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Oravița is situated at an altitude of 289 m in the southwest of Caraș-Severin county (Banat region) of western Romania. Oravița has a population of about 15,000.

The place was first mentioned in documents of the late 17th century. After the victory of Austria over the Turks Oravița (german: Orawitz) was one of the first places in the Banat region that were colonized by settlers from Tyrol, Carinthia, Carniola and Styria. The first Banat mining commission was founded in Timișoara in 1717 and soon after that privileges were granted to miners who settled in Oravița. The town soon became a centre of copper production. Silver, lead and gold also were mined. However, most mining activites were discontinued in the mid 19th century. The railroad from Oravița to Baziaș was comlpeted in 1854. It was the first of southern Hungary and is the oldest in Romania. The railroad was built to transport coal from Oravița to the port at the Danube river. The mountain railway line from Oravița to Steierdorf (Hungarian: Stájerlak) and Anina is a technical monument. It was once nicknamed the "Semmering railroad of the Banat".

Already during the 19th centuy Oravița was known as a climatic spa. The colony Marilla was a fashionable resort in a park about 1 km from Oravița. Some trains from Budapest even showed Oravița-Marilla as their destination (although they of course terminated in the station of Oravița). Between the two World Wars a new sanatorium for pulmonary diseases was opened on the Lup mountain and also was called "Marilla". The Marilla park colony in Oravița was then renamed to Brădișor.