Editing Sokobanja (section)

=== Spa ===

There are remains of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[thermae]]: wooden foundations, bricks, [[mosaics]] and round bathtubs. During the Ottoman period, the Roman foundations were used for the [[Turkish bath]] in the 16th century. The Turks kept the original round shape of the pools as in the [[Turkish bath|hamams]] they are usually square-shaped. Above each pool, there is a dome with holes which functions as the natural ventilation.<ref name=Politika/> Ottoman ''[[defter]]'' from 1560 mentions the repairs of the [[Turkish bath|hammam]]. In the 18th century, [[Samuel von Schmettau]] wrote about the marble baths.<ref name=jubilej/>

[[File:Wiki.Biseri IV Crkva Preobraženja Gospodnjeg (Sokobanja) 691.jpg|thumb|Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in 2023]]

The first physician to the spa was appointed in 1833 by the Serbian ruling prince [[Miloš Obrenović]], only 20 days after the town was liberated from the Ottomans. It was a surgeon Georgije Đorđe Novaković, originally Leopold Ehrlich, a Jew from [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], who switched to Serbian Orthodox Church after moving to Serbia. At that time, he was only one of three physicians in entire Serbia, not counting the military ambulances.<ref name=jubilej/>

In 1834, Prince Miloš ordered the mineral waters from Sokobanja to be sent to Vienna, Austria, for testing which confirmed the positive healing effect of the water. In 1835, on prince's invitation, German geologist [[August von Herder]] among other thermal springs and mining localities, visited Sokobanja. He compared its waters to those from the Austrian spa [[Bad Gastein]].<ref name=Politika/> In 1837 Prince Miloš ordered the construction of hospital (''špitalj'') in Sokobanja, with "20 rooms with floors", including the accommodation for the guests, physicians, and Turkish bath (hammam) workers.<ref name=jubilej/>

On 21 June 1837, Prince Miloš signed an order for a sergeant major Lazarević from the Military-police office in [[Kragujevac]] to be sent to Sokobanja for a healing treatment. This date is today considered as the starting date of the spa tourism in Serbia. Prince renovated and expanded the Turkish bath and appointed Austrian doctor Leopold Ehrlich as the first spa doctor. Prince personally visited the spa a lot and built several other objects, like the Prince Miloš Fountain, on the road to [[Aleksinac]], Miloš' [[Konak (residence)|Konak]] in downtown Sokobanja, today a restaurant, and Miloš' bathtub in the hammam. The prince's bathtub, which still in use today just as the entire hammam complex, is short but deep, has its own tap and is placed in a separate room. There are two other pools, "male" and "female", with hot water from the underground springs.<ref name=Politika/>

The spa became quite popular among the cultural elite and was visited by writers, poets, painters, sculptors, actors, directors. Apart from Nušić, it was visited by [[Jovan Cvijić]], [[Isidora Sekulić]], [[Stevan Sremac]] and [[Meša Selimović]], while the [[Nobelist]] author [[Ivo Andrić]] draw a graphic of the town.<ref name=Politika/> During [[World War II]], Andrić moved from Belgrade to Sokobanja in 1942 for a while. He originally stayed in the villa ''Mon repos'' and then moved to "Bota", which is today within the hospital complex. According to Andrić's diary, during his stay in the spa, he finished the short story ''Snake'' and began writing some of his most important works: novels ''[[The Bridge on the Drina]]'' and ''Woman from Sarajevo'' and short story ''Jelena, the woman of my dream''. Re-visiting Sokobanja and the villa "Bota" in 1973, Andrić wrote: "I am fearful, this place will become famous. The world will rush in and I will have to run away from here and try to find a new spa. But where can I find beauty and peace like this?".<ref name=jubilej/>

The Turkish bath in Sokobanja is the only still functioning such facility in eastern Serbia. Under the name ''Staro banjsko kupatilo'' ("Old spa bath") it is protected by the state and declared a [[cultural monument]]. It is colloquially also called the Roman Bath, the Turkish Bath or the ''Amam'' (the word "hamam" as pronounced in the eastern Serbian dialects that feature [[H-dropping]]). The venue served as the setting for the film ''[[Zona Zamfirova]]'' in 2002. The bath was renovated in 2005.<ref name=Politika/>

Water from springs in Sokobanja are hipertermal and hipotermal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.soko-banja.org/najnovije/lekovita-svojstva-sokobanje.html|title=Lekovita svojstva Sokobanje|website=Sokobanja - 💚 Zeleno srce Srbije}}</ref> Hipertermal water contains microelements and small amounts of radioactive Radon and Kalium. Radioactivity on spring "Park" is 186±10 mBq/l if we talk about Alpha particles and 283±17 mBq/l from Beta particles.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/44/128/44128754.pdf?r=1 | title=Radioaktivnost banjskih voda u srbiji | language=sr | trans-title=Radioactivity of spa waters in Serbia | website=inis.iaea.org}}</ref> The illnesses which are being treated in the spa include [[asthma]], [[bronchitis]], [[emphysema]], [[respiratory infections]], [[allergies in children]], [[cardiovascular diseases]], [[rheumatism]], neurological and gynecological illnesses, physical and psychic exhaustion, etc.<ref name=jubilej/> In September 2023 construction of the heating pipeline which would conduct hot spring water from the Ozren mountain to the town began. The grid will be used for the heating of public buildings.<ref>{{cite news | author = Toma Todorović | script-title=sr: Сокобања, топла бања | trans-title = Sokobanja, hot spa | newspaper = Politika | page = 10 | language = sr | date = 18 September 2023}}</ref>