Valjevo explores curative mud and thermal waters - Construction of health center, hotel, ethnic village in Paunska Banja spa resort in the pipeline

(preliminary design for a spa bath)

Valjevo may soon also receive tourists in Paunska Banja spa resort in addition to the air spa Divcibare. On an area of five hectares in the village of Paune, construction of a health center, hotel, ethnic houses and other tourist and recreational facilities is in the pipeline. The idea exists, city administration has given its consent, investors are interested, the only thing yet to be done is to determine the exact balneological characteristics of thermal mineral springs situated seven kilometers to the east of Valjevo.

This spa exists since the 1890s, and people were usually coming here to cure their rheumatic diseases. The inhabitants of Paune have founded the civic association Paunska Banja and launched an initiative to reopen that spa resort.

- Over the last seven or eight years we have been talking with the city administration about how to resolve the issue of the spa resort. This year the city launched a procedure to reactivate Paunska Banja, while the City Assembly adopted a plan of activities for reviving the resort last week. A team from the Belgrade Faculty of Mining and Geology, led by professor Dr. Gojko Lazic, is now in charge of the ongoing exploration of springs – Zoran Djurdjevic, chairman of the Initiative Board for Spa Exploration from the local community of Paune, says in a talk with eKapija.

As our interlocutor explains, investors from Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy have already expressed interest in investing in Paunska Banja.

- It is necessary to provide EUR 250,000 for the first phase, that is, construction of spa baths on an area of 30 ares. After that, the plan is to build a health center, hotel and an ethnic village, as well as other tourist and recreational facilities. This five-hectare area owned by the city of Valjevo should first be defined in an urban plan.

Mineral springs are situated on the western side of the hill Sopot, at the altitude of 305 meters. They are currently covered by a layer of earth more than a meter thick.

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Curative water and mud known from ancient times

After the World War I, a community of Paunska Banja was formed under the name of Vrelo (Hot Spring). Three pools were dug out - for men, for women, and for the wounded. They were paved with concrete and then fenced off with a wooden structure 2.5 meters high. Through a public auction that was held on May 6th (Saint George's Day), Paunska Banja was rented to villagers, who then charged other folks for using the spa.

Things stayed that way until 1961, when the agricultural cooperative Paune assumed the management of the spa resort. A fence made of bricks and concrete was then built around the spa. In the early 1970s, sanitary inspectors closed the resort, which was then left to ruin.

Aside from local residents, clients were also people from all over Kolubara region, Pogorina, Uzice area, Tamnava, Belgrade, and even from Banatski Brestovac. They were staying in houses in small villages Sopot and Zuberica.

People in Valjevo hope to get positive results of water testing, so that it could also be bottled and used for heating in addition to being used for treatment. Apart from spa tourism, it is assessed that rural tourism could also be developed in this part of Valjevo.

S.O.