Satu Mare (, ) is a commune in

Harghita County Harghita County (, and , ) is a county () in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea Ciuc. Demographics 2002 census In 2002, Harghita County had a population of 326,222 and a population density of ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It lies in the

Székely Land The Székely Land or Szeklerland (, , Old Hungarian script, Székely runes: 𐲥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗𐳌𐳞𐳖𐳇; and sometimes ; ; ) is a historic and ethnographic area in present-day Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hung ...

, an ethno-cultural region in eastern

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, and is not to be confused with the large city of

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

Satu Mare County Satu Mare County (, , ) is a county (Counties of Romania, județ) of Romania, on the border with Hungary and Ukraine. The capital city is Satu Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as ''Szatmár megye'', in German language, Ge ...

. It is composed of a single village, Satu Mare.

History

Its Hungarian name was first recorded in 1566 as ''Marefalwa'', in 1602 as ''Máréfalva''. Its first Romanian name originated from the Hungarian form as ''Marefalău''. After 1919, Romanian authorities first renamed it Satul Mare, later Satu Mare.Transylvanian Toponym Book
The village was part of the

region of the historical

province. It belonged to

Udvarhelyszék Udvarhelyszék (; formerly called ''Telegdiszék'') was one of the Székely seats in the historical Székely Land. Situated on the western part of the Székely Land, it was the main seat (, , ''sedes capitalis'') for a significant period, being ...

district until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when they fell within the

Udvarhely County Udvarhely () was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in central Romania (eastern Transylvania). The capital of the county was ''Székelyudvarhely'' (now Odorheiu Se ...

in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. After the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

of 1920, they became part of

and fell within

Odorhei County Odorhei County was a county (Romanian: ''județ'') in the Kingdom of Romania. The county seat was Odorheiu Secuiesc. Geography Odorhei County covered 2,977 km2 and was located in central part of Greater Romania, in eastern part of the historical ...

during the interwar period. In 1940, the

second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of Maramureș and part of Cri ...

granted

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania (, ) 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 the Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946), Kingdom ...

to Hungary and the villages were held by Hungary until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and the village formally became part of Romania again in 1947. Between 1952 and 1960, the village fell within the

Magyar Autonomous Region The Magyar Autonomous Region (1952–1960) (; ) and Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region (1960–1968) were autonomous Regions of the People's Republic of Romania, regions in the Romanian People's Republic (later the Socialist Republic of Romania). H ...

, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, the province was abolished, and since then, the village has been part of Harghita County. Part of Brădești Commune until 2004, it was split off to form its own commune that year.

Demographics

The commune has an absolute Hungarian ( Székely) majority. According to the 2011 census it has a population of 1,958 of which 99.63% or 1,952 are Hungarian.

Sights of interest

The commune is home to some 95 beautiful '' Székely gates'', the famous Székely engraved and painted wooden gates. This traditional village, famous for its dove-cotted gates, lies at an altitude of 540–560 m, in the narrow valley of the Fenyéd Stream, along the 13A road, 9 km from

Odorheiu Secuiesc Odorheiu Secuiesc (; , ; ) is the second largest municipality in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. In its short form, it is also known as ''Odorhei'' in Romanian and ''Udvarhely'' in Hungarian. The Hungarian name of the town "Udvarhely" mean ...

, at the foot of the Cekend Plateau. ''Székelykapu'' or Székely gates: The greatest number of large, carved, dove-cotted Székely gates of the former (

) can be found here. The gates are also known as carved, flowery gates, as the ornamental motives are carved in the columns with different semicircular chisels. Their value as museum pieces is obvious. Because of their rich decoration these gates can be called flowery gates as well. The gates of

differ from those of historical-ethnographical districts of

Csíkszék Csíkszék () was one of the Székely seats in the historical Székely Land. It administered two sub-seats ( Hungarian: ''fiúszék'', Latin: ''sedes filialis''), namely Gyergyószék and Kászonszék. It was divided on the natural borders of ...

, Kászonszék, Gyergyószék and Háromszék in their rich ornamentation.

Twinning

The village is twinned with: *

Magyaregregy Magyaregregy () is a village in Baranya county, Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania ...

, Hungary

References

{{Authority control Communes in Harghita County Localities in Transylvania Székely communities