Comănești (; ) is a town in

Bacău County Bacău County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeș-Făget, in Transylvania. Geography This county has a total area of . In the western part of the county there a ...

Western Moldavia Western Moldavia (, ''Moldova de Apus'', or , also known as Moldavia, is the core historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1878, the P ...

, Romania, with a population of 19,996 as of 2021. It is situated on the river Trotuș, which flows between the Ciuc and the Tarcău mountains; of the course of the river pass through Comănești. The town administers two villages, Podei and Vermești.

History

The area of the town of Comănești has been inhabited since the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period - Neolithic remains were found in the Vermești area of the town. The name is derived from the

Cumans The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...

who once ruled the region. Its first written record dates from 1657, and its first presence on a map from the 1696 '' Sanson Map''. From the late 18th century onwards, the town was in the domain of the Ghica family of

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

s, who remained an important presence in the area until the middle of the 20th century. The Ghica Palace (now housing the local museum), the park in front of the museum, and the railway stations are testimonies to their presence in the town. During the summers of 2004, 2005, and 2006, Comănești suffered severe flooding of the Trotuș. Some specialists have associated those floods with the deforestation in the area. In 2006 and 2008, Comănești was the site of large explosion-like sounds that were not identified.

Demographics

At the 2021 census, the town had 19,996 inhabitants; of those, 84.7% were

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

and 5% Roma.

Natives

* Alexandru Corban (born 1998), footballer * Andrei Florean (born 1992), footballer * Anca Grigoraș (born 1957), artistic gymnast * Ionuț Iftimoaie (born 1978), kickboxer * Ionela Loaieș (born 1979), artistic gymnast * Iulian Petrache (born 1991), footballer * Ilie Verdeț (1925 – 2001), communist politician, Prime Minister from 1979 to 1982

Industry

As of 2003, Comănești had an unemployment rate of 18.1%, much higher than the country's average, and the town was declared an underdeveloped region. The town is in the center of a large

coal field Coal mining regions are significant resource extraction industries in many parts of the world. They provide a large amount of the fossil fuel energy in the world economy. The People's Republic of China is the largest producer of coal in the world ...

and there are also smaller amounts of oil in the area. The Comănești Coal Mine, which in 1989 employed 5,000 people, was finally closed down in 2005, leaving the last group of miners (260 in all) unemployed. The other major industry of the town is

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

, but the large lumberyard and factory were also closed; this area of enterprise is now dominated by small local businesses, but in the last few years some international investors started to appear in the city, especially in retail and commerce. There have been new initiatives in recent years to attract investment into the area in both the industrial and tourism sectors.

Train station

The Comănești train station was built in 1899, modeled on the

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

and

Curtea de Argeș Curtea de Argeș () is a municipiu, city in Romania on the left bank of the river Argeș (river), Argeș, where it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians (the Făgăraș Mountains), on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roșu Pass ...

railway stations. The design was done by the Italian architect , while the construction was done by the engineer

Elie Radu Elie Radu (April 20, 1853 – October 10, 1931) was a distinguished Romanian civil engineer and academic. Over a span of some 50 years he completed over 60 major projects, constructing railways, roads, bridges, public buildings, and civic faci ...

References

External links

*
Official website
*
City Hall Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comanesti Populated places in Bacău County Localities in Western Moldavia Towns in Romania Monotowns in Romania Mining communities in Romania Ghica family