and 16 guest-houses, a tourist compound and a camping site. The resort avails of adequate high-standard infrastructure for organising business meetings, symposiums and gatherings and training sessions which place it top of the relevant tourist destinations — an outstanding achievement for Moldavia and Bacau county.

Slanic Moldova is the venue of a large number of annual cultural-artistic events aimed at preserving, protecting and promoting the traditions, customs and arts&crafts. The County Traditional Song and Dance Festival as well as the Craftsmen’s Fair are organised every August, being attended by over 200 craftsmen and around 60 artists. Furthermore, over June-September every year, the town hall hosts the event called The Cultural Season of Slanic in the resort park, to promote the Moldavian traditions and values, with more than 80 traditional ensembles performing at the event.

On July 20-23 every year, when the Christian Orthodox Romanians celebrate the feast of Saint Elijah, the patron saint of Bacau, the Slanic Days Festival is held, an occasion to host important scientific meetings for the spa sector, tourism, literature and artistic photography and promote national artistic values or starting talents during outdoor shows that draw over 20,000 tourists and town locals. On December 29 the resort park hosts the annual Festival of Winter Traditions and Customs in Trotus Valley.

Thus, today’s resort is not only a place to heal those suffering from breathing or digestive diseases, but also a place where old-time buildings and green areas compete with the hotels and leisure areas built in the last ten years.

‘Slanic Moldova town hall was, is and will always be concerned with developing this area as much as possible, by accurately respecting the old-time air in accordance with the modern demands of tourism, particularly in the leisure area that had long been inexistent other than by the landscapes offered by nature and also in accordance with the demands of modern times as regards the town maintenance costs and the conservation of a sound environment of the air and water’, said Andrei Serban, the man who has been heading the town affairs for more than ten years.

He explains that one of the priorities is a complex environmental project, conducted in partnership with German town Rohr, aimed at turning the resort into an area almost completely benefiting from green energy by setting up a wind farm, implementing geo-thermal facilities to provide heating and hot tap water as well as setting up biogas facilities or solar panels that should produce power for the mini-cars aimed at the local tourism.

Architecture in the mineral water area, the rehabilitation of the capture of fresh water from drains, the upgrading and extension of the centralised waste water collection, transport and cleaning system are projects under way that together with the rehabilitation of the Slanic spring tributaries will complete a range of achievements to be finalised this year.

Hiking fans should visit the Slanic Gorges and Waterfalls, a trek dubbed ‘300 steps’ as well as hike on the marked trails through the Nemira Mountains, one of which takes the traveller to the Stephen the Great and Holy Monastery located on Mount Bolovanu, at 900 meters altitude, a two-hours’ walk from the resort.

The Slanic Gorges lie over 400 metres next to the paved road and are made up of huge rocks that go down smoothly on steps. The waterfall is part of the Slanic Gorges, which separate the Pufu mountain (on the left bank) and the Dobru mountain (on the right bank). The waterfall scenery is completed by the broadleaf forest on the banks. A footbridge built across the waterfall enables one to cross to the left bank of the river, to the concrete tile alley which runs up and down the river and gives the tourists the chance to have a very beautiful view of the waterfall and the gorges.

The ‘300 steps’ track is in fact a walk through the forests at the foot of the Dobru mountain, over the mineral water springs of Slanic Moldova and along the Slanic Gorges. Being meant for the tourists’ active relaxation, the ‘300 steps’ won’t need any special physical training or special gear for mountain climbing, all the more so as it starts and ends in the springs area. The steps (stairs), more or less than 300, are mostly stone steps, but here and there concrete steps fill in the gaps. The route through the wood is not difficult, and it is accessible both in the summer and in the winter. The walk will take 2.5-3 hours on average and it has areas offering panoramic views of the resort and the Nemira Mountains.

The Stephen the Great and Holy Monastery lies within 2.5 hours’ walk and it stands out among the county worship places by the fact the initiators and main financial supporters of the building were two Orthodox American citizens. The Roman and Bacau Bishop’s See gave its blessing to the setting up of the monastery as one of monks and drew up the required paperwork in 2000, when the building site opened. There is no certain information that there was any religious dwelling on the site in the old times. The monastery has a chapel, where services are held in all seasons. It is divided into the altar and nave and it has a closed porch on one side. The church altar screen is made of oak sculpted by masters on the Trotus Valley.

The tourists coming to the resort, among whom there are many from neighbouring Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, can go on trips by car or the local minibuses to Targu Ocna, to visit its Salt Mine and the swimming pools, the palaces of Prince Ghika at Comanesti and Doftana, Prince Stirbei Palace at Darmanesti or go to the scenic Uzului Valley, to the reservoir surrounded by over 1,500-meters high mountains.AGERPRES

The oldest documentary mention of the city of Targu Ocna dates from 1306 in a charter issued by Prince Alexandru cel Bun who granted the privilege of exploiting salt to two brother of Transylvanian origins. The city-resort of national interest Targu Ocna holds several records nationwide, which highlight the virtues of the city: faith, nature, health, culture, heroism.

Targu Ocna, named by Swedish traveler Erasmus Heinrich Scheider of Weismantel, who visited the region around 1713, as a „prosperous fair” dominating in economic and cultural terms the whole area, even the county seat of Bacau, for more than four centuries, was the first and only salt exploitation center in Moldova, a place where for centuries the „white gold” has been exported both to West European countries, and to Asia and Africa. The first mechanical well of Romania and the third in the world was made operational in Targu Ocna in 1864, as well as the first funicular in the country, designed in 1885 by engineer Anghel Saligny for transporting salt.

The locals boast several institutions among the oldest in Moldavia that are still working: the hospital opened in 1828; the buildings of the former barracks completed in 1836; public schools (1845); the city hall (1846); the prison (1856); the headquarters of the fire units (1850) and the beautiful train station, designed by engineer Anghel Saligny and open to the public on the rail stretch Adjud-Ciceu in 1884.

The city also owns the highest number of churches per number of inhabitants. There are 27 places of worship and nearly 11,000 inhabitants, with most churches being over a hundred years old. It is also Romania’s only city with a church located at three levels of altitude: 21 churches in the center of the city, one at 240 m depth in a salt mine and another five at 500-600 meters altitude, located on the Magura Mountain and the Titirezu Peak guarding the city.

The oldest church is dedicated to „Mother Paraskeva”, subsequently named the Princely Church, which was built in 1725 from logs on the right bank of the Valcica stream.

But the most towering and impressive is the church-fortress „Annunciation”, started in 1694 with funds provided by the great chancellor Ion Buhus and by a rich bourgeois named Paval, who owned more mills on the water of Slanic, according to the documents of those time, and completed in 1763 by great chancellor Radu Racovita, following two attempts to destroy it from the Tatars in 1717 and, respectively, the Turkish army in 1737. A votive painting created by painter Mihail Paninopol on the western wall of the narthex, above the door nearby the porch, pictures Radu Racovita holding the scale model of the church in his hand, alongside his family.

Located in a picturesque setting, on a terrace of sandstone towering over t he left bank of the Trotus river, with a fortified enclosure with thick walls and a height of nearly six meters, a former convent until the 20th century, the building impresses even today by its architecture and interiors, being, as the parish priest Vasile Pantaru claims, „a representative monument for the Moldavian late baroque.” Besides the carved wooden altar screen, commissioned by Ilinca Racovita around 1777, a work whose beauty has attracted the attention of researchers in the field of ecclesiastical art, there are also the pews, the canopy and some religious objects.

Preserving among the 53 rare books from the rich fund, of which the largest part was taken over at the end of the 19th century by the Library of the Academy, some Greek copies dating from 1754 to 1755 confirm the existence of a school in the monastery but also its tumultuous history in those times.

Over time, the monastery-fortress has faced testing times. In July 1821, a detachment of the Eterists led by Iordache Olimpiotul and Ion Farmache occupied the worship place, but an imminent strong Turkish attack made them to withdraw towards the Secu Monastery. Following their withdrawal, the Turkish troops ravaged the city and the church. In 1864 a little after the secularization of the monastic wealth, the building and its surrounding were to be turned into the barracks of the troops in charge of watching over prisoners. But the entreaties of influential people, including the politician and patriot Costache Negri, whose tomb is found inside the inner yard, removed the danger of this project. However, during the First World War, the monastic houses served as a warehouse for supplies and ammunition, miraculously escaping the enemy bombings.

Today the monastery is a place of pilgrimage for parishioners, as well as also for tourists, the same as the „Magura Ocnei” Monastery located on the mountain bearing the same name, on a summit over 600 meters high. The worship place was mentioned as a hermitage in 1665, it became in 1757 a branch monastery of the General Trusteeship of the Hospital Houses, which explains the appearance in the diptych of this hermitage of the name „Prince Constantin Racovita” as the first founder of this place of worship.

Another ecclesiastical attraction is the „Saint Varvara” Orthodox Church, impressive due to its original architecture and its positioning in a huge salt mine.

At the 9th level of exploitation in the sector named Pillar, located at 240 meters depth, the Orthodox place of worship, with a capacity of more than 500 people, was founded in salt by the miners, between April and October 1992. A wooden altar screen with 24 icons was located between two iconostases, to the right and left of the altar, also made up of salt, the same as the central chandelier.

The church was arranged at the entrance to the „health care unit” where various respiratory tract diseases are being treated; the unit is also visited by the tourists interested in playing sports such as volleyball, bowling, basketball, table tennis and even mini-football.

The first treatment and tourism unit was set up in the Pilot mine salt in 1974 130 meters in depth. Nearby this location, in the oldest mine, currently closed because the upper balcony was no longer safe for tourists, a record was registered, at least in Romania: the reverberations of the echo produced by human voice have multiplied over two minutes after the sound was made.

„A tenor from Cluj, impressed in a previous visit by the echo of the old mine, brought experts in sound measuring, and they noted an breathtaking reverberation both in intensity and duration,” says Aurel Bruma, former director of the exploitation salt mine.

In the same place, enthusiastic about what they saw through the enigmatic light of the neon installation, as well as about what they heard, the members of a group of ten German journalists declared unanimously in 1990 that the Targu Ocna Salt Mine is „the most impressive place” they have ever visited in Romania.

At the entrance to the same area, between 1980 and 1982 students from fine arts have created bas-reliefs in the salt wall, picturing both the miners’ activity, local folklore elements, as well as the heroism of the Romanian troops killed in the fierce battles held in the surrounding mountains during the First World War.

In 2005, given the growing number of visitors and people managing their health care, over 30,000 each year, the sanatorium was moved to a larger building, located in the Trotus Salt Mine, 240 meters depth and 136 meters away from the entrance into the mine. The current health and tourism unit covers an area of 13,000 square meters, a useful volume of 61,000 cubic meters and 8 meters height of the rooms with square pillars, furnished, benefiting by the complete lack of air currents and saline aerosols and a humidity less than 50 percent. The salty micro climate rich in negative ions has a constant temperature of 12-13 degrees Celsius, beneficial for treating respiratory pathologies.

The entertainment area in the salt mine includes sports fields, an auditorium named after Romanian actor Florin Piersic, a waterfall and a salty lake, space for aerobic gymnastics, facilities for playing pool, roller skating, mechanic games, playgrounds for children, areas equipped with swings, slides and cars. In addition, there are stores selling food products, souvenirs, terraces, internet wireless and computers.

Touring the church and the health and entertainment tourist area, „a true underground neighbourhood, can turn into a unique experience,” says Aurel Bucur, the director of Salrom, the company managing the activity of Targu Ocna Salt Mine.

Being a former employee of this mining unit, Aurel Bucur has supported special actions designed „to sustain the health tourism, and to avoid monotony at Targu Ocna Salt Mine.” One such initiative, „a world first”, says director Bucur, is the mountain bike competition, called „The Journey between Heaven and Earth in 2014”, whose route passes through the salt mine.
„Our research reveals we are the only ones on this planet who organize such a mountain bike competition that includes an underground route,” Aurel Bucur claims.

To diversify the leisure activities for the tourists and locals, a modern and well equipped swimming hall was opened, hosting the only outdoor swimming pool with salty water in Moldavia. The entertainment and commercial equipment turned the Targu Ocna city, the beneficiary over the past three years of a swimming and spa complex built by the city hall from European funds, into the summer center of swimming in the county.

This amazing outdoor swimming pool is located inside the Magura Park Spa Center in Targu Ocna; the visitors have the time of their lives splashing around in the pool, and enjoying a wide range of services, a relaxing cervical waterfall, Scottish showers, lockers, beach areas with umbrellas and deck chairs, a bar with disco music, stores selling beach items, food products and refreshments.

A second swimming pool especially designed for children can be found inside the spa center covering a total area of 1,019 square meters.

Over 1,000 swimming lovers, especially tourists, flood on a daily basis throughout the summer the swimming pools in the city of Targu Ocna.

The Targu Ocna City Hall, which launched projects aimed at diversifying the services of the resort, received the authorization to explore five springs with mineral waters captured in the Magura Park.

„As far as I know, we are the only city hall in Romania in this situation, for the other cases, the authorizations to explore springs were granted to commercial companies,” Targu Ocna Mayor Stefan Silochi told AGERPRES.

According to him, the spring water was analyzed by experts from the physical-chemical point of view, as well as by a medical commission that made recommendations for each spring, depending on the specific diseases.

„Having the spring analyzes and exploration license, we can develop as a spa resort of national interest, a status we obtained in December 2013,” said Stephen Silochi.

The Targu Ocna Local Council also has an eligible project on modernizing the natural park hosting eight mineral springs with chlorine, low bicarbonate, sulfur waters, but also to turn the lake formed after the collapse almost 40 years ago of the ceiling of an area of salt exploitation in solution using probes, into an entertainment area.

„Besides redefining the alleys, we want to plant trees and carry out landscaping works, reinforce the banks of the lake, and equip it with various small boats,” Silochi also said.

The local authorities also aim to boost the religious tourism, given the fact Targu Ocna is the city with the highest number of churches per number of inhabitants in Romania, some of them of historical importance.

The mountain tourism related to the Targu Ocna territory, „a Romanian Salzburg”, in the opinion of Vienna’s mayor who visited the area about five years ago, presents all necessary features for mountain hikes in the Magura, Nemira and Berzunti Mountains, where there is a network of marked paths leading to the Sandru Mare (1,639 meters), Nemira (1,648 meters), a complex nature reserve, Cebu (886 meters), Pufu (1,046 meters) and Lacos Peaks, and, to the Buciasi Waterfall, located only 2.5 km away from the city, 40 minutes of walking time, or to the valleys dug in the Trotus mountains by the tributaries of the Uz river, i.e. Dofteana, Slanic, Casin, Tazlaul Mare.

While walking on these mountain paths and roads, the traveler bumps into an impressive number of historical monuments, compared to the size of the city, which gives Targu Ocna a special place among the cities of Romania. Monuments, cemeteries of heroes, plaques are symbols of major historical events in the history of the Romanian people after 1800.

During the revolution of Tudor Vladimirescu, a detachment of 800 Eterists came to Targu Ocna under the leadership of Ioan Farmache, who ordered the occupation of the Raduceanu Monastery, very well located from the strategic point of view.

During the 1848 Revolution, Polish general Bem issued a proclamation in Targu Ocna towards Moldavia’s inhabitants, letting them know that all those who wanted to fight for freedom had to come to his headquarters in Targu Ocna.

The Targu Ocna residents made their contribution to the independency of Romania both via their representatives in the Targu Ocna 6th company of 2nd Battalion Bacau of 14th Regiment Dorobanti headed by their fellow citizen Captain Ioan Busila, and by their actions to support the front, transportation, donations in money or food products etc.

Mihail Sadoveanu who received literary recognition in 1904 after publishing four volumes — „Stories”, „The Falcons”, „Suppressed Pain” and „The Barrelhouse of old man Petcu”, lived in Targu Ocna in 1905 where he performed the first part of his military service.

„For three months, he had the opportunity to learn more about the life of the old fair, the infernal work in the mines, living in the barracks, as well as the picturesque life of this small town in early 20th century,” says Professor Corneliu Stoica, Targu Ocna historian.

The impressions from the brief but significant period Sadoveanu has spent as a soldier in this city will be literarily reflected in the book „Memories of goat keeper Gheorghita” released in 1906.

During the National Unification War between 1916 and 1918, doctor Mircea Bruteanu and Lieutenant George Enescu, alongside other 150 local heroes, among whom the legendary Constantin Musat, who fought with a single hand, stood out while taking part in the fierce battles.

Targu Ocna was bombed by the German troops, suffering major damage. Bloody battles took place around the city, on the Ciresoaia and Cosna heights, with Nicolae Iorga writing significant pages about the drama of those days.

In memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the country’s reunification, a monument was built on the Magura Mountain, nearby the monastery.

„At present, we are making investments and improve the quality of services to adapt to the demands of today’s tourism. It’s only natural for a city with an impressive and perhaps unique past in Romania by the variety of events, an amazing architecture and marvelous buildings of the last century that were fortunately not destroyed during the battles held here or by the communist bulldozers, that became in 2002 a resort of national interest,” says the mayor, also making reference to other projects underway in the city, for instance a pedestrian street connecting the city center with the entrance to the spa and entertainment complex.AGERPRES