Covasna (, hu, Kovászna, , german: Kowasna) is a town in

Covasna County Covasna County (, hu, Kovászna megye, ) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Sfântu Gheorghe. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 210,177, making it the second least populous of Romania ...

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, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, at an altitude of . It is known for its natural mineral waters and mofettas. The town administers one village, Chiuruș ( hu, Csomakőrös). The village has a population of 451 and has an absolute Székely Hungarian majority. Before Orbaiszék merged with Sepsiszék and Kézdiszék to create

Háromszék County Háromszék (''Three Seats''; Romanian: ''Trei Scaune'') was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Situated in south-eastern Transylvania, its territory is now in central Romania (in the counties of Covasna, Brașov and B ...

, in 1876, Covasna was the capital village of Orbaiszék.

Name origin

There are several theories regarding the origin of the city's name, the most recognized one being that it originates from the Slavic ''kvas'', which means "bitter", referring to the taste of the mineral water springs located in the city. According to Szabó Gyula (1914–1984), some legends suggest that the name of ''Kovászna'' might have been the result of a fusion between the name of "''Kó''" and the word "''vászon''" (it means ''canvas'' in Hungarian), thus meaning "''Kó's canvas''". Theories suggest that the individual of "''Kó''" might have been a knight, a craftsman or even the last monarch of the Fairies Fortress.

Demographics

According to the 2011

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, Covasna has 10,265 inhabitants, of which 7,549 or 66.4% are

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 ...

and 3,672 or 32.3% are

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 Roman ...

. ''Demographic movement according to the censuses:'' 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:220 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:15000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:2500 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: 7290 bar:1966 from:0 till: 7831 bar:1977 from:0 till: 9308 bar:1992 from:0 till: 12515 bar:2002 from:0 till: 11369 PlotData= bar:1956 at: 7290 fontsize:S text: 7.290 shift:(-7,5) bar:1966 at: 7831 fontsize:S text: 7.831 shift:(-13,5) bar:1977 at: 9308 fontsize:S text: 9.308 shift:(-13,5) bar:1992 at: 12515 fontsize:S text: 12.515 shift:(-13,5) bar:2002 at: 11369 fontsize:S text: 11.369 shift:(-13,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(10,10) text: Census Data. Graphics made by Wikipedia.

History

* 1548 – First mentioned as ''Kowazna''. * 1567 – Mentioned in a document, as a prestigious locality, having 61 registered homes. * 1756 – Gets destroyed by conflagration. * 1840 – Gets the right to hold its own market. * 1880 – Covasna has flourished as a health resort since the 1880s. * 1837, 1856, 1885 – The ' ( in Romanian: ''Balta Dracului''; in English: ''Devil's Lake'')

mud volcano A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true igneous volcanoes as they do not produce la ...

erupts. * 1889–91 – the Covasna– Comandău narrow-gauge railway is built * 1952 – Covasna became a town. * 1970's – Several hotels and cure centers were built in Covasna. * 1996 – Forest fire in the Fairie's Valley. * 2000's – Covasna is a nationally important spa town in Romania, having an important cardiovascular hospital.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Covasna is twinned with: *

Pápa Pápa is a historical town in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 32,473 inhabitants (2011), it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the re ...

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

Nagykanizsa Nagykanizsa (; hr, Velika Kaniža/Velika Kanjiža, or just ''Kaniža/Kanjiža''; german: Großkirchen, Groß-Kanizsa; it, Canissa; sl, Velika Kaniža; tr, Kanije), known colloquially as Kanizsa, is a medium-sized city in Zala County in southw ...

Gyula, Hungary Gyula (; german: Jula; ro, Jula or ) is a town in Békés County, Hungary. The town is best known for its Medieval castle and a thermal bath. Ferenc Erkel, the composer of the Hungarian national anthem, and Albrecht Dürer the Elder, the f ...

* Balatonfüred,

Csenger Csenger is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. Geography The town covers an area of and has a population of 4,870 people (2015). It lies on left bank of the river Szamos, on the bor ...

Călărași Călărași (), the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the banks of the Danube's Borcea branch, at about from the Bulgarian border and from Bucharest. The city is an industrial centre f ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

Natives

The Hungarian explorer and linguist

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Csoma de Kőrös (; born Sándor Csoma; 27 March 1784/811 April 1842) was a Hungarian philologist and Orientalist, author of the first Tibetan–English dictionary and grammar book. He was called Phyi-glin-gi-grwa-pa in Tibetan, meaning ...

was born in Chiuruș/Csomakőrös in 1784. Kőrösi is widely seen as the founder of

Tibetology Tibetology () refers to the study of things related to Tibet, including its history, religion, language, culture, politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance. The last may mean a collection of ...

, he was the compiler and author of the first Tibetan-

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

dictionary and grammar book. He died in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1842. A statue in his honour was erected in the centre of the village in 1972 and there is an exhibition in the cultural centre.

References

External links

Official website in Romanian

Official website in Hungarian
* * {{Authority control Towns in Romania Populated places in Covasna County Localities in Transylvania Spa towns in Romania Place names of Slavic origin in Romania