Zărnești
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Zărnești (; german: link=no, Molkendorf, Zernescht; hu, Zernest) is a town in
Brașov County Brașov County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Transylvania. Its capital city is Brașov. The county incorporates within its boundaries most of the Medieval "lands" (''țări'') Burzenland and Făgăraș. Name In Hungarian, it is known ...
,
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 ...
, with a population of 21,681. It administers one village, Tohanu Nou (''Neu-Tohan''; ''Újtohán''). It is located near the
Piatra Craiului Mountains The Piatra Craiului Mountains (german: Königstein, hu, Királykő-hegység) are a mountain range in the Southern Carpathians in Romania. Its name is translated as ''Kings' Rock'' or ''The Rock of the Prince''. The mountain range is located ...
, which are part of the
Southern Carpathians The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the P ...
mountains range. Its close proximity to the Piatra Craiului make it a common start point for tourists and hikers wishing to explore "The Piatra Craiului National Park".


History

During the Roman period, soldiers of the
Legio XIII Gemina , in English the 13th Twin Legion was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was one of Julius Caesar's key units in Gaul and in the civil war, and was the legion with which he crossed the Rubicon in January, perhaps the 10th, 49 BC. The legion ...
were buried in the territory that is modern day Zărnești. It is first mentioned in the year 1373 under the name Zârna and also referred to as "possessio regalis Zerne" in 1395. Other names that appeared after 1437 are Zerna, Villa Czerne, and Zernyest. Modern day Zărnești developed in the same location as the historic one. The commune of Tohan, which is now part of the town, was first mentioned in the year 1294, and remains among the oldest settlements in Romanian which have kept their name and location unchanged. In 1690
Battle of Zernest The Battle of Zernest was fought on 11 August 1690, near the town of Zernest in southeastern Transylvania (today Zărnești, in Romania), between the allied forces of Transylvania and the Holy Roman Empire, and the allied forces of the Ottoman Em ...
, Ottoman ally
Imre Thököly Imre is a Hungarian masculine first name, which is also in Estonian use, where the corresponding name day is 10 April. It has been suggested that it relates to the name Emeric, Emmerich or Heinrich. Its English equivalents are Emery and Henry. ...
(in cooperation with
Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...
n
Voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...
Constantin Brâncoveanu Constantin Brâncoveanu (; 1654 – August 15, 1714) was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714. Biography Ascension A descendant of the Craiovești boyar family and heir through his grandfather Preda of a considerable part of Matei Ba ...
) defeated Habsburg forces, which enabled him to become
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
of
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 ...
for a short time. Due to the topographical diversity of Zărnești and surrounding area, agriculture became the primary occupation for its residents until not too long ago. Industrialization began sometime in the 1800s, with the construction of the paper manufacturing plant in 1852, then called Celuloza, now called Celohart – EcoPaper"), and the weapons plant "6 Martie" in 1936. These projects turned Zărnești from a predominantly rural to an urban town. In December 1939 disaster hit the town as 24 t of
chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...
gas were spilled, killing 60, even at considerable distance from the plant where a storage vessel failed. The town of Zărnești developed largely in the communist era, bringing its population to 25,000 people, which contributed to the addition of a few neighborhoods of communist era blocs. In 1951, Zărnești was declared a town, of which Tohanul Vechi (Old Tohan) became a part of. In 1968, the commune of Tohanul Nou (New Tohan) was included in Zărnești proper. After the
Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...
of 1989, the industrial plants closed, only to be sold piece by piece to private buyers. Currently, Zărnești has enjoyed a spike in tourism, relieving some of the pressure of unemployment which followed the revolution.


Name

The
Romanian name A name in Romanian tradition consists of a given name (''prenume'') and a family name (surname) (''nume'' or ''nume de familie''). In official documents, surnames usually appear before given names. Given names Romanians have one, two or more g ...
"Zărnești" is a derivation from '' zârnă'' (
Black Nightshade Black nightshade is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * '' Solanum americanum'' (American black nightshade) of much of North America * ''Solanum nigrum'' (European black nightshade) of Europe * '' Solanum ptychanthum'' (Eastern bla ...
), a word of Slavic origin (from
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...
'' зрьно'', grain) and suffix -ești.


Climate

Zărnești has a warm-summer
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 ...
(''Dfb'' 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 ...
).


Notable people

*
Ioan Bran de Lemény Ioan Bran de Lemény et Kozla (1811–1899; hu, leményi és kozlai Bran János), also known as Ioan Bran, was a lawyer, a revolutionary, and Transylvania's first Romanian civil servant. He was one of the organizers of the Romanian Legions and th ...
, lawyer, revolutionary, and Transylvania's first Romanian civil servant *
Gheorghe Crăciun Gheorghe Crăciun (8 May 1950, Zărnești – 30 January 2007, Constanța) was a Romanian writer and translator. Crăciun was born in Tohanu Vechi, now part of Zărnești, Brașov County. In addition to being a novelist and a translator, he was a ...
, writer and translator *
Eduard-Michael Grosu Eduard-Michael Grosu (born 4 September 1992) is a Romanian professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He is the first Romanian to ride professionally. Major results ;2008 : 2nd Time trial, National Junior Road Championsh ...
, Romanian professional racing cyclist, born in Zărnești *
Alexandru Ilie Alexandru Mihai Ilie (born 19 January 2000) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for FC Voluntari Fotbal Club Voluntari (), commonly known as FC Voluntari or simply Voluntari, is a Romanian professional football cl ...
, professional footballer *
Rareș Manea Rareş-Iulian Manea (born July 20, 1986) is a Romanian endurance sports athlete. Manea was born in Zărneşti, and is member of ''BIKE-MANIA TEAM. He started ski mountaineering in 2003, and participated in the same year in first competition, th ...
and
Silviu Manea Silviu-Ionuț Manea (; born April 5, 1983) is a Romanian endurance sports athlete. Manea was born in Zărnești, and attended the ''Liceul Silvic din Braşov''.30 ani) ** 2nd, XCM Brasov MTB (M>30 ani) Duathlon * 2008: ** 1st, Cetatea Brașo ...
, endurance sports athletes *
Ioan Mețianu Ioan Mețianu (; May 9, 1828–February 3, 1916) was an Austro-Hungarian cleric of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Born in Zărnești, in the Transylvania region, he attended high school in Brașov and Cluj, studying theology in Sibiu. He serv ...
, cleric of the Romanian Orthodox Church *
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 ...
, Romanian World War I-general, born in Tohanul Nou *
Ion Monea Ion Monea (30 November 19401 March 2011) was a Romanian amateur boxer. He competed as a middleweight in 1960–64 and won a bronze medal at the 1960 Olympics and a silver medal at the 1963 European Championships, placing fifth at the 1964 Olympi ...
, Romanian boxing champion, born in Tohanul Vechi


Photo gallery

File:ZarnestiValley.jpg, View of valley of Zărnești File:Zarnesti.JPG, View of the Piatra Craiului mountains from Zărnești


References


External links


Official site

English site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarnesti Populated places in Brașov County Localities in Transylvania Towns in Romania Burzenland