Toplița (; hu, Maroshévíz, ) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

in Harghita County,

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 ...

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 ...

. The settlement has had multiple name changes: ''Taplócza'', ''Toplicza'', ''Gyergyó-Toplicza'', from February 3, 1861 ''Oláh-Toplicza'', or "Romanian Toplița", then from January 1, 1907 ''Maroshévíz'', until 1918, when it received the Romanian name ''Toplița Română''. Both the Romanian and the Hungarian name mean "hot water spring"; the first is a Romanian word of Slavic origin. The city administers eight villages: Călimănel (''Kelemenpatak''), Luncani (''Lunkány''), Măgheruș (''Magyaros''), Moglănești (''Moglán''), Secu (''Székpatak''), Vâgani (''Vugány''), Vale (''Válya'') and Zencani (''Zsákhegy'').

Demographics

According to the last census from 2011, there were 13,282 people living in the city. Of this population, 68.49% are 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 ...

, while 22.11% 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 ...

(primarily

Székelys The Székelys (, Székely runes: 𐳥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗), also referred to as Szeklers,; ro, secui; german: Szekler; la, Siculi; sr, Секељи, Sekelji; sk, Sikuli are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. ...

) and 3.64% ethnic

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

. Among the villages which are part of this municipality, there are large ethnic Hungarian minorities in Măgheruș (34%), Moglănești (21.5%), Secu (29.7%), and Zencani (23.7%).

Geography

Toplița is located in eastern

, on the upper reaches of the Mureș River, more precisely in the northwestern corner of Harghita County. It is situated at an altitude of above sea level, on the Giurgiului plain between the mountains of Giurgiului, Gurghiului and Călimani. The nearest towns are Borsec (), Gheorgheni () and Reghin ().

History

The region was Simon Bán's property until 1228, then passed on to the Bánffy family, who managed to keep their enormous properties until 1945. As a feudal domain, the area was not part of any of the Székely seats (''sedes judiciaria'', Székely district with special national privileges). The settlement was founded in 1567 by Kozma Petričević on land owned by Pál Bánffy. He gave the land to three Moldavian peasant families and named the place ''Taplócza''. In 1658, Gyergyó-Toplicza was entirely destroyed by Moldavian units led by Pintea. After 1660, the Bánffys brought 391 Romanian peasant families from Deda onto these lands. Around 1710, rafting started on the Mureș River. Due to this profitable enterprise, Toplicza and its inhabitants started growing and evolving in both wealth and numbers. The first European census, ordered by

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

, took place in Toplicza on 20 November 1785. Census results showed 227 farms, 23 free and 231 thrall families who belonged to 22 lords. Baron János Bornemissza owned 52 of these families, while Baron Simon Kemény owned 30 and Count Mihály Teleki 18. In 1868, eight "praedia" belonged to Oláh-Toplicza: Kelemenpatak, Nyírmező, Csobotány, Mănăstirea, Vugány, Moglán, Plopiș, and Magyarós; at the time Válya was already part of the settlement. Nowadays, it comprises Valea, Zencani, Vâgani, Secu, Moglănești, Măgheruș, and Luncani. During

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, ...

, Toplița and its periphery witnessed cruel fighting. The Romanian monument in Secu is the tomb of 771 Romanian soldiers, while in the Hungarian Soldiers Cemetery 450 Hungarian soldiers were buried. Until 1918 it was part of Maros-Torda County in 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 ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. At the end of November 1918, the 7th Infantry Division of the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

under the command of General

Traian Moșoiu Traian Moșoiu (2 July 1868 – 15 August 1932) was a Romanian general during World War I and the Hungarian–Romanian War. He held the posts of Minister of War in the Alexandru Vaida-Voevod cabinet (December 1919 – March 1920), Minister of C ...

crossed the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

, coming from

Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; german: Kreuzburg an der Bistrița (Siret), Bistritz; hu, Karácsonkő) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Easter ...

and advancing though the Prisăcani Valley towards Borsec, Toplița, and Reghin. After the Union of Transylvania with Romania in December 1918 and the start of 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 ...

, Toplița 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, it became part of

. 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. Towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Romanian and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

armies entered the town in October 1944. The territory of Northern Transylvania remained under Soviet military administration until March 9, 1945 (after the appointment of Petru Groza as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

), after which it became again part of Romania. In 1952 Toplița was declared a town, and became part of the Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, it became part of Harghita County. In 2002 it was declared a

Buildings

*1658 Mănăstirea Doamnei *1847 Toplița Monastery *September 22 1867–August 21 1869 a Roman Catholic church in the vicinity of an old wooden church *1867–1903 Romanian Orthodox Church *1870 Roman Catholic Denominational School *1895 Calvinist Church *1896 Hungarian State School, founded in the Valea section *1903–1907 Urmánczy castle, today the town's Ethnographic Museum *1928–1929 Greek Catholic Church in the Cornișa section, built to replace the 1777 wooden church which was moved to the nearby Gălăuțaș village.

Natives

* Miron Cristea (1868–1939), the first Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and 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 ...

between 1938 and 1939 * Mircea Dușa (1955–2022), politician, Minister of National Defense * (1925–1975), writer *

Gunther Philipp Gunther Philipp (8 June 1918 – 2 October 2003) was an Austrian film actor, physician and swimmer. From 1949 to 2002 he appeared as an actor in 147 movies for cinema and television, mainly in comic roles. As an author, Philipp wrote 21 film scr ...

(Placheta) (1918–2003), actor * (1914–2005), composer * Ionuț Țăran (born 1987), luger *

Marius Urzică Marius Daniel Urzică (born 30 September 1975 in Toplița, Romania) is a Romanian gymnast. Urzică is an Olympic champion, a three-time world champion and a three-time European champion on pommel horse. He competed at three Olympic Games, medali ...

(born 1975), gymnast

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toplita Populated places in Harghita County Cities in Romania Populated places established in 1567 Monotowns in Romania 1567 establishments in Europe Localities in Transylvania