Archita (german: Arkeden, Erkeden, hu, Erked) is a village in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Specifically, it lies within the commune of Vânători in Mureș County, Transylvania. It is located between the villages of Saschiz and Beia.

Name

Archita, the Romanian name of the village, is also known as ''Arkeden bei Schäßburg'' in German, while the Hungarian name is ''Erked''. Arkeden bei Schäßburg, or Arkeden in short, could derive its name from the Hungarian toponym Erked or a Germanic anthroponym (Archo or Ercho), its name being first mentioned in 1356 as ''Erkud''. In the

Transylvanian Saxon dialect ) , speakers = 200,000 , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = Irminonic , fam5 = High German , fam6 = West Central German , fam7 = Central Franconian , fam8 = Moselle Franconian , map = Deutschsiebenbür ...

, its name is variously rendered: Ärkeden, Ârkeden or Arkedn.

History

Prior to the arrival of the

Transylvanian Saxons The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ( ...

, the area in which Archita now lies was occupied by the Székely people with an old enclave of Romanians living to the north of the village which?/nowiki>">Wikipedia.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Wikipedia">which?/nowiki>. It was founded as Arkeden by the Saxons as an agricultural centre. As one of the oldest settlements of the ''Schäßburger Stuhl'' (the administrative seat of Sighișoara), it was probably in existence by the end of the 12th century. From the 14th century onward, the local nobility start to be historically recorded. For example, Nicholas of Archita owned parts of the village. It remained a German-speaking settlement until the 1980s when its population, having been reduced to poverty by the communist regime of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

, emigrated to accept German citizenship. By 2009, there were just three Saxons left in the village and, with some building abandoned, the historic layout of the village is no longer clearly visible. Recently, the population has been approximately 50% ethnic Romanian and 50%

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

. The village is often known on account of its 13th century fortified Lutheran church (a member of the

Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania (german: Evangelische Kirche A.B. ugsburgischen Bekenntnissesin Rumänien, ro, Biserica Evanghelică de Confesiune Augustană în România) is a German-speaking Lutheran church in Rom ...

). There is also a

Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches, and one of ...

in the village whose building dates from 1894. In May 2011,

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

visited Archita to see the restoration work being carried out by the Maria Nobrega Foundation.

Notes

External links

Arkeden on Siebenbuerger.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Archita, Mures Transylvanian Saxon communities Populated places in Mureș County Populated places established in the 12th century