Anina town is found in the South-West part of Romania, at the feet of Anina Mountains, in the South of Caras-Severin County, in a karstic depression, at 650-770 m altitude, and at 35 km South of Resita, county seat.
Declared town in 1952, Anina counts today about 10,500 inhabitants and one municipality under its administrative coordination(Steierdorf). Anina is one of the few towns in Romania which history is entirely known as it is a relatively young settlement.
It was founded on 24 June 1773, when Austrian colonist families(din Styria, Austria) settled here. They were specialized in producing charcoal, used in the iron and steal plant in Oravita. They named the municipality Steierer-Dorf and later Steierdorf.
The municipality developed gradually, in 1786 the Roman Catholic Church and the school were built, and in 1790 it took place the event which led to an even accelerated development of the settlement.
A mining town
The miners monument
A local named Mathias Hammer discovered the high quality black coal in an alder forester, at the place named Valea lui Andrei(Andrei's Valley) (now, Sigismund)
Within tow years, the quarrying of this resource started, and Steierdorf transformed itself into a mining settlement. This also led to the development of the road infrastructure, during 1846-1847, Oravita–Steierdorf road was built, and in 1863 Steierdorf (Anina)–Oravita railway was also put into service.
During its existence, the town developed, (in 1893) Steierdorf health resort was established and it was built the first artificial lake in Romania - Buhui Lake.
But for a while Anina held also a sad record because of a mining accident, which happened on 7 June 1920. At that time, it was the most serious mining accident in Europe history, causing 217 victims. In 1952, Steierdorf-Anina is declared Anina Town, Steierdorf becoming its component municipality.
At present, Anina is falling apart, being economically dead, but for the tourists who pass trough here, it has multiple recreation possibilities in its neighbouring mountain areas (Buhui Cave, Marghitaş Lake, Miniş Lake, Buhui Lake).
Another interesting event related to Anina happened in 2002, when the oldest remains of modern man in Europe were discovered here, dating back some 40,000 years, at present known as John of Anina
