Resort Park and Mineral Springs, Vatra Dornei

The resort park lies in the centre of Vatra Dornei, on Strada Republicii, around the Baths Casino. The carbonated mineral waters of the Dorna area were known to shepherds by around 1750 as "burcut springs". By the end of the nineteenth century, 15 springs had been developed in the town, and in 1899 the Ioan, Ferdinand and Sentinela springs next to the casino were completed. The Sentinela spring was discovered in 1871 and developed in 1897 by the former director of the Iacobeni mines. It was first named after the Austrian agriculture minister Falkenhein, then after the Romanian cultural society „Sentinela”, active in Vatra Dornei between 1898 and 1901. After 1948 it was renamed „23 August”, and after 1989 it returned to the name Sentinela. The spring building, erected in 1896, is a class A historic monument (SV-II-m-A-05658). The Ioan spring, later renamed Unirea, has a building from 1896, a listed monument (SV-II-m-B-05669), which now houses a restaurant. Nearby is the 1898 bath house (SV-II-m-B-05668), where treatments with carbonated water and Dorna mud were given. The park contains a group of busts of Mihai Eminescu, Ion Luca Caragiale, Mihail Sadoveanu, George Enescu, Ciprian Porumbescu, Mihail Kogălniceanu, Costache Negri, Alecu Russo and Ion Luca, made between 1964 and 2000 and listed as a historic monument (SV-IV-m-B-05717). The park is known for the squirrels that live there, and the Parc ski run starts at its edge.