Jidvei (, , ) is a commune in

Alba County Alba County () is a county (județ) of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536. Name "Alba", meaning "white" in Latin and Romanian, is derived from the name of the ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, located on the river

Târnava The Târnava (full name in ; ; ; ) is a river in Romania. It is formed by the confluence of the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică in the town of Blaj. The Târnava flows into the Mureș after 23 km near the town of Teiuș. The two source riv ...

. Jidvei is located in the north-western part of Romania, in the

Transylvanian Plateau The Transylvanian Plateau (; ) is a plateau in central Romania. Description The plateau lies within and takes its name from the historical region of Transylvania, and is almost entirely surrounded by the Eastern Carpathians, Eastern, Southern ...

. Jidvei was first mentioned in documents in 1309, but traces of human presence go further back in time. The oldest building in the village is the church, which was originally constructed in the

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

but was later modified in 1707 in the

baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

. In the 15th century, a fortification wall was raised around the church, of which the

gate tower A gate tower is a tower built over or next to a major gateway. Usually it is part of a medieval fortification. This may be a town or city wall, fortress, castle or castle chapel. The gate tower may be built as a twin tower on either side of a ...

remains. Jidvei is located in the

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

country, where

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s have been present since the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. Winemaking has been an important local industry throughout the history of Jidvei. In the middle age, the doors of the cellars in Jidvei were built to face the road for commercial purposes. Jidvei is currently one of the most important wine producing regions in Romania. The commune is composed of five villages: Bălcaciu (''Bolkatsch''; ''Bolkács''), Căpâlna de Jos (''Gergesdorf''; ''Alsókápolna''), Feisa (''Füssen''; ''Küküllőfajsz''), Jidvei and Veseuș (''Michelsdorf''; ''Szásznagyvesszős''). At the 2011 census, Jidvei had a population of 4,617, of which 71.3% 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, ...

, 24.8%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

and 2.6%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

. At the 2021 census, the population of the commune increased to 5,020; of those, 62.65% were Romanians, 29.86% Roma, 1.91% Hungarians, and 1.24%

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

Natives

* Răzvan Trif (born 1997), footballer *

Veta Biriș Veta Biriș (born 11 August 1949) is a Romanian folk music singer. She was born in Veseuș, a village in Jidvei commune, Alba County, in a large family of seven siblings. Biriș moved in 1966 to nearby Căpâlna de Jos and debuted as a singer th ...

(born 1949), folk music singer

References

Communes in Alba County Localities in Transylvania {{Alba-geo-stub