Cristuru Secuiesc (; hu, Székelykeresztúr, ) is a town in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern

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 A ...

. The town administers two villages: Betești (''Betfalva''), part of Mugeni until 2004, and Filiaș (''Fiatfalva'').

Location

Cristuru Secuiesc lies on the Transylvanian Plateau, in the area where the river Goagiu flows into the Târnava Mare. It is located in the southwestern part of the county, on the border with Mureș County. The town is crossed by national road ; Odorheiu Secuiesc is to the east, while the county seat, Miercurea Ciuc, is in that direction.

History

The town was part of the Székely Land area of the historical

province. It belonged to Udvarhelyszék until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when it fell within the Udvarhely County of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

. In the aftermath of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and the

Hungarian–Romanian War The Hungarian–Romanian War was fought between Hungary and Romania from 13 November 1918 to 3 August 1919. The conflict had a complex background, with often contradictory motivations for the parties involved. The Allies of World War I intended ...

of 1918–1919, it passed under Romanian administration; after the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...

of 1920, like the rest of Transylvania, it became part of the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

. During the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

, the town fell within Odorhei County. From 1933 to 1940, the town was renamed after I. G. Duca, the

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...

who was assassinated in December 1933 for his efforts to suppress the fascist

Iron Guard The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was stron ...

movement. In 1940, the Second Vienna Award granted

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...

to Hungary and the town was held by Hungary until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and the town became officially part of Romania in March 1945. Between 1952 and 1960, Cristuru Secuiesc fell within the Magyar Autonomous Region, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, the region was abolished, and since then, the town has been part of Harghita County.

Demographics

As of the Romanian census of 2002, the town has a population of 9,672 of whom 9,201 (95.13%) are ethnic

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 ...

, 2.47 ethnic

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 ...

, 2.27% ethnic

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Romania ...

and 0.12% others.2002 Census
/ref> ''Demographic movements according to census data:'' Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:300 height:240 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:12000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:2000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:500 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1956 text:1956 bar:1966 text:1966 bar:1977 text:1977 bar:1992 text:1992 bar:2002 text:2002 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1956 from:0 till: 5194 bar:1966 from:0 till: 5942 bar:1977 from:0 till: 7197 bar:1992 from:0 till: 10611 bar:2002 from:0 till: 9672 PlotData= bar:1956 at: 5194 fontsize:S text: 5.194 shift:(-7,5) bar:1966 at: 5942 fontsize:S text: 5.942 shift:(-13,5) bar:1977 at: 7197 fontsize:S text: 7.197 shift:(-13,5) bar:1992 at: 10611 fontsize:S text: 10.611 shift:(-13,5) bar:2002 at: 9672 fontsize:S text: 9.672 shift:(-13,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text: Census data. Graphics made by Wikipedia In terms of religion, 46.02% of its inhabitants are Reformed, 35.99% are Unitarian, 14.27% are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, 2.33% are

Romanian Orthodox 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 churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...

Natives

* Alexandru Gergely

Sights

The Unitarian Gimnazium (secondary school) was established in the 18th century. The Catholic church has medieval murals.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Cristuru Secuiesc is twinned with: * Ajka,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

(1992) *

Csurgó ) in Csurgó , image_shield = HUN_Csurgó_Címer.svg , image_flag = Flag of Csurgó.svg , map = , pushpin_map = Hungary , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_caption = Location of C ...

, Hungary *

Derecske Derecske is a town in Hajdú-Bihar county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. History The town was first mentioned in 1291. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population typically refers to the numbe ...

, Hungary *

Dévaványa Dévaványa is a town in northern Békés county, in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary. Geography It covers an area of 216.73 km² and has a population of 8273 people (2008). Twin towns – sister cities Dévaványa is twinned wit ...

(1994) *

Dunakeszi Dunakeszi () is a city in Pest county, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is located to the north of Budapest on the left bank of the Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and to ...

, Hungary * Kalocsa, Hungary * Karcag,

(1990) * Kúnszentmiklós, Hungary * Lánycsók, Hungary *

Moldava nad Bodvou Moldava nad Bodvou ( hu, Szepsi; german: Moldau (an der Bodwa)) is a town and municipality in Košice-okolie District in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia. History In historical records the town was first mentioned in 1255. Geography The t ...

, Slovakia * Pesterzsébet – 20th district of Budapest, Hungary * Senta, Serbia

Gallery

File:Cristuru Secuiesc Catholic Church.jpg, Catholic parish church File:Cristuru Secuiesc Orthodox Church.jpg, Romanian Orthodox church File:Cristuru Secuiesc Szabadság Square.jpg, Liberty Square File:Târnava Mare near Cristuru Secuiesc.jpg, Târnava Mare River bank

References

External links

Town Website

Molnár István Museaum
{{Authority control Towns in Romania Populated places in Harghita County Localities in Transylvania Székely communities