Ocna Șugatag Salt Lakes and Spa

Ocna Șugatag is the seat of the commune of the same name, in the Maramureș Depression at the foot of the Gutâi Mountains, at 490 m altitude on the DN18 road, about 20 km from Sighetu Marmației. The name comes from "ocnă" (salt mine) and the Hungarian sóvágó ("salt cutter"). The village is first recorded in 1355, and the old surface pits, 4-15 m across and up to 10 m deep, show that salt was mined here from early times. At the end of the fourteenth century mining became permanent under the Royal Salt Chamber; from 1489 the Paul Silvestru mine and the Ana-Iuliana and Elisabeta mines are recorded. Proper underground salt mines were opened from 1777, and the Habsburg authorities brought in German, Polish, Hungarian and Czech miners. Among others, the Bogdan (1799-1822), Mihai (1802-1853) and Dragoș (from 1921) mines operated here. On 24 June 1948 water began to seep through the roof of the Dragoș mine, the last one in use, and after a geological study in 1949 mining was stopped on 11 May 1950, with the salt mine officially closed on 31 May 1950. Once pumping stopped, the underground voids flooded, and the dissolution of salt and the collapse of the chambers formed man-made lakes, alongside smaller lakes in sinkholes. Measurements from 2006 published by researchers at Babeș-Bolyai University give Lake Gavril (Gavrilă) an area of 2.83 ha and a maximum depth of 25.7 m, and Tăul fără Fund a depth of 31.5 m. Lake Gavril, regarded together with the salt lake at Ocna Mureș as the largest of its kind in Romania, has almost fresh water because clay from the collapsed Mihai mine sealed off the salt; it is used mainly for water sports and fishing, and bathing has been restricted after several drownings. Lake Bătrân remains in contact with the salt (35-70 g/l) and has a layer of water warmed to almost 30°C (heliothermy), and is used for bathing. Researchers warn that pumping brine from the Mihai and Dragoș mines, which have not yet collapsed, may cause new subsidence. Thanks to its sodium chloride mineral springs and salt lakes, Ocna Șugatag operates as a spa resort, and in October 2020 the commune was certified by government decision as a tourist resort of national interest. The commune also includes the Pădurea Crăiasa forest reserve (44 ha), with old sessile oaks, and the villages of Breb, Hoteni and Sat-Șugatag have wooden churches listed as historic monuments, the one in Sat-Șugatag dating from 1642.