Sovata Spa Resort

Sovata lies on the upper course of the Târnava Mică, at its confluence with the Sovata river, in the Praid-Sovata Depression at the south-western foot of the Gurghiu Mountains, at altitudes of 475-530 m. The town stands entirely on a salt massif and lies about 60 km east of Târgu Mureș, on the DN13A road. Besides Sovata itself, the town includes the villages of Căpeți, Ilieși and Săcădat. The first bath, „Géra” (Ghera), was set up in the mid-nineteenth century, in 1876 permission was granted to use the lake water for baths, and in 1884 Sovata was officially recognised as a spa resort. After Lake Ursu formed in 1875, Sófalvi Illyés Lajos officially founded the upper resort (Sovata-Băi) on its shore in 1900, and its baths opened in 1901. In 1952 the settlement was declared a town. The resort's salt lakes, Ursu, Aluniș, Verde, Negru, Roșu, Mierlei and Șerpilor, formed through the dissolution and collapse of the salt massif and the accumulation of water, and show heliothermy. Sapropelic mud used in treatments has formed on their beds. The treatment centres use the salt water, the lake mud and the resort's climate for rheumatic, gynaecological, neurological, skin and locomotor conditions. Lake Ursu and some of the surrounding lakes belong to the „Lacul Ursu și arboretele de pe sărături” nature reserve (79 ha). Other sights in the resort include the Salt Mountain behind the Roșu and Verde lakes and the Bernády Villa, built in 1904 and bought in 1929 by the family of György Bernády, former mayor of Târgu Mureș, a historic monument (LMI code MS-II-m-B-16033). There are also the Orthodox wooden churches of the Dormition (1929) and the Transfiguration (1931-1932), and the Magistrates' Villa, dating from 1920.