The Union Monument () is an

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

Târgu Lăpuș Târgu Lăpuș (; , , ) is a town in Maramureș County, northern Transylvania, Romania. It administers thirteen villages: Boiereni (''Boérfalva''), Borcut (''Borkút''), Cufoaia (''Kohópatak''), Dămăcușeni (''Domokos''), Dobricu Lăpușului ...

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 ...

. The historic monument (MM-III-m-B-04815) was built in 1935. The monument commemorates those who died in 1918 for the

Union of Transylvania with Romania The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a Public holidays in Romani ...

. It was unveiled on May 22, 1936, in the presence of Constantin Brătianu and Valeriu Roman. On the pedestal were engraved the names of those who perished during the massacre of December 5, 2018. That day, 60 Hungarian soldiers, based in Strâmbu-Băiuț, opened fire on the crowd gathered in the schoolyard in the town center to listen to the proclamation of the Great National Assembly on December 1, 1918; 21 people were killed and 82 were wounded. In September 1940, after

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 to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

occupied

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 ...

in the wake of 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 ...

, the Union Monument was destroyed. In 1946, after Romania regained control of Northern Transylvania at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the monument was rebuilt, only to be torn down in 1949 by the Communist authorities. The monument was rebuilt in 1968, and placed in its current location, in a park behind the

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

. (The original monument had been located in front of the Orthodox Church.) The monument was renovated in 2018, the year of the centenary anniversary of the

Great Union In Romanian historiography, the Great Union () or Great Union of 1918 () was the series of political unifications the Kingdom of Romania had with several of the Romanian historical regions, starting with Bessarabia on 27 March 1918, continuin ...

Gallery

File:MonumentulUniriiTgLapus2.JPG, The Union Monument and the

References

External links

Monumentul Eroilor căzuți pentru Unirea tuturor românilor
Târgu Lăpuș Buildings and structures completed in 1935 Obelisks in Romania Historic monuments in Maramureș County {{Romania-struct-stub