The name Colibița
Even before you google it accommodation Colibița, the name Colibița already draws in your imagination the idea of intimacy, shelter, a delightful view and a rustic setting because this diminutive of the word hut, which comes from the Latin term colleb (hut), colive tree, makes you think of childhood, of vacation, of the joy of seeing a small hut in a place bounded only by mountains, trees and sky, when you want to take shelter from a rain cloud or just to you rest, after running around picking fruits, mushrooms or flowers. And make no mistake, it's true, because that's how it all started! In the past, the people of the Bistrita Bârgăului area, most of them engaged in animal husbandry and woodworking, brought their cattle to graze on the meadow and built small wooden huts as their shelters, and they gave the name of the later settlement. Later, some of them settled at Colibiţa and they built permanent dwellings, first in the meadows at the foot of the mountains, and then they formed the hearth of the village by building houses and sheds at the bottom of the depression.
Colibița history
The village of Colibița, located in this picturesque location, in the Bistriței Valley, between the mountains, Bârgău and Călimani, on the upper course of the Bistrița Ardeleană river, turned, over time, into a well-known resort, but the first healing establishments were built at the end of the century the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, when the therapeutic and touristic potential of the area was discovered and, in this way, the old Colibița veche, a pastoral village, turned into a climatic resort.
Legend has it that a German carpenter, W. Ianitchi, would have built some holiday homes in 1918, therefore, we could think that these would be the first constructions with the destination: accommodation Colibița. The data from the monographs, however, such as those mentioned by Ioan Bîca in The Tales of the Hut, tell us that, following the discovery of the therapeutic properties of the area, the construction of buildings with the role of curative establishment would have started much earlier than 1918. I will quote, in this sense, a fragment from the mentioned book: "The therapeutic properties of the locality were discovered by chance. In 1883, a citizen from Bistrita named Lewi sent his daughter, sick of tuberculosis, to Colibiţa for rest and recovery. After three months, the girl recovered. The case caused a great sensation in the medical circles of Bistrita. A similar treatment followed an architect from Bistrita, named Erica Schuller, who also returned after a few months healthy. This case then made the resort known throughout Bistriţa-Năsăud county. After 10 years, at the urging and persistence of that Erica Schuller, a sanatorium with 10 rooms, quite well equipped, was built across the water. As there was a large influx of patients, Wili Janis built a new building in 1900, where TB patients were treated. After the First World War, for three years in a row, poor children and lung patients were treated in these two buildings. In 1925, this kind-hearted man added another building. The following year, the buildings were purchased by the "Caritatea" Society from Cluj, led by Olivia Deleu, where for years, until around the Second World War, students suffering from TB were treated free of charge . In 1944 the buildings were set on fire. In 1927, a house with an attic in the shape of a villa was built in the center of the village, where a shop with a shop was opened..."
As you can see, from the quoted passage it follows that we can talk about ”accommodation Colibița” even before 1918.
Colibița Dam
The defining moment, in the historical chapter of Colibița, was the beginning of the construction works of the hydroelectric dam, in 1976, when the houses in the hearth were demolished and the resort of Colibița disappeared, the village being displaced to the locality of Mița. During the entire construction period, the Colibița dam seemed to be the end of the resort, but when, on the former hearth of the village, the reservoir was formed, and this led, over time, to its rebirth, boarding houses, cabins began to multiply on the shore of the lake , villas, holiday homes, the area affected by the dreaded dam has reinvented itself, becoming a famous, sought-after and appreciated tourist destination today. How about accommodation Colibița, a "search" on Google is enough and there is information and alternatives for all tastes and budgets, many of them right here on the site you are reading. If we think about the fact that Colibița Lake was born by the flooding of the old village, that the divers who enter it say that under the water you can still see the houses and trees that were 30 years ago in the village and that, when the water level drops, the top of the tower of the former Church hearth of the village comes out, becoming visible, we can attribute to the resort the title of "land of metamorphoses". From what I have summarized here, in historical Colibița, we can also say that this is the enchanted place that was reborn from both fire and water.