Brad (; hu, Brád; german: Tannenhof) is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Hunedoara County Hunedoara County () is a county ('' județ'') of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva. The county is part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion. Name In Hungarian, it is known as , in German as , and in Slovak as ...

in the

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

region of

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 ...

. Its name comes from the

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

word ''

brad Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania * Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania * ...

'', " fir".

Geography

The city is located in the northern part of the county, at the foot of the

Metaliferi Mountains Metaliferi Mountains ( ro, Munții Metaliferi; hu, Erdélyi-érchegység), meaning Ore Mountains, are in the Carpathian Mountain Range and are a division of the Apuseni Mountains. Peaks The highest peak is , with an elevation of . The range als ...

. It lies in the valleys of the river

Crișul Alb The Crișul Alb (Romanian), ( Hungarian: Fehér-Körös) is a river in western Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, and in south-eastern Hungary (Békés County). Its source is in the southern Apuseni Mountains (Romanian: Munții A ...

and its tributaries,

Brad Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania * Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania * ...

and

Luncoiu The Luncoiu is a left tributary of the river Crișul Alb in Romania. It discharges into the Crișul Alb in Brad Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Bra ...

. Five villages are administered by the city: Mesteacăn ("birch"; ''Mesztákon''), Potingani (''Pottingány''), Ruda-Brad (''Ruda''), Țărățel (''Cerecel'') and Valea Bradului ("the valley of the fir tree"; ''Vályabrád'').

History

A gold mine in the area began to be exploited in

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, and the town developed around it. The earliest documentary mention of Brad dates to 1445. Gold mining was active until 2006. There is a Gold Museum.

Buildings and monuments

The

Brad railway station The Brad railway station is a railway station located in Brad, Romania. The station was inaugurated on December 6, 1896, at the end of a line that began in Sântana. It went into decline after the Romanian Revolution, with the line to Deva bein ...

is listed as a historic monument. The central plaza of Brad features a copy of the

Capitoline Wolf The Capitoline Wolf (Italian: ''Lupa Capitolina'') is a bronze sculpture depicting a scene from the legend of the founding of Rome. The sculpture shows a she-wolf suckling the mythical twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. According to the ...

, near the Dacian Draco.

Demographics

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...

- 13,534 (97.3%) *

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

- 192 (1.38%) *

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

- 127 (0.91%) *

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

- 19 (0.13%) * Others - 33

Natives

* Cătălin Bălescu * Gavril Blajek *

Ilarion Felea Ilarion V. Felea (March 21, 1903 – September 18, 1961) was a priest and theologian of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Born in Valea Bradului, a village that today is incorporated into Brad city in Hunedoara County, his father was a priest. Fr ...

Florin Maxim Florin Sandu Maxim (born 2 March 1981) is a Romanian former professional footballer and currently a manager. He usually played as a left-back, but also played as a left midfielder for teams such as Aurul Brad, Unirea Alba Iulia, Sportul Studen ...

Teodor Meleșcanu Teodor Viorel Meleșcanu (; born 10 March 1941) is a Romanian politician, diplomat, and jurist. He served as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (Romania), Foreign Intelligence Service of Romania (SIE) between 2012 and 2014. He was a t ...

László Pataky László Pataky (24 December 1857, Brád - 4 March 1912, Alvinc) was a painter from Austria-Hungary who specialized in rural genre scenes. Life and work He initially studied at the arts and crafts school in Budapest then after 1880, at the A ...

* Ileana Stana-Ionescu

References

Populated places in Hunedoara County Localities in Transylvania Cities in Romania Mining communities in Romania {{Hunedoara-geo-stub