Graffiti covers the crumbling walls of the main thermal baths in one of Europe’s oldest spa towns.

But after decades of neglect, a group of young architects is working to restore the picturesque Romanian resort that once attracted emperors.

“Someone once said that if you drink water from the spring from Herculane, you never leave,” said 31-year-old architect Oana Chirila.

“I was struck by the beauty of the place,” she said of the town in the southwest of the country, surrounded by mountains and crossed by a river.

“And at the same time shocked by its condition,” she said of the decrepit state of the old thermal baths.

She first stumbled upon Baile Herculane eight years ago, purely by chance, she said.