ROMÂNIA	ROMANIA
județ Harghita	Harghita County

map →

The spa town Borsec (Hungarian: Borszék, German: Bad Borseck) is situated at an elevation of 850 m in Harghita County in the eastern part of the Transylvania region of Romania. The municipality has a population of about 2,750 (2009).

Its name is derived from Hungarian borvizszék meaning 'seat of mineral water'.

Borsec was historically part of the Székely Land area of Transylvania. Administratively, it belonged to Csíkszék until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when it fell within the Csík County, which combined Csíkszék, Gyergyószék and Kászonszék. After the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, it became part of Romania and fell within Ciuc County during the interwar period. In 1940, the second Vienna Award granted Northern Transylvania to Hungary and the settlement was held by Hungary until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and it became officially part of Romania in 1947. Between 1952 and 1960, the town fell within the Magyar Autonomous Region, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region.

The mineral springs of Borsec seem to have been known already in the late Middle Ages. During the 18th century the area was part of the so-called 'Military Border', which protected the southeastern borders of the Habsburg Empire against the Ottoman Empire. The first buildings to treat patients were set up between 1762 and 1764. The earliest scientific investigations of the properties of the mineral waters date from the 1770s. In 1804 the first license to sell bottled water was granted. Beginning in 1822, the waters were even brought to Vienna, which greatly increased the popularity of the spa. The waters were given a special award as "Queen of Mineral Waters" during the World Exposition of 1873 in Vienna. The touristic infrastructure was expanded after World War II.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borsec, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borsec, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csík_County]