Dăbuleni (Romanian pronunciation: [dəbuˈlenʲ]) is a town of Dolj County, known for the sandy areas surrounding it, since the 1980s have become part of an 80,000 hectares (800 km², 310 mi²) desert, known as the Oltenian Sahara. The town is the only place in Europe where an official Sand Museum exists. It was declared a town in 2004 (Law no. 83/2004). If the north part of the town is a desert, the south part, a Danube flooding area known as the "Melon Kingdom", from which the "Dăbuleni" melons, are famous in all Romania.