Zlatna (german: Klein-Schlatten, Kleinschlatten, Goldenmarkt; hu, Zalatna; la, Ampellum) is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
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 ...
,
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 ...
. It has a population of 7,490.
Administration
The town administers eighteen villages: Botești (''Golddorf''; ''Botesbánya''), Budeni (''Higendorf''), Dealu Roatei (''Rotberg''), Dobrot, Dumbrava, Feneș (''Wildendorf''; ''Fenes''), Galați (''Galz''; ''Ompolygalac''), Izvoru Ampoiului (''Gross-Ompeil''; ''Nagyompoly''), Pârău Gruiului (''Gruybach''), Pătrângeni (''Peters''; ''Ompolykövesd ''), Pirita (''Pfirth''), Podu lui Paul (''Pauls''), Runc (''Goldrücken''), Ruși (''Rusch''), Suseni (''Oberdorf''), Trâmpoiele (''Trempojel''; ''Kénesd''), Valea Mică (''Kleinwasser'') and Vâltori (''Waldrücken''; ''Vultur'').
Geography
Zlatna is located north-west of the county seat,
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historical ...
, on the border with
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 ...
. Situated in the Zlatna depression, between 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 ...
and the
Trascău Mountains
The Trascău Mountains ( ro, Munții Trascăului) are located in the Apuseni mountain range of the Western Romanian Carpathians, in Romania.
The Trascău Mountains are crossed by the picturesque Arieș River valley. The highest elevation in the ...
, the town lies at the confluence of the Ampoi River with Valea Morilor creek.
History
A
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
mining settlement has existed in the area since Roman times, when it was known as a
municipium
In ancient Rome, the Latin term (pl. ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ("duty holders"), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privi ...
under the name of ''Ampellum''. The name ''Zlatna'' (derived from the Slavic term for gold) was first recorded in a 1347 document. In 1387, it was awarded town status. During 1619-1620
Gabriel Bethlen
Gabriel Bethlen ( hu, Bethlen Gábor; 15 November 1580 – 15 November 1629) was Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and Duke of Opole from 1622 to 1625. He was also King-elect of Hungary from 1620 to 1621, but he never took control of th ...
, brought to Zlatna a few hundred
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Tellurium
Tellurium is a chemical element with the symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionally fou ...
was first discovered in a Zlatna mine in 1782 by Austrian mineralogist
Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein
Franz-Joseph Müller, Freiherr von Reichenstein or Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein (1 July 1740 or 4 October 1742 – 12 October 1825 or 1826) was an Austrian mineralogist and mining engineer. Müller held several positions in the Habsburg m ...
. Zlatna regained its town status in 1968, after a time when it was officially a commune.
At the 2011 census, 89.59% of inhabitants were
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 ...
, and 4.59%
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
.
Natives
*
Cornelia Emilian Cornelia Emilian (; 1840–1910) was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian journalist and women's rights activist.
She was born in Zlatna, in the Principality of Transylvania, to a noble family.Ionela Băluță, "Apariția femeii ca actor social - a ...
*
László Lukács
László Lukács de Erzsébetváros (24 November 1850, Zalatna – 23 February 1932) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1912 to 1913. His father was Dávid Lukács, who was descendants of ...
*
Andrei Mărginean
Iulius Andrei Mărginean (born 3 July 2001) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Italian club Novara, on loan from Sassuolo.
Club career Messina
Andrei made his senior debut for Messina on 12 September ...
*
Virgil Popescu
Virgil Popescu (1916–1989) was a Romanian footballer and later coach. In Yugoslavia, he was known as Stanislav Popesku.
Career
He was born in 1916 during the First World War, in the Transylvanian town of Zlatna,
Climate
Zlatna has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(''Cfb'' in the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
).
Points of interest
*A high chimney, interconnected with a smoke duct with a copper
smelter
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...