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Transilvania Business AN�IX • NR �� • �� MAI � �� IUNIE. ���� • PREŢ �� LEI

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ENJOY TRANSYLVANIA! A jewel of Romania at the heart of Europe - collector’s edition

ENJOY TRANSYLVANIA!

A jewel of Romania at the heart of Europe

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Summary

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INSIGHT #EURoad2Sibiu. In 2019, All Roads Lead to Sibiu

BUSINESS Borsec, 213 years of tradition and prestige

INVESTMENTS Transylvania’s Art Noveau jewel – The New Oradea 52-66

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MUREȘ COUNTY A masterpiece of the Transylvanian Secession style

CULTURE MARAMUREȘ - “Gate toward Tradition”

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ARAD COUNTY The largest urban renewal project in Romania!

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THE MUNICIPALITY OF BLAJ Continuity of evolution, from historical importance to economic power

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TRAVEL INVESTMENTS & TRAVEL Szeklerland Cluj County The Heart Of Transylvania BISTRIȚANĂSĂUD A county with traditions worthy of the Book of Records 147-151

DEVELOPMENT Brașov, Smart Administration for Smart Tourism

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TRAVEL Visit Târgu Mureș - the eclectic cultural city

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CULTURE “100 years of Romanian traditions” in the Reghin region

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TRAVEL Sovata - a Tourist Resort of Over 140 Years

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EVENT Timișoara, a pole of excellence in the Central European cultural space

EDUCATION The University: Driving Force of Social Development

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INTERVIEW Our Via Transilvanica, as an Open Lesson

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HISTORY Architecture Concepts in Transylvania

INTRODUCTION Transylvania, an image of habitation

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HISTORY Bran - Queen Marie’s Heart Castle

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CULTURE The Story of Wine

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Valea Gurghiului Festival

Bears cave from Chișcău village, Bihor county Horses cascade in Maramureș

Villagers in traditional dresses celebrate a traditional Romanian wedding - Gherța Mică

Emil Cioran childhood house Rășinari - Sibiu

Beer factory

Ancient dacian citadel of Deva The Office - Cluj-Napoca (Photo: Cătălin Marcu)

Local unidentified villagers of Torocko attending the carnival show the celebration at the ending of winter Rimetea

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The Clock Tower from Sighișoara, Mureș County

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Big cellar monument from Moacșa, Covasna

Mocănița wood-burning locomotive, Vișeu de Sus, Maramureș Famous attraction resort of Poiana Brașov

Romanian traditional peacock feather hat

NTT DATA Romania, Cluj-Napoca River Mureș in Arad

Neolog Synagogue Zion reflection on Crișul Repede River in Oradea Corvineștilor Castle, Hunedoara

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Coresi Shopping Center, Brașov

Winter Customs and Traditions Marmatia Festival Crowd of people partying in the front of the Main Stage during a concert at the Untold Festival - Cluj-Napoca

Medieval Saint Michael’s Church and Union Square in Cluj-Napoca

Skiers skiing down the slope in a beautiful sunny day in Vârtop

Brukenthal building Island on Colibița lake

Charlottenburg - beautiful unique circular village in Romania Ciucaș lake and spa resort of Tușnad

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CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA - Romanian tennis player Simona Halep celebrating her victory

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Felix Baths Batoș - crama liliac

The wood church from Transylvania Union Square Timișoara

Fire spectacle at The Sibiu International Theatre Festival

Hungarian Catholic pilgrims, crowd of people gathering in Csiksomlyo to celebrate the Pentecost

Bâlea Lake

Bears in Harghita County

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FOUNDED BY: Aurelian Grama GENERAL MANAGER Nicolae Pop (0740-115.167) nicu.pop@transilvaniabusiness.ro EDITOR IN CHIEF Ligia Voro (0740-686.015) ligia.voro@transilvaniabusiness.ro BRAND MANAGER Ionuţ Oprea (0721-197.559) ionut.oprea@transilvaniabusiness.ro SENIOR EDITOR Alex Toth (0757-036.968) alex.toth@transilvaniabusiness.ro EDITORS: Irina Papuc, Arina Toth, Traian Dan, Călin Poenaru, Alin Zaharie, Andrei Vornicu, Ștefana Mureșan – online editor redactia@transilvaniabusiness.ro CONTRIBUTORS: Voicu Bojan, Vianu Mureșan, Sidonia Grama, Ligia Voro TRANSLATORS: Carmen Andras, Sonia Andras, Mihai Melinescu and his team, Veronica Buta Zaharagiu, Anca Chiorean, Carmen-Veronica Borbély, Elena Polearuș, Nelly Spingos PHOTO: Cristina Gânj, Ovidiu Matiu, Voicu Bojan, Mihai Țuțu, Eliodor Moldovan, Sidonia Grama, Mihai Lucit, Shutterstock DTP: Raluca Rogoz Răzvan Matei - IQ-Design office@iq-design.ro ADVERTISING MANAGERS Ionel Albu (0756-641.581) ionel.albu@transilvaniabusiness.ro Ioan Sandor (0745-252.788) ioan.sandor@transilvaniabusiness.ro Gabriela Belean (0759-022.324) gabriela.belean@transilvaniabusiness.ro Florin Marcel (0740-075.219) florin.marcel@transilvaniabusiness.ro Alba, Harghita Marius Morar (0755-044.849) marius.morar@transilvaniabusiness.ro Alba, Harghita, Mureș Rareș Mărginean (0726-433.547) rares.marginean@transilvaniabusiness.ro Cluj

Dorel Vidican (0736-651.166) dorel.vidican@transilvaniabusiness.ro Bucureşti, Cluj Ştefan Brumar (0745-868.558) Harghita, Mureş DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Liviu Ilinca (0729-388.154) RESPONSIBLE FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS: Gabriela Belean, Görög László abonamente@transilvaniabusiness.ro 0265-215.612 TRAFFIC MANAGER: Emo Veres LEGAL: Anamaria Grama ACCOUNTANCY: Bakó Eszter Counting House: SC Contfin SRL Design: Claudiu Popa (0723-511.013) Site administrator: Netinform Printed at InfoPress Odorheiu Secuiesc Publishing House SC Grama Proiect SRL ISSN 2068-5424 Editorial and administration address: Târgu Mureș, 1 Primăriei Street Cluj-Napoca: 18/6 Eftimie Murgu Street Tel/Fax: 0265-215.613 Subscription: You can subscribe to any Romanian post office.

Magazine’s code in Romanian Post Office Catalogue – 19085 National distribution: MOL, OMV, PETROM, ART - PETROL, ETU gas stations, InMedio, OCTAGON – METRO, XPRESS shops, REAL Hypermarkets, and Romanian Post Office’s chain.

Supervised distribution chains: TAROM, CNAB – VIP salons, at the best international, national and regional events Transilvania Business Magazine is a member of Romanian Transmedia Audit Office (BRAT) www.transilvaniabusiness.ro www.tb.com.ro www.facebook.com/transilvaniabusiness www.facebook.com/agrotb Business magazine is distributed nationwide.

Number of copies: 15,000

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Ionuț OPREA Brand manager, Bucharest

Florin Marcel SANDOR Marketing director

Ionel ALBU Advertising director

Marius MORAR Advertising director

Gabriela BELEAN Advertising director

Ștefan BRUMAR Advertising director

Dorel VIDICAN Advertising director

Rareș MĂRGINEAN Advertising director

Ioan SANDOR Sales director

Advertising Team

Nicolae POP - CEO

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The Transfăgărășan, the most spectacular Romanian road The DN7C national road, known as the Transfăgărășan is, undoubtedly, the most spectacular Romanian road, and maybe among the most spectacular in the world, but it is equally as dangerous. It counts, of course, as an ad, to repeat the fact that Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond place it among the most impressive roads in the world, when counting the landscapes that can be seen, not only the highway itself. This fact is to be

taken into consideration when mentioning a road which has become a touristic route immediately after its inauguration.

From where to where it leads us is important, but also what the route exposes us to, what it shows us, what other gains we may have besides adrenaline. We can see the mountain peaks from thousands and thousands of angles, amazing landscapes, rare flora species, green hillsides on which scattered herds of sheep graze, the occasional sheepdog

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sprawled in the middle of the road, or little flap-eared donkeys undecidedly gravitating around a shepherd leaning against his goad. This was impressive, at least for the English.

The Transfăgărășan was built between 1970 and 1974 during the time of Nicolae Ceaușescu and even on his initiative, apparently having been influenced by the 1968 Russians’ invasion in Czechoslovakia. As such, Ceaușescu intended to build a national strategic road which would connect the Pitești and Sibiu garrisons. The economic reasons which supported the project were to open the access to the Făgăraș Massif, for the alpine meadows to be more efficiently exploited, but also to build a touristic complex in the Bâlea lake area.

The Transfăgărășan’s starting point is the Bascov township close to the city of Pitești, and its final point is the Cârțișoara township, between Brașov and Sibiu, the distance between

the two being of approximatively 151 kilometers.

From safety reasons, the high mountain area is open only for a four-months period – from July to the end of October. In wintertime only a portion of the southern slope is practicable, up to Piscul Negru (The Black Peak, km 104, Argeș). In summertime traffic restriction are introduced at nighttime, after 10 pm and until morning at 6 am, as the traffic in the speed restriction conditions is highly unsafe.

The highway on the Transfăgărășan is not an initiation experience, although it resembles certain roads in Tibet, and although the journey is unforgettable due to the perspectives that open to the eyes along the way, to the beauty of the alpine landscape with everything it contains, with such a complex panorama that is unparalleled in the country.

By Vianu MUREŞAN

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A snippet of life…

editorial

Aurelian GRAMA

From college years, in the silence of the Cluj Central University Library…

From my first travels to the West as a journalist – for the free entrance to museums vs. buying the exhibition album, poster, programme, review…

From roaming the Călimani and Rodnei Mountains, but also in Bucegi...

Because of the woodsmen’s stories about the life of the forest and the diversity of trees…

Crisscrossed through decades with the craft secrets of luthiers in Reghin1…

An arch over time, natural was the symphonically-taken decision at the Enescu Festival… A first moment…

Let’s offer those who come to major moments of my Romania something else then the hard liquor țuică, a glass of wine, some carved wood or earthenware passed through the ceramist’s oven. Something written – cause that’s what we do. Newspapers and magazines. The existence of print media in the West is also alive among the elites and the conservatives.

Something… to be chosen by the BCU2 and other libraries… And I have chosen English. And text, and photographs. Culture and civilisation from Transylvania. And brands. Transylvania Business we are, after all. Penmanship and photographs!

Under the business sign which casts a different flavour on the past.

The slightest something of an album of a GreekRoman ruin, or part of that documentary with Amerindian and American museums.

Something from a Viennese concert after visiting an exhibition, or flashes of a Mediterranean state’s national celebration.

Something between desire and hope towards the citadel of Bodleian Books, in Oxford, for which you care more than for a t-shirt… books are souvenirs too, aren’t they.

Something gone through several cultures and several religions… As we are, with Orthodox, Catholics, Greek-Catholics, Protestants and Neoprotestants, Jews…

Maybe closer to the Enescu Festival in autumn or two years from now, in Bucharest, we might get through a new edition… Revised and updated. Let us be a part of the magnificence of his music… To open to the world through our script and photo reporters’ images on the wonders we have here in Transylvania. Culture and civilisation and brands. And we be optimistic, trusty, that wonderful people we are! I saw and took pride, at the Enescu Festival, that there were three of us from Reghin on the poster of sponsors and partners… You will find them in the pages of this ma-

gazine, among the visionaries of Enjoy! Now, at the end of every one of my colleagues’ real emulation and personal performance experiment, I am glad we managed to convince Cluj to take over its role of capital of the Romanian quality press also. My family at home can rejoice! My family in the office is certainly proud of what we offered…!

So as we always spoil ourselves – I’m seizing the opportunity – I challenge you to an exercise of admiration vital to increasing press power: is it worth it to rediscover the worthiness of journalism, even if it were maybe too generous with the good deeds of our Romanian co-nationals?

Enjoy… Something about the Dacians, about Romans, about the migrating tribes in the first millennium, about Romanians, about Hungarians, Saxons, Szeklers, Armenians, Jews, Serbs, Swabs, Aromanians, Csangos and other populations, about churches and worship sanctuaries, about strongholds and cities, about urban and rural architecture…

About people and the mark they leave on the world…

Something about nature – and the good Lords bestowed a lot to us… Lakes and caves. Plentiful fields and fruitful hills, amazing mountains with, lately, flourishing wildlife, flora and fauna just ready to be admired, researched, wisely exploited.

Something more about people and their celebrations…

People who built or inherited real brands or walked with us in this endeavour…

Our first step was in the country and we will be as present as possible to events in Romania, but it is worth a thought – and we wait for enlightened minds to give us a sign – how to take Enjoy Transylvania to other countries! On European markets, as a first step. They too want to know us better, we too want to invite them do business with us – because however appreciated was painter Adrian Ghenie in Romania, he only became an idol and a leader in art after he had been successful in the West. Economically, may we have the force to affirm Romanian brands in Europe and America. And with them, us with Transylvania Business.

Until further projects signed Transylvania Business, enjoy this wonderful pearl in the heart of Romania, Transylvania.

A piece of its life we fondly offer you!

A snippet…

Something written…

Something printed…

1 Reghin – city in western Transylvania, central Romania, approximately 130 kilometres from Cluj-Napoca. Reghin hosts one of the oldest and best musical instruments factory in Eastern Europe, Hora 2 BCU – The Central University Library (Biblioteca Centrală Universitară), situated in Cluj-Napoca, one of the biggest and most prestigious such institutions in Romania

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The Transalpina, the old Devil’s Path The Transalpina (DN67C) is the highest elevation highway in Romania (2,145 at the Urdele Pass, its highest point), which connects Novaci (Gorj County) with Sebeș (Alba County) through the Parâng Mountains on a 148-kilometer length. On a 20 km portion at over 2,000 meters high, where it passes near the Dengheru (2,084 m), Păpușa (2,136 m), Urdele (2,228 m), Iezer (2,157 m), Muntinu (2,062 m) peaks, it becomes a “ridge highway.” Regardless of the time we would travel there, we have the chance to witness snow tufts on the mountain crests. The highway crosses through four counties – Gorj, Vâlcea, Sibiu and Alba.

The route has been used since time immemorial by the Mărginime shepherds on their journeys with the sheep to the greener Muntenia pastures. Poteca Dracului (The Devil’s Path) is certainly the path of transhumance. After World War I, King Carol II decided that a strategic road

destined to the mountain artillery between Muntenia and Transylvania would be necessary, and for this he assigned Prime Minister Gheorghe Tătărăscu with establishing the route. In 1939, rebaptized as The King’s Road, the highway was officially inaugurated.

After World War II the road was sporadically patched, and after the 1989 revolution it was even left into disrepair. In 2008 , the National Romanian Motorway and National Roads Company organized an auction for DN67C’s rehabilitation. In 2009 the actual work began, with a 1,3 billion lei investment.

The road was opened to traffic in 2016, with an access time slot between 7 am and 8 pm and a 30 km/hour speed.

The National Speed Championship is organized on the Transalpina highway on the slope, in the serpentine portion between Novaci and Rânca.

By Vianu MUREŞAN

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EUROPEAN SIBIU

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INTERVIEW

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Mayor of Sibiu, Mrs. Astrid Fodor:

“We have proven that we have the courage and resources to open paths, to accomplish projects with a European impact” What are the main landmarks of Sibiu’s evolution from European Cultural Capital in 2007 to European Region of Gastronomy in 2019?

Sibiu developed in a dynamic and sustainable manner, stimulated by large projects, by its opening toward European partners, by a community which understood that it must become involved and support the city’s projects.

The status of European Cultural Capital was a momentum for Sibiu’s evolution beginning with 2004, when it began preparing for the 2007 cultural year. In an atypical manner for a European capital of culture, the effect of a successful program endured in the following years as well. Sibiu has turned culture into a development drive, becoming a touristic destination rated with three Michelin stars and taking full advantage of the significant growth recorded in the provision of services field. In equal measure, Sibiu has become more internationally visible. As a result of this powerful motivation the city’s infrastructure was also modernized by the Sibiu City Hall in an accelerated rhythm. Sibiu has thus become a competitive city, showing potential, but also results.

We did not stop here. Sibiu has sought new programs that would motivate it to continue on this path. The Sibiu European Region of Gastronomy Program is the perfect opportunity and a suitable direction for Sibiu.

The main objective is the support for local food producers, but the secondary effect will most certainly be the continued growth in tourism, by highlighting the local gastronomic culture and traditions. One of the main objectives of this program is that of education our community in the sense of returning to healthy food, produced locally.

In Sibiu several important investments have been accomplished. What message can you convey to the business world and the possible investors from EU states?

The upgrading of the Sibiu International Airport, the modernization of streets and apartment building neighborhoods, the rehabilitation of water and sewage networks, public lighting, lowering suspended cables underground, designing new recreational areas and the reconfiguration of green spaces have been priorities for the Sibiu City Hall in the past 10 years and are still in focus. Furthermore, owing to the implementation of the dual-system education through a partnership between the City and the business environment, we help investors in their search for qualified workers. The Lucian Blaga University also prepares highly qualified workforce in various fields.

We use all available leverage for a local administration to support investments. We commit ourselves before the investors that we will continue to develop Sibiu to the benefit of our community, including the business

environment, the city’s partner in providing jobs, and the wellbeing of its inhabitants. When investors analyze a location for a new investment, one of the main criteria refers to the location’s infrastructure and to the life quality for their employees. The Sibiu City Hall has made a priority of improving these. In this way, the water and sewage networks made available in the West industrial area when it was set up in 2003 – 2004, will be extended in the following period, since more and more production units have been built in the area, and the existing ones extended. Furthermore, in the entire area a public lighting system will be designed and the road network will be extended for a better and faster connection with the city. In parallel, we commenced developing the infrastructure in the East industrial zone, which becomes increasingly defined.

What are the City Hall’s most important ongoing or planned projects?

The most important amounts in the local budget, including the accessed non-refundable European funds, will be allotted to projects in education, health, green spaces, infrastructure, recreation, culture and sport.

The main investments in the field of education cover the construction of a new Arts Highschool, extending several schools and building gyms, constructing two new nurseries, as well as the rehabilitation and improving energy efficiency of several buildings where educational establishments function.

The health sector is also a high priority of the city administration. At the Pediatrics Hospital, ancillary to the Sibiu City Hall, we have planned investments for upgrading the existing departments, but also supplying them with more modern equipment.

We also have projects in the field of sports and recreation, important for the quality of life: we continue rehabilitating the Public Baths, one of the city’s historical buildings, the modernization of the Municipal Stadium and bringing it to UEFA standards. Also, we will finalize a huge project meant to turn a lake in one of the city’s neighborhoods in a center for recreation and sports, especially water sports such as wake boarding and stand up paddling. For the youth, we will shortly finalize a skateboarding park at European standards, with modern ramps and installations. We will set up sport fields in a neighborhood at the city’s outskirts, we will create an art park in the historical center, and we will take further steps towards building a recreation and sports center. The construction of a conference and performance center is a very ample project for which we have already made the first steps.

The investments in infrastructure represent over 30% of the total budget. To decongest traffic, we will invest in creating new connection roads in the crowded areas, including setting up new bike paths. Apart from continuing the rehabilitation of the city neighborhoods and

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the modernization of streets, we will commence building great capacity parking lots, two underground in the city center and one over ground in a very densely populated neighborhood.

A project of maximum importance for increasing mobility in Sibiu is the complete modernization of the bus fleet performing the public transport service. A number of 55 new buses entered in operation and we are going to buy another 60 buses, including electric ones. This is one of the measures we take in order to reduce pollution, encouraging the use of public transportation.

Culture is a drive for Sibiu’s development and thus we allocated important amounts each year, from which we finance our cultural institutions and we also continue to finance the cultural, sports and community events calendars, offering financial support to the organizers.

Consequently, the city is animated with hundreds of events each year, being a pleasant and dynamic life environment for its inhabitants.

What does the organization of the EU Summit on 9 May 2019 mean for Sibiu?

Sibiu is a city distinguished for national and European premieres in its history and we have proven that we have the courage and resources to open paths, to

INTERVIEW

accomplish projects with a European impact. After being the European Capital of Culture, we have become a touristic and cultural destination with a large international acknowledgement. This year we bear the title of European Region of Gastronomy.

Hosting the Informal Summit of Heads of State or Government of the European Union is a great honor for the city, a great opportunity to increase the city’s visibility and an occasion to show that Sibiu is European through its history, but most of all through its present. It is a great joy to present our city to the European leaders.

How do you see Sibiu’s European future in the next 10 years?

Sibiu engaged on a pro-European path even before Romania’s joining the European Union and I am sure it will stay on this route. An eloquent example of the European motto “Unity in diversity”, Sibiu subscribes to the Union’s values with its peaceful coexistence and its respect toward the diversity of ethnicities and religions present in the city, being open towards Europe from an economic and touristic perspective, with the dynamism of a city which breathes history and culture, but develops through economy and projects dedicated to the future of its community.

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#EURoad2Sibiu.

In 2019, All Roads Lead to Sibiu

By Irina PAPUC

On 9th of May, Europe day, Sibiu hosts the most important leaders in the entire European political space, for the most important reunion of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, held by Romania. The Summit will address the policies needed to build a stronger, more united Europe. The Transylvanian municipality therefore becomes one of the most important meeting points in the EU space and the hashtag #EURoad2Sibiu, launched by European Commission President, Mr. Jean Claude Juncker, confirms that in 2019, all roads lead to Sibiu.

Looking back at the last ten years, here is how Sibiu was reconfigured and how it became the most important stage for European and international events of regional impact – but even more importantly, how it became a catalyst of changes at a local level. We’re reminded that Sibiu was the first city in Eastern Europe to be designated, in 2007, European Capital of Culture – and it had applied for this title before Romania joined the EU. A decade ago, the European Commission published an evaluation report of the programme, stating that Sibiu made a very “brave and innovative step” to achieve its main objectives: increased European visibility and the revitalisation of tourism and local economy. The title of European Capital of Culture is an important mention because it transformed the medieval city, turning it into the capital of cultural tourism it still is. From an economic point of view, the title was instrumental for the beginning of important events to follow.

A city of culture vs. a city of economic potential After Sibiu had proved it can be a European Capital of Culture, it had to prove that it can do even better and beco-

me an important centre to attract investments. As far as in 2003, an industrial zone was being set up west of the city, where greenfield-type ventures drew more and more Romanian as well as foreign investors. Continental AG, SNR Roulments, Marquardt, Guhring, Harting, RUD Ketten, Bramac, but also local businessmen from Ambient and Polisano were among the first companies to open production facilities here.

The arrival of these companies was the result of Sibiu being attractive as a strong location, with properly skilled workforce, positioned along the Pan-European Corridor IV and having an airport for the logistic connexion. Equally though, Sibiu had to be noticed by the big European economy players. Presenting the municipality as an economic location to potential foreign investors was therefore extremely important for the future development of the city.

The then mayor, Klaus Iohannis, would promote the city abroad on his official visits, showing that Sibiu was a place with investment potential. The Sibiu economical location was presented to foreign businessmen who visited the city – or who in turn invited city representatives to come to their region. In 2011, Klaus Iohannis was invited by the Harvard University in the US to hold a lecture on the evolution of Sibiu from economic, political and cultural standpoints, on the multicultural and multi-ethnic environment so charac-

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teristic to the city and on future development directions.

“I consider it very important that Sibiu is promoted in this regard as well, so that economic development may be ensured in the future. Sibiu has good potential and I am confident that its promotion will convince potential investors to choose Sibiu when opening new businesses”, said the then mayor Klaus Iohannis.

Sibiu becomes well-known not only from what it is said about it – but the other way around, as well. In the last ten years, the city has been visited by high-profile personalities, from European royalty – Their Majesties King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium, Their Royal Highnesses Princess Margareta of Romania and Prince Radu, the President of Germany, His Excellency Joachim Gauck, the Prime-minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, the German Foreign Affairs Minister and future President of Germany, Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to ministers, ambassadors and heads of regions. The name of the city grew.

With the same objective, to improve its tourism capabilities, city authorities decide to focus its actions on targeted groups and events. Sibiu therefore chooses to promote itself in societies with a strong tourism culture and presents its offer at international fairs in Stuttgart, Budapest, Berlin and also Sweden – for senior citizens’ tourism.

The urban development of Sibiu - a challenge, considering the unique character of the city The vision for urban development, as it was proposed by the Municipality of Sibiu City Planning in 2009, started from the concept of ‘Sibiu, meeting point’ and emphasized the potential of it becoming a host city, both attractive and interesting for business, events, tourism and studies. Sibiu, seen as a place where cultural, scientific and financial capitals are mutually supportive.

As Sibiu grew more attractive, urban development integrated strategies were needed to correspond to the biggest changes the increasing development pace dictated: more infrastructure for more travellers, better connectivity, a better development of educational institutions’ networks, the integration of educational and social necessities in areas Sibiu expands into, the development of parks and leisure areas. At the same time, there was an increased demand to synchronise the developments of the Upper City with the ones in the Lower City. In 2010, Sibiu therefore completes the Urban Development Integrated Plan, which mentioned eight major goals – among them, sustainable development and economy; the improvement of living standards in the Lower City by creating a modern and durable urban infrastructure, as well as better accessibility to western and north-western parts of the city.

Projects have been introduced for European financing and contracts of 11.8 million euros for 3 years were signed. The most important investments targeted a new bridge over the Cibin river, the rehabilitation of utilities, car and pedestrian infrastructure on several roads, as well as the creation of an urban traffic control and management system in Sibiu. European funds also allowed the expansion and rehabilitation of 30 kilometres of water and sewage networks. Public transport was also modernised, in line with the city’s dynamic development: some routes were extended due to the building of new shops or company headquarters, other routes in the industrial area were modified once the ring motorway was put into service, the number of buses transporting employees to and from companies in the area was increased.

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Photo: Ovidiu Matiu

In just four years, from 2009 to 2012, bike routes multiplied from only 3 to over 50 kilometres – and further increased in the following years to more than 70 kilometres.

Between 2016 and 2018, infrastructure development continues: almost 100 streets went into rehabilitation, several neighbourhoods expanded, education institutions were rehabilitated and, in 2017, the Municipality of Sibiu became the first city in the Centre region to pass the most important step in accessing non-repayable EU funds for county seats – the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategy and the Urban Mobility Plan. Without the approval of these strategic documents, local authorities can’t submit projects to get EU grants for the sustainable urban development of their cities.

The efforts made by Sibiu to improve its infrastructure and for a smart urban development did not go unnoticed. Last year, Sibiu was recognised for ‘Excellency in the Urban Regeneration of Public Spaces’ at the Gala of the Romanian Municipalities’ Association.

Besides infrastructure, another objective of the municipality was to develop smart systems for citizen interaction. In 2011, with the help of EU grants, the e-administration platform of the city was created. Online, people can get permits and certificates, they can inquire on their petitions and requests, make electronic payments, submit applications, request hearings and so on.

Sibiu adopts the concept of SMART CITY In 2013, Sibiu was visited by 25 urban development experts from Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and England, to offer consultancy on the urban development of the city.

From 2014 on, the local administration has been making its decisions according to the Urban Development Guide 20142024, a document stating 21 goals and 95 development li-

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nes. Here are the most important of them until 2024, in order to integrate Sibiu in the concept of smart city: Sibiu – a city of culture and sports Sibiu – a prosperous and innovative city Sibiu – a green and responsible city Sibiu – a city of communities Last year in December, Sibiu received an award from the Romanian Association for Smart City and Mobility at the ‘Smart City Industry Awards 2018’. The award was granted in the SMART LIVING category in recognition for the projects implemented by the City Hall – projects which improved the living standards in Sibiu: the modernisation of utilities networks, streets and neighbourhoods, the rehabilitation of parks and creation of new leisure areas, the renovation of schools and extending cultural events towards neighbourhoods.

EU FUNDED PROJECTS OF 70 MILLION EURO FOR THE CITY’S DEVELOPMENT Sibiu continues to develop its main priorities: urban infrastructure, school networks and health systems. 23 projects totalling 320 million euros will help Sibiu become a more competitive city, a city better prepared for the needs of its citizens, safer both for them and for tourists. The biggest portion of funds goes to mobility improvement and targets the following: 4 The modernisation of the Sibiu public transport by the acquisition of 40 new CNG1 buses, together with modern passenger information systems 4 The introduction of a ‘green’ public transport line in the historic centre of Sibiu, by the acquisition of 5 electric minibuses and their necessary infrastructure 4 A bike path along the Cibin river, on a route that will cross the city and will link existing paths

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4 A self-service automated bike rental system – Sibiu Bike City. 44 centres will be built with 500 bicycles, including tricycles for the elderly and for people with disabilities.

Thanks to a European project, the City Hall continues the digitalisation of public services. A financing contract has recently been signed for the digitisation of archives and expansion of online services – an important instrument to reduce bureaucracy.

‘We want to reduce bureaucracy in real terms, through functional applications and equipment to provide for the efficient solving of citizen’s inquiries. At the same time, the project has the important role of training local public servants and increasing their proficiency’, said Astrid Fodor, Mayor of Sibiu.

EU funds complement the sums that the public administration grants for development. In 2019, 228 million lei are directed to investments and infrastructure – 30% of the entire budget of the municipality.

For city officials, investments in education, health and culture are a priority this year as well.

‘Come visit this wonderful region in central Romania’ Also important is the fact that this year, Sibiu implements an ambitious European project – Sibiu European Region of Gastronomy 2019, which puts the municipality on the map of European cities where gastronomy intertwines with tradition. Authorities are certain the programme will bring added value for small producers in the rural areas, will add momentum to the food service industry and will contribute to the international awareness of the Sibiu brand.

‘Sibiu has the experience of large-scale European projects, but hasn’t stopped at being European Capital of Culture.

2007 was just the beginning of a culture-based city development strategy. It is from this strategy that the Sibiu European Region of Gastronomy programme stemmed from.

I invite you to visit the city and county of Sibiu in 2019, this wonderful region in central Romania, I invite you to enjoy and take part in the events taking place in our city’, says Mayor of the Sibiu municipality, Astrid Fodor.

The development of Sibiu, in numbers: Budget of the municipality, 2009/2019 4 2009 – 195.6 million lei (4.6 million euros) 4 2019 – 778.4 million lei (163.5 million euros) * In 2017, companies in the Sibiu county had a turnover of more than 6.9 billion euro, 236 million more than the previous fiscal year. The gross profit in the same period was 1.1 billion euros * In nine years (2008-2017) the number of tourists has doubled – from 287,000 to 565,000 * In the same timeframe, the number of rural guesthouses has doubled, the number of urban guesthouses has tripled 1

CNG – Compressed Natural Gas

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The Touristic, Medieval and Exuberant Sibiu

By Irina PAPUC

A medieval city bearing witness to and displaying, in its architecture, a rich 900-year-old history, Sibiu offers tourists from all over the world a fascinating show of history, culture and tradition, infused with the exuberance of modernity and the vitality of new generations. It is the only city in Romania to have three Michelin stars and has entered the competition for European Best Destination 2020.

Sibiu, Hermannstadt in German, is fascinating first of all because of its history. It is virtually impossible to be in the city and not find out about its past. Its ramparts, its squares, its historic monuments and paved streets are the expression of an almost 900-year-old tumultuous existence.

You should know that its first documentary mention dates from 1292, then a Saxon colony with a spectacular evolution across centuries. You should also know you are in the former capital of Transylvania, from the 16th century on.

The first school, the first library, the first hospital, the first apothecary, the first Romanian book on medicine, the first theatre, the first cast iron bridge – these were all in Sibiu, and the list goes on. And there’s more besides the history of this city; every year, Sibiu hosts a number of international cultural events – and was, in 2007, the first east-European city ever to hold the title of European Capital of Culture. So now that you know a bit about its origins, let’s find out some of the most important tourist attractions of Sibiu, a city to discover.

The Large Square and The Small Square The Large Square is where most important events have taken place in Sibiu’s history. It is approximately 140 metres long, 90 metres wide and dates back to 1366, when the third fortification ring of the city was completed. Nowadays, it is from the Large Square that you might hear the sounds of guitar strings and live concerts, it is here that political statements are made from and it is also a stage for major characters in theatre, music and dance festivals.

It is the favourite place for tourists looking for relaxation at the fancy outdoor cafes – but also an excellent meeting point for locals.

The Small Square dates back to 1582 and is situated along the city’s second fortification ring. It is distinctly divided

by Ocnei Street, which descends underneath the Bridge of Lies – another unmissable gem – towards the Lower City.

With only small changes, the square keeps its 15th and 16th century aspect, all its buildings historical monuments, with distinctive fortification elements, public edifices or private homes. Buildings are tall and have those ellipse-shaped,

odd roof skylights known as the ‘eyes of Sibiu’. In 2019, the Sibiu local authorities completed the renovation of an iconic building at No. 22. The Small Square is enjoyed by tourists seeking a bit of quiet and rest on its benches - and is also preferred for its view of the Council Tower1, the Bridge of Lies and the fascinating towers of the Evangelical Church.

The Huet2 Square is just a stone’s throw away – and you should definitely check out the Fellow’s House3 there, as well as the impressive Stairs’ Passage, a massive brickwork connecting the Lower City to the Upper City.

The Ramparts and The Guard Towers The fortification of Sibiu began at the end of the 12th century. The first fortified precinct was built around the present day Huet Square. Due to the rapid expansion of the city and the growing danger of Ottoman attacks, the second, third and fourth precincts were built, enclosing the lower and upper city. These precincts would later be consolidated by adding bastions and thus turning Sibiu into one of the strongest medieval cities in this part of Europe.

The Council Tower The Council Tower sits between Sibiu’s two major squares – the Large Square and the Small Square – and it has

Romanian: Turnul Sfatului Called so after Albert Huet, 1537-1607, important local Saxon leader 3 In medieval guilds, crafters would be apprentices first, then fellows, upon improving their skills, and only the very best would get their peers’ approval to be considered masters 1 2

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One of the famous visitors of the Council Tower was, in 1998, Britain’s Prince Charles.

The Bridge of Lies The Bridge of Lies is one of the best-known symbols of the city. Built in 1859 to replace a wooden passage, the Bridge

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turies old. Also impressive is baron von Brukenthal’s book collection, a typical example of encyclopaedic, Illuminist library which, in line with the standards of its time, covered all six branches of human knowledge: theology, law, sciences, arts, history and literature.

The Brukenthal library shelves hold manuscripts, incunabula, fine leather-bound folios, the famous Great French Encyclopaedia, the works of famous authors of antiquity such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristoteles, Cicero, Plutarch, as well as modern ones such as Locke, Leibniz, Voltaire, Buffon, Hume, Rousseau. With almost 16,000 volumes, the library in the Brukenthal Palace was one of Transylvania’s most important ones in the 18th century.

The ‘Holy Trinity’ Orthodox Cathedral The ‘Holy Trinity’ Orthodox Cathedral was built between 1902 and 1906 by Budapest architects Virgil Nagy and Iosif Kamner. It has the elements of Byzantine basilicas, is a

of Lies is the first cast iron bridge in Romania. There are many legends explaining its name and it is the favourite place of all tourists.

The Brukenthal Museum The Brukenthal National Museum is the pride of Sibiu but also of the entire country, because it is the first museum in Romania and Central Europe, inaugurated in 1817. It owes its existence to one of the most important Transylvanian personalities, baron Samuel von Brukenthal, governor of the principality of Transylvania in the second half of the 18th century. He held this position between 1777 and 1787 and built, in Sibiu, a late baroque palace, after those in Vienna. The Brukenthal Palace and the baron’s collections are the core of today’s museum, its gates open to the public from the very beginning, by testament of its founder.

Today, the museum is organised into several galleries: European Art, Romanian Art and Contemporary Art. They display a rich, varied heritage of painting, sculpture, stamps and cartography. Jan van Eyck, Antonello da Messina, Hans Memling, Lorenzo Lotto, Pieter Bruegel, Franz Neuhauser, Theodor Aman, Nicolae Grigorescu, Ştefan Luchian, Nicolae Tonitza, Corneliu Baba are just a few of the many famous authors whose works are on display.

Besides its rich collections, the baroque palace impresses with its well-preserved architecture, its detailed exterior and interior – with pieces of furniture more than two cen-

scaled copy of the St Sophia in Istanbul and its towers rise to 45 metres high.

The ‘Holy Trinity’ Roman-Catholic Church The ‘Holy Trinity’ Roman-Catholic parish church was built

by Jesuit monks between 1726 and 1733 and is inspired by the early Viennese baroque style. It was consecrated on 13 September 1733 by bishop of Transylvania, Gregor von Sorger.

The domed-tower in front of the nave was completed in 1738, has four stories and is 47 metres high. It has a clock with two discs and three massive bells, installed in the 19th century. If you pass through the Large Square, be sure not to miss this architectural gem – especially since it is open daily.

The Evangelical Church The Evangelical Church is one of the most impressive Gothic structures in Transylvania. It was built in the 14th century on the site of an old 12th century church. The church is dominated by the seven-storied tower decorated with four smaller towers, in its corners. If you climb the 192 steps, you can reach the top floor and enjoy the city panorama. The observation platform is situated at a height

4 The opening in a wall, crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions. The purpose of embrasures is to allow weapons to be fired out from the fortification while the firer remains under cover

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of 55 metres. The church tower is 73.34 metres high – the tallest building in Sibiu.

From 1496 onwards, for 300 years, the church has been the final resting place of mayors, local leaders and personalities of Sibiu. In 1796 burials were forbidden inside the church – but there would be an exception in 1803, when the body of Baron von Brukenthal would be laid in a crypt near the pulpit. Later, the funeral stones were removed from the nave in 1833 and inserted in the ferrule walls – thus creating a unique 67-piece gallery, the only such one in Romania.

Thalia Hall Thalia Hall hosts the Sibiu Philharmonic and is an edifice of national importance. It was built in 1787 by Martin Hochmeister, the founder of the first bookstore in the country, and is a true architectural gem, with two balconies and a lodge for the governor of Transylvania. The building’s main destination wasn’t today’s, a concert hall – it was initially a theatre. In June 1788 the first play was staged here, confirming it as the first theatre in the country and one of the most beautiful in Europe. The building was badly damaged by fires in 1826 and 1949. Its present restoration took 14 years.

The Eyes of Sibiu Tourists coming to Sibiu are fascinated by the small ellipse-shaped roof skylights that look like eyes. In the beginning, their role was purely practical – to ventilate the attics. In time though, they became a true symbol of the city – ‘the wide eyes keeping watch for the locals’.

The ASTRA National Museum Complex The Astra Open Air Museum is fascinating both in its uniqueness and its size – over 96 hectares, of which the actual exhibition covers 42 hectares. It is a must for any tourist. The Astra story begins well over a century ago, when Romanians in Transylvania made one of their dreams come true: to show, in Sibiu, a collection of the most emblematic elements of Romanian identity, under the patro-

nage of the Association for Romanian Literature and the Culture of Romanian People (ASTRA). The first exhibition was organised by this association in 1905. The ASTRA Museum is 4 kilometres outside the city, in the ‘Dumbrava Sibiului’ natural reservation, recommended for tourists all over the world and awarded with three stars in the print version of the 2019 Michelin Guide.

There are 10 kilometres of parkways and alleys here passing by peasant households, workshops, wooden churches, Christian folk shrines, sheepfolds, wine cellars, water and windmills. The original interiors show the simple life of Romanian peasants from all over the country, their activities and traditions.

There are many amenities for tourists: two restaurants, two guest houses, a children’s playground, an information point, four parking areas, many picnic spots, a number of practical demonstration areas and many other leisure activities for a pleasant stay. In summer there are numerous events taking place here.

VISIT THE VILLAGES AROUND SIBIU Mărginimea Sibiului (literally, the Sibiu Surroundings) is a unique ethnographic area in Romania, west from Sibiu. It encompasses 18 villages situated at the foot of mountains Cindrel and Lotru. Locals are still devoted to their traditions and among their main activities are crafting, agricul-

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ture, farming and especially sheep-herding. It is an amazing area due to its stunning views and pristine nature.

Moreover, tourists enjoy the hospitality of the locals, always glad to share their cheese and meat delicacies specific to this region. In the Mărginime, every year there are festivals attracting thousands of tourists eager to discover traditional products. And as a last argument, we’ll tell you that in December last year, the Mărginime was ranked by europeanbestdestinations.com among the top European destinations for… ‘digital detox’.

Accommodation in Sibiu Sibiu welcomes everyone. From four and five-star hotels to guesthouses and hostels, accommodation in Sibiu fits all budgets. There are more than 5,500 places in very conveni-

ent hostels, in more than 70 neat guesthouses or the 25 two, three, four or five-star hotels. The accommodation possibilities of Sibiu are completed by guesthouses from nearby towns and villages – and add up to 9,000 places. Due to international and European-level events, Sibiu had to develop its accommodation options in order to stay attractive. As a result, hotel services and amenities make for a pleasant destination, confirmed by the fact that Sibiu is the only city in Romania awarded with three Michelin stars. There is always some special offer for city breaks – for Easter, Christmas or cultural and sports events taking place in the city.

Sibiu county in numbers Over 560,000 tourists have visited the county last year.

400,000 of them came to the city of Sibiu, twice the number recorded a decade ago. The most popular month was august, with 80,500 tourists. Hotels are the preferred accommodation – but guesthouses and farm guesthouses are increasingly popular. Atypically, there are two full seasons in Sibiu – the second one in winter, around the Christmas Market and the New Year’s Eve, and therefore December sees peak levels in tourism.

Sibiu City App Tourists can download the free Sibiu City App, which provides a list of local attractions, recommendations or interesting events, an updated agenda, useful information on accommodation, restaurants, leisure activities, transportation. The app is available in three languages – Romanian, English and German.

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Sibiu - adding flavour to Europe

by Irina PAPUC | Photo: sibiu.ro

The town of Sibiu puts on a gastronomical show in 2019. With a display of traditional recipes that have been carefully preserved and passed on for generations, based on clean ingredients from local farmers, Sibiu, also known as the Southern Gate of Transylvania, is getting ready to share its’ unmistakeable flavour with the rest of the world.

The Region of Sibiu (Romania) was awarded the title of European Region of Gastronomy in 2019 by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism.

The region’s application received a positive review and the jury’s visit to Transylvania was proof enough that Sibiu and Romania have what to show the world in terms of culinary art. The programme is run by a consortium made of the Sibiu County Council, the Sibiu City Hall, the Mediaș City Hall, the Sibiu Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu and the Sibiu County Tourism Association, with a seventh member joining this year: the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy. This important title of European Region of Gastronomy is shared together with the South Aegean Region (Greece), and was passed on by the previous holders – Galway-West of Ireland (Ireland) and North Brabant (Holland), during an official ceremony. Diane Dodd, Chairman of the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism, encouraged the local authorities to fully benefit from this programme.

‘I have seen increasing interest in maintaining cultural diversity and finding solutions to the challenges posed by globalisation. I have seen innovation and creativity, fantastic menus, and I have tasted fabulous dishes in Sibiu. I believe that winning the title of European Region of Gastronomy brings along three huge advantages: the credibility that comes with holding this distinction, the international visibility and, most importantly, I believe, the fact that this honour brings people together for a common purpose and a common value. Uniting as many people as possible for the same direction is the most beautiful thing one can achieve’, said Diane Dodd.

President of Romania: “It is a project… to my taste” Ever since his debut, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who’s family is from Sibiu, praised the European Region of Gastronomy programme and reasserted Sibiu’s ability to carry out large scale European projects.

“Sibiu – European Region of Gastronomy is an event… to my taste! I congratulate everyone who has been involved and who has believed that Sibiu has the potential for more. I deeply appreciate how you turned a smallscale project into a partnership between so many local actors and succeeded in promoting the region of Sibiu.

This regional approach is authentically European and I am convinced it will be a huge success. But there is also another reason: the food from the Sibiu and Mărginime areai is the best”, said the Romanian President during the official launching of the programme.

The significance of the European Region of Gastronomy Only eight regions in Europe have had the privilege of being awarded this special distinction so far, among which Catalonia (Spain) and Lombardy (Italy). Sibiu owes this title to the local culinary traditions that have been well preserved throughout the region, but also to the diverse cultural influences in the area. The award not only benefits the whole surroundings of Sibiu but also the entire country, as all of Romania is worth being discovered and valued for its traditional food, local produce, unique natural scenery and the concern for a healthy diet.

The title of European Region of Gastronomy is of great significance for small and medium farmers in the rural area, because it encourages the production of food based on ecologically grown ingredients, following centuries-old traditions. This year more than ever, these products are at the heart of dozens of projects and events aimed at celebrating local flavour and healthy food.

Gastronomy events Whether preparing for presidents, diplomats, or tourists at over 2,000 metres altitude, the cooks in the European Region of Gastronomy programme have managed to synchronise each other perfectly every time and prepare the right dishes, in the purest respect for tradition – with a bit of added creativity.

A successful preview to the 2019 Sibiu – European Region of Gastronomy started in 2018, through the cultural

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events organised by the Sibiu County Council and the Sibiu and Mediaș City Hall, all of which contained some sort of culinary ‘happening’. The consortium organised several events with local and partner funding, of which the most important was the programme launch programme in Bucharest, in the presence of the President of Romania, the diplomatic corps, various officials and the national and local press.

The programme has already organised several events this year, the ‘Winter tastes’, during which hundreds of people were able to exhibit and sell traditional preparations, take part in original competitions: making sausages, slănină ii or matured cheeses, as well as compete in international championships of pizza and pasta cooking. Some of the events included cooking in the open, such as pastoral cooking. Curious tourists were able to taste sheep stuffed cabbage, sheep sloiiii, spicy sheep stew, muttoniv broth with tarragon and cream, cauldron polenta, cauldron balmoșv and mutton on a spit. Some of the most spectacular dishes were the sheep or Black Angus roasts on a spit.

The taste of Sibiu in spring Almost 60 restaurants from the region of Sibiu took part in “Tastes of Sibiu”, each preparing their own five-item menu, some of which specifically designed for the European Region of Gastronomy programme, others inspired from the area’s culinary traditions. The special menu was included in the regular one in all the restaurants that accepted to be part of the programme. Soon, the spring edition will be out, featuring fresh vegetables and tender meat. You will be sure to find Transylvanian or Saxon broths, jumări paste, pork stew, grilled lamb from the Mărginime region, mountain trout, venison cutlets, ricotta pancakes, garden apple strudel, Cisnădie pound cake and the list goes on.

The preparations are provided by the small local producers. The organisers have also prepared a brochure featuring all the restaurants and their goodies, as well as a list of beer and wine manufacturers in Sibiu.

May highlights The Rural Community Fair will take place for the first time this year on the 18th May. Crafts, music, dance and gastronomy will be intertwined, and the Museum Night will be a good opportunity to organise a culinary marathon featuring old Sibiu recipes, interactive workshops and traditional food tasting. Everyone is invited on 19 May to discover the region known as “Țara Secașelor” and visit its museum in Miercurea Sibiului, where tourists can enjoy a mixture of gastronomy and viticulture.

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THE TASTES OF SIBIU, PROMOTED IN VIENNA AND BERLIN The European Region of Gastronomy programme has been promoted through a range of international events.

The consortium took part in the Berlin International Tourism and Trade Fair. Hundreds of visitors had the chance of tasting cheeses and salamis, cured fatback and smoked meat products, vegetables, Transylvanian bread and traditional sweetmeats. The products from Sibiu were also displayed at the Romanian Embassy in Berlin, as part of the exhibition called “Two Regions in Europe – the Centru Region and the Brandenburg Land”, inaugurated by His Excellency Emil Hurezeanu, the Ambassador of Romania to Germany. The event was included in the working visit for Implementing Smart Specialisation Strategies, which reunited representatives of the administrative units from the Centru Region and of the Regional Development Agency – Centru. Each county belonging to the Centru Region was invited to prepare a presentation stand with its local products. Sibiu chose the 2019 European Region of Gastronomy programme as the main theme for its exhibition.

Moreover, the Embassy of Romania in Vienna recently hosted an event for promoting the Sibiu – European Region of Gastronomy in 2019 programme. More than one hundred guests from a variety of fields attended the event organised by His Excellency the Ambassador Bogdan Mazuru, among which: representatives of the diplomatic core in Vienna, delegates of the Austrian authorities, members of the academic community in Vienna, businessmen and journalists. The Mayor of Sibiu, Mrs. Astrid Fodor, was also present as a representative of the Town of Sibiu, one of the members of the Consortium managing the Sibiu – European Region of Gastronomy in 2019 programme. Some of the other guests from Sibiu who presented the Romanian culinary traditions to the public included delegates of the County Council, the County Tourism Association and representatives of the food service industry.

THE PRIDE OF SIBIU GASTRONOMY Dairy Cheese products are an important part of the culinary and cultural traditions of the province, depending on a variety of factors ranging from the altitude of the pasture to the method used to produce them. For instance, in the region of Mărginimea Sibiului, with upland pastures, the old tradition for producing the “telemea”vi che-

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ese has been preserved to this day, so has the recipe for “lapte gros”vii, “brânză de burduf”viii, fermented cheese or “urdă” ix. In the 18th and 19th century shepherds roamed as far as Crimea during the transhumance period, but today most of them have settled in Banat and Dobrogea, while some of them are practicing local shepherding in the Cibin Mountains. Tourists are invited to take part in all sorts of events in the Mărginime area and discover all these beautiful traditions. Some of the ones worth mentioning are: the July fest “Sus pe muntele din Jina”, the shepherds’ celebration in Tilișca in August, known as “Sărbătoarea oierilor”, or the gathering of the sheep festivity called “Coborâtul oilor”, in September.

INTERESTING FACT: „In Saxon villages, buffalo and goat milk are often used in cheese preparations to give them a special flavour”.

Salamis Cold winters in the mountains call for a diet rich in protein and fat. Shepherds from Sibiu are known to indulge in such foods, accompanied by “a teeny bit of strong plum brandy”.

It all starts with the Ignat ritual of sacrificing a pig, on 20 December. The practice is the same today as it was centuries ago and ends with a thanksgiving meal called “pomana porcului” (the commemoration of the pig). Nothing is thrown away and every part of the sacrificed animal is used to produce traditional recipes that have been handed down for generations: “caltaboş” (pork haggis), sausages, “tobă” (a variety of blood sausage), “piftie” (meat jelly), “jumări” (pork cracklins), canned pork in lard, salted “șorici” (pork rind); or ribs cooked with a variety of spices that go well with pork, such as thyme, pepper, tarragon, coriander, allspice or sweet paprika. A very special preparation is the salted and smoked fatback, which Saxons used to store in the bell tower. The locals of Mărginime use birch wood to smoke the fatback, then hang it up on a hook to dry.

INTERESTING FACT: „A typical delicacy is the “chisătură”: fatback paste finely chopped and mixed with parsley and onion. Guaranteed to mouth-water if spread on a large slice of bread. Also, don’t miss out on the Sibiu paté, a traditional gourmet food that has been around for over 90 years.

Bread For many of us, the taste of wood-fired countryside bread is merely a beautiful memory from our childhood. However, there are still quite a few hardworking people who wake up before the sun rises to put the dough in the oven to bake. People in Sibiu prefer the sweeter varieties of bread, such as potato, linseed, pumpkin or sunflower seed bread. The loaves are generally round and big, weighing 1 kg, enough to feed the whole family.

INTERESTING FACT: In Şura Mică, Str. Principală nr. 99, you can buy traditional cake “by the meter”, following an old Saxon recipe.

Beverages Orchards, specifically apple and plum tree, can be seen in many places in the province, due to the sunny terraced hillsides and the rich soil. Nutritious fruit juices produced locally are widely appreciated, such as the Slimnic or Mălâncrav natural apple juice.

INTERESTING FACT: Try natural syrups made of forest fruits, buckthorn, pine buds or elder flower, and add a drop of honey, just like in the old days.

Wine The best known wine from the region is the Apold wine, whose name is closely linked to the Saxons, but whose tradition has been carried on by Romanians. The vineyard of Apold is in the western part of the Sibiu County and is one of the best wine-growing lands in the country. Viticulture has been a tradition here since old times. The Landlers, a Germanic population, understood the importance of the local climate and the terraced land for wine-growing and kept the tradition going. Over the last decades, the land has been used to produce mostly sparkling wine.

Italian Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Muscat Ottonel, Traminer Aro-

The Southern Gate of Transylvania Transylvania, or the “Ardeal” is also referred to as the “land beyond the forest” or the country beyond the forests. The name place is derived from medieval Latin, officially mentioned in a historical document from 1075 CE (“terra ultra silvam”), ultra meaning „beyond” or „on the far side of” and the accusative case of sylva (sylvam) meaning „woods, forest”.

The fertile soil, beautiful wild nature and man-built constructions, the spirituality and hospitability of Transylvanians are the key elements that have helped shape the reputation of this land over the centuries.

South of this region is the county of Sibiu, rich in resources and with a variety of landscapes such as the Făgăraș, Cindrel or Lotru mountains, the Târnave plateau, the Hârtibaciului and Secașelor highlands, the Olt, Târnava Mare and Cibin rivers, and home to 464,305 Romanian, Saxons, Hungarians and other ethnical groups. Livestock breeding and farming are to this day the main activities in the countryside.

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matico, Sauvignon Blanc are a few of the varieties that can be found on the new plantations, with a total surface of 62 hectares.

The Gorgandin wines have a very long-standing history and the name is derived from the hill on which the vineyard is grown.

Sweetmeats Romanians, Saxons and Hungarians living together for centuries in the region of Sibiu have contributed largely to the diversity of culinary recipes, and sweets are among the best proof of that. Wherever you go, people are likely to welcome you with home-made preparations based on recipes inherited from their grandmother.

There is quite a rich offer to choose from: “hencleş” (traditional Saxon cake made with eggs, fruit and cream), fruit cakes, cookies with jam or honey, sweet and sour rhubarb cake, plum pie, cabbage or onion pie, or pancakes stuffed with “urdă” and dill.

INTERESTING FACT: rosehip jam (which the Saxons call Hetschenpetsch) was initially produced by the Saxons living in the Sibiu surroundings. To make it, you need to turn the fruit into a paste by separating the flesh from the seeds and cooking it. The paste is then passed through a sieve and cooked again in a traditional oven.

Astrid Fodor, the Mayor of Sibiu „The Sibiu – European Region of Gastronomy programme is a solid instrument that will help us boost the development of our city. One of the core objectives of the programme is to preserve and highlight our gastronomical traditions, which are the result of an ethnic and cultural diversity that makes our region special. A second important objective is to offer local producers the possibility to grow and promote the products so typical of this region, and give them access to a more generous market in the local food service industry. The educatio-

nal aspect of the programme is also very important, as we will do our best to teach the public to rediscover the healthy food that Sibiu has to offer in abundance.”

Daniela Câmpean, President of the Sibiu County Council “We are happy that Sibiu has been awarded the tile of European Region of Gastronomy at the same time with so many other important events: the Centenary of the Great Union, the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as the Informal European Council Summit in Sibiu which puts our town and province on the map of places that have hosted crucial events for the future of Europe. Romania and Romanians alike reassert their support for the European project, and events such as these give us the opportunity to prove that dialogue, diversity and multiculturalism, tolerance and peaceful cohabitation are values we adhere to.

The region of Sibiu, in numbers 4 88 certified ecological producers.

4 175 restaurants.

4 11 traditional products from 3 certified manufactures.

4 7 products with a certified recipe from 3 producers.

4 1 – Protected Geographical Indication (Sibiu Salami).

4 464,305 inhabitants.

4 County surface of 5,432 sqm.

4 304,849 hectares of arable surface.

i Mărginimea Sibiului is a geographical area comprised of 18 towns in the south-western part of the Sibiu County in Transylvania, Romania, with a rich ethnic, cultural, architectural and historical heritage (Wikipedia). ii Slănină, also referred to as salo in Ukrainian and Russian, or szalonna in Hungarian, and slonina in Polish, is a traditional, predominantly Slavic food consisting of cured slabs of fatback (rarely pork belly), with or without skin. The food is commonly eaten and known under different names in countries across the region. It is usually dry salt or brine cured. The East Slavic variety is sometimes treated with paprika or other seasonings, while the South Slavic version is often smoked (Wikipedia). iii Sloi – meat preparation made of sheep’s meat cooked with herbs, spices, onion and peppers until the meat falls off the bones, then let to cool and harden into a solid block. Usually stored and eaten over winter. iv Mutton - the meat of a castrated male (wether) sheep having more than two permanent incisors in wear (Wikipedia). v Balmoș – a type of polenta made of maize flour cooked in whey and typically served with cream or onion. vi Telemea – a soft, white sheep’s milk cheese with a creamy texture and tangy aftertaste, similar in taste to Feta. Used in salads and in pairings with snacks.

Typically stored in a brine solution, which makes it get saltier with age (www.cheese.com). vii Lapte gros – a type of fermented milk, or yoghurt. viii Brânză de burduf - soft sheep’s milk cheese produced from sheep’s raw milk cut into small pieces, salted and then hand-mixed in a large wooden bowl, and then left to age inside fir tree bark between 20 and 90 days. The longer the period of aging, the spicier and saltier the cheese becomes. It is typically produced from May to July when the fir tree bark is rich in aromatic resin (www.cheese.com). ix Urdă - a type of traditional whey cheese whose is similar to that of making Ricotta. The paste is grainy, silky and pleasant to taste. In Romanian cooking, urdă is often used to make desserts (www.cheese.com).

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EDUCATION

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Sibiu is paving the way for the “jobs of the future”, through a dual education system and a dynamic university environment

By Irina PAPUC

Thanks to one of the oldest universities in the country, Sibiu grew into a true academic centre that attracts students from Romania and abroad, young people looking for jobs for the future.

In 2019, for the fifth consecutive year, dual education system classes are being set up, with the support of the City Hall and private investors. This allows the training of young people living in Sibiu for the jobs the labour market needs.

ULBS, the engine for the development of Sibiu The history of the “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu (ULBS) started over 225 years ago and. The university centre in Sibiu rapidly grew and has recently achieved a competitive education process respecting EU-regulated quality standards. This allows for the graduates to acquire international academic and professional recognition. In this university, unique majors in the Romanian academic system are promoted, and a high trust level recommends ULBS as a powerful institution, engaged in raising the quality of the education process.

During the last year, ULBS has known a rapid development and obtained valuable scientific results. The international visibility of the institution has hence grown. It is now the 7th

of 24 universities in Romania mentioned in the annual meta ranking on the external presence of universities. “Our goal is to contribute to the development of science, knowledge and society”, stated ULBS president, Professor Ioan Bondrea, EngD, in his last activity report.

These values are promoted in nine faculties, created in 2012, after the University was restructured: Theology, Law, Engineering, Letters and Arts, Socio-Humanistic Sciences, Sciences, Medicine, Agricultural Sciences, Food Industry and Environment Protection, as well as the Faculty of Economic Sciences.

But, in addition to the primordial mission of the University – that of education and research – the entrepreneurial approach has become, for ULBS, the result of changing the way in which it approaches the practices of education, research or governance, thanks to the socio-economic transformations on a national and global level. This aspect is mirrored

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by the multiple partnerships – ULBS as a whole, and each faculty in particular – with different companies in Sibiu, state or education institutions in Romania and abroad.

It is worth mentioning that ULBS has the most modern university library in Romania. This was possible after the inauguration of the new library centre in 2009 – a worthy model thanks to the latest IT and communication technologies.

At the beginning of 2019, the total number of students enrolled in university graduate and post-graduate studies was of 13,950, and the number of teaching staff – 671.

Dual education - Sibiu is finding solutions for labour market shortages 2019 is the fifth year since a dual education system has been implemented in Sibiu. The trade school of yesteryear has been consequently elevated to the “highest ranking” – as Sibiu Mayor Astrid Fodor declared at the start of the school year. This year, local authorities have without hesitation supported the development of the dual education system, helped by foreign investors in the city. Over 280 students are enrolled in dual system technical courses this year. The specializations are diverse: tool and die maker, mechanical engineer, machinery operator, textile manufacturing maker, store keepers, cook, hotel worker, steward and waiter – all of which are highly sought-after jobs in Sibiu.

“The old saying a handful of trade, a handful of gold still applies today. A skill is the best guarantee for a future job.

Dual education has re-established respect for vocations. It offers young people solid training, and, consequently, a decent and well-paid job.” (Astrid Fodor, Mayor of Sibiu) The “Independența” Technical College, for example, has three dual education system classes. This type of education is a process unfolding in two directions and in two learning environments: in school, students acquire theoretic knowledge, and, in the factory, they acquire practical knowledge and skills. This is a popular vocational education model in Germany. This year, the institution is collaborating with eight companies that decided to offer scholarships to the students willing to learn a trade: Continental (scholarships for 33 students), Brandl (14 students), Marquardt (ten students), ODU (ten students), Kuka (eight students), Wittenstein (seven students), Harting (six students) and CBS (four students).

The students learning in those three classes will master the following trades: mechanical engineer (industrial machines and rigs), numerically-controlled machine operator and tool and die maker.

Comparing this year to 2018, in 2019 there have been three times as many applications from students and parents for enrolling in such a class, in the “Independența” College. The young people whose applications are accepted receive a 500 lei (105 euro) scholarship – of which 200 lei (42 euro) are offered by the City Hall and 300 (63 euro) by the companies. In addition, at the end of each tear, the best students will receive merit scholarships of 2,000 (420 euro), 1,500 (315 euro) or one thousand lei (210 euro).

In Sibiu, the dual education system has been implemented in the following teaching institutions: “Independența” Technical College, “A. Iancu” Technology High School, “H. Coandă” Technology High School, “G. Barițiu” Economic College and Cibinium Technical College. Sibiu City Hall is offering the space in these education centres and is investing in the high schools enrolled in this programme, in order to create the best conditions in labs and workshops.

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CULTURE

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SIBIU, A CAPITAL OF CULTURE ANIMATED BY MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED EVENTS. 2018 - A YEAR MARKED BY THE CENTENARY OF THE GREAT UNION Sibiu has been a cultural city ever since 2007, when it was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture. Every year it manages to attract hundreds of thousands of tourists, who can get to know the history and the traditions of this place, drawn by the numerous cultural and gastronomical events organised or financed by the Sibiu City Hall.

2018 was no exception. On the contrary, the magnitude of the events organised in the city was obvious, especially thanks to the fact that last year was marked by the Centenary of the Great Union – one hundred years since the Romanian people were reunited for the first time ever in one country. Sibiu was one of the cities in which history was written one century ago. Organising an event dedicated to the Centenary was a central point of interest for the Sibiu City Hall, but the other cultural events – older ones, which started decades ago, or newer ones – were not overshadowed. In total, over 120 projects and events were financed with almost 8 million lei (1.7 million euro) in 2018.

THE CENTENARY OF THE GREAT UNION January 1, 1919. A month after Transylvania and the Romanian kingdom united, French General Henri Mathias Berthelot was enthusiastically welcomed in Sibiu by the president of the Ruling Council, Iuliu Maniu, by soldiers and by the peasants of Mărginimea Sibiului, a region in the south-west of the Sibiu County. General Berthelot had an important role in organising and modernising the Romanian army. He remained known in Romania’s history

as the Frenchman who pushed the Great Union forward.

“May the blood of the heroes fallen in the battles of the Great World War be for you, oh, beautiful Romania, a seed for new virtues, in such a way that your children be forever worthy of their parents and ready to defend your sacred land, so often invaded but, in the end, unified through the effort of the recent generations”, said Berthelot.

October 6, 2018. The echoes of the military song “Drum Bun” (Farewell), with lyrics written by the poet Vasile

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Alecsandri, resonate in the centre of Sibiu. Thousands of locals make their way to the Main Square, where they will attend the biggest public manifestation dedicated to celebrating one hundred years since the Great Union of 1918.

In the centre of the town, over 300 soldiers of the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy in Sibiu reconstitute the atmosphere that would have been one century before.

The Sibiu City Hall chose re-enactment as the way to mark the Centenary of the Great Union alongside the townspeople. The event reconstituted the regale welcome of French General Henri Mathias Berthelot by Iuliu Maniu, the president of the Ruling Council, by local authorities, by the Romanian Army and also by the people living in the settlements near Sibiu. The Sibiu City Hall partnered with representatives of the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Sibiu Land Forces Academy, as well as with Continental Automotive Systems and the Sibiu Community Centre – the producer of the event.

“The communities took part in this parade of joy and happiness one hundred years ago. Then, as well as now, they showed that Sibiu is a united city in moments such as these. The fact that, one century later, these communities attended the celebration of the Centenary is remarkable.

This shows that the region has remained tightly knit, courtesy of its people. I want to publicly thank everyone for attending an event through which we have celebrated together the history of our country and the history of Sibiu. I appreciate the efforts they have voluntarily made to come to Sibiu and to parade in the folk costumes we are so proud of and which are an integral part of our culture and of our community’s spirituality. In the name of Sibiu, I thank everyone!”, said Astrid Fodor, the Mayor of Sibiu, speaking in the city centre.

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Army salute in the Romanian Army.

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Preparations The preparations for the event in the Main Square started as early as August. Local authorities announced then that a wooden gazebo would be rebuilt in the city centre, identical to the one in which French General Henri Berthelot, Romanian General Traian Moșoiu, Iuliu Maniu, president of the Ruling Council, and other members from its ranks, the transition Government of Transylvania, based in Sibiu, were welcomed in 1919. In front of this construction, a parade was organised with the attendance of Romanian military troops symbolically represented by 300 soldiers dressed in historical uniforms approved by museum curators. The uniforms were made and paid for by the Sibiu City Hall. The armed forces were followed in the parade by delegates from the communities surrounding Sibiu, just as it happened a century before. The parade on October 6, 2018, was attended by mayors from the following towns: Alțâna, Arpașu de Jos, Avrig, Bazna, Brădeni, Chirpăr, Cugir, Gura Râului, Rășinari, Sadu, Săliște, Șelimbăr, Turnișor, Tălmaciu.

The parade was also attended by representatives of the ASTRA National Museum Complex, led by director Silvia Macrea. The Mayor of Sibiu underlined that these two cultural institutions have always supported the community in Sibiu in its most important moments.

The Parade Thousands of locals and tourists chose to attend the reenactment of the event that happened one hundred years ago. They welcomed the soldiers of the „Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy standing on the stairs of the Steps Passage, on the Bridge of Lies or waiting for them in the Main Square, alongside the officials in the gazebo. Fragments from the emotional and unsettling letters sent from the frontlines by soldiers writing about the trials and tribulations of war, about missing home, but also about the power to fight that was inspired by the pride of being Romanian, were projected on the huge screen in the Main Square.

A special moment was when a convertible vintage car carrying the look-alikes of French General Henri Berthelot and Iuliu Maniu, president of the Ruling Council of Transylvania, passed before the crowd. The soldiers were saluted with a “Good evening” by Berthelot. Să trăiți1, they replied in unison. Afterwards, the two gave short speeches. “Visiting the Romanians living beyond the mountains has convinced me that their soul is the same as that of Romanians in Iași or Bucharest”, said the French General to the audience, before receiving a standing ovation.

The route of the parade started in the Lower Town of Sibiu, continued through the Small Square, before finally arriving to the Main Square. From here, the parade continued on the Nicolae Bălcescu pedestrian Street, Tribunei Street and Mitropoliei Street.

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Stage Directions The artistic director of the event was Radu Nica, who has vast experience in the theatrical world. He declared that he tried to offer the audience in Sibiu a fresh and true perspective on the history of the Romanians. “The arrival of General Berthelot in Sibiu was a gleeful and emotional moment for all Romanians living in Transylvania. The General passionately loved Romanians and Romania. Despite the fact that he was expelled from the country after the Buftea-Bucharest Treaty, he immensely contributed to the goal of a Great Romania. He was the one who reorganised and equipped the Romanian Army in 1917, who managed to keep at least part of the Romanian land in Moldavia.

He is also the reason for Romania taking part in peace treaty negotiations as a winning country, because Berthelot convinced King Ferdinand to re-enter the war just a day before the Peace signing. In addition, the General popularised the idea of a Great Romania, through a tour in Transylvania and Banat, following the route Timișoara - Arad - Satu Mare - Baia Mare - Cluj - Sibiu – Brașov in a very troubling time, thus risking his own life. It is known that in Arad, for instance, after his arrival in the city, an incident happened, in which armed bands killed approximately 40 Romanians.

On January 1, 1919, troops of the 2nd Mountain Division and of the 7th Infantry Division, commanded by General Traian Moșoiu, were amassed in Sibiu. The better part of the troops marched in the honour of General Berthelot in The Main Square in Sibiu. The locals enthusiastically welcomed the General, hanging carpets in the windows of their houses – a sign of celebration. The Astra Museum director, Andrei Bârseanu, managed to gather an impressive number of communities from the surrounding area in Sibiu – over 70. No less than ten thousand people attended the parade, and the locals doubled the audience number.

Among the officials there were members of the Ruling Council, led by Iuliu Maniu, as well as famous generals of the Romanian Army, as Mărdărescu, Broșteanu and Dabija, but also General Boieru, an ex-Field Marshall in the Austro-Hungarian Army etc.”, explained Radu Nica.

A Show for the Young Following the military and folk costume parades, and the cultural and artistic moments offered on stage by the Junii Sibiului Ensemble, the Madrigal and the Peda Sonora choirs, a video mapping show and a DJ Party followed. The joy of the Great Union was therefore presented to the liking of 21st century youngsters. The show was presented by Les Ateliers Nomad, a studio specialised in video projections in public spaces and in 3D animation. The images projec-

ted on the façade of the Roman Catholic Church creatively presented the history and the cultural development of Sibiu, under the title of “Sibiu, City of Culture, City of Values”. The night ended with electronic music, played by the musicians of Nopame and by DJ Adrian Eftimie, a well-known radio DJ, also famous in the clubbing scene.

Guests The event was attended by thousands of locals gathered in the Main Square, watched by many Romanians on TVR, the National Television, but also by officials who honoured this celebration with their presence. In the officials’ gazebo, Mayor Astrid Fodor welcomed the French Ambassador, Her Excellency Mrs. Michele Ramis; the British Ambassador, His Excellency Mr. Andrew Noble; state secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mr. Raed Arafat; presidential councillor for Culture, Cults and the Centenary, Mr. Sergiu Nistor; the Commander of the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy in Sibiu, Brigade General Ghiță Bârsan; general director of Continental Automotive Systems, Mr. Oswald Kolb; MEP Mrs. Raluca Turcan; senator Nicolae Neagu; vice-presidents of the Sibiu County Council Mrs. Christine Manta Klemens and Mr. Marcel Luca; local council members and other local officials.

THEATRE One of the most important cultural events organized in Sibiu is the International Theatre Festival (FITS), which has celebrated its 25th edition in 2018. The quality of the event was once again validated by the fact that it obtained the High Patronage of the President of Romania – Centenary and the Patronage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

The 25th edition of FITS gathered 3,300 artists and guests from 73 countries who presented 525 events in 73 performance spaces, for approximately 70,000 spectators per day. FITS 2018 unfolded during ten days, between 8-17 June, under the theme of “Pasiune/Passion”.

“For 25 years we have tried to make an insignificant festival grow and turn into one of the most important events in the world. You have seen the number of troupes and public figures who arrived this year in Sibiu. As promised, the public was not only thrilled, but its expectations were surpassed. It is important now to concentrate on evaluating this festival, so that the soon-to-come Summit represents a point of pride not only for Sibiu, but for Romania as well.

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Let us put Romania in its rightful place, in an area of major intercultural dialogue”, said Constantin Chiriac, festival director and director of the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre in Sibiu, at the end of the edition.

According to organisers, the most complex part of holding this festival has remained the technical production which entails a sizable mobilisation, considering the dynamic of setting up the guest productions and the weather conditions. In total, 1,400 kg of coal, 200 cubic meters of Helium, 900 cubic meters of carpet, 250 fences, 57 tons of counterweights, over 600 light units – spotlights, light projectors and smart lighting –, ten lighting boards, 2,000 meters of cables, 500 meters of scaffolding set up with 40 engines and 60 stalls were used for the 25th edition of the festival. All of these, as well as tons of set pieces, were handled by 115 technicians.

In 2018, Sibiu Walk of Fame (Aleea Celebrităților) gained six more stars, given to Peter Sellars (director and choreographer), Hideki Noda (director, author and actor), Wajdi Mouawad (author, actor and director), Ioan Holender (academic, baritone), Mikhail Baryshnikov (actor, choreographer and dancer) and Isabelle Huppert (actress). FITS 2019 will take place between 14 – 15 June under the motto “The Art of Giving”.

Sibiu Young Festival Sibiu Young Festival has reached its fourth edition and has offered over 40 plays by some of the most important troupes in Romania, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Bolivia, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden or Canada. It is a unique cultural event that engulfs plays dedicated both to children and to young people alike. It is one of the few major events which promote social inclusion. Its programs

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are also dedicated to children on the autism spectrum. Parents are encouraged to stand by their children’s side and play sensory games, helped by the actors.

“Our projects are a catalyst for urban regeneration, also due to the fact that they offer an educational and social inclusion alternative”, explained Adrian Tibu, manager of Gong Theatre and of the festival.

Sibiu Young Festival is organized by the Gong Children and Youth Theatre in Sibiu. Founded in 1949, the Gong Theatre is a public institution with a rich repertoire of plays. One of the first professional institutions of its kind in Romania, the Gong Theatre takes on the education and the artistic training of children and young people, using the newest and more diverse forms of artistic expression of theatre art and animation, through a wide range of plays varying in complexity and with multiple themes – from education to entertainment.

Sibiu Ballet Theatre Its shows are more often than not sold out, because the tickets are bought shortly after being released on the market. The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Paquita and Carmen, the Ionescu Trilogy, Raymonda or Giselle are just some of the performances of the Sibiu Ballet Theatre in the short time it has been running. This has made it a symbol of Sibiu, attracting thousands of fans of the art of choreography.

Founded in 2008, the Sibiu Ballet Theatre is officially composed of members from the ballet company of the Sibiu Community Centre, an institution working under the Sibiu Local Council, which makes it a unique com-

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CULTURE

pany in Romania. It started out with just ten founding ballet dancers, but their number has constantly grown.

Today, 40 dancers from all over the world are employed by the Sibiu Ballet Theatre. Their average age is 22 years and they come from different schools, countries and continents: Slovenia, New Zealand, Japan, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and, of course, Romania, some of them having been with the ensemble since 2008.

MUSIC The Street Music Festival had its second edition last year, and introduced a large variety of music and entertainment genres in squares and public places in Sibiu. The theme of the first edition was Ragtime style, and, in 2018, it was Tango, the famous Argentinian dancing music which was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2009. It is one of the best known, loved and danced music styles in the world. Tango means passion, rhythm, a way of transforming body language in pure emotion both for the artists and the audience. It is a two-day festival. Last year’s edition was enjoyed by the audience, both with ears and feet, on August 4 and 5, in the Small Square.

Sibiu Jazz Festival – one of the most anticipated musical events in Sibiu. In 2018, it was held between 17 and 20 May. It is seen as the most important event of its kind in Romania. Sibiu Jazz Festival is a member of the most important festival and jazz promoters’ network in Europe – Europe Jazz Network.

The 2018 edition was the 48th, so the festival is considered unique due to its longevity, consistency and impressive number of jazz celebrities who have played here. Sibiu has been known as the “jazz capital of Romania” since the ‘80s. There are at least four reasons one should not miss this festival. The first – Sibiu Jazz Festival welcomes everyone, young or old. The third edition of Jazz for Kids, a music education project dedicated to the young, took place in 2018.

TRADEMARK EVENTS In 2018, the Sibiu City Hall financed 120 cultural events which impressed the audience through diversity, quality and creativity, proving that the town has cultural institutions and operators, both experienced and skilled. Here are just a few of these events that have stood out due to their scale: the Sibiu Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese organised the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO-Sibiu) on September 6-9, 2018, and the HARA Cultural and Artistic Association – “100 for Romania” project – had an impressive eight-hour concert on September 8, which brought a number of excellent musicians from Romania onto the same stage.

Astra Film Festival 2018 was another big event supported by the Sibiu City Hall. It was organised by the ASTRA Film Foundation, whose director and founding member is Dumitru Budrala, a filmmaker with a PhD in visual anthropology. The festival presents the newest international documentary cinematography productions, and it is also the perfect framework for Romanian premieres and the ideal place to take the pulse of east-European documentary productions.

Another event was the Sibiu Opera Festival, with seven editions behind it. It is organised by the Sibiu State Philharmonic Orchestra. The festival took place between September 9-28. Started in 2001 under the title of “The Sibiu International Festival of Lyrical Art”, the “Sibiu Opera Festival” project represents a grand musical manifestation, with a consistent international attendance, meant to satisfy the interest in opera music of the audience in Romania and abroad. Moreover, the festival is a platform for artistic manifestation and self-affirmation for young opera talent, as the festival includes a canto section.

The International Street Art Festival, organised with the help of the Sibiu City Hall, aims to revitalise urban spaces through art. Its fourth edition was attended by over 30 artists invited from: Romania, Brazil, Russia and England.

They made 19 mural paintings, enriching the street art gallery in Sibiu, which already has 67 paintings on over 5,700 square meters. The murals were done on a series of dead walls, six of them belonging to primary schools and high schools in Sibiu.

Other events worth mentioning: Transylvania International Film Festival, International Folklore Festival Cântecele Munților (“The Songs of the Mountains”), on its 43rd edition already, Feeric Fashion Week 2018, 100 for Romania, Sibiu Music Fest Classics for Pleasure, “Christmas in Sibiu - Gastronomy. Culture. Tourism 2018 (Târgul de Crăciun)”, CibinFEST Beer & Food 2018, Târgul Olarilor (“The Potters’ Fair”).

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Residential neighbourhoods and transportation

Sibiu: the city of investors and mobility The municipality of Sibiu is one of the most dynamic cities in the country and has – besides a rich cultural life – a remarkable potential for economic growth. The development of Industrial Area West, the numerous new residential neighbourhoods as well as the expansion of business premises determined the Sibiu City Hall to search, in the past few years, solutions not only for a favourable investment climate, but also for easing traffic congestion The municipality of Sibiu is part of the Centre region of Romania – together with Alba, Brașov, Mureș, Covasna and Harghita. Sibiu benefits from direct access to the A1 highway, part of Pan-European IV Corridor, the Nădlac-Sibiu route. Still, the connection to the southern part of the country is deficient, because of the lack of highway to link Sibiu to Pitești and București, respectively.

Railway connections give way to air routes – the Sibiu Airport operates flights to and from 15 destinations, cities in Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, Israel, Spain, Denmark and Switzerland.

Sibiu, on track with international trends Despite the demographic decline at a national level, Sibiu – as other flourishing county centres – annually attracts workforce not only from the county, but from across the country. It is one of the main development hubs in the Centre region, which in turn has the highest density of cities and municipalities in the country. Still, Sibiu polarizes not only the county workforce, but also the economic activities – including those connected to tourism, services, healthcare and college education.

In the Sibiu Development Guide 2014-2024 there is a chapter stating that a dynamic economic climate, able to attract in-

vestors and at the same time to support local initiatives, plays a decisive role in defining a city’s development perspectives.

For the last ten years, this aspect was high on the agenda of the local authorities, who made constant developments of the Industrial Area West. The diversification of the job offers had a direct impact on the local budget and on the people’s standard of living. A reality reflected in numbers: total budget revenues constantly increased for the past years: from 292 million lei in 2009 to 354 million lei in 2014 – and almost triple in 2018.

The way residential areas have developed in Sibiu In 2009, Sibiu adopted a new General Urban Plan, through which the local authorities have projected a development idea based on the “Sibiu meeting point” principle, namely city’s progress as an attractive and interesting host for business, events, but also for tourism or studies.

Therefore, Sibiu started developing from the centre to the peripheries on the land economy principle, following three main rules: the city internal restructuring areas become a priority compared to extensions on unoccupied lands; the extension of the intravilan area is based on the evaluation of land needs for the respective time period; the urbanization of the extension zones is achieved in stages. Over the past 15 years, the popula-

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tion and investors have reoriented toward the surrounding localities: Şelimbăr, Cisnădie or Şura Mare, where the residential neighbourhoods have undergone massive development. In parallel, the local administration has started ample processes of rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure, namely the heat insulation of old blocks, on the one hand - a process that is still ongoing - and, on the other hand, supporting the construction of individual dwellings: in the period 2002-2012 the residence stock in Sibiu increased by 14.8%. The maintenance of green spaces and the enlargement of their surfaces, along with the search for solutions to meet the population’s demand for the development of the sports infrastructure, are two other priorities that Sibiu highlights in what providing its inhabitants’ quality of life is concerned.

“The City Hall is supporting local economy through a large investment budget, in 2018, investments representing 54% of the total budget. That is why we are one of the largest consumers of work and services at a local level, especially in the domain of infrastructure and construction work”, Mayor Astrid Fodor observes.

But economic development was not limited to the construction of residential neighbourhoods, which could not emerge without a clear local perspective on the economy of Sibiu. In 2003, the Industrial Area West was inaugurated. This played an essential role in the competitive positioning of Sibiu on a regional level. Numerous investors have been attracted to this area and continue coming here, especially those in the automotive, IT or production of electrical equipment fields.

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individual projects have contributed to urban regeneration of the city. A total of 118 streets were completed in 2015-2017. Part of this regeneration is also the construction of new spaces for recreation, leisure and sports. Here as well, the Sibiu City Hall has completed several important projects: rehabilitation of two large city parks, creation of fitness and sports areas, creation of playgrounds and recreation spaces.

Characteristic for Sibiu Urban Regeneration through Urban regeneration projects culture Until 2014, the rehabilitation and reconfiguration works were mostly concentrated in the historic centre. Starting with 2015, the Sibiu City Hall has embarked upon an ample action for the regeneration of the spaces in the neighbourhoods of apartment buildings, and according to the 2023 Urban Development Strategy all the neighbourhoods of apartment blocks in Sibiu will be included in this program, which involves the reconfiguration of the areas for better functionality, among which: • reconfiguration and rehabilitation of the alleys • arranging the parking lots • replacing public lighting with an eco-efficient one, with LED lamps • creating the underground pipe network for metropolitan cabling • landscaping • arranging sports, entertainment and recreation areas • arranging playgrounds.

Besides these projects dedicated to block of apartments areas, and the rehabilitation of streets in neighbourhoods, International trends on urban development show that the attractiveness of a city closely depends on a series of objective factors (the city’s connection to new technologies, environment awareness and limiting human impact, the encouragement of an active economic climate) and subjective (the dynamic ratio between job offers, standards of living and leisure possibilities). It is also important that mobility be facilitated and improved so that walking, cycling, driving or using the public transport do not hinder one another, and environment impact is minimum.

Parks, bridges, decommissioned thermal power stations, courtyards, squares and even streets in neighbourhoods have become a scene for cultural events. Urban regeneration consists of adding new functions to public space. The cultural act is no longer carried out only in the centre, but it extends to neighbourhoods.

Another example of urban regeneration through culture is the creation of the Culture Factory, a reconversion project initiated in 2014, consisting in turning a former industrial hall into a space for the Radu Stanca National Theatre’s performances, an institution subordinated to the Sibiu City Hall.

Today the space includes 3 showrooms and exhibitions.

Industrial Area West, the investors’ favourite place In the Industrial Area West, some of the largest companies with Romanian capital, as well as important foreign companies have their headquarters: the 12 largest multi-

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nationals in the area have over 12,000 employees, and in 2017 they had a turnover of over 5.5 billion lei. Numerous among them can be found on the list of the most important taxpayers to the state budget. In total, there are in Sibiu more than 50% of the large companies functioning in the county, out of which nearly the majority in the Industrial Area West. Approximately one third of the companies are with Romanian capital, which means an important presence in Sibiu of domestic entrepreneurs, four of them being the most powerful at national level.

“The presence of large investors in Sibiu made the county to occupy the first place among the counties of the Centre Region, where the highest net salaries can be found, and, at a very small distance, in Brașov County, the only ones above the regional average”, according to a report of the ADR Centre in 2018.

The automotive components manufacturing industry is very well represented in Sibiu today, car parts for BMW, Porsche, Renault, Ford, Toyota, Kia or Mercedes being produced here.

To render this area attractive, the Sibiu City Hall has invested in viability, providing water and sewerage networks, creating the road network in the area and public lighting, and extending public transportation routes for local factory employees.

In 2019, the extension and modernization of one of the main roads in the area began, in the context of the expansion of the production units here. Additionally, extension of the public lighting network is also planned, and arrangements will be initiated for the construction of a new connecting road with the city in order to streamline traffic for the nearly 15,000 employees in the area.

Mobility and transportation Owing to its territorial dimension, Sibiu has evolved as a friendly city for all types of transportation, including for pedestrians, especially in recent years. If until recently, traffic planning was strictly referring to motorized journeys, the idea of mobility - intensely promoted all over the world - prompted local authorities to create viable travel policies, for the public space to take also into account cycling or walking.

Sibiu has become well known as one of the friendliest cities for cyclists in Romania: if only 2.5 km of track were set up in 2007, the first bicycle track on the roadway was inaugurated in 2011, and at the end of the year, the total length of the bicycle tracks exceeded 62 km.

Currently, the total length is approaching 80 km, the city mobility tracks are complemented by the leisure tracks in the forest area at the exit of the city. But this would not have developed so fast if local civil society were not involved in promoting the idea of using bicycles in the city, as well as improving public policies regarding urban mobility.

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In recent years, urban public transportation returned to the attention of local authorities. The doubling of the number of passengers on the buses of the Tursib transport company led the City Hall to renew its transport fleet. In 2019, the first buses from the batch of 55 buses purchased in 2018, began to circulate on the streets of Sibiu. The procedures to buy another 60 buses, including ten electric buses, are to be finalized. Nevertheless, the reorganization of the transport network requires not only the purchase of new vehicles, but also the possibility of creating traffic lanes dedicated to buses, routes to the Industrial Area West, along with relocating stations so as to increase intermodality with other regional and national modes of transport, according to the Mobility Plan of the Municipality of Sibiu. The idea proposed by the City Hall through this Plan also focuses on the concern to create mobility especially for people and not for cars and the implementation of European concepts on sustainable mobility: “It is necessary to create a major route favourable to non-motorized journeys in order to connect the western area of the city, the historic pedestrian area and the train station. It supposes the construction of a coherent course, with comfortable traffic and pedestrian crossing conditions and landscape attributes (wide sidewalks, no obstacles, vegetation and shade - alignment plantation, high quality street furniture - inclusively for leisure, safe and comfortable crossings for pedestrians, eliminating parking on the street along the route); as well as the creation of bridges for non-motorized journeys across the Cibin River and the railway.

The number of parking spaces for the rising number of cars remains a challenge for local authorities. “Since our city is a cultural one, with hundreds of annual events, we feel the lack of more large indoor spaces. We found the solution in this case too: the construction of the conference and shows centre.

The Zonal Urban Plan is in progress and we are going to organize a competition for architectural solutions destined to this strategic objective of Sibiu”, the Mayor of Sibiu concludes.

Last year, local authorities started the necessary documentation for the construction of two underground car parks and one above-ground.

In 2018, for the second consecutive year, Forbes placed the city of Sibiu among the top ten cities for business in Romania. The Smart City Sibiu project, whose goal is the promotion of smart solutions for electricity generation and consumption, the e-administration platform, which the City Hall has gradually improved, permitting people to pay online taxes and duties, to submit petitions, the 2017 extension of urban planning certificates and building / dismantling authorizations in electronic format, as well as certificates of fiscal ascertaining for lands and houses, and the introduction of intelligent lighting in parks - are just some of the projects that propelled Sibiu among the top cities in the country.

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Sibiu, an Attractive City for Investors Sibiu is one of the most important cities in Romania, where foreign investors, especially those from Germany, Austria and France, motivated both by strong historical ties and by a favourable investment environment, have chosen to open and develop new businesses. The constant investments of the last 20 years have propelled Sibiu in the top of the list of business-friendly cities in Romania. And, because of industrialization, the neighbouring towns have been fully transformed as well.

In the context of an ever-larger openness of Sibiu towards Europe, Sibiu City Hall and County Council have decided to rehabilitate Sibiu Airport and transform it into an international airport. In addition, the geographic position of Sibiu as a road hub in the centre of the country and the construction of the ring road that circles the city, as part of the TEN-Transport Pan-European Corridor IV, have contributed to creating excellent conditions for the visible economic development of Sibiu. Coordinated planning has led, in a relatively short period of time, to a considerable number of companies that have set up here, as well as to the expansion of existing production lines.

AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, UPGRADED INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL AREA Sibiu International Airport, located in the western part of the city, in the vicinity of the national road DN1 and of

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ase of over 236 million euros compared to the previous fiscal year. The gross profit of the companies of Sibiu County has reached 1.1 billion euros and represents a two-fold growth against 2007, a figure that shows that competitiveness has also grown, since the biggest companies are located in Sibiu and Mediaș. The economic profile is determined by the industrial activities in the field of electrical and electronical equipment for vehicles and for car engines, mainly supported by foreign companies.

Local Fiscal Predictability

A1 highway, is an origin and destination-model airport, operating constant flights to Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria and Israel. It is an important air traffic station not only for the county, but for the entire geographical centre of Romania, with constant passenger flows and a modern, performant material and technical equipment – advantages in the development of international air routes to Romania. It has an excellent geo-climatic position and services three million people on a 150-km radius. On a medium and long-term plan, the Sibiu International Airport authorities want to develop infrastructure for cargo flights as well.

Building a cargo terminal would allow the airport to consolidate its position on the internal and international air traffic cargo market, simultaneously harnessing the development potential of the entire area, in the context of its central position and its commercial premises. The main attraction points for cargo transport are represented by the West Industrial Aree, the East Industrial Area and the major commercial centres. The placement of industrial areas in the east and the west of the city ensure their connection to the ring road and eases road congestion in the city centre of heavy-duty vehicles which, beside the toll they take on infrastructure, also add time in transiting the city.

In this context, the West Industrial Area of Sibiu, located near the airport, has become a true economic development motor in the past decade. Inaugurated in 2003, it contributed to the increased competitiveness of the city on a regional scale, by attracting a significant number of foreign investors in fields such as the auto industry or adjacent sectors. In the first five years alone, direct investments have amounted to 250 million euros, in accordance with the Integrated Strategy of Sustainable Urban Development - 2015-2023.

Some of the biggest Romanian-owned companies, but also important foreign companies operate in the Sibiu West Industrial Area: 12 of the biggest corporations in the region employ over 12,000 people, and in 2017 they have had a cash flow of 5.5 billion lei (1.15 billion euros). Most of these companies are top contributors to the national budget.

In 2017, private enterprises in the Sibiu County have had a total turnover of over 6.9 billion euros – an incre-

Under the circumstances of a lack of fiscal predictability regarding national policies, the Sibiu Municipality has respected the principle of predictability, keeping local taxes at a historically low level 2003.

“The Fiscal Code offers local councils the possibility to increase local taxes by 50%. But the Sibiu Local Council has always supported investors and has not increased local taxes since 2003”, explained Mariana Hașu, executive director of Sibiu Local Fiscal Agency.

The Number of Private Companies is Growing Statistical data confirms that Sibiu is an attractive option for starting and developing businesses. If, in 2017, 15,700 companies were active (not including authorized natural persons), in a single year this number has risen to over 1,300, according to the National Trade Register Office.

According to the same source, in Sibiu County there are 5,000 firms with foreign shareholding in the subscribed share capital, with a value of the subscribed share capital of 580 million euro, during 1991-2018, which means Sibiu is on 9th place on a national level from the number of foreign companies, and on 14th place from the value of subscribed share capital.

Sibiu is also among the counties with the lowest unemployment rates. Throughout 2018, the unemployment rate was under 2.5%, well below the national average, and in the first months of the current year, it has registered an all-time low of 1.87%.

Coordinated Investments in Research and Innovation Economically, Sibiu has already become one of the most important counties in Romania. It has growth potential also thanks to local authorities, who support development.

“In the counties of the Centre Region (Brașov, Mureș, Sibiu and partially Alba), local authorities who have been for several years now focusing on economic growth have obvious advantages – direct support of cluster development, of research and innovation capabilities linked to them, a clear objective of growing the economic potential, of supporting a coordinated link between research, innovation and economy, as well as a favourable policy for investments on a local and county-wide level.

Here, the individual forces of local authorities are willingly involved in developing new industrial parks, centres for science and skills. In the last 3-4 years, they have proven real enthusiasm in their efforts of achieving high-quality

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professional training, in ensuring the necessary number of skilled workers on the labour market. These are the primordial reasons that justify why this region is so attractive”, reads the “Study regarding the development potential and the economic perspectives of the Centre Region”, made by the Regional Development Agency - Centre.

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system has been connected to the labour market. This year, two schools in Sibiu are setting up intensive French language classes.

Development through the Needs of the Business Foreign Investments and German Economic Clubs Environment In an analysis of the Foreign Investors Council of Romania, Sibiu is mentioned as one of the most attractive counties for European investors, alongside Cluj, Brașov, Alba or Timiș. In total, foreign investments in Romania have reached 75 billion euro, between 2003 and 2017.

Germany, Austria and The Netherlands are the European states that have invested the most here.

For Sibiu and all Transylvania, investments by German companies play a very important role. In Sibiu, as well as in Brașov or in Târgu Mureș, there is a German Economic Club. These associations are interest groups of German-speaking investors in Romania. Their aim is to develop the economic environment and to promote sharing experience between the member companies.

German Economic Clubs initiate activities, prompted by their members, in vocational training, marketing, insuring specialized workforce, business travels in search for partners or councillors and obtaining information on policy changes.

Moreover, Sibiu has been active since 2015 in the Francophone Business Club which promotes the interests of French companies, of creating synergies between different economic actors and of being a forum in the dialogue with public authorities. Business relations between French companies and the Sibiu Municipality have been consolidated through years of collaboration, as the first major investment in the West Industrial Area was done by a French company. French investors are among the biggest employers in Sibiu, and that is why the education

The promoters and the authorities responsible for public policies are aware that, in order to develop, the business environment has a few key needs: qualified workforce, basic infrastructure, connectivity, clusters and an efficient and transparent public administration.

In the coming years, local authorities intend to encourage investments in the area by: 4 expanding the absorption rate of the workforce; 4 improving training levels of young graduates, by reducing the duration and the costs for preparing them for the workplace; 4 better correlating the existing specialties with the needs of the market; 4 decongesting traffic in the West Area through new transport links; 4 building office space for start-up initiatives and creative industries; 4 raising accessibility in the city vis-à-vis the Capital through construction work and finishing the SibiuPitești highway, a major project part of the National Transport Master Plan and which is to be managed by the respective minister; 4 raising accessibility on a regional level; 4 detailing the vision of local authorities on the economic development of the city, in fields of interest and in strategic investments; 4 building an online platform which details the necessary procedures for opening a company (necessary documents, legal framework etc.); 4 correlating the databases of various public institutions and the implementation of an integrated system for the management of these databases.

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Enjoy! A Sensory Journey through the Cultural Memories of Transylvania

Enjoy Transylvania is an invitation to (re)discover one of the most attractive regions of Romania and of Europe. We are therefore proposing a journey of experience through the multicultural and vibrant Transylvanian universe. In this adventure of knowledge, we shall be both trustworthy companion and mediator – on an intellectual, emotional and symbolic level. Thus, we are facilitating an illustrative reunion with the most important dimensions of present-day Transylvania. It is unravelling before our very eyes not only as a region that is in full economic and cultural development, but also as a manner of living and of coexistence – particular ways to be in this world. Because Transylvania is a state of mind.

We will wander and roam through this region, in space and time, through the daily dust and through the thin air of its spirituality. Maybe we will take our time walking on spring thaw, on Via Transilvanica1, the social project developed “on the go” by a few daredevils, alongside local communities, to build the stepping stones of the Romanian “Il Camino”, an unmatched road to (self)knowledge.

Other times, we will fly over its sinuous lands, in a melancholic oscillation, up the hills and down the valleys – as the poet Lucian Blaga used to describe it, from a metaphysical standpoint. We will go through centuries of history, enriched or distilled at times, over habits and traditions, we will read the architecture of great and small Transylvanian cities as successive layers of civilization, inscribed on a palimpsest. We will stroll through rural areas, with their archaic beauty, guarded at their crossroads by wooden shrines, by legends and inexhaustible folk beliefs.

We will take our fill watching the wonders of nature, sometimes untouched. We will enjoy the smells, the silence, the discreet rendezvous with locals and their worlds.

We will restore cultural and historical memories with undoubted identity value, precious for Transylvania, for Romania, for Europe and for the whole world.

But no matter how far we travel in time and space, the perspective will not be nostalgic and it will not worship the past – it will belong to the present, to the “here and now”.

Because all we can truly experience is the present, a threefold present, as Saint Augustine enlightened us: the present of the past – which is memory, the present of the present – which is represented by attention or being awake, and the present of the future – waiting or imagining the future.

Enjoy Transylvania is a journey through the cultural memories of the region and through its future projects.

The Memories of Transylvania

the places of high culture (universities, theatres, monuments, citadels, castles) but also diverse local cultures, lifestyles, (im)material heritage or cultural brands that express specific Transylvanian identities, worth promoting in a global and interconnected world.

Enjoy Transylvania promises us a memorable experience. It does not only offer general information about culture and economy, but also emotional and sensory memories of the tastes, textures, colours and aromas of Transylvania, and habitual memories of ways of doing, experimenting or experiencing with the mind and with the body these adventures – through sport, dancing, cycling, walking, riding – as hard as they are rewarding.

In this rite-of-passage journey, Enjoy Transylvania is a guide. At the end of the road, you will be able to say: I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink – the refreshing mineral waters springing from the heart of the mountains. I was hungry and you gave me something to eat – feasting the Transylvanian way, always hospitable. At the end of each journey, we dined together, tasting traditional delicious and natural dishes (not recommended for vegans though!) and raising a glass of wine, one of the best these lands have to offer, after visiting the vineyards in the region. I felt alone and here I rediscovered what together means and what a community (of ethnically diverse people, of memory, of ideas and of projects) is all about. I was tired and desolate because of the pace of the urban lifestyle and here I rediscovered the magic of nature, of landscapes that take your breath away, of the joys of being active, attractive opportunities for mountain and adventure tourism, an authentic sentiment of feeling fine.

The Transylvanian Madeleine Therefore, Enjoy Transylvania is a synesthetic experience. Every time you browse through the pages of this album, it will get the effect of Proust’s madeleine: an explosion of sensations, of memories, of aromas, of dreams, of feelings, of projects, of encounters. A Transylvanian madeleine, with its specific taste of bacon and horincă2, smelling of wildflowers and hay, sounding like the wind rustling through the forest and water springs, gradually freeing and peaceful, restoring your social trust and inspiring you to finish a project and to responsibly imagine a common future.

The memories we remember have an anthropologic and plural meaning. They underline not just 1 2

A hiking and cycling route through Transylvania, still under construction. When completed, it will be 950 km long.

Sweet fruit brandy.

Sidonia GRAMA

editorial

Transylvania, a State of Mind

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Borsec, 213 years of tradition and prestige A hundred-percent Romanian product, the Borsec mineral water proudly wears its title as the Queen of Mineral Waters it was granted in 1873. First industrially bottled in 1806, Borsec is today one of the oldest European and worldwide industries. In its over two centuries of tradition and prestige, Borsec has become a collector of hearts and titles: because it springs from Romanian ground, because it is bottled by the locals, because it offers itself to everybody as a miraculous drop of health and natural purity.

213 years after its first industrial bottling, Borsec’s springs maintain their energy, and we hope its future will at least equal its prestigious past. Borsec is a name that identifies itself with Romanian mineral water.

The term Borsec originates, according to a number of authors, from the generic Hungarian expression borviz (mineral water) and borviz szek (mineral water seat), a designation given, generally, to a place where the water springs out the ground. The word Borsec resulted from the abbreviation of these two words, eliminating the word viz (water), which is implied. Another version traces Borsec to the term designating water for wine (bor), mineral waters with neutral taste having

the quality of not denaturalize wine’s flavour. From here as well, the basin’s main creek, called the Wine creek, and the word szek (chair) represent the political-administrative form of organization for the local population’s old judicial seats.

It is as clear as water that the liquid miracle was born long before the first settlers in the autochthonous space unwittingly stepped over the land covering it.

History’s threads began to weave in olden times, when the Romans found their peace on Dacian lands. They must have been among the first “foreigners” to enjoy the Borsec water’s purity and qualities. The witnesses are fourth-century Roman coins, discovered around

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the locality which gifted the world with the water bearing its name.

The year 1803 is the moment which marks the mineral water’s industrial history. After drinking Borsec’s water, Viennese Valentin Gunther was miraculously cured from a condition deemed at that time incurable. Amazed and seduced by the water’s extraordinary qualities, he aimed to make it accessible worldwide. Gunther leases the mineral water locations from the locals and, alongside Anton Zimmethausen, a city councillor from Vienna, and also hiring “a certain Eisner, mining engineer and glassblowing specialist” (Borsec’s Monography

by Szilvassi 1890), they begin to market the water throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In 1806, Zimmethausen and Eisner commence the Borsec water’s industrial bottling, with an investment amounting to the current sum of EUR 87,000. In its first production year it peaked at 3 million litres, the bottled mineral water being transported by waggons to all four corners, including reaching Vienna. The bottles were filled with the water collected from the 1 and 2 springs, secured with cork, and sealed with wax. It has been said that at that time bottling was only performed in full moon days, when the atmospheric pressure was at its highest, for the mineral water’s carbon dioxide content to also increase and thus maintain its state.

The Borsec water’s exceptional quality has been confirmed over time by prestigious international organizations, having received dozens of prizes, medals and distinctions.

The past couple of centuries record the Borsec brand every-day history. 213 years have passed since the Queen of Romanian Mineral Waters has been industrially bottled. Quantitatively, these 213 years of Borsec mean over 35 billion litres of bottled mineral water. Throughout all this time, Borsec has become part of the national values, a name that is recognized anywhere, a brand trusted and appreciated by consumers.

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MARAMUREȘ “Gate toward Tradition” Maramureș is a picturesque county, located in the northwest part of Romania, recognized for its numerous tourism attractions, some of them well known worldwide, like the Merry Cemetery from Săpânța. In the geographical heartland of Europe, Maramureș is a land of wooden churches, mythological richness, impressive landscapes and very ancient customs. It has carefully preserved the culture, traditions, and lifestyle of a medieval peasant past.

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Maramureș, this dreamlike land inhabited by hard working and friendly people is the place where even the most demanding tourist will find the perfect entertainment and relaxation opportunities, because the region covers everything, from hiking and extreme sports to cultural and religious tourism.

Culture and religion are two of the main features that define us, here in Maramureș. We have historical places, museums, countless wooden churches, memorial houses, in one word we have traditions.

In Maramureș there are over 200 architectural traditional monuments, the wooden churches that were built centuries ago, eight of them in the UNESCO heritage, are not only museums for the public, but places where the services held by priests lift your spirit up to the sky.

Nature enthusiasts will instantly fall in love with our mountain landscapes and the valleys that are truly breath-taking. In Maramureș we have over 30 protected areas, with mountains full of evergreen woods even in winter.

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No matter the season that one chooses to visit our county, the magic of these places will remain in the soul of every tourist who decides to spend some time in our wonderful region.

The uniqueness and value of our secular churches was recognized by UNESCO that included eight of these constructions on the World Heritage List.

In Maramureș we pride ourselves with rich and various popular traditions, customs that have survived over centuries. Here, in our wonderful villages, the inhabitants still dress up in traditional handmade costumes, they still gather up at social village meetings and carry on the tradition by folk festivals.

Maramureș is a destination for all the tourists and covers all preferences. Hunters can appreciate the diversified fauna from our county’s forests, fishermen can throw their fishing rods in clear lakes and ponds, and mountain amateurs can hike on marked trails, skiers can choose our mountain resorts.

Maramureș county is well known for its popular costumes, for its specific architecture with ancient patterns carved in wood, for its icons painted on glass, for its pottery craftsmen.

The accommodation offered in Maramureș also satisfies all tastes and preferences. We have luxury hotels and motels, but we also have charming pensions, where the hosts will offer to each tourist an unforgettable vacation.

Our wonderful customs of Easter, Christmas or New Year`s Eve are re-enacted year by year to the enchantment of those who choose to spend their holidays in Maramureș. The Ignat customs (religious holiday before Christmas), the horse sleigh, the traditional food, are just a small part from the tourism offers of our county.

Maramureș County Council strengthens its national and internationals partnerships to promote, in every part of the world, this piece of heaven, known under one name: Maramureș.

Gabriel-Valer Zetea, President of Maramureş County Council

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Cultural Development of MARAMUREȘ Region Maramures County Council has a rich experience in the promotion of culture and traditions through local and international events, projects and exchanges of good practices, in cooperation with its subordinated cultural institutions: County Museum of Ethnography and Popular Art Maramures, that has also an open air village section, County Center for Conservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture Maramures, Popular Art School ”Gheorghe Borlan” from Baia Mare, National Folk Ensemble Transylvania, County Museum of History and Archaeology, Art Museum „Baia Mare Artistic Center”, County Library Vasile Dulfu, County Mineralogy Museum Victor Gorduza and Astronomical Complex Baia Mare. Maramures County Council is coordinating the above-mentioned cultural institutions in terms of budget allocations, activities, plans and supports them to develop in partnership projects financed by European Funds.

Maramures County Council is also strongly involved in promoting its culture and traditions at international level, actively participating in international tourism fairs and festivals, periodic events organized by the twinned regions (from Hungary, Ukraine, Lithuania and The Netherlands) and encouraging the cultural cross-border cooperation through joint cultural events of the Ukrainian minorities from Maramures and the Romanian minorities in Ukraine.

“Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble 60 years of excellence Established in 1959 under the name of the ensemble of songs and dances „Maramureș”, the “Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble has developed today in the spirit of valorizing the authentic national folklore. Along the time, there was a need to include a larger region of creation, covering the whole area of Transylvania and the entire Romanian folk repertoire. For this reason, in 1991, the ensemble of songs and dances „Maramures” changed its name to the “Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble.

His tournaments over the years, both in the country and abroad, have meant many resounding successes. Representations held in Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Costa Rica, China, Korea, Mongolia are remarkable for this ensemble. In 2015 the dancers of the “Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble participated in the 14 performances of the famous violinist and conductor Andre Rieu, held in Bucharest

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and Maastricht, the Netherlands, being crowned with a resounding success.

With a repertoire of 25 choreographic suites, the “Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble has confirmed its value by conquering numerous awards: at the World Folk Dance Festival - Palma de Mallorca 1993 - 2nd prize for the authenticity of the costumes, in 2003 - and in 2005 - World II prize; The Golden Medal at the Belgrade Peace Festival in 1995; In 2007, they won the first prize at the International Folklore Festival in Agrigento, Italy, and in 2008 the 3rd Prize at the Istanbul International Culture and Art Festival and the Silver Medal conquered in South Korea at the Cheonan 2008 World Dance Festival. The most recent and most valuable award of the “Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble is the Grand Prize - „The Golden Temple” at the 59th edition of the International Folklore Festival - Agrigento Italia 2014.

Today the “Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble is under the tutelage of the Maramureş County Council and consists of: orchestra coordinated by the conductor Eduard Albina, the ballet body under the supervision of choreographer Emil Miheţ, vocal soloists and instrumental artists. Undoubtedly, the “Transylvania” National Folklore Ensemble is a true exponent of the Maramureș musical and choreographic folklore, and not only, being one of the most convincing promoters of the traditional Romanian culture and an exceptional ambassador of the Romanian people.

Major cultural events in Maramureș Maramures County Council develops two major annual events linked with Traditional and Popular Culture, involving also international partners (representative of am-

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bassadors, twinned regions, minorities from cross-border area, other international guests etc.):

”Days of Maramureș” represents the celebration of our county, taking place in the month of May (the fourth edition, in 2018), through exhibitions, debates, traditional fairs and workshops, popular festivals, ethno parades, etc. The events manage to gather each year local communities of Maramures County, representatives of international communities and important cultural, economic and political personalities from local, regional, national and international level, deeply involved over time in the development and promotion of Maramures County. Representatives of twinned regions from Hungary, Lithuania and Ukraine, are participating in each edition, strengthening the cultural exchange between EU countries. During a week, many events are organized all over the county under the auspices of the “Days of Maramures”, in Baia Mare and other areas of Maramures. “Days of Maramures” 2018 started with the parade of popular costumes and the International Folklore Festival of the Youths. The cultural events also included: photo exhibition “Spring customs”, international symposium of ceramic, international crafts workshop, scientific symposiums, astronomic observations, the round table “important photographs from Transylvania”, ”Maramures Film Festival”, “Festival of the Free Dacian”, the Conference “100 years of the Great Union.

100 personalities of Maramures that made history”.

The popular traditions and customs of Maramures are also promoted each year. In 2018, very successful events have been: the first edition of “Good of Maramures” Fair, the Fair of the young craftsmen and other thematic workshops.

The “Career Planner” Fair is organised during each edition of “Days of Maramures”, gathering the young people that

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have the opportunity to find educational offers adapted to the labour market requests. The local development has been promoted in 2018, through the public debate “Invest in Maramures” focused on entrepreneurship and business opportunities in Maramures. In order to enhance the European cooperation, during “Day of Maramures” 2018, Maramures County Council has organized an event dedicated to the “The Day of Good Neighbourhood” and with this occasion a twinning agreement between Maramureş County and Trancarpathia Region (Ukraine) was signed.

„Christmas in Maramureș” has become one of the major and representative events of Romania through which Maramureş County defines itself as a special space for the preservation of cultural traditions and customs, having a real historical value and a major impact in the socio-economic environment of the region. „Christmas in Maramureş” is a corollary moment when at the end of the year the traditions and customs from all the „countries” from which the Maramureş County is composed are combined.

The event, which has grown impressively from one year to the other and has already become a tradition, reaches this year its 10th edition. „Christmas in Maramureş” attracts as a magnet the tourists who visit Maramureş for the opportunity of discovering local live and tangible traditions and customs brought under a single „umbrella”, in a perfectly integrated archaic space, the Village Museum in Baia Mare, Maramureş.

“Christmas in Maramureş” managed over nine years to give the opportunity for tourists, visitors and the community to take direct contact and actively engage in traditional and authentic activities, from the much expected live „pig sacrifice” in a pure local style, in preparing traditional meals for Christmas dinner, carols concerts with local artists, but also world-class interpreters as Ştefan Hrușcă, traditional festivals, scientific round tables on subjects, exhibitions, plays, folk art fairs and many other actions organized by Mayoralties partners, museums, monasteries.

The impact on the socio-economic environment is beneficial and produces prosperity for both the community and the local businesses, tourism and related fields with a clear increase in the number of tourists visiting Maramureş County.

The mission is to revive and promote, preserve and boost local folk traditions, elements of cultural or natural heritage and bring out and show to the worldwide visitors the richness and realness of folklore, habits and traditional way of life of the people living in the geographical center of Europe and Romania during Christmas time.

“Christmas in Maramureş” also promotes sustainable and traditional ecotourism and nature tourism through local outstanding people sustained by the communities in which they live and providing respect to the natural heritage and local population.

“Christmas in Maramureş” inspired during its nine editions people from all over the county and region to revive, join the event and be proud of their roots, traditions and winter habits. The event also succeeded to reach a level of high involvement of diverse tourism stakeholders from local people living in farms to major hotel industry owners.

Vision and objectives “Christmas in Maramureș” was at the beginning in 2008, a small folk event held for one day in the section Village Museum of the Etnography and Popular Art Museum Maramureş, Baia Mare, but year after year has been developed into a major tourism and cultural attraction with wide implications in the community and economic life of the Maramureș County for a whole month.

The purpose is also to protect the traditional and authen-

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tic heritage composed of local folk ancient customs from the communities that live in remote areas of Maramureș County and to preserve endangered intellectual folk culture still alive through elders, revive and preserve winter ancient customs like “Plugușorul”, “Sorcova”, “Viflaimul”, “Căprița”.

It is an unexpected opportunity of learning about the differences between peoples and cultures and our diversity in celebrating Christmas in ancient ways. Places in which every visitor may observe the social and cultural traditions and customs of all communities, including those of Hungarian or Ukrainian minorities and to recognize their worth.

This event offers big carols concerts with locals and world recognized artists and public, access to eight wooden churches included in UNESCO heritage of mankind and other privately-owned cultural property and monuments during Christmas time.

Main characteristics Visitors are experiencing at almost every step the real countryside habits, traditions and real archaic way of life and culture as it is lived every day during the month of December, not just cultural shows specifically developed for visitors but also feelings and genuine experiences.

The event now unfolded during almost a month offers many recreational and educational opportunities, like the festival of traditions and winter customs “Marmația” held on the second day of Christmas where you can meet the local people dressed up in ancient costumes and masks, singing carols, dancing and offering local goods to tourists.

The event involves the tourists and shows the essence of the traditional and authentic Christmas activities, from living for minutes or hours in wooden houses, singing carols, participating to the preparing of the dishes for Christmas meals, playing and dancing with the local bands or sewing and weaving with the elders in ancient ways.

The tourists who visit the county of Maramureș during the event “Christmas in Maramureș” have a huge opportunity to take an active part of the whole activities, to have a contribution to the events through, for example their costumes or voices, and by this reaching a cultural and spiritual fulfillment. Even by taking part to a concert of carols it allows them, during their travels, to practice their own religion and beliefs related to Christmas.

The visitors are getting a warm and hospitable welcome from the local people gathered in the Village Museum dressed up in folk ancient clothes with a friendly cup of the local drink “palinca” of Maramureș near the fire lighted up and grilling the pork which will become a tasty food for Christmas. Horse riding on the snow in natural places, where in ancient times the well-known outlaws like Pintea Viteazu were living, are other attractions for tourists coming to “Christmas in Maramureș”.

After more than nine editions tourism professionals are in strong and reliable co-operation with our public authority to provide good local services and quality time to the visitors by including the whole cultural and traditional activities promoted under the event “Christmas in Maramureș”.

The local and national media, even the specialized travel media and Facebook trend setters relate and appreciate in their reports the event “Christmas in Maramureș” by offering honest and balanced information and even influencing the flow of tourists every year. We are proud to say that media provides accurate and reliable information to the consumers of tourism services about the activities during “Christmas in Maramureș”, giving us a good feedback year after year.

Innovative features and impact Have you ever tried to make your own bread and Christmas foods in ancient ways, pots and places, be butcher assistant at the slaughtering of the animal which becomes food and make out the best dishes this region can offer?

Lots of relevant feelings and moments happening maybe once in a lifetime will happen during this event. Christmas in Maramureș is the place where you will see, assist or be part of it.

The event is meant to stimulate competitiveness in the tourism sector, many stakeholders develop and improve their offer to meet the expectations of the visitors during the event period. Support and encourage the people from Maramureș county to take part and be pro-active with tourists.

An increased number of tourists visit Maramureș county in December, year after year, due also to the integrated event “Christmas in Maramureș”, based on the numbers offered by the National Institute of Statistics. The growth of tourists number that visited the County of Maramureș is obvious, from 109,083 în 2013 to 217,028 in 2017, from which foreign tourists are significantly high, from 19,453 in 2013 to 35,403 in 2017.

We also have as partner the Ministry of Tourism from Romania based on a written partnership almost every year, the event being part of the integrated vision and strategy of the Tourism Ministry Plan: „The Carphatian Garden”.

In the event “Christmas in Maramureș” are involved two of the “historical countries” from Maramureș County, Țara Chioarului and Sighetu Marmației, which recently received the EDEN award as destinations of excellence.

Maybe the major and best reached impact is the “happiness-state-of-mind” as being part of the real Christmas happenings and preparations in a part of Europe (Maramureș) where the old nice and calm ways of celebrating are still alive.

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Visit Maramureș App

Visit Maramureş App is a tourism application managed by Maramures County Council, for promoting the area of Maramures County, Romania.

The Application is intended for both tourists and residents, providing information on the most attractive points of interest and events in the area, services (accommodation, restaurants, bars, events, and tourism information offices).

Visit Maramureş is an interactive and bilingual application (Romanian and English) that facilitates the access for a wider palette of users, by indicating the position of the user and the possibility to guide him through the routing function.

The visitors have the opportunity to call directly from the application and send email or access a webpage. The application works primarily online, but it has also the ability to function partially offline through the cache that is stored in the phone after a first access.

The Application has the following structure: sights, restaurants and bars, accommodation, culture and leisure, tourism information, events calendar, wooden churches, Green Road, off-line map of Maramureş. Each of the nine modules is running online, but also with the ability to operate offline, by keeping the cache after a first access. The entire application is designed to support the tourists in Maramureş.

The „Tourism Objectives” tile includes monuments, historical buildings, archeology and churches.

The Information provided in the tile „Restaurants and Bars” refers to restaurants, bars, cafes and fast foods located in Maramureş County. „Accommodation” is a tile comprising listing of hotels, pensions, motels and cottages, while „Culture and leisure” tile provides information about the museums, sports, clubs and cinemas. In the „Tourist Information” section, tourists can find out details about tourism information offices and local agencies. The „Events Calendar” tile provides the list of events organized in Maramureş County.

The „Wooden Churches” tile features the list of wooden churAndroid

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ches in Maramureş, including the project ”Wooden Churches Circuit of Northern Transylvania” implemented by the Maramures County Council, which was awarded the EDEN Excellence Award within the Romanian Tourism Gala 2016.

The „Green Road” is an exclusive online module, aimed at displaying the 88 km route where the cars access is not allowed connecting seven traditional villages.

Along the route there are signs and information about sights such as Rooster Crest Reserve, Crăiasca Forest, Morărenilor Lake, the Rivers of Hoteni, Big Peatland, Tartar Gorge, Fir Tree Meadow, etc. The „Map of Maramureş” section presents the map of Maramureş County in jpeg format, including the main sights. This can serve as a genuine guidance tool in areas where mobile data transfer is not possible. This module also provides the possibility, when the user has access to mobile data, to find an address using the Google Maps engine.

The Visit Maramureş App is available on the Android platform and can be downloaded from Google Play, and for the iOS platform it can be downloaded from the App Store.

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Investments „Maramureș” Airport Within Maramureș County, there is an operational international airport, bearing the name of the region Maramureș International Airport, situated 10 km away from our capital city - the municipality of Baia Mare, in the town of Tăuții Magherăuș. The airport has been functioning since 1964 and opened to international flights in 2008. The airport is being managed by an administration, subordinated to the Maramureș County Council.

The General Transport Master Plan of Romania includes works and supplies of equipment for the Maramureș International Airport in the amount of 1.7 million Euros, for the period 2014-2020, needed for the rehabilitation of the extended terminal and improved capacities.

We have identified as a sectorial opportunity, within the Sustainable Development Strategy of Maramureș County 2014-2020 – the growth of the attractiveness’ level of the region for investors, tourists and residents by providing access to regular flights to urban hubs in Romania as well as abroad. This implies the usage to the full potential of the current infrastructure that has been recently upgraded, as well as planning to extend it, in terms of passengers (terminal) and goods (cargo) flows. Thus, we find ourselves now in the stage of devising a strategy to construct a new terminal that can service up to 450 passengers per hour – arrivals/ departures, for local/national and international flights.

There is a plan to also construct a new cargo terminal, as an important manufacturer of aluminum parts for airplanes (Universal Alloy Corporation Europe) operates in the vicinity of the airport and is currently financing a new investment. The new plant will encompass a center for design and a production facility for large plane parts, which would require air-transport using specialized cargo planes.

The airport has been certified with the label of “international” as early as the year 2011 and this has involved the full presence of all needed certified services within the premises (customs, border control, passenger and luggage security and so on).

The significant European funds that the Maramureș Airport has benefited from in the previous programming period have helped ensure that all facilities function at European standard levels for both passengers and airoperators, with plans on the way to further extend the passenger terminal and erect a new cargo terminal that will service the private sector in the region. To achieve its full development potential, the airport needs to continue the investments for both passengers and goods traffic.

Rehabilitation of the County Roads The Strategic Planning Document at County level, called „The Sustainable Development Strategy of Maramureş County for 2014-2020”, is the main document of Maramureş county public administration. One of the strategic objectives identified is to increase the connectivity and attractiveness of Maramureş County for investors and tourists. This is also envisaged by increasing the accessibility of Maramureş County both at the western and northern boundaries, at major transport corridors in the TEN-T network and at the major urban centers in the region, as well as increasing the sustainable mobility within it.

Roads are an essential component of the county’s development strategy; therefore, the development of transport infrastructure is a necessary condition to ensure that the other priorities of the county are implemented in an integrated way.

The county roads in Maramureş have a total length of 786.7 km, their share in the total length of the county roads (30.5%) being higher compared to the regional (26.1%) and national (26.3%) level.

At present, the rehabilitation of the county infrastructure is done through investments from two funds: the Regional Operational Program (POR) and the National Local Development Program (PNDL), which will help the whole area, mainly on the tourism segment.

Between 2009 and 2016 the county road route BAIA SPRIE (National Road 18) - CAVNIC (County Road 184) - OCNA ŞUGATAG (County Road 109F) -CĂLINEŞTI (County Road 185) - BÂRSANA (County Road 185) was rehabilitated. The project was financed through Regional Operational Program 2007-2013, Priority Axis 2, Improving the regional and local transport infrastructure, Key area of intervention 2.1, Rehabilitation and modernization

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of the county road network, urban streets - including the construction / rehabilitation of the ring roads. The total amount of funding was 131,560,403.75 lei.

In the next period, the following county roads will be rehabilitated through the investment projects listed below: 1. Project “North Road Rehabilitation - Maramures, Stage I” ROP 2014-2020 - LOT 1 and LOT 2 The investment objective “Rehabilitation of the North Road - Maramures, Stage I”, financed through the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020 has a total length of 72.758 km and is composed of the following roads and sectors of county roads: • County Road 108D, county limit Salaj - Gârdani (DJ108A); • County Road 108A, Gârdani - Ardusat; • County Road 193, Satu Mare county limit- Hideaga; • County Road 182B, Coaş - Şomcuta Mare; The rehabilitation works will be carried out on the existing sector of the county roads and they will provide actions to improve the relevant parameters: speeding, road safety, loading, etc.

Among other things, the project also includes road bridge rehabilitation works over the Somes River on the County Road 193 in Ardusat, with a length of 238 m, and the 66 m long and 38 m long discharge bridges. Also, the project includes works to readjust the level of the crossing with Railway (Dej - Baia Mare) on the county road DJ193 in Hideaga.

The total value of the investment “Rehabilitation Northern Road - Maramures, Stage I” is 231,545,894 RON including VAT. The duration of the design and execution contracts is 780 calendar days starting on 1st of March, 2019, of which the 180 days design phase and the actual execution time of the works is 600 days.

2. Project “County Road 109F Rehabilitation, Sălaj County limit- Târgu Lăpuş (National Road 18B) - Dămăcuşeni - Rogoz (County Road 171)”- PNDL I - Lot 1 The Investment Objective “County Road 109F Rehabilitation, Sălaj County limit - Târgu Lăpuş (National Road 18B) - Dămăcuşeni - Rogoz (County Road 171)” is financed through the National Program for Local Development I, a governmental program managed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration for the financing of local development projects by carrying out road infrastructure works, approved by the GEO no. 28/2013.

The county road section to be rehabilitated within this project has an effective length of 27.426 km from km 10 + 335 (Sălaj County) - Târgu Lăpuş (National Road 18B) - Dămăcuşeni - km 38 + 164 Rogoz (intersection with County Road 171). The county road 109F overlaps in the central area of Târgu Lăpuş with the National Road 18B on a length of 403 m, from km 33 + 264 to km 33 + 667.

This sector of the county road crosses the following localities: Baba, Drăghia, Coroieni, Văleni, Răzoare, Târgu Lăpuş, Dămăcuşeni and Rogoz and intersects with the following public roads classified: Communal Road 39 (Vălenii Lăpuşului), Communal Road 57 (Drăghia), Communal Road 55 (Coroieni), County Road 109G (Vălenii Lăpuşului), Communal Road 52 (Răzoare), National Road18B (Târgu Lăpuş) and County Road 171 (Rogoz).

The duration of the design and execution contract is 540 calendar days, starting on 6th of March, 2019, of which the design phase is 180 days, and the actual execution time of the works is 360 calendar days.

3. Project “Rehabilitation of County Road 182B, Coaș sector (intersection with County Road 182C) – Remeți pe Someș (intersection with County Road 108E); The section: Șomcuta Mare (intersection National Road 1C) – Remeți pe Someș (intersection County Road 108E)” – PNDL I – Lot 2 The investment objective “Rehabilitation of County Road 182B, Coaș sector (intersection with County Road 182C) –

Remeți pe Someș (intersection with County Road 108E); The section: Șomcuta Mare (intersection National Road 1C) – Remeți pe Someș (intersection County Road 108E)” is funded through the National Program for Local Development I, government program managed by the Ministry of Regional Development, Public Administration and European Funds for the financing of local development projects by carrying out the road infrastructure works approved by GEO no. 28/2013.

The county road 182B runs from the north to the southwest central region of Maramureş County from Baia Mare to the limit with Satu Mare County and has a total length of 69.100 km. The county road 182B to be rehabilitated ensures the connection of the county north with the trans-European network (National Road 1C) of road transport and has a length of 14.366 km being from km 26 + 900 (National Road 1C) to km 41+ 266.

The road sector crosses the localities of Şomcuta Mare (National Road 1C), Tulghieş, Mireşu Mare and Remeţi pe Someş and it is planned to connect with the bridge over the Someş river in the town of Ulmeni, bridge which is being executed in works. This road intersects with other classified public roads: National Road 1C (Dej - Baia Mare), Communal Road 82 (towards Iadăra), County Road 108E (to Hideaga).

The duration of the contract for the design and execution of the works is 360 calendar days, starting with 4th of January, 2019, of which the design phase is 180 days, and the actual execution time of the works is 180 calendar days.

4. Project “Rehabilitation of County Road 186, Bârsana sector (County Road 185)– Strâmtura - Rozavlea – Șieu – Bogdan Vodă – Dragomirești – Săliștea de Sus – Săcel (National Road 17C)” – PNDL II – Lot 1 The investment objective “Rehabilitation of County Road 186, Bârsana sector (County Road 185)– Strâmtura - Rozavlea – Șieu – Bogdan Vodă – Dragomirești – Săliștea de Sus – Săcel (National Road 17C)” is funded through the National Program for Local Development II, government program managed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration for the financing of local development projects by carrying out road infrastructure works approved by GEO no. 28/2013.

The County Road 186 sector to be rehabilitated in this project has a length of 39.300 km from km 13 + 347 (first intersection with DJ 185) Bârsana - km 52 + 568 (intersection with National Road 17C) Săcel.

The road intersects with a number of other graded public roads: County Road 185 (Bârsana - Valea Muntelui), County Road 186D (Strâmtura), Communal Road 15 (Strâmtura), Communal Road 17 (Strâmtura), County Road 186D (Şieu), County Road 186C (Bogdan Vodă), County Road 188 (Bogdan Vodă), Communal Road 20 (Săliştea de Sus).

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ADMINISTRATION The County Road 186 sector to be rehabilitated runs through the localities: Bârsana, Strâmtura, Rozavlea, Şieu, Bogdan Vodă, Dragomireşti, Săliştea de Sus, Săcel.

The estimated value of the design and execution of works is 95,696,699.70 lei excluding VAT. The duration of the design and execution contract will be 720 days of which the design phase is 180 days and the actual execution stage of the works is 540 calendar days.

5. Project “Rehabilitation of County Road 187, Leordina (National Road 18) – Ruscova – Repedea – Poienile de Sub Munte” – PNDL II – Lot 2 The investment objective “Rehabilitation of County Road 187, Leordina (National Road 18) – Ruscova – Repedea – Poienile de Sub Munte” is funded through the National Program for Local Development II, government program managed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration for the financing of local development projects by carrying out road infrastructure works approved by GEO no. 28/2013.

The County Road 187 to be rehabilitated within this project has a length of approximately 20.00 km from km 0 + 000 Leordina (intersection with National Road 18) at km 20.00 Poienile de Sub Munte.

The road intersects with two graded public roads: National Road 18 (Leordina) and Communal Road 4 (Repedea).

The County Road 187 to be rehabilitated runs through the localities: Leordina (National Road 18), Ruscova, Repedea and Poienile de Sub Munte.

The estimated value of the design and execution of works is 48,295,027.86 lei exclusive of VAT. The duration of the design and execution contract will be 720 days of which the design phase of 180 days and the actual execution stage of the works of 540 calendar days.

Investments in Health The Emergency County Hospital „Doctor Constantin Opriş” – Baia Mare The Emergency County Hospital „Doctor Constantin Opriş” – Baia Mare was recently rehabilitated and offers a good medical assistance to all citizens and visitors of Maramureș. The project entitled: «Rehabilitation of the Emergency County Hospital „Doctor Constantin Opriş” – Baia Mare» has had an implementation period of over 5 years, in the timeframe 8th of October, 2010 – 7th of December, 2015. The total value of the project has been 83,135,079 lei, out of which the total eligible value has amounted to 56,755,818 lei, making the rehabilitation works value at an estimate of 300 Euro/square meter.

The general objective of the project has been the constructive rehabilitation of the Emergency County Hospital in Baia Mare. The medical facility is the largest and most important health service provider within the county and ensures specialized and emergency medical assistance to all the population of the city of Baia Mare, the county of Maramureș, as well as the neighboring counties, functioning as an emergency hospital.

The rehabilitation of the Emergency County Hospital refers to the actual main building of the medical institution and planned to reconstruct the resistance structure of the building, align the building to the most recent fire-protection rules, implement the modifications required to facilitate the access of people with disabilities and ensure the thermic insulation of the building. To these were added works to remake the ventilations, vertical circulations, electrical cables, sanitary installations as well as medicinal gases.

The specific objectives of the project were as follows: • improving the quality of medical services provided;

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• increase the comfort of patients treated in the hospital; • increase the level of sanitation and microbial control; • increase the level of protection against fire; • ensure the access of persons with disabilities; • optimize the expenses related to utilities; • respect all regulations concerning usage and energy conservation.

The direct beneficiary of the project has been Maramures County Council, who has the ownership of the building as well as the Emergency County Hospital „Doctor Constantin Opriş” – Baia Mare who is operating the medical facility and can function in building that is up-to-date with all safety standards and rules concerning hygiene and comfort for the patients.

The indirect final beneficiaries of the project include all patients from the county and neighboring ones (over 225,000 people who have benefited from medical services in the year 2018), the staff of the hospital (medical staff, auxiliary staff and maintenance personal), families (visitors) of the patients admitted and treated within the facility.

Extension and endowment of the integrated ambulatory of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases and Psychiatry Baia Mare Project proposed for financing under the Regional Operational Program Component 1 P.O.R / 2018/8 / 8.1 / 8.1.A / 1/7 regions Ambulatory Priority Axis Development of health and social infrastructure Operation 8.1.A: Ambulatory Overall objective Increasing the accessibility of health services for urban and rural patients belonging to Maramures County and neighboring counties (Satu Mare, Sălaj and BistrițaNăsăud) by building a new section as an extension of the existing integrated ambulatory and equipping it with specific equipment for the purpose of functioning in better conditions in terms of medical assistance, as well as for taking a larger number of patients.

Specific objectives: • increasing the accessibility of health services for the urban and rural patients belonging to the Maramures county and the neighboring counties (Sălaj, Bistrița-Năsăud, Satu Mare); • ensuring the accessibility of disabled people to the level of services provided in the outpatient setting by creating facilities and meeting the requirements specific to persons with disabilities;

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• increasing the quality of medical services offered by the division of premises according to the specialized needs; • increasing the quality of the medical act by expanding the diagnosis services for the diseases through the possibility of carrying out imaging investigations as a result of the acquisition of a CT scanner; • reduction of diagnostic and treatment time, as well as early prevention screening of diseases by ensuring the specific structure and endowment proposed by medical protocols for psychiatric diseases; • increasing the number of patients consulted through the Health Insurance House, limited by the contracted value, depending on the capacity of the ambulatory (directly proportional); • reduction of diagnosis and treatment mistakes; • early detection of structural or vascular cerebral affections; • improving the working conditions of the hired personnel.

Project purpose The proposed project aims the functional interconnection of the two pavilions of the psychiatric section, by extending the integrated ambulatory in order to ensure the continuity of the medical act in the necessary symbiosis for a coherent curative approach. The extension of the premises and the provision of functional circuits in accordance with the requirements of the current legislation will increase the ambulatory capacity to provide quality medical services at the basic level of the health system, leading to the increase of the efficiency and effectiveness of the specialized services at the level of Maramures County.

The project addresses the issue of overstressing hospital care and the low performance of the Romanian health system, especially in the field of mental health, in the context of the fact that the incidence of these diseases has a positive trend and the degree of coverage with this type of health services is relatively low leading to a low level of accessibility for the vulnerable population.

Improving the infrastructure and conditions for providing outpatient healthcare is a viable alternative to sustainable healthcare that focuses on improving prevention and intervening at primary stages of disease manifestations that lead to health improvement and increase the chances of social inclusion of affected people.

Circuit of Wooden Churches in Northern Transylvania The wooden churches are a defining reality for the spiritual geography of the Romanian people everywhere. Collective work, often anonymous, the wooden churches in Maramureş reflect socio-economic and historical conditions, a convincing demonstration of the continuity of a spiritual life and ancient tradition.

The general objective of the project is the sustainable valorization of the tourism potential of the wooden churches belonging to UNESCO World Heritage, being values of the cultural heritage of national and universal importance, by creating and improving the related infrastructure and including them in a cultural and religious tourism circuit. The conditions to practise this form of tourism will be increased through this project, with a direct impact on the development of tourism attractiveness of Maramureş County, as a European tourism destination.

The wooden churches from Maramureş included in the project “Circuit of Wooden Churches in Northern Transylvania” are: 1. Bogdan Vodă, Bogdan Vodă village, “St. Nicholas” wooden church,

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2. Budeşti, Budeşti village, “St. Nicholas” wooden church, Josani, UNESCO World Heritage, 3. Călineşti, Călineşti village, “The Birth of Virgin Mary” wooden church, Josani (Căieni), 4. Ieud, Ieud village, “The Birth of Virgin Mary” wooden church (on the hill), UNESCO World Heritage, 5. Poienile Izei, Poienile Izei village, “Pious Paraschiva” wooden church, UNESCO World Heritage, 6. Şişeşti, Plopiş village, “The Holy Archangels Mihail and Gavril” wooden church, UNESCO World Heritage, 7. Şişeşti, Şurdeşti village, “The Holy Archangels Mihail and Gavril” wooden church, UNESCO World Heritage, 8. Remetea Chioarului, Remetea Chioarului village, “The Holy Archangels Mihail and Gavril” wooden church: 9. Rozavlea, Rozavlea village, “The Holy Archangels Mihail and Gavril” wooden church, 10. Ocna Şugatag, Şugatag village, “Pious Paraschiva” wooden church, 11. Săcălăşeni, Săcălăşeni village, “Assumption of Virgin Mary” wooden church, 12. Bârsana, Bârsana village, “The Entrance of Virgin Mary in the Church”, wooden church, UNESCO World Heritage, 13. Deseşti, Deseşti village, “Pious Paraschiva” wooden church, UNESCO World Heritage, 14. Botiza, Botiza village, “Pious Paraschiva” wooden church, 15. Copalnic Mănăştur, Cărpiniş village, “Assumption of Virgin Mary” wooden church.

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10 reasons to visit Maramureș For those of you who have not discovered Maramures yet, here are 10 reasons to visit and enjoy this “ancient land”.

1. Superlative Sceneries As soon as you pass through the “Maramureş gate”, amazing landscapes enchant the eye: forest-covered mountains lined with rivers and streams, green hills and pastures interspersed with friendly haystacks, serene lakes, springs, and waterfalls, exceptional floral species, all waiting to be captured by your camera. With one national park, which is the largest in Romania, and many other protected areas, the landscape of Maramureş is wealthy: Pietrosu Rodnei, Creasta Cocoşului (Rooster’s Crest), Cheile Lăpuşului (Lăpuș Gorge), to mention but a few, are a delight to the eye, pleading as convincingly as folk lyrics do when the people of Maramureş describe their land: “Maramureş, land of flowers/In holy days you’re full of wonders” (“Maramureş plai cu flori/ Mândru eşti în sărbători”).

2. Friendly locals With barely any exceptions, the visitors of Maramureş declare themselves in love with its inhabitants. Whether you watch them while they toil the field or when they are busy with household chores, whether you chat with them in the street or join them when they put on their best clothes to

honor their Sundays, Christian holidays, or weddings, your soul is won over. The people’s simple, honest, and straightforward behavior, their wise words, the way they invite you in their houses, their passion for dancing and singing, and the pride they take when they talk about their places of birth – all of these make you happy that you have met them, been their guest, and, quite often, become their friend.

3. Wooden Churches and Gates A substitute name for Maramureş is „The Land of Wooden Churches”. When you travel through small villages, you can easily notice how they preserve their old wooden church, a testament to local builders. Eight of these monuments, located in Bârsana, Budeşti, Deseşti, Ieud, Plopiş, Poienile Izei, Rogoz, and Şurdeşti, have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The wooden churches are not only tourism attractions: they are also worship places for the villagers, who, dressed in their traditional clothes, show up every Sunday morning to pray and pay respect. With high steeples, meant to take people closer to God, heavy hand-sculpted fir tree or oak logs, shingle roofs, and antique paintings and frescoes, every such church has its history and tales carved in its wood.

In Maramureş, wood has always been a resource used in multiple ways: from the plate from which people eat to the shelter which protects the villagers and the wooden churches in which they worship. When the people of Maramureş smell wood, they feel at home. The wooden gates are symbols of the Maramureş village. The themes carved in the poles of the gates show a symbolic territory located between the outer world and the homestead, between the neutral space and the sacred realm; their role is to protect the house and the family. The twisted rope, the sun, the tree of life, they are all expressions of some of the great myths in Romanian culture. In nowadays Maramureș, old wooden gates and houses are still to be seen, especially in the villages on the Cosău and Mara Valleys, but also in the Village Museums of Baia Mare and Sighetu Marmaţiei.

4. Life in the Countryside and Traditional Handicrafts It has been said that the villages of Maramureş stand for the

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TRAVEL of Maramures work hard from dawn to dusk, but they can also leave work behind for the great holidays, such as Assumption Day and the days dedicated to saints. In autumn, the villagers celebrate the crop harvests: gathering at village dances, the youngsters dance frenetically to fiddlers’ tunes. Such celebrations last until Lăsata Secului (last day before the Nativity Fast), which marks the beginning of the preparations for Christmas, one of the most beautiful holidays of the year, when the Maramureş valleys reverberate with the voices of carol singers. The Christian holidays, with their fasting and prayers, intermingle with folk rituals and beliefs such as finding one’s soul-mate, chasing bad spirits, harvesting crops, or rituals for a healthy marriage.

All these create a fascinating and miraculous world. And when combined with joy, round dances, and singing, the complete show becomes exquisite to the overseas tourists regardless of the season in which they visit these places.

soul of rural life in Romania and a spot of tranquility for the tourists tired of urban agglomeration, crowds, and noise. Visiting Maramureş provides the opportunity of leaping back into time to an era of simplicity and archaic life. Activities which are part of a daily routine for the Maramureş villager have a certain charm for the tourist who comes visiting from places far away. The first thing which enchants such a tourist is the friendly host, welcoming them with a warm and hearty traditional meal. Watching work done in the field, feeling the smell of fresh cut grass, wood fragrances, the taste of fresh milk, enjoying carriage or sledge rides, and a relaxing sleep are just a few of the region’s ingredients the tourist falls in love with.

And, since guesthouses are found all over Maramureş, all that is left for you to do is decide where you would like to stay.

If you come and visit Maramureş, you will get the chance to see the lively process of handcrafting, which has stayed the same for centuries. Wood carving is among one of our traditional handicrafts: plates, forks, seal engravers, pieces of furniture, houses, gateways, and wooden churches – they are all shaped by local artisans. Women still maintain the secret of extracting natural colors from plants and bark. In every traditional house, you can find a pole with woolen, linen, and hemp fabrics, woven with a “teara” (a cloth-weaving loom), which are a maiden’s pride and dowry. Pottery centers, such as the one in Săcel, extract red clay from great depths and then work it using ancient techniques. One of the artisans here makes traditional masks enriching winter customs. In the villages of Sârbi and Budești in the Cosău Valley you can find the last hat makers in Historical Maramureș. It is also on the Cosău Valley that you will find the greatest number of peasant installations: whirlpools, flour mills, carding mills, fulling mills, distilleries. Making traditional costumes, jewellery and glass painting are other handicrafts passed from one generation to the next, bearing the seal of Maramureş.

5. Customs and Celebrations The people of Maramureş know how to preserve their ancient traditions. Rural life in Maramureş is timed in accordance with the agricultural calendar and the main Christian events.

The year begins with New Year and Epiphany rituals. Spring is dedicated to the celebration of the hardest working villager, the first who ploughs the field (Tânjaua of Mara, Udătoriu of Şurdeşti), and the Holy Easter. During summer days, the villagers

6. The Merry Cemetery In Săpânța you will discover an unusual graveyard, which intrigues and impresses everyone with its originality. It is the Merry Cemetery, named this way due to the lively colors painted on its funeral crosses, particularly the striking blue which bears the name of the place: Săpânța Blue. The founder of the Merry Cemetery was Stan Ioan Pătraş, who between 1931-1935, started to make crosses differently than those of regular graveyards.

The images carved in wood render, naively, an important aspect in the life of the person buried there and the epitaphs are short meaningful poems written in the local variety of the language as a confession of the deceased. The Merry Cemetery is, without

doubt, attractive: it offers a unique perspective on death and a specific outlook on the villagers’ mentality. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the region and one of the top 10 most visited funeral destinations in the world.

7. Unique Museums The museums in Maramureș are mainly centered on the two largest towns of the region, Baia Mare and Sighetu Marmaţiei.

The Mineralogy Museum in Baia Mare hosts a spectacular collection of minerals, many of which are unique in the world.

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You will also find memorial houses as well as different other cultural landmarks in many other villages in Maramureș.

The uniqueness of the museum is the fact that all the mineral samples displayed in the museum are from the mines from Maramures County.

Both in Baia Mare and in Sighetu Marmaţiei there are Museums of ethnography and popular art. Therefore, if you wish to enlarge your knowledge of Maramureş traditions, old furniture, traditional costumes, pottery, and much more, visit the local Museums of Ethnography.

The History and Archaeological Museum in Baia Mare will tell you about the past days of the region. Butchers’ Bastion, one of the oldest buildings (15th century) in the city of Baia Mare (county residence city). The ‘Restoration of Butchers’ Bastion’ project, funded by EEA Grants and developed together with Norwegian partners, saw the restoration of all structures that has been in an advanced state of dereliction.

What stands out about the ‘Restoration of Butchers’ Bastion’ project is that it is aimed not only at restoring the Butchers’ Bastion, but also at revitalizing it by creating a multi-functional area that will contribute to integrating the monument into the cultural and touristic circuit of the city. There is now a multi-media room, an exhibition area, a workshop area, a small amphitheater for visitors and a tourist information office. Many cultural and educational activities, run by the County Museum of History and Archeology, have taken place in Butchers’ Bastion since the reopening. This circular tower, the only remaining fortification of the 15thcentury city walls, is where famous brigand Grigore Pintea Viteazul was shot in 1703. It is now used for temporary exhibitions.

The Art Museum “Baia Mare Artistic Center”, will help you to find out more about the cultural heritage of the county and the famous artistic movement “Baia Mare Painting School”. In Sighetu Marmaţiei an infamous political prison has been transformed into the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance. It is also here that one can visit the house in which the Nobel Peace Laureate Ellie Wiesel was born; the house is now a memorial to him as well as a museum of Jewish culture. Do not expect to find museums only in larger towns, though: in Dragomireşti there is, for example, a museum dedicated to the Romanian peasant woman; in Ieud, a museum dedicated to hemp.

8. Horinca – the Local Spirit The horinca (plum, but also apple or pear, brandy) is not only a traditional drink, but also the pride of every villager; it is the liquor which opens every party, relaxes, and binds friendships, a kind of elixir which has healing powers. “Better drink a shot of it/ Than take a drug from the pharmacy”, as traditional lyrics go. Or, “If I drink a shot of plum brandy/I feel healthy inside my body”. People who keep the secrets of horinca know what a good sample must taste like. They rub a drop on their hands; if it smells like honey, the drink has passed the test.

Then, real horinca must make “beads” (bubbles) when you shake it; the more beads it makes, the better it is.

Courtesy suggests that when you enter a house in Maramureş and the host welcomes you with such brandy, you must drink it all straight down; otherwise, it brings bad luck to the host.

As concerned as you may feel for the welfare of your host, keep in mind that horinca is “fire water”: after a shot or two, you may not feel your legs anymore!

9. Outdoor activities After your hosts have fed you, you will undoubtedly need some exercise. The region of Maramureş will be delighted to reveal its hiking trails, its lakes and rivers, which are perfect for summer bathing, and its ski slopes in winter time (Borşa, Şuior, Mogoşa, Cavnic, Izvoare). Ocna Şugatag, the spa town with salted lakes, is the starting point of Maramureş Greenway, a route which includes both natural and cultural attractions.

Cyclists can enjoy tours away from the crowded towns, on village trails flanked by gorgeous landscapes. If you still have some energy left and you crave for a dose of adrenaline, get your karabiners and ropes for a spot of rock climbing at Rooster’s Crest or try a session of paragliding. You will feel that Maramureş has great air indeed.

10. The Steam Train on Vaser Valley Until four decades ago, in Maramureş there were over 200 km of narrow-gauge railway, serving steam trains which transported salt, timber, various other goods, and people. Today, the Mocăniţa on the Vaser Valley is the only narrow-gauge railway in the European Union which a forest train still runs on. The entire system is over 50-km long, stretching both along the wooded gorge of the river and on two side valleys. The now tourist train climbs to mid valley (km 22), at the Paltin Station, where it stops for a few hours for the passengers to enjoy an open-air picnic before starting back. The locomotives which tow the train, built between 1910 and 1986, are steam engines and they provide spectacular stops along the way.

Come visit Maramureş and discover its charm and stories!

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WSQR Vision on Digitalization and Industry 4.0 Digitalization quickly transforms the way we communicate, work and produce components. From smart homes to intelligent factories, our world is increasingly interconnected. Digitalization opened the gates of a new industrial age. The use of innovative digital technology enables companies to better respond to the specific needs of users with high-quality personalized products and services. Given that, product diversity is steadily increasing and production targets move from mass production to batch manufacturing, digitalization makes customized production easier and more efficient, allowing machine operators to make real-time production changes, depending on customer preferences.

We believe that digital production and the technologies that support it represent the next step towards excellence in automation. However, our vision, the team from Werner Seeger Quality Management Romania - WSQR - about digital production, focuses strongly on using technology as an extension of the human element.

Digital processing puts the operator at the center of a manufacturing process that uses portable/wearable technologies and virtual reality to enhance productivity and quality within smart factories.

Features of the new Smart Factory Industry 4.0 is designed to enable businesses to streamline their processes, increase flexibility, and reduce production losses by connecting multiple technical, digital and human components into an open system.

The WSQR vision for industry 4.0 is also characterized by another important element - full cooperation between people, industrial automation solutions and new digital technologies centered around them. The key to success is the human placement in the center of the digital factory, surrounded by virtual technologies and industrial robots, designed to increase productivity, quality, but also the ability to react.

In fact, we believe that an almost symbiotic cooperation among people, industrial automation solutions and innovative technologies will enable companies to achieve not only much higher productivity but also longer product lifetimes and reduced global costs.

Without the Human element, it will be impossible to carry out digitalized processes, implement the industry 4.0 or create SMART factories. Humans will play an even more important role in the new industrial revolution. To discuss these challenges, WSQR invites you to the 10th edition of the Sibiu Quality Days, during 21-22 November 2019.

The motto of the event: “The future of Quality is now!

How do I use digitalization to lead?”

Article written by Karoly KALI, Trainer WSQR

WSQR - 18 years in Romania Werner Seeger Quality Management Romania, one of the most important presences on the Romanian market, with deep expertise in management consultancy, audit, organization and personal development, personal coaching for executives and training in quality management, celebrates this year, 18 years of activity in Romania. „The company set up in 2001 has been steadily growing, and this development is driven by the skills demonstrated daily in our relationship with our partners, identifying and delivering solutions that have always been centered on the needs of our customers and the expertise of our specialists.

The most important principle of action at WSQR is the rapid response to market changes and, of course, the customer orientation,” said Mădălina Constantin, Business Development Manager, WSQR. “WSQR team is continuously enriched by the people that we’ve met and worked with. Many of these people have also become friends allowing us to grow and learn individually, and, as a company. Thank you for your unwavering commitment and great relationships.

To be in business for 18 years requires having incredible people in your organization. We are so grateful for the opportunity to work every day with such talented, passionate, caring and devoted as our people.

Thank you for these amazing 18 years and let’s celebrate the next successful chapter together!” - Werner Seeger, Owner & General Manager WSQR. SC Werner Seeger Managementul Calităţii România SRL Valea Argintului No. 151, 555301 Cisnadioara, Sibiu County, Romania www.seeger-quality.ro www.qualitydays.ro

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Founded in 1970 in Alba Iulia – Romania, the porcelain factory APULUM SA is carrying on the old ceramic traditions of Transylvania and has successfully made the transition through the different types of economic models from a planned socialist economy to a free market economy.

Geographically Alba Iulia lies in center of Romania. The same thing may be said about APULUM SA which in a very short time became the center of the Romanian porcelain industry, taking a role of leadership.

Apulum has reached an important milestone in its history, as it celebrates twelve years since Italy’s Rody Time took over a majority stake in the company.

The acquisition of the majority stake by a sole investor in 2007 marked the beginning of the company’s journey towards a new managerial approach, involving ambitious policies, new technologies and annual investment programs, leading to a sizeable increase in production capacity, which facilitated an adequate coverage of the Romanian market and expansion on foreign markets.

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Apulum also succeeded in securing a very high quality standard for its products, putting them on a par with well-known international brands. „Openness to experience, high adaptability and the use of new technologies are essential in this days and age. However, it is very important for us to remain concentrated on the big picture and on the company’s strategic path in spite of the various new challenges that we have to deal with

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Apulum porcelain as attractive and special as the food which it contains.

every day. Over the years, it has been very important for us to have the capacity to follow the business strategy and focus on major objectives, without neglecting details that make the difference and without losing flexibility. I believe all our efforts have been successful over this tenyear period, resulting in the Apulum of today, a profitable company that cares about its employees’ needs, while focusing on serving customer demands,” said Apulum co-owner Rodica Vasin.

Apulum’s products were initially exported to the Middle East, but gradually they also reached European markets recognized for their tradition and demanding customers (the UK, Sweden, Italy, Greece, France, etc.). In addition, its constant participation to specialized international trade shows (such as Ambiente Frankfurt) has allowed the company to develop trade relations with major customers in Norway, Spain, Mexico, Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and USA. As for its domestic competitors, Apulum’s officials emphasize that Romania has a number of niche porcelain manufacturers, with small production capacities, targeting a different market segment. There are also glass-ceramics manufacturers, with a large production capacity, but they are not direct competitors for Apulum, as

their products come under a different category.

Speaking of challenges in a highly competitive market, the company’s owners emphasized the need for fair competition and sound principles. ”Business ethics should be considered a primordial factor for a strong operation and a sound open economy, which can lead towards a balanced development for the companies and for economy as a whole.

Developed into a brand in itself, the name Apulum is the result of sustained efforts by the management team under the coordination of the majority shareholder. Its consolidation and development are ensured through the implementation of future development and competitiveness projects, with new job creation and integrated management.

Solid turnover growth is a measure of the company success over the years, the Apulum’s monthly turnover has increased five times since 2008, and amounts to around 16 million lei/ month today. Also, the number of employees has gone up from 600 to 1,400, and the company has made a profit every year since 2011.

Why Apulum products? Because these are not just a daily presence in people’s lives, at work, at home, on vacations, but they undeniably embrace tradition, passion, tenacity, understanding ….and a lot of work.

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Transylvania’s Art Nouveau Jewel - The New Oradea

by Vianu MUREȘAN

A city that knows how to fully live any season and which emanates living energy in a surprising architectural landscape. Located on Romania’s western border, at only 490 km away from Vienna, Oradea breathed the Western influence in all the moments of its long history. As a spectacular proof, the central area house facades, are built in the Art Nouveau concept, with Austrian Secession influences. Along with the Secession style, baroque and eclecticism grant personality and colour to Oradea’s architectural blend. Above all, a symbol has stood, for centuries, the Oradea Fortification, as an indisputable fingerprint of its leading position in the hierarchy of medieval European cities.

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Record amount attracted from projects with European funding

Oradea, jewel polished with community funds

by Ligia VORO

The Municipality of Oradea is on everyone’s lips, when it comes to being given a positive example of local public administration in Romania. Over the last ten years, local public administration has attracted 620 million euros worth investments only from non-reimbursable projects to transform the city into a jewel of Romania.

The Municipality of Oradea has undergone an amazing transformation in a period of 10 years. There is no wonder recipe, but it did matter. You must have a leader - Mayor Ilie Bolojan - mindful of what is needed in the city and ready to take responsibility of the decisions he has taken.

You discover smartly administered money in every corner of the city. The merit of attracting European funds belongs to the Directorate for Management of International Financial Projects (DMPFI), established ten years ago, through which Oradea City Hall managed to win several projects with nonreimbursable financing, meant to rehabilitate a series of tourist and architectural objectives, but also projects leading to the development of the city’s infrastructure - road, business, transport, medical or educational. Several projects have been finalized, others are in progress and others are in the pre-financing phase.

If we were to mention the finalized projects that were aimed at the tourist capitalization of the city, they would be: Rehabilitation, refurbishment and inclusion into the tourist circuit of the Oradea Fortress – “Oradea Fortress, European multicultural and multi-denominational center”, Rehabilitation and modernization of the Temporary Accommodation Centers in Oradea, Promotion of religious tourism by valorizing the Jewish community heritage in Oradea-Debrecen (ZION Synagogue), Bicycle trail between Oradea and Berettyoujfalu (Hungary) and Development of natural habitats of protected tree species and spontaneous flora on the hill of Ciuperca (Mushroom) in Oradea and in the Korosszegapati area of Hajdu Bihar County.

In what the development of the business environment con-

cerns, the Oradea City Hall has finalized the project “Creating a business infrastructure in Oradea and providing public utilities to the Eurobusiness I Oradea Industrial Park”.

Tourism and business cannot be developed if there is no friendly road infrastructure for the tourists, business people and residents.

In this respect, the Oradea City Hall has implemented the projects “Construction of uneven passages between the Oradea Beltway (Ogorului Street) and the National Road DN 76 - Deva, respectively between the Oradea City Beltway (Ogorului Street / Calea Sântandreiului Street) and National Road DN 79 Arad-Oradea”, as well as “Decongesting the road traffic and improving the population mobility on the Oradea-Biharkeresztes cross-border corridor”.

Two other projects carried out by the City Hall aimed at the diversification of the thermal energy sources, respectively the energy efficiency of the district heating system. In this respect, two projects were implemented: “Use of geothermal energy for the production of thermal agent for the thermal point PT 902 heat consumers with used geothermal water reinjection in the deposit”, respectively “Rehabilitation of the urban heating system in the Municipality of Oradea for the period 2009 - 2028 in order to comply with the environmental legislation and increasing energy efficiency”.

12 implemented projects No less than 12 projects are currently being implemented in the Municipality of Oradea. They target various areas of increasing the energy efficiency of public buildings, such as the projects “Increasing the energy performance of hospitals in Oradea” or “Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings related to high schools, general schools and kindergartens in

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the Municipality of Oradea”, up to the development of public transport and urban mobility, such as the projects “Modernization of the tram park in the Municipality of Oradea”, “Creating pedestrian trails and improving public transport of people in the central area of the Municipality of Oradea”, “Development and prioritization of passengers’ transportation in the Municipality of Oradea”, “Sustainable urban mobility corridor in Emanuil Gojdu - Vasile Alecsandri Square, Oradea”, “Corridor of sustainable urban mobility in Emanuil Gojdu Square - Fortress Square, Oradea” or “City Walk: energy responsibility of localities by developing trafficable cities for pedestrians in the Danube Region”.

Additionally, the City Hall of the Municipality of Oradea carries on the ambitious projects aiming at the capitalization of the local architectural heritage. In order to reach this objective, the following projects are being implemented: “Restoration of Darvas House - La Roche in order to capitalize on Secession cultural heritage”, “Restoration, preservation and integration in the cultural circuit of the Objective: Museum of Freemasonry in Oradea”, “Rehabilitation, restoration and refunction of the Oradea Fortress’ walls for its inclusion into the tourist circuit Oradea Fortress - European Multicultural and Multidenominational Center - Stage III. Consolidation and restoration of the walls of the of Ciunt and Bethlen Bastions, respectively of the north and west walls”.

The Directorate for Management of International Financial Projects (DMPFI) team has also been mindful of population dynamics and the inhabitants’ needs, whose number has exceeded 220,000 in the past 10 years, as well as of labor market requirements and the needs of local companies, investing in the educational infrastructure of the city. Currently, two projects are being carried out for this purpose, namely: “Extending nurseries and kindergartens, equipping the educational infrastructure for early, ante-pre-school and pre-school education in the Municipality of Oradea; Construction of the nursery and kindergarten in Industrial Park 1, equipped with the educational infrastructure for early, ante-pre-school and preschool education in the Municipality of Oradea”, respectively “Rehabilitation, modernization, equipping the educational infrastructure for vocational and technical education”.

In 2018 – other 14 elaborated and submitted projects Last year, the City Hall of the Municipality of Oradea, through the Directorate for Management of International Financial Projects (DMPFI), elaborated and submitted 14 projects with European financing, in order to carry on the strategic development of the city from the economic, medical, social, cultural, etc. points of view. Taking them separately, for the economic development, the City Hall of the Municipality of Oradea also counts on the project “Promoting Creative Entrepreneurship by Developing Business Incubator: Cresc Oradea Mare/ Growing Great Oradea”, elaborated and submitted for financing last year.

Then, the Municipality of Oradea continues to focus on increasing the quality of medical services for inhabitants and tourists on holiday in the city, and three European-funded projects have been submitted: “Improvement of cross-border medical services by upgrading medical equipment at Dr. Gavril Curteanu Hospital in Oradea and the Békés County Central Hospital”, “Extending Outpatient body B Emergency Clinical County Hospital Oradea - Stage I and Stage II”, and “Integrated project for sustainable development in the mountainous area of Bihor County, improvement of the access and development of health services in case of medical interventions in emergency situations”.

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In the field of energy and in order to increase the energy efficiency, Oradea City Hall has drafted and submitted two projects, namely: “Thermal rehabilitation of apartment blocks in order to increase energy efficiency in the Municipality of Oradea” and “Capitalization of geothermal energy in association with heat pumps, for the production of thermal agent for heating and hot water in certain neighborhoods in Oradea”.

In order to develop an ecological public transport, to improve urban mobility and to increase the air quality in the municipality, the City Hall has drafted and submitted four projects according to these objectives: “Polycentric mobility in the Municipality of Oradea - Magnolia, Cazaban, Nufărul corridor”, “Increasing urban mobility in Nufărul - Cantemir area”, “Arrangement of green corridors in the Municipality of Oradea” and “Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in transports, by installing recharging stations for electric vehicles in the Municipality of Oradea”.

Certainly, the educational infrastructure has not been forgotten, with the arguments already outlined above, so that four projects respond to the needs of the inhabitants and companies in the municipality: “Building a Day Care Center for children from marginalized communities in the Municipality of Oradea”, ”Building New Kindergartens with equipment for the educational infrastructure for the early, antepre-school and pre-school education in the Municipality of Oradea”, “Rehabilitation, modernization, equipping the educational infrastructure for vocational and technical education and lifelong learning in the Mihai Viteazul Technical College in Oradea” and “Rehabilitation of facades and interior design, rehabilitation of sanitary and electrical installations Secondary School no. 11”.

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Unirii (Union) Square and the Oradea Citadel In the Oradea Municipality’s central area, one discovers story after story about how it transformed from an architectural space impregnated by communist interventions into one that is colorful, joyous, harmonious and friendly, with an impressive architecture, highlighted through both public and private efforts. However, the tone was set by the city hall.

Oradea belongs to the Art Nouveau network of cities, alongside Barcelona, Budapest, Glasgow and other wellknown European capitals, owing to a heritage highlighted in recent years following several local projects or those with European funding. Unirii Square, once divided into two boulevards with 3 streetlights on 500 linear meters, has become a pedestrian zone, and the public heritage buildings have relinquished their gray robes under the tools of the skillful restaurateurs. The Palace and the Vulturul Negru (Black Eagle) passage, one of the area’s attractions, reminds us of Milan, and for tourists, beyond visual enjoyment, from Friday until Sunday, the space vibrates with fun. This side’s other pillar is the Orthodox Moon Church, another touristic objective which was restored and is recommended by any guide.

The over 5 million euros project from European funds, was completed in 2015, however it will be continued until the pedestrian lane will go from Republicii, passing through Ferdinand Square to the University.

The Unirii Square Palaces Some of the most representative palaces in the city of Oradea are found to this day in the public square, Unirii Square.

The square presents, through the buildings it marks, several architectural styles, that blends cultural, administrative and ecumenic functions, within a unique multi-ethnic cohabitation.

The Vulturul Negru (Black Eagle) Palace, a symbol of the city for more than 100 years, has been the cultural center of the early 20th century, being the architectural em-

blem of a thriving era. It is the most important historical monument for Oradea’s Secession architecture.

The Oradea Municipality City Hall Palace was built in an eclectic style, between 1901-1904, after a project by architect Kálmán Rimanóczy jr. It must be stated that the edifice which hosts the local administration is among the city’s few buildings that has maintained its initial destination. Here one can climb in the Oradea City Hall tower and admire the city from above.

The Greek-Catholic Bishopric Palace was built between 1903-1905 by architect Kálmán Rimanóczy jr. The architectural and decorative solutions which the architect opted for are from the eclectic style repertoire, very spectacular, so that in 1905 the building offered Oradea’s citizens a genuine demonstration of art by finely combining various historical styles, from Neo-Romantic, to Neo-Byzantine, to 1900 Art accents.

The Neo-Classic style is present in the Kovács House – a civilian building constructed at the beginning of the 19th century, property which received its current appearance in 1836. What determined including the building in the classicist style, was its semi-circular canopy that covers the main entrance passage.

The Moskovits Adolf and Sons Palace is a masterpiece

by László and József Vágó, two Oradea-born architects.

József Vágó began his activity working for the Secessionist architect Ödön Lechner, whose influence can be observed in the buildings he designed in Oradea.

The Vasile Alecsandri Street In the 18th century, the houses on Vasile Alecsandri Street were one-storied or with one floor and hosted many shops.

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Gradually, these houses were demolished, and their place was taken by buildings constructed with a modern conception.

The street’s oldest building is the Arborele Verde (The Green Tree) Inn, dating from 1760, and over time it was rebuilt several times. Today it serves for the Arcadia Theater.

The street corner on the Unirii Square side was occupied

by The House of Nikolits and the Diamandi House (1882), locations later assumed by the Moscovits Adolf and Sons Palace (1910).

Other representative buildings in the area are the Roth House which belonged to merchant Henric Roth, the Munk House at number 7, with a replica on Gen. Traian Moșoiu Street, the two houses had a common yard, the Rendes Vilmos House at number 9, taking the name of its architect and at the same time owner, the Amant House at number 13, built in a Classicist style.

The Oradea Citadel An Architectural and Religious Symbol The Oradea citadel is enveloped in Christian legends weaved around King Ladislaus the Saint. The citadel’s origin and notoriety, as a permanent resting place for the great Christian king, have attracted pilgrims from all over Europe. Inside the citadel, in the 1342-1370 interval, a gothic cathedral of impressive dimensions, approximatively 72 meters in length, has been built. Around the Renaissance citadel there used to be a canal filled with thermal water that never froze. Nobody was able to conquer the citadel until the way of emptying the water in the citadel’s canals was revealed. Medieval Turkish historians have recorded the Turkish army’s assiduous efforts to conquer the Oradea Citadel in 1660. All their attempts were bound to fail as long as the protective canal around the citadel was filled with water. 45,000 Turkish soldiers fought with 850 citadel defenders and could only conquer it after they found out, following an act of treason, how to evacuate the water from the protective canal. Today, the citadel’s canal, appropriately fixed, has become one of Oradea’s most beautiful promenade spaces.

The Oradea Citadel was in full reconstruction after plans executed by historians and architects. In the fall of 2015, the citadel was opened to the public for visiting. It has become a symbol of the reborn city, which enchants everybody who visits it.

The Nymphaea Aquapark Wellness & Fun Fun and relaxation perfectly blend in the largest, newest and most modern aquapark in Transylvania. Oradea’s thermal curative tourism attracts more visitors every year.

The Nymphaea Complex comes to support them with six building structures stretched on 7 hectares, 15 interior and exterior pools and 10 slides, athletic and entertainment facilities. Whether you are looking for a place for regeneration, entertainment, or you wish to relax with your family, the Nymphaea Complex is exactly what you are looking for. It is equipped with exterior pools, ideal for cooling down during summertime and interior pools, perfect for the cold season. The wave pools and slides will be a delight for the children. Spa services will make your

stay more relaxing with the help of chairs, Turkish baths with geothermal water pools, steam baths, Jacuzzis, aquatic treatments, massage and relaxation rooms.

Riverside Gastronomy & Lifestyle The Crișul Repede bank becomes a symbol-destination for both Oradea’s residents and the tourists visiting the city. For this reason, the restaurants on the waterfront are at the top of everybody’s preference. A distinguished gastronomic experience accompanied by a view in permanent motion throughout the day. On the Crișul Repede course, elegantly placed on the river’s bank, among the trees, one can find the wonderful Mediterranean, international, traditional or Italian restaurants.

Romania’s Green Capital Oradea is a unique view which one experiences in any of the city’s green corners. The walks through the century-old park are unforgettable. The Crișul Repede river crosses the city from one end to the other, offering a panorama and promenade area of considerable length. Bike paths, built in recent years, closely follow the river on all its length. The over 1,560,000 square meters of green space will turn your promenade into a genuine oxygen treatment. The bike paths pass through the city in several directions and lead up to Hungary, in the city of Berettyóújfalu, at an over 30 km distance. For the entire warm season, cyclists enthusiastically cross through the city to reach their favorite points or for the simple pleasure of pedaling.

Those with a passion for adventure head to the green forests around Oradea to climb the tracks with an international appreciation from the aficionados of this type of sport.

Comparing with the number of residents, Oradea can proudly claim 25 square meters of green space for every individual, a number which places the municipality on the Crișul Repede among the highest rated Romanian cities. It is one of the main reasons why Oradea has received the title of “Romania’s green capital” for 2011.

Touristic routes On the oradea.travel website you can find an offer of four touristic routes – the Oradea Historical Center. These are: Through the Palaces to the Citadel, Oradea Secession, The Oradea of Churches and Oradea Memorabila.

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The Future is Bright in Oradea The total of private investments attracted towards Oradea’s industrial parks, until now, amounts to 345 million euros, of which 99 million euros were attracted in 2018, bound to generate a total number of 7,500 jobs by 2020.

The investments achieved in the past years in Oradea, have made the city on the Crișul Repede river one of the most attractive cities in Western Romania for investors. As of late, a great number of companies of international renown have chosen to invest in Oradea’s industrial parks, benefitting from numerous facilities provided by the city hall.

The Industrial Parks The Oradea Local Development Agency S.A. owns three industrial park titles, for three sites located on Borșului Avenue (130.02 ha) – The Oradea Industrial Park I, on Ogorului Stre-

et (83.5 ha) – the Oradea Industrial Park II, respectively on Uzinelor Street – the Oradea Industrial Park III (17 ha). In early 2019 the necessary documents for obtaining the title for the Oradea Industrial Park IV (6.5 ha) have been submitted – on Corneliu Baba Street. The industrial parks offer all the necessary utilities, with competitive prices, Oradea also being licensed in distributing electric energy.

New projects for development and offering new facilities, including: International School of Oradea; Eurobusiness Vocational School – dual system schooling; Nursery and Kindergarten in EBP I (Industrial Park I); Integrated Services Complex in EBP I – accommodation spaces, restaurant, gym, pharmaceutic point, courier services point, multifunctional ATM; electric charging station for vehicles, Partnership with the only German-language teaching high school in Bihor County, Friedrich Schiller, The Spot Youth Center – integrated teaching, University of Oradea’s Center for Technologic Transfer.

The Intermodal Terminal Through the General Transport Master Plan, Romania aims to build intermodal terminals to assure a road/railway transfer, program financed through the Operational Program for The Large Infrastructure Operational Programme (LIOP), priority axis 2.

The main result achieved following the investment in the intermodal terminal infrastructure, consists of the growth in intermodal transport appeal, transposed through an:

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increased volume of container goods manipulated in intermodal unities; the streamlining in goods transport and improving the transport’s impact on the environment and traffic safety; decongesting road transport reducing the number of traffic accidents, the level of emissions from motor vehicles and the noise threshold in the city; socioeconomic development of the area through incomes for the local budget as well as creating new jobs.

An Incubator for Businesses “I Grow the Greater Oradea” The Oradea Municipality City Hall alongside ADLO won a project for building an incubator aimed to become a “Center of creativity and innovation” for creative entrepreneurs.

It will be the place where creations by these entrepreneurs to be brought to the limelight by organizing activities (trainings, conferences, dedicated days/sub-domains, fairs etc.) to attract more and more members and followers (bloggers, the local and international press, international creators, shared experience etc.).

“Our mission is to support with all efforts the impetus and development in the field of cultural and creative industries in the North-West Region, an activity that is complementary, real and viable to the region’s industrialization inertia. We put ourselves into service for this goal with the initiative’s Founder, the Oradea Municipality, with all the resources at our disposal, first our expertise of supporting businesses and organization with which we have collaborated in the past and who will become official partners in this initiative, and last but not the last, the public and private financial resources which will attract for this purpose. We wish to contribute in this way to the development of the North-West Region in a larger scope, at the Central and South-Eastern Europe Region level,” stated Alina Silaghi, General Manager of ADLO.

“Make IT in Oradea” In the IT sector, the North-West Region is dominated by the two poles: Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara, established university centers due to their large numbers of IT&C specialization graduates and numerous outsourcing or research companies in this field.

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Aware of the possibilities for growth in this field, as well as IT’s role in every local activity sectors, considering the young people’s growing interest in the IT field, the Oradea municipality proposes to become actively involved in developing the tech ecosystem in Oradea, aspiring for it to become a national development pole in the IT field.

Starting with this general objective, the local authority, alongside the representatives of local companies in the IT field have drawn up a measures program titled “Make it in Oradea!” / “MakeIT in Oradea” which will grow to the degree of interaction between municipality, Oradea high schools, university and consecrated IT companies, offering a real chance for the youth to stay or come (back) to Oradea.

The proposed measures package in this sense includes: building an investment fund to support Oradea’s IT startups; reducing the property tax for spaces used by IT companies; financial aid for students enrolled in Oradea’s universities (scholarships for students in the 11th and 12th grades).

The local IT companies will benefit from financial aid through an investment fund administered by the Oradea Municipality and the main local IT firms. Furthermore, they will have access to fiscal facilities (like reducing building taxes) for the properties where IT firms conduct their businesses.

The agency follows its purpose for which it was founded 11 years ago, namely that of building and supporting development projects, to be the binding agent between the public environment, the private environment and educational institutions.

Articles written with the support of ADLO, Oradea City Museum, Visit Oradea, Oradea City Hall

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Everything is about the people...

editorial

Ligia VORO

While walking the Transylvanian streets, many of which have been paved due to the modern concoctions, it’s almost impossible to slip unnoticed and not say hello. It’s a proof of good breeding as well as a first step towards that type of socialising that has kept the villages hidden behind the forests and its people united, be it in work, erecting a house, finishing in time the threshing or harvesting, weaving clothes for girls of marriageable age, learning new customs or trades, and competing in traditional dances in a barn where golden heaps of dust keep swirling higher and higher…

In our Transylvanian villages legends were born, faith survived through the centuries, and customs were passed on, customs even we and the visitors marvel at, visitors that come here on a journey of self-discovery in a place where stories are written in a different temporal dimension. By the people. The people gifted with the knowledge of tailoring their own folk clothes, embroidering them and decorating with beads, lace and other forms of creative outlet. Those people, the accomplished craftsmen that have deeply encrusted their spiritual and religious beliefs in wood or stone. The people that put their griefs in songs and joys in dancing… We could go on and on as there is so much to learn from them…

Without those people we would have nothing - the cheerful Săpânța, the white Rimetea, nor the sombre Viscri...

Not so long ago, the cities haven’t been either too far away from the essence of Transylvanian villages, from getting together and building something that will last. Something that will hold out, something we will write about or admire.

Architectural jewels that remind us of western cities, although it’s hardly fair to compare, as people are the ones that left their mark and made the buildings unique, giving them soul. Because if you

think about it, the tired arms weren’t the only things they left in there. It was the soul. Be it the Black Eagle Palace in Oradea, the Clock Tower in Sighisoara, the Viennese-like palaces in Arad or many other so-called memorial buildings, they are all enriched by the soul of those who have lived in their own present time and left us the beauty and joy of culture and civilisation as inheritance.

Without them we couldn’t have narrated the best way we possibly can anything in here.

Because our invitation to discover and enjoy Transylvania is all about the people. To discover and enjoy the countless generations you will encounter while reading the pages we have amassed in this collector’s edition. To learn a bit about their sometimes tumultuous and painful history and understand the present.

To understand that Transylvania means ethnic, religious and areal diversity and who knows how many other divisions which have been invented by soulless statistics, before Europe has redefined itself as the space of unity in diversity.

Without all these essences mixed together, Transylvania would not be what it is today: the crowning Romanian jewel at the heart of Europe. The jewel that was polished and gifted by all these people you will probably get to know and love now, and maybe even come back again for. Until then, because, after all, everything is about the people, we urge you to “read”, in its first meaning of learning and well as figuratively, of finding out, of digging out the soul’s precious stone out of the human jewellery.

The joy of reading…

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“I gave up everything for dancing, but I would never give up on my country...”

Rareș Cojoc, 17 times Romanian competitive dance Champion (Here, together with Andreea Matei, his dance partner)

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The Pearl of Transylvania: the Medieval Citadel of Sighișoara Sighişoara. Th is is the most charming tourist, cultural and historical attraction of Mureş County. No place on the tourist map of Mureş fascinates and attracts as much as Medieval Citadel of Sighişoara does: it has gained national and international fame, including on account of the fact that it is the only inhabited fortress in Central and Eastern Europe. This is how every tourist planning to visit Romania’s medieval jewel, as it is known, can experience

it. A fascinating history, built in nearly one thousand years since it was erected on Citadel Hill. A fortress that has gathered legends and myths within its walls, a hotbed for the development of various architectural styles, a hub for the crafts, a cornerstone for education and faith, as well as a distinguished and taciturn protector of those whose resting place lies on its land.

By Ligia VORO

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Sighișoara, a monument-city, protected by UNESCO

By Ligia VORO

The history of the beautiful citadel began in the 12th century, when the city was founded by the merchants and craftsmen of German origin who settled by the river Târnava Mare, at the invitation of the Hungarian King Geza II, who needed industrious men and warriors to defend the borders of his kingdom to the east. Still, its first documentary attestation dates from 1280, when a fortress was raised here, known as Castrum Sex. Almost two decades later, in 1298, there appeared the first record of Sighişoara’s name in German - Schespurch. The first mention of Sighişoara as a town was made in the second half of the 14th century. The name in Romanian - Sighişoara - was for the first time included in documents in 1435, as an adaptation of the Hungarian version - “Segesvár” (“the city of Segheş”).

Like all the fortresses and churches in the area, Sighişoara responded to the Tatar and Ottoman invasions by constructing a system of fortifications meant to protect its inhabitants. This is how, starting in 1350, the city wall was built - 950 m long and 4 m high. Later, the height of the walls was doubled, and in the 16th century, the wall was as high as 15 m tall. The fortification had 14 towers - one for each guild - and four bastions. Of these, nine towers and there bastions are still standing today. The Clock Tower - the most spectacular, one of the architectural jewels of Sighişoara, and the towers of the tanners, the tailors, the blacksmiths, the skinners, the shoemakers, the butchers, the rope makers and the tinkers are those that can still be admired today.

The craft guilds received their statutes in 1376, whereby they were protected in relation to the guilds of other cities.

At first, the guild members could not be represented in the town council, but the great wealth they acquired propelled them to this body of authority. The guilds lasted for over 500 years, being disbanded only in the late 19th century, when the social order changed.

History records the passage of well-known historical characters through the citadel of Sighişoara. The son of Mircea the Old, the Voivode of Wallachia - nicknamed Vlad Dracul - and a member of the Order of the Dragon, lived here between 1431 and 1436, while preparing his return to the throne of the voivodate south of the Carpathians. The famous ruler Vlad Ţepeş was allegedly born in Sighişoara, back when his father had retreated here. The “Vlad Dracul” House, which, at that time, was the town guard’s house, is presented as one in which the voivode - who became a legend in the West because of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula - spent the first years of his life.

From the vantage point of its architecture, Sighişoara gathers different architectural styles within the same space, illustrating the cultural, social and political evolution of the City and gives it a unique flair, despite the eclecticism that is characteristic of it. The Gothic style of the Church on the Hill and of the Evangelical Church blends with elements inspired by the Baroque or the Renaissance. The civil buildings representative of these styles, also bearing the imprint imposed by the social position of their silent partners, are the Stag House, the Venetian House, or the Vlad Dracul House, which belonged to the patricians, the mayor or the City authorities. Later, styles closer to the 18th-19th centuries permeated the construction projects the neo-Gothic, the Venetian Gothic, the Baroque and the Secession, which add a picturesque note to this sole inhabited fortress. The architectural ensemble is completed by the narrow, cobbled streets, on either side of which stand the Citadel residents’ dwellings - brightly colored gems, filled with joy, lending life and color to the citadel too, despite its gloomy walls.

Since 1999, Sighişoara has been a monument-city, protected

by UNESCO and included on the World Heritage list.

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A masterpiece of the Transylvanian Secession style The Palace of Culture in Târgu Mureș is an outstanding monument of urban architecture in the High Transylvanian Secession style. It belonged to the great and distinguished stylistic family of 1900 Art, a broad cultural movement whose innovative breath swept across Europe at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

The construction, between 1911 and 1913, of the Palace of Culture is symbolically linked, as a founding event, to the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Against this anniversary background, in 1907, the Hungarian Parliament passed the law on the construction of

Cultural Palaces aiming at asserting the official, dominant culture in the entire Hungarian Kingdom. The tutelary figure was Emperor Franz Joseph, the supreme founding authority of these cultural establishments. As a sign of homage and allegiance to him, the Palace of Culture in Târgu Mureș was initially named after the Austro-Hungarian emperor.

The local personality responsable for carrying out this important, complex and costly project was the mayor of Târgu Mureş, Dr. Bernády György (1864-1938).

By Sidonia GRAMA

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Noble Castles, the Architectural Jewels of Yore

By Ligia VORO Translator: Carmen-Veronica BORBÉLY Photo: Alin ZAHARIE (Ugron Castle – Zau de Câmpie), Eliodor MOLDOVAN The noble castles in Mureş County are part of the cultural heritage of Transylvania, Romania and the world, and represent historical proofs of a period with a propensity towards refinement and beauty, coupled with a marked interest in education and the dissemination of the written word. With its chain of noble castles - 26 in all in the county, illustrating various architectural stages “in vogue” in Transylvania, the Mureş Valley could rival the much more publicized and visited Loire Valley in France. Architectural jewels in the Baroque, Renaissance, Rococo, or Secession styles, adapted to the local spirituality, culture and traditions, the noble castles of Mureş County, a precious heritage, could feature at all times in Romania’s tourism offer.

Nobiliary exquisiteness in the Baroque Toldalagi Palace Outstanding, exquisite, impressive. These are just some of the epithets associated, in time, with Toldalagi Palace, erected on the former Poklos Street - today Rose Square, near the Franciscan Monastery. Considered the first noble palace in Târgu Mureş, of Baroque - Rococo inspiration, it was built in several stages between 1759 and 1772, at the request of Count Toldalagi László, the assessor (magistrate assistant) of the Royal Table (the supreme judicial authority Transylvania).

The building plan is currently square-shaped, having initially been, like other buildings erected in the 18th century, U-shaped. The palace architecture integrated an older building, located at the western end of the northern wing.

The designing engineer relied on a gambrel roof, with tiles decorated with balls and two dormers with oval stone frames, adorned with stucco. The gable cornice and the dormer stone frames support busts of men, Turkish soldiers, with their heads wrapped in turbans. These statues are placed on small trapezoidal pedestals. The inner courtyard is enclosed on three sides by gazebos with arcades and parapets decorated with stone balusters. The main façade, incorporating six profusely decorated cavity axes, is the most valuable artistic detail of the building. The gate frame, marked by a deep indentation, occupies two axes on the center of the façade.

On the pediment are carved in relief the Toldalagi and Wass families’ coats of arms, and above them there is a crown symbolizing the union of the two noble branches.

The façade of the first floor, with six windows having flared top corners, fitted with accentuated sills and sashes, as well as with ornamental panels in strong relief, is divided by composite pilasters. A fringe-like decoration is hanging on both sides of the frames. The gate arcade is covered with three Bohemian caps, as is the secondary access way to the building. The vault arches of the main gate are decorated with stucco. Access to the open gallery on the first floor, featuring arcades supported by brick pillars, is done via the staircase climbing from the ground floor.

Architecturally speaking, the great reception hall, which stretched the entire length of the façade, overlooking the square, abided by the same rules. The ceilings of the chambers in the south-western corner of the palace were decorated with the coats of arms of Toldalagi László and Wass Kata. The one in the north-western corner was modeled out of stucco, featuring very rich ornaments.

Currently, here are the headquarters of the Ethnographic Department of the Mureş County Museum.

Bornemisza Castle from Gurghiu Built at the foot of Castle Hill, Castle Rákóczi - Bornemisza links its history to the name of George Rákóczi I, Prince of Transylvania, from the first half of the 16th century. Fond of hunting, he often went to Gurghiu Mountains to hunt. That must have triggered his need to build a manor there, in order to have accommodation in the forests of Gurghiu Valley for a longer time. Construction works started in 1642, under the direction of the architect Sárdi Imre. The successive inventories of the domain from the late 17th century record that the ground and first floor had stone frames, as did the cornices and the stoves’ feet. For decades, the castle remained almost uninhabited, until in 1717, when it came into the possession of Baron Bornemisza János’s family, for a period of 99 years, for the amount of HUF 25,000, which they lent to the Transylvanian revenue authority.

The new owners of the domain renovated part of the building and in 1730 they raised a chapel with an oval-shaped ground

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plan, a type rarely seen in Transylvania. The chapel was decorated with frescoes. The descendants of Bornemisza János received assurances from Queen Maria Theresia that the revenue authority did not intend to redeem the estate before 99 years had passed. With this promise, the Bornemisza family invested in the estate it administered: they rebuilt the paper mill, established a glass factory and a porcelain manufactory, and erected new buildings around the castle. The present-day building of the gate, the residence of the court priest and of the soldiers from that time, dates back to that period.

In 1848, during the Revolution, the castle underwent its first great ordeal. The castle was besieged by serfs, the furniture and the assets being destroyed. After the defeat of the Revolution, in 1849, the family restored the buildings, being constrained by the fact that the estate had to be returned and the state had filed a suit against them. In 1869, the two parties reached an agreement, the Bornemisza family pledging that it would return the estate by the end of 1870.

After this year, the castle and the buildings passed through the hands of tenants, and then, after a vast renovation, it served as a hunting castle to Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the crown of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. After the dramatic event from Mayerling (near Vienna), where the crown prince allegedly committed suicide in the hunting lodge, in 1893 the castle received the destination of a forestry school, which still functioned there until recently. This is one of the explanations why the arboretum here is so well cared for and naturally supports the beauty of the Bornemisza medieval castle. The transition, in the 19th century, from a flower or vegetable garden and an orchard to a park of English inspiration - still present today - is owed to Bornemisza Leopold.

In 2009, the County Council took it into custody after the Forest College was moved elsewhere and developed, through its subordinate institution - the County Museum - a building rehabilitation project, which initially aims to halt the degradation of the building and then to restore it.

Ugron Castle or the Calendar of Love Ugron Castle or the calendar castle, as it is known, towers on one of the hills in the commune Zau de Câmpie and recently turned one century old. The splendid building, located in Bârsana Forest, was erected on the domain of the Ugron family; it became the property of the estate following the marriage between Ugron István and Baroness Bánffy Anna, as her dowry. This happened in the second half of the 18th century. The estate passed successively to the family heirs, and in 1899 it belonged to Ugron István, a consul in Tbilisi, situated on the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

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at the time. In 1908, while he was a delegate in Warsaw, Baron István Ugron decided to build a new castle on the site of the old mansion, attempting to forget, as the oral sources suggest, his unrequited love for a Russian princess, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. The design was entrusted to Baron Bánffy János, according to the inscription on the commemorative plaque placed on the rear facade of the castle, while the actual construction was the work of the Cluj-based architect Pákei Lajos, who merely retouched the blueprints, entrusted to him by the aristocrat Bánffy. This is one of the reasons why this castle, in the medieval French style, is unlike any other building bearing the signature of the architect from Cluj. The construction of the castle was completed in 1912, the works advancing with difficulty, and it was furnished six years later.

The beautiful castle is reminiscent of a calendar, because it has four towers, symbolizing the four seasons, 12 halls, equivalent to the number of months, 52 rooms meaning 52 weeks, 365 windows, as many as there are days in a year, and 7 terraces, i.e. the number of days a week.

In 1925, Ugron István waived his property rights over the castle in favor of his son, Bánffy János - István. Like other similar properties, in 1948, the castle was nationalized and was converted into a grain collection center, a secondary school or an agricultural vocational school. From 1963 to 2012, here functioned a foster child center, which has been closed down in the meantime. The castle is now in the administration of the Mureș County Council.

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The Small Wooden Churches, or the Authenticity of Folk Art

By Ligia VORO Translator: Carmen-Veronica BORBÉLY Photo: Eliodor MOLDOVAN The small wooden churches, true monuments of folk art, represent an expression of the Transylvanian Romanians’ need for spirituality and faith, against the background of their status as tolerated subjects, which perpetuated an older prohibition imposed by the Apostolic Hungarian Kingdom against their erecting places of worship made of stone. This is the most plausible argument that explains the development of ecclesiastical architecture based on wood as a raw material in, among others, the Mureş County area. Similar in structure (the typology of their shape is rooted in that of wooden peasant cottages), they are not necessarily standardized because, albeit unitary, their construction techniques and paintings, their spectacular and valuable decorative items, are nonetheless highly individualized, evincing the personal mark of those who built and adorned them. In fact, in a comprehensive study dedicated to these architectural gems, creations of a fervent Romanian spirituality, entitled Wooden Churches of Mureş County, Ioan Eugen Man, a passionate researcher in this field, identifies no fewer than 15 distinct types of places of worship.

It should also be noted that the small wooden churches followed closely the development of wooden peasant cottages. From simple dwellings with a rectangular ground plan, there emerged new elements of architecture, such as porches or verandahs, as an expression of the need to protect the building material, subject to weather erosion.

In terms of their spatiality, most of the wooden churches were built on hills, sometimes on the highest elevation around the settlements, even though - as in the case of the church from Culpiu, in the commune Ceuaşu de Câmpie - they may have been relocated to the village center for salvaging reasons.

The Museum Church Above an orchard, at one of the highest altitudes in the town of Sărmaşu, there rises the wooden church dedicated to the “Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel.” Included on the new list of historical monuments in Mureş County issued by the Ministry of Culture, with the code LMI: MS-II-m-A-15786, the wooden church from Sărmaşu was documentarily attested in the 19th century. Specifically, in 1812, Count Teleki, on whose land the parishioners of the wooden church from Sărmaşu were serfs, gave the order that vast works should start for the restoration of the pre-existing place of worship, which changed its appearance considerably, both inside and outside. The church received a new mural painting and was enlarged, so today it is one of the largest places of worship in this special category of ecclesiastical constructions of folk inspiration. That is why in the history of the wooden church from Sărmaşu, 1812 is considered the year of its first attestation in its present-day form.

The church, which has a rectangular plan, was built of fastened fir tree beams, having a detached polygonal fivesided apse. Although its structure was modified, the narthex and the naos remain enclosed by a barrel vault, while the altar apse has a cradle vault. Outside, a porch was added to the church, supported on wooden poles. The steeple stands apart in the architecture of this place of worship: it was added later and is reminiscent of the Baroque style through the curve and counter-curve lines of the roof that ends with an octagonal bulb, above which a cross is towering.

Inside, the mural has faded largely due to water seepage.

What can still be admired are the royal doors, which have endured from the former place of worship, or the carved temple of the iconostasis.

The wooden church was about to be demolished, after no service had been celebrated in it from the mid-20thcentury on: it had been abandoned and was in danger of collapse.

In 1981, however, through the care of the Diocese of Alba Iulia, the place of worship was restored. Today, it hosts an ecclesiastical art museum, where one can admire objects of worship and heritage religious books.

An Elegant Restoration Located in the Orthodox cemetery from the village of Abuş, the commune of Mica, a prevalently Hungarian community, the wooden church dedicated to “The Holy Archangels” impresses through its elegance and the attention with which has been restored. Erected in the 18th century, more precisely in 1772, the church was built mainly on oak girders and was moved onto the present-day site in 1883 from a nearby, landslide-afflicted hill, where the place of worship risked being destroyed. The church evinces the popular style of a towerless peasant’s cottage, the porch being added on its

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western side at a later date. The church has a rectangular ground plan, being 9.5 meters long and 5.5 meters wide. The semicircular and detached altar apse is unusual for this type of constructions. Its interior is plastered and painted, but the small wooden church from Abuş may have had a mural at one time, like most of the other places of worship in this category. What is remarkable about the wooden church in Abuş is that although it underwent several successive interventions, including the replacement of the shingle roof with one made of tiles, the latest restoration works have helped it regain its old looks. The church is currently covered with shingle. So is the church steeple erected nearby.

The church features on the list of historical monuments.

The Wooden Church from Nadășa, a Museum in Transylvania “Dear guest and traveler, you have done well to rest, for a few moments, in the village of Nadăşa, documentarily attested from 1453, to admire this Holy ‘Small church from Transylvania’, included in the National Heritage for its historical value, together with the rich patrimony of cult objects that have been preserved for ourselves and our posterity”: this is written at the entrance to the place of worship from this village in Mureş County, which is in the

TRAVEL

care of Father Vasile Suciu.

The wooden church from Nadăşa, attested as one of the 150 monasteries in Transylvania, is also known as one of the traveling religious edifices. It was moved from Chiheru de Sus in 1850, but its documentary mention is much older, from 1719, as it is written on an inscription from the outside altar wall, under the eaves: “This holy monastery was made when people ate hawthorn and hazel tree bark and elm tree bark and rush and acorns and corn cobs, in the year 7227.”

The monastery went through troubled times after the last Orthodox monks were banished. After being deserted, the church was flooded twice, some items were stolen and it was on the verge of collapse. In 1977, at the desire of the priest Vasile Suciu and the believers from Nadăşa, the church was moved and rebuilt on a new site; it was consecrated in 1981 and was included in the National Heritage. As of 1996, the Religious Art Museum in Transylvania functioned here, enriched with icons that have been preserved or recovered, and with valuable religious books, amongst which were the first written documents in Transylvania, Moldavia or Wallachia. Unlike other wooden places of worship, the church from Nadăşa is divided into four sections through wood partitions and also has distinguishing features as regards the altar apse. The eastern end is linked to the northern and southern walls of the narthex, forming a half-octagon. The nave is rectangular, with a four-sided undetached polygonal apse and with a shaft angle. The nave and narthex vault is semi-cylindrical. The church was decorated with mural paintings, but, having been neglected, it was destroyed by water infiltrations in time.

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Festivals that rekindle the traditions and history OF MUREȘ COUNTY

By By Ligia VORO, Elena POLEARUȘ & Alin ZAHARIE

In fairytale places gifted by God with landscapes filled with small hills or sharp peaks that wiggle out gently through the lace of coniferous forests, and where people’s souls have been imprinted with the immortality of the landscapes through traditions that live on with the help of the festivals that leave bits of their heart each passing year.

Mures Valley Festival promotes in 2019 the folk values and culture during its 15 years anniversary by gathering on the spacious highland La Alei from Răstolița village, Mureș county, the area’s rich in traditions communities starting from Toplița and decending towards Reghin municipality.

Brâncovenești, Deda, Ideciu de Jos, Petelea, Răstoliţa, Ruşii Munţi, Stânceni, Suseni and Vătava villages and Reghin and Topliţa municipalities have uncovered last year to those who have visited their small allusive houses the beauty of their customs, folk clothing, decorations and many more to the delight of the avid passerby.

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HERITAGE

The beauty enriched by the warm stories of those who have patiently and lovingly decorated them and which we were and are honoured to pass on.

The houses in the allegoric village which are representative of the each of the attending communities have shown to the visitors the continuity of the Romanian and Hungarian culture’s customs and traditions of this area.

The event did not lack in folk artists and delicious foods specific to the area. It was a colourful and tasteful gift that gushed onto the visitors, filled with diversity and colour.

The folk ensembles and the folk music artists from the attending villages have also celebrated the Centenarian of Great Union that took place in 1918.

The event was organised by the Association of Intercommunity Development ”Valea Mureșului” and benefited from the Mureș County Council’s support, who is the main festival partner and its initiator.

During the two festival days, County Council supported the organisation and progress of a creativity workshop developed

by Târgu Mureş Arts School, initiated and hosted together with Mureș County Library the “Bring a book to the festival” project and also endorsed the organising of a mountain trip by the Salvaspeo Mountain Rescue Service.

This year the festival will be held in July-August.

Festival in the Valley of Kings Last year in August, Festival of Gurghiu Valley, the 1 year younger brother, welcomed its daughters, sons and curious tourists on the Fâncel highland in Ibănești village for its 13th edition during the Centenarian of Great Union, a great Romanian anniversary. Organised by the Gurghiu Valley Community Association, Mureș County Council and Mureș County Prefecture, the mountains shaded festival from Gurghiu Valley brings out the treasures of the area including clothing, traditions, customs, and many more.

Last year the festival attendees enjoyed artistic moments brought by the Gurghiu Valley folk singers and ensembles, singers and bands concerts, gastronomical, fishing, design and mountain cross contests, as well as countless traditions and customs exposed with pride at the Ibănești, Gurghiu, Hodac, Solovăstru villages and Reghin municipality stalls.

This year the festival will be held in August.

From Roman festival to Archaeologist Day The Călugăreni Roman festival would have turned 7 this

year, but after 5 editions the event dedicated to Roman and Renaissance history of the village was turned into Archaeologist Day. In Călugăreni can be found an important site, a Roman castrum promoted heavily in writing but which is still insufficiently well known to the public.

That is why the History Museum developed a long term project at Călugăreni that plans to revitalize the built heritage, the Franciscan monastery that should be promoted and the Roman site that is part of the vast defensive system of the Roman Empire known as limes.

Last year the event took place in four different areas: Șură Theatre, the theatre courtyard (arena and forum), The Roman Archaeological Park and the Franciscan Monastery’s Church and courtyard. Also, the House of Culture and the Elementary School hosted exhibitions all day.

Throughout the day two demonstrations of military exercise took place, the rest of the time being filled with soldiers playing with the attending children, teaching them fighting and fair-play methods of use in any battle and even adults to shoot arrows.

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Sovata – pearl of the medical spas One of the oldest and most important medical spas in Transylvania, Sovata, has been known for its salt deposits and thermal spring ever since Antiquity. The settlement was first mentioned in documents on 13 September 1578, in a privilege granted by prince Cristofor Båthory to the guards

of the Sovata saltworks. In 1876, a permit was granted that water from the lakes may be used for the therapeutic baths.

In 1884, Sovata became an officially recognised medical spa.

By Ionel ALBU

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The resort with nine lakes and a plant-covered salt mountain Sovata offers an important infrastructure for leisure and thermal spas. 110,000 tourists visited the city two years ago – but local authorities estimate the number will very soon increase to 140,000.

Sovata has nine lakes – two of them with sweet water, the others with salty water. Tourists can enjoy the Ursu Lake, as well as the scenery and therapeutic benefits of lakes Aluniş, Verde, Negru, Roşu, Mierlei şi Şerpilor. Lake Aluniș (called Mogyórosi in Hungarian) formed in the ‘70s, is the second important lake in Sovata, covers an area of 3,670 square metres and has a maximum depth of 6.4 metres.

The waterline is 4 metres below the level of Lake Ursu, so therefore excess water flows to Lake Aluniș, crosses Valea Frumoasă (Romanian for ‘the pretty valley’) and Pârâul Sărat (‘the salty creek’) in Pârâul Sovata (the Sovata creek).

Lake Aluniș is cooler and less salty than Lake Ursu.

Tourists coming to Sovata should also see Lake Paraschiva.

It appeared due to a sinkhole which went through major saline karstic transformations in the ‘80s. Due to its very low salinity, there are fish in the lake – which makes it a favourite for angling enthusiasts. The touristic offer also includes lakes Negru (the oldest salty lake of the resort, 3,400 square metres wide, with a salinity of 277%), Rigó (the youngest sinkhole lake in Sovata), Zöld and Vörös (‘twin’ lakes of 21,000 square metres and 5,000 square metres respectively, called so after their apparent colours – green and red, in Hungarian).

The Salt Road The Ursu Lake in Sovata is called so because of its shape (urs means bear in Romanian), resembling a bear fur. Overlooking it is a landform unique in Europe and indeed in the world: arboretele de pe sărături, roughly translated as the arboretum on salty earth. It is actually a salt mountain on which various flora has grown – trees included. The ‘Lacul Ursu și Arboretele de pe sărături’ reservation, rehabilitated and modernised in a European project, covers an area of 79 hectares.

After the implementation of the European project, six paths were carved on the mountain, totalling 2.8 kilometres; the Belvedere tower and five observation posts were built, together with sixteen picnic and rest spots covering 9,707 square metres. 12 large and 29 small information panels have been installed along the pathways, along with new

public lighting and CCTV. Sovata is sought after not only in summer but in winter as well, for its ski slope. A second one is planned and has been included in 2017 in the national Master Plan for Tourism Investments; the region has a 1,777 metres peak suitable for this undertaking.

The Sovata ski slope is 1,200 metres long, with an elevation difference of 262 metres along the chairlift. There is a 300 metres long ski lift for beginners and, in winter, the hillside is groomed daily with snowcats and snow cannons.

Traditional celebrations Sovata attracts tourists also by events organised here. Two of them, already a tradition, are the Lake Ursu Days and the Pumpkin Festival.

Every summer since 2000, the Sovata City Hall has organised the Lake Ursu Days, a city-wide celebration. It spans three days and it’s a lot of fun due to variety of its contests, foods and children’s games, but also because of its diverse concerts and many others.

The Pumpkin Festival was meant to promote off-season tourism in Sovata – and so it is organised in October. It is an event for families and children. Its programme is mainly cultural, with exhibitions, traditional music and crafts.

CULTURE

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“Teleki-Bolyai” Library, an extraordinary book fund

by Valentin COVACIU The “Teleki” Library has been nationalized in 1951. In 1955, the 2nd important collection, “Bolyai” Library of the former Reformed College (Bolyai Highschool) in the city, has been transferred to this building. It is bearing the name of the two Bolyai mathematicians, who lived and worked in the city of Târgu Mureş. In 1962, the two funds have been merged under the name of the “Teleki-Bolyai” Library, which, since 1974, has become a section of the Mureş County Library. The “Teleki-Bolyai” Library is situated on the Ștefan cel Mare street, close to the “Bolyai Farkas” Theoretical Highschool.

With its fund of 250,000 volumes, all made available for the readers, the “Teleki” Library is annually visited by thousands of tourists. They are welcomed by the library employees and are led through the building’s rooms, where they can admire the permanent ancient book exhibition, a museum-hall dedicated to the two mathematicians, Bolyai Farkas and his son Bolyai János, one of the Non-Euclidean geometry founders, simultaneously, but independent of Lobacevski and Carl Friedrich Gauss.

The library also serves annually 250-300 readers, who are researching the volumes of its funds for specialized studies.

A valuable Romanian ancient book fund In the collection of the “Teleki-Bolyai” Library, we find ancient Romanian prints, such as “The Romanian Book of Learning or the Homiliary of Varlaam” (Iaşi, 1643) and “The New Testament from Bălgrad” (Alba-Iulia, 1648).

Or the “Bible of Bucharest”, the first full translation into Romanian of the Bible, edited in 1688. The edition is also known as “The Bible of Șerban Cantacuzino” and it is written in Cyrillic characters.

There are books we heard about at high school classes of Romanian language, but I wonder how many of us knew that we could see and even look them through, at Teleki Library. The Romanian ancient book collection represents a special domain, with its 231 prints belonging to the 17th19th centuries, edited in Iaşi, Snagov, Buzău, Râmnic, Sibiu, Braşov, Alba Iulia, Buda or Vienna.

Kovács György led me through the library halls and told me about some of the exhibited books. The first volume he showed me was “The Bible of Bucharest”, the first complete translation into Romanian of the Bible, edited in 1688. The edition is also known as “The Bible of Șerban Cantacuzino” and was written in Cyrillic characters.

Hungarian ancient books, numerous unique texts The oldest manuscript in the “Teleki” Library Fund is the Koncz Codex, from the first half of the 14th century. The codex contains the text of the Bible in Latin. “The marginal

inscriptions of this copy are considered the sixth Hungarianlanguage monument”, according to the library’s website.

The library’s book fund contains hundreds of ancient Hungarian volumes, numerous being unique. The oldest book in Hungarian is the work of Benczédi Székely István, “Chronica ez vilagnak yeles dolgairól” (The Chronicle of the World, Krakow, 1559). “Among the unique ones, we mention the text book of logic by Transylvanian scholar Apáczai Csere János, printed in Alba-Iulia in 1654 and the volume of poems by Balassi Bálint, edited in Bardejov at middle 17th century”, we also find out on the site telekiteka.com.

The Declaration of Independence At the “Teleki” Library you will find a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence. The Târgu Mureș copy, made by John Binns, was printed in Philadelphia by James Potter in 1819, in conformity with the original Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776 by the US founders.

The library collection also includes the volume “A Dictionary Tibetan and English”, Calcutta, 1834. Kőrösi Csoma Sándor, born in Chiuruş in 1784, the Three Seats county (comitatus) now a part of the city of Covasna, left on a journey to Asia, searching for the origins of the Hungarian people.

The Transylvanian Szekler explorer and philologist arrived in Tibet and India, being considered the “father of Tibetology”.

He published the first grammar of Tibetan language, “A Grammar of the Tibetan Language” and one year later a Tibetan-English dictionary. Sándor Kőrösi Csoma died in Darjeeling, India, where he was buried.

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TÂRNAVA SIGHIȘOARA - A TRADITIONAL ROMANIAN COMPANY- MANUFACTURER AND BRAND A ROMANIAN BRAND AWARDED WITH GOLD AND PLATINUM IN EUROPE Tarnava Sighisoara or ‘1949 Tarnava’ as it is known at international fairs, was one of the first factories in Romania to produce shirts and blouses.

The factory started as a handicraft cooperative in 1949, became a state owned company and later a privatized one with entirely Romanian capital in 1996.

On international level, 1949 Tarnava produces in CM, CMT or full product for high-end fashion companies like MaxMara, MaxMara Weekend, Maison Labiche, MX, Lords and Fools, Etudes, Wappen, etc. and also for clients like the German, Italian or Romanian Police, the Belgian customs or the Austrian Army.

The company managed to surpass countries with a long tradition in textile manufacturing and was awarded in the year 2000 the platinum medal at the International Fair for Manufacturing in Geneva and the gold medal at the International Fair in Madrid. ”The main business partners are from Italy, France, Germany etc. The deconstructed retro fashion, especially from the ‘80ies and ‘90ies, is one of the trends of 2019”, Cristina Hâncu, CEO 1949 Târnava

We used classical elements from the men shirt, like the bib, for women, and added cotton applications for the femininity of the product.

We also used classical Romanian embroideries, peplums in the waist, plisse capes sewn on transparent tulle etc.

For the men shirts we used black contrast fabric on ellbow patches, ornaments on the collar or button plackets, printed details, embroideries, ornamental bands on the inside of the collar etc.

THE SPRING-SUMMER COLLECTION 2019 WAS MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DESIGNER RINAD MUTI 1949 Tarnava launched its SS 2019 collection at the Romanian Fashion Philosophy at the end of April. The collection was designed by Rinad Muti. The prevailing elements of the collection are elegance and strong, bold colors. Fluidity, transparency and details like frills, bows, contrast fabric add uniqueness to the collection.

SOS CHILDREN VILLAGES & 1949 TÂRNAVA- A PARTNERSHIP TO HELP CHILDREN IN NEED

Men in Western Europe prefer slim fitting shirts with small cuffs and collars and narrow button plackets, with details like bibs, metal rivets, ornamental bands... Loose fitting shirts in printed viscose and satin are also in. Women prefer floral printed fabrics, stripes and plisse. The items are in general minimalist or architectural.

CAPSULE COLLECTION - THE WHITE SHIRT: 100 YEARS FROM THE UNIFICATION OF ROMANIA, 70 YEARS OF EXISTENCE FOR THE COMPANY The Capsule Collection was launched in December 2018, as an homage to the 100 years since the unification, as a sign of respect for the Romanian history, its culture and traditions.

We designed 24 products for men and women, 24 deconstructions of the classic white shirt. The design was classic and timeless. We used fabrics like cotton, linen, viscose and voile.

Tarnava Sighisoara wished to help sustain SOS Children Villages, a non governmental organization with the purpose to support children without parental care and families at risk. For every white shirt bought, Tarnava donates to this association. The white shirt is the best sold product.

This project is part of a series of charitable actions taken

by Tarnava to help the less fortunate. The company donates regularly clothes to orphanages or elderly homes.

1949 Tarnava collection can be acquired online, through partners or in our shops: Online: https://www.tarnava.ro/, https://www.tarnava.de/ Sighișoara: 69 Mihai Eminescu Street Brașov: 32 Saturn Street

Târnava Sighișoara Technology The technological standards correspond to the highest standards of other manufacturing companies in Romania or Europe.

We offer construction and grading of patterns, development of samples and collections, embroidery, organizing the transport. Washing, dyeing, printing etc. can be organized when needed.

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European funding: keywords for the largest urban renewal project in Romania!

Since Romania joined the EU in 2007, the city and county of Arad have absorbed over 1 billion euros in European funds, through successful strategic projects. This led to the re-election of Mayor Gheorghe Falcă for a total of four terms, as the community of Arad is finally feeling the wind of transformation sweep over their home town. European money helped attract investments that contributed to an increase in the residents’ living standards.

Here is one of the most recent European projects, worth approximately 50 million lei, aimed at improving the town’s appearance. The urban refurbishment of the city of Arad, introduced by the project called “The Urban Renewal of Arad’s Apartment Building Areas”, is the largest project of this sort in Romania. It is focused on improving living conditions, with a new and modern approach to urban development, especially in the neighbourhoods with blocks of flats build during the communist period. The plan is to build parks, playgrounds and recreational areas, to improve roads and public lighting, to create new parking spaces, and collective multi-storied parking buildings. Besides the ground level works for parking spaces, alleys, playfields, one other objective is to create 8 “Fast Park” facilities, comprised of a ground and upper level, and built in a metallic structure. The contracts for the 8 facilities were signed on 9 July 2018 and the construction is scheduled to last 2 years, with an added year for flaw detection/inspection.

“By this renewal project we intend to finish the urban refurbishment of the apartment building areas by 2020 and improve our residents’ satisfaction regarding the neighbourhood they live in”, explained Gheorghe Falcă, Mayor of Arad.

One other project – in partnership with the World Bank – is related to introducing a rainwater and household drainage system, roads and pavements in three of the most important residential areas of Arad. The project is worth 70 million lei, of which 40 million non-refundable. This is the largest nonrefundable financing granted to a Romanian city, after Bucharest.

Last but not least, the drinking water in Arad is the best in the whole country, as a result of the rehabilitation of the sewage and water system and the upgrade works at the water treatment plant in Arad, following 38 million euros, European funds obtained by the City Hall.

EU funds account for the better part of the county’s development budget as well, since the Government cut 60 million euros from its minimal budget. The same central administration that transferred a number of responsibilities to the local authorities without providing the financial instruments to achieve them, thus creating a deficit in public funding. The County Council therefore resorted to EU funding to balance the deficit. The most important projects carried out at county level are for the extension of the water and sewage system and the upgrade of the water treatment plants, 200 million euros; the investments made in the county hospital, for a total of 98 million euros; implementing a waste management system, 32 million euros; rebuilding the infrastructure of the Wine Road, 20 million euros.

Three new hospitals will be built in the next few years in Arad! Two of them will be functional by 2020 and the third – an impressive 7 storied building – in the next cycle! With a total of 90 million euros invested, Arad will be the county

with the largest share of investments in the public health sector! The achievement of the Arad County Council is unprecedented in Romania! The public health system in Arad is practically being rebuilt using European funding, local funding and, to a lesser extent, government funding (the Arad County Hospital has not been granted any investment funds by the Ministry of Health in the last two years)! The process will not be ready overnight but it already certainly is a successful and spectacular endeavour. And it has only just begun!

Arad is among the counties in full development, with a proud history and a positive attitude towards the future. When its economic potential started to grow, Arad was practically forced to settle its relationship with the other economic force of the province, Timișoara. Competition or cooperation? This was the question that needed an answer. The Mayor of Arad was the first to suggest the idea of a common growth pole in Arad-Timișoara. A national debate was born as to the advantages that stood to be gained from a cooperation between the two cities instead of a competition, and the question if together they could even beat Bucharest in terms of economic power.

According to a study of the World Bank there is potential to the Arad-Timișoara joint-venture, with Arad having a foot in the industry sector and Timișoara in the IT field. The sustainability of such an association between two powerful cities, capable of reducing their dependence on the capital city, was later confirmed at the end of 2018, when the mayors of Timișoara, Arad, Oradea and Cluj-Napoca signed the Western Alliance.

The four cities plan to work on common infrastructure projects and more: culture, education, healthcare, tourism, sports, security and development.

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Arad: 15 years of development, 15 years of economic growth!

“Almost all cars in Europe have a component “Made in Arad”!

This is mainly due to the powerful automotive industry in the county. There are as many as 7 industrial parks in the city alone! One of the only functional free areas in Romania is in our county, offering substantial opportunities to non-EU companies”, said Mayor Gheorghe Falcă. Since his election in 2004, the number of employees in the city has almost doubled. Unemployment in Arad today is somewhat of a miracle: 0.5% in the city, 1.3% in the county. The private – public sector ratio in terms of number of jobs has reached a level of 6.2.

If we exclude Bucharest from the statistics, Arad has the best ratio in the country. The prestigious Forbes Magazine nominated Arad as the 5th best business destination in Romania!

At the crossroads between Central and Eastern Europe, Arad is a landmark for development based on European funding.

Since Romania joined the EU in 2007, the city and the county of Arad attracted no less than 1 billion euros in both the public and the private sector. It is the only city in Romania connected to the European network of highways and with a high-speed rail transport for people and goods. The largest rail intermodal terminal linking the ports of Constanța and Rotterdam is just 20 km away from the capital city of the county.

The evolution of Arad sped up in 2004, when the whole city turned into a huge construction site. With the strong belief that the organic growth and successful management of a city should be based on a long term strategy, and not just on “flashy” enterprises that would blind the constituents, the new local administration mathematically set out to rebuild the town infrastructure.

The reconstruction started with a solid foundation. The main roads of the city were completely rebuilt. The highway-type ring road is one of the achievements that the town’s administration is proud of. Trams just as modern as those in Munich or Vienna run on 38 km of upgraded lines. European funds have been contracted by the city administration to buy new trams and electric buses.

6 new latest generation trams have been purchased, another 28 are planned. 20 existing trams will be modernised.

The sewage system was extended from 54% in 2004 to 96%.

110 km of new rainwater drain pipes were installed between 2004 and 2012.

Over 600 apartments were provided with thermal insulation and 8 new apartment buildings were erected in the social housing area, with a total of 310 apartments built for people that cannot afford to own a home.

The education institutions administered by the City Hall (nursery schools, primary and secondary schools, high-schools) have also undergone significant changes, following investments of over 22 million euros between 2004 and 2016.

Arad is also greener after planting thousands of trees and laying natural grass carpets with automatic irrigation in most places. The people of Arad have also rediscovered the bicycle, an alternative, ecological and non-polluting means of transport, for which they have a total of 122 km of biking lanes, the longest network in the country.

In 2004 Arad was 19th in the economic indicator ranking, while today the economic growth has brought Arad to the third position: 1st place - Ilfov (due to the growth of Bucharest) 2nd place - Argeș (due to the Dacia car manufacturer) 3rd place - Arad In 2004 Arad used to export 500 million euros worth of goods. In 2018, the city had a positive economic balance, with exports worth 3.3 billion euros and imports worth 2.9 billion euros.

National ranking of imports and exports for 2018 : 1. Bucharest – exports 10.482 bil. euros / imports 22.556 bil. euros 2. Timiș – exports 6.411 bil. euros / imports 5.548 bil. euros 3. Argeș – exports 5.775 bil. euros / imports 4.370 bil. euros 4. Arad – exports 3.331 bil. euros / imports 2.930 bil. euros 5. Brașov – exports 3.300 bil. euros / imports 2.963 bil. euros Between 2004 and 2018 the following schools were renovated: • - nursery schools, 32 of the existing 39= 82% • - primary and secondary schools, 12 of the existing 17 = 71% • - high-schools, 17 of the existing 20 = 85% In 2021, Arad will team up with Timișoara for the title of European Capital of Culture. By then it will be the first city in Romania to have 100% LED-based, ecological street lighting. The public lighting network was extended by adding 9,850 new posts until the end of 2018, following an investment that was made possible by the Swiss-Romanian cooperation programme.

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Arad, the city of Vienna style palaces!

In 1906, the great Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga visited Arad, admired it and nicknamed it “Little Vienna”. Over a century later, during the Romanian Tourism Fair in 2018, Mayor Gheorghe Falcă initiated the programme called “Arad, the city of palaces”.

The concept is based on the large number of imposing historical buildings in the city centre and give it a Western feel.

Architects consider Arad to be “the largest open air urban museum” in Romania, with a display of architectural styles from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The City Hall has consistently invested to restore historical buildings to their initial glory. Starting with January 2019, the local administration offers fiscal incentives to those who renovate heritage sites, whereas owners who do not invest in the aspect of their buildings risk paying penalties as big as 5 times the value of the property tax. There are 206 palaces and mansions built in Secession, Baroque, Eclectic and neo-Gothic styles, all in the centre of Arad.

Mayor Gheorghe Falcă decided that the local administration must set an example when it comes to being responsible for the building heritage of the city. Following an intensive renovation programme of the old city, financed by EU funds, the Administrative Palace (built in 1876 and considered among the most beautiful edifices in the country), the Culture Palace (restored to the initial look of its inaugural, 1913), the “Moise Nicoară” National College (founded in 1876) and the “Ion Slavici” Theatre (1874) were all restored.

In 2019 the City Hall began the renovation of another 11 historical buildings. Pacing down the central boulevard of Arad is the perfect occasion to enjoy the sight of these impressive monuments and tourist attractions. The “Sfânta Treime” (Holy Trinity) Orthodox Cathedral majestically closes the main axis of the avenue, and together with the Roman Catholic Church Saint Antony of Padua and the Lutheran Church (also known as the Red Church) tells the

story of a city with long-lasting spirituality. Due to this central architectural ensemble the informal city brand among the local community is “Arad, city of character”.

THE CULTURE PALACE Renovation ended in 2018. Project was financed with 4 million euros, EU funding.

THE ”MOISE NICOARĂ” NATIONAL COLLEGE Renovation ended in 2013. Project was financed with 8 million euros, EU funding – the largest such enterprise for an education institution in Romania.

THE “IOAN SLAVICI” THEATRE The EU investment was of 3 million euros. The palace is an attraction during the night as well due to the architectural lighting.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE PALACE Renovated in 2012, this is a building of astonishing beauty, with stained glass windows created by one of the most famous artists in Romania, Sever Frențiu.

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INTERVIEW

Mayor of Arad, Gheorghe Falcă: “A beautiful future is built on education and culture” Mr. Mayor, Arad is a model for the European Regional Development. What do you believe to be the elements that make Arad a national and international force?

I believe that the force specific for the entire area, not only Arad, comes from a certain understanding of the notion of freedom. And I’m not only referring to the fact that the anti-communist Revolution of 1989 started in Timișoara, Arad being the second town where people took to the streets. I would go further back in time and suggest a close reading of the Alba Iulia Declaration, because its principles were mostly conceived here, in Arad. I suggest you take a good look at the fact that the Declaration talks about unity in freedom. It proclaims the union of Romanians from Transylvania from the very start, and the liberties of the citizens and of the community are also firmly stated.

The words liberty, free appear no less than eight times in a document that is not that long after all. I think that all the forms of freedom asserted then, the freedom of conscience, of expression, of initiative, religious freedom and free association, the universal vote – some of which were not obtained at first or were temporarily refused during dictatorship – are deeply rooted in the way of living of our people. Living by these principles also gives us a unique perspective about how community must be managed and respected, about how it must grow, about how to show respect to partners, minorities and individuals who want to invest in a business.

It is also unmistakeable that the position of Arad on the map of Europe is particularly geostrategic. Our town will always be included in talks about economic relations, transport infrastructure, cultural connections or any other connections that our country has with Europe. Currently 70% of Romania’s GDP is produced in Bucharest, the capital city, and another 21 cities. Arad proudly sits on the third position. There are 18,000 active companies in Arad today, 2,500 of them with foreign capital. Our city holds the first position nationally in terms of employment in the private sector compared to the public sector.

The community of Arad is often referred to as being multinational. How does this influence the diversity of the everyday life of the city?

In the European Union, of which we are a part and want to remain a part, local administrations share common values such as democracy and the rule of law, and respect the intrinsic diversity of the regions that form the Union.

The dynamic of the European Union and the openness for interaction are the best conditions for development. I believe that intercultural dialogue is our chance to bring added value to the community, because for us regional diversity is both an opportunity and a major challenge.

For us, for the local communities, it is very important to not only talk about us people living in a definite space but also about us as members of the European Union. We must debate the main topics that concern our communities and we must feel European in our decisions and take responsibility for them.

We have the duty to protect the rights of minorities. Romania belongs to all of its citizens, be they Romanian, Hungarian, German or other. We also need to work together to have a future in Europe. Politicians and citizens, managers and public servants, intellectuals and workers alike – we all have the responsibility of making the most of our country’s potential. Romania will be successful in the 21st century. Not by clinging to the past, but by confidently building its future. We must understand that a beautiful future is built on education and culture. This future means believing in values, in friendship, in neighbours, celebrating the beauty of our town and country together with our Romanian, Hungarian, Serbian, German or Jewish friends. We must build the European Union on the foundation of brotherhood. Year after year we must keep creating opportunities for everybody to grow, regardless of their ethnicity, nationality or religion.

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The Municipality of Blaj continuity of evolution, from historical importance to economic power

By Andrei VORNICU

Even if, according to the 2011 census, the municipality of Blaj counted slightly over 20,000 inhabitants, the town from Alba County is one of the most important in Transylvania, and the historical importance it emanates can be felt by any visitor from the very first moments.

Blaj was in the 18th and 19th centuries the Transylvanian Romanians’ cultural center, and an important factor in the Romanian modern language and national consciousness formation process, the apparition of the Bible of Blaj and of the first Romanian grammar published by Timotei Cipariu1.

Wikipedia informs us that, in 1754, the first public school with Romanian language of instruction was opened in Blaj, owing to Bishop Petru Pavel Aron’s efforts. This fact made Ion Heliade Rădulescu exclaim “here the sun of the Romanians rose from”. An inscription with this quotation is placed on the building where the public school functioned. Moreover, renown scholars such as Samuil Micu, Gheorghe Șincai, Ion Budai-Deleanu, Simion Bărnuțiu, Petru Maior and George Barițiu studied in Blaj.

A moment of reference in the national history took place between May 15 and 17, 1848, on the field near Blaj called at that time “Râtul Grecilor” (“The Grecians’ Pasture”), the Great Assembly in Blaj, where between 30,000 and 40,000 people participated, mostly peasants. The Assembly adopted the program of demands with democratic character, which supposed the abolition of the tithe, of the corvée and serfdom, dissolution of the guilds and customs, freedom of speech and printing, organization of the national guard, of the state schools in Romanian language, etc.

From that moment on the space where these events took place is known under the name of Câmpia Libertății (the Liberty Field). In 1868, on the 20 years anniversary of the Blaj Assembly, the Blaj Declaration was adopted.

Beginning with the 18th century and until the Great Union of 1918, Blaj was considered the cultural capital of the Transylvanian Romanians, attracting a series of illustrative characterizations, such as “Mecca of the Romanians”, “the Romanian Sion”, the city of the “Transylvanian Enlightenment” and “School of the Romanian schools”. Probably, its best-known denomination is “Little Rome” given by national poet Mihai Eminescu.

Blaj is situated in the western part of the Târnave plateau, at the confluence of Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică, in a renowned wine-growing area. Presently, it is a town in full financial development that is visible both for its civilized urban aspect, restored and well-kept architecture, and through its attention to details, picturesque landscape,

available jobs, attracting numerous people from surrounding areas. Blaj provides a generous offer of entertainment for the tourists, involving equally esthetic pleasure and information about the milestones of our national history.

Câmpia Libertății (the Liberty Field) The Liberty Field is, certainly, the most important place for the 1848 Revolution. The Assembly on the Liberty Field, where 40,000 people coming from all over Transylvania cried out clearly, in unison, “We want to unite with the country”, expressing the Romanians’ wish ever since to live in a modern and sovereign state, illustrating a mature national consciousness. Even if this cry would be fulfilled only in 1918, this symbol remains a fundamental landmark in the struggle for national unity and citizen rights for Romanian Transylvanians”.

The “Gloria” Monument Ensemble, achieved by Ioan Vlasiu, Ion Jalea, Marius Butunoiu and Ion Irimescu, is composed of The Gate of History and three feminine silhouettes representing the three Romanian provinces –

1 Beginning with 1737, Blaj has been the seat of the Greek Catholic Church (Romanian Church United with Rome), supporting Romanian education and learning, mostly through its printing establishment (1747), a seminary and two schools (1754). It was the center of the Romanian Enlightenment owing to the cultural and scientific activity of the Transylvanian School, whose erudite scholars studied at the European universities of Vienna and Rome, and whose aim was to prove the Romanians’ Latin origin by means of linguistic, ethnographic and historical arguments. It gave a great number of priests, bishops, scholars and teachers, writers and public figures, who fought for the Transylvanian Romanians’ rights.

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Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia – reunited under the same roof, guarded on both sides by a suite of busts representing the leaders of the 1848 Revolution, belonging to the three Romanian provinces.

Avram Iancu’s Cross History registers a devastating famine that, in 1815-1818, determined the peasants on these lands to feed on tree crust and ground corn cobs. Bishop Ioan Bob intervened and lent cereals to the people on condition that they should return them in the next years. The peasants failed to honor their promise, but the bishop ordered the annulment of the agreement and, implicitly, of the debt. In memory of this philanthropic gesture, in 1820-1821, the inhabitants of the neighboring villages raised Bob’s Cross on the Dealul Viilor (the Vineyard Hill). In 1848, the Blaj inhabitants changed its name into Avram Iancu’s Cross, in remembrance of the Prince of the Mountains (Craiul Munților), who mobilized and led numerous Romanians from the Apuseni Mountains (moţi) at the Blaj assemblies in April, May and September. In the night of November 28, 1908, Avram Iancu’s Cross – symbol of the Romanian nation – has been dynamited. It was then restored by scholar Ioan Micu Moldovan’s initiative and expense.

In memory of Avram Iancu and of the 1848 Romanian Revolution in Transylvania, a monument achieved by sculptor Andrei Ostrap was unveiled in 1993. In the Autumn of 2001, Avram Iancu’s Cross has been taken down from the Vineyard Hill and placed for conservation in the “Augustin Bunea” History Museum, where it is still nowadays.

Eminescu’s linden tree In the spring of 1866, young Mihai Eminescu arrived at Blaj, wishing to get acquainted with the town that was considered the center of the Romanians’ national and cultural rebirth. It is said that upon arriving on top of a hill in Blaj, the poet exclaimed: “I salute you from my heart Little Rome! I thank, God, that you helped me see it!” Mihai Eminescu’s words remained engraved in time, and the Little Rome syntagm became the town’s best-known label.

In the respective place several young linden trees were growing at that time, out of which one survived and became a testimony of that epoch. The students in Blaj have called it later Eminescu’s linden tree, and so it is called at present.

Avram Iancu’s oak tree The old garden of the Metropolitan castle (presently, Avram Iancu Park) shelters a magnificent oak tree, over 600 years old. The tree witnessed numerous historical events that took place in those surroundings over the centuries. The first event happened at the end of 1687, when, in the vicinity, it is said that the Blaj Treaty was signed between the representatives of the Habsburg Empire and the last Transylvanian prince, Mihai Apaffi the 2nd. The document meant in fact that Transylvania was losing its independence and entered under the Austrian monarchy’s authority.

Moreover, under the oak’s rich crown Bishop Ioan Inochentie Micu-Klein was carrying out the plans of the town in the Spring of 1737.

It was called Avram Iancu’s oak tree later, after 1849, owing to Metropolitan Alexandru Șterca Șuluțiu’s friendship with the “Prince of the Mountains”. Both, good friends since childhood and dedicated patriots, used to spend whole days, mostly in Summer at the shadow of this oak tree, to discuss the Transylvanian Romanians’ historical, cultural and political issues.

The Cultural Palace, the outcome of a stylish restauration The Cultural Palace was restored in 1936 during the ASTRA festivities. King Carol II himself and Prince Mihai, at that time Voivode of Alba Iulia, participated to the inauguration. Over time, the building followed a rather sinuous path. If the first destination was as a cultural events hall, it was later constantly changed, part of the building serving inclusively as a radio-communication center. For the inhabitants of Blaj and not only for them, it served as the town’s movie theater. After the 1989 Revolution, the building was retroceded to the Greek Catholic Church, which kept it destination as a movie theater. In 1995, a fire seriously affected the building. It has remained in a deplorable state of ruin for about ten years. Subsequently, through an association between the Local Council and the County Council, the building was bought from the Greek Catholic Church and its renovation was started again. It has finally turned into an architecture jewelry, planned by the Cluj architect Vlad Rusu, who was awarded the Great Prize in the frame of the European Union Prizes for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Prizes 2017 – Conservation

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category, for this renovation concept. The renovated building has been inaugurated in May 2018, in the presence of the President of Romania, Klaus Werner Iohannis. The investment exceeded 1 million euros.

Today, the Cultural Palace is hosting the most diverse cultural events, from theatrical performances, symphonic concerts, concerts for children, meetings, symposia and numerous other outstanding events.

The hall’s capacity is of 377 seats, including the hall, the loges and the balcony, and the space is equipped in an ultra-modern way from the technical point of view, but also in what the artists’ comfort is concerned.

The hall benefits from a modern cloakroom, a spacious makeup booth for actors, a terrace for a short break, and in concert breaks, the audience can visit a well-arranged outdoor courtyard that can serve for recreation.

On the stage of the Blaj Cultural Palace, the famous artists such as the Transylvanian Quartet, violinist Gabriel Croitoru, the Royal Camerata, the Comedy Theater in Bucharest and the “Radu Stanca” National Theater in Sibiu, have performed over time.

The story of the Alba Blaj Volleyball team The Blaj volleyball team has been recognized since its beginning as a standard for national sports performance.

In May 2011, the Alba Blaj Volleyball Club was set up and the first match took place on October 1st in the same year, the team from Blaj having as opponent CS Codlea. Then the first victory of Alba Blaj Volleyball was recorded.

Meanwhile, the Blaj Volleyball team has won three National Championship titles, one Cup of Romania, and two European finals in the most important inter-club competitions - the Champions’ League and the CEV Cup. After a perfect first year in which the Alba Blaj Volleyball won without losing a match, the right to play in the first women’s volleyball league in Romania, becoming the first Blaj sports team to have achieved such performance, the subsequent evolutions have been kept at the same high level.

In the second season of the first league Alba Blaj Volleyball reached the podium of the championship, in order to win consecutively three National Champion of Romania titles.

With the third National Championship title, Alba Blaj Volleyball also won the Cup of Romania, achieving the first event in the history of the club.

Alba Blaj Volleyball has won everyone’s respect, not only in Romania, but across Europe, as the little Transylvanian city is now known in European volleyball as the owner of a strong team capable of striking on a par with the great ones in Europe, achieving huge successes for Romanian volleyball, qualifications in the 2018 Champions League final and the final of the CEV 2019 Cup. Mention must be made that by its performances, Alba Blaj Volleyball is the first women’s volleyball team in Romania to reach the finals of the most prestigious European competitions and the first team in Transylvania that managed to win the Championship and the Romanian Cup. At present, the team is in full process of regaining the Romanian Championship and Cup.

Notable investments Gheorghe Rotar, Mayor of Blaj, stated that Bosch was a major pawn in local economic development.

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“Bosch’s investment in Blaj has been decisive and considerable efforts have been made by the administration to attract it, because sustainable development needs a strong pillar. I think we are on the right track and we must make the most of it. There are over 3,500 jobs at Bosch. In fact, Blaj serves the entire area, in all respects, as jobs, hospitals, schools. Although we have only 20,800 inhabitants, the whole area has 54,000. Many people, starting with those from the Cetatea de Balta to Mihalţ area, are working at Blaj. Likewise, many children in the area come to Blaj after completing the secondary education cycle. I might say that Blaj is like a mini-capital. Returning to Bosch, it contributes 57% to local government revenues”, the Mayor of Blaj concluded.

The next decade of the town of Blaj requires consistency and, implicitly, assuming long-term responsibility. “I see Blaj in 10 years of industrially and economically intensely developed, with a faultless infrastructure.

In fact, there is no house without sewer at present, the new sewage plant is four years old, the water supply system is changed.

Subsequently, an economically developed city where people will have a decent living comparable to that of people abroad.

I repeat, I think Blaj is at a favorable moment and it is my duty and that of the whole community to capitalize on this opportunity. In the economic history of small towns, it has been demonstrated that these opportunities are very rare and those who do not take advantage of the moment will certainly lose. We do not want to lose! “, concluded the Mayor of Blaj.

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Szeklerland (Székelyföld in Hungarian, Ținutul Secuiesc in Romanian) Szeklerland is a historical and ethnographical region in the central part of Romania. The Szeklers have been living here for more than 1,000 years and are a subgroup of Hungarians, living mostly in the counties of Harghita, Covasna, and Mureș. They are characterized by a distinct historical consciousness, a particular diealectical and ethnographic features. They preserved much of the values of their archaic culture, wich are visible in the traditions, folklore and folk arts. Celebrations like The Day of a Thousand Szekler Girls, The Folk Music

and Dance Ansambles Festival, the carnivals and the Hussar Parades reflect the diversity and richness of the cultural heritage. The region’s architectural heritage is represented by medieval fortified churches, mansions and small castles, plenty of carved Szekler gates and still working ancient watermills.

Spectacular natural treasures such as the Praid Salt Mine, the Bear Lake, Hășmaș National Park, Vârghis Gorge with their limestone caves are just a few places which can offer you a real outdoor adventure in picturesque landscapes. The Szekler gastronomy is well known for its chimney cake, home made potato bread and pálinka.

You shouldn’t miss them!

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Covasna County – Land of Mansions Covasna county has more than 160 mansions and a few modest castles that used to belong to families with noble rank.

The first official, well-known appreciations regarding the mansions came from Balázs Orbán, writer, ethnographic collector in the 19 th century; the renowed Károly Kós, architect in the 20 th century was also amazed by these manor houses.

In the 1950-1960s many of these buildings served purposes other than accomodating a (noble) family. Mansions were used as a kindergarten or even engine house, or just left behind, because their owners, deprived of properties, were forced out of the country.

The communist regime also left its negative marks on the mansion houses.

In the 1990s properties were given back to the owners or their successors. Some of them are still empty, others were renewed, welcoming friends, family members or enchanting tourists.

“The most mansion concentrated village” of Covasna county is Bicfalău. Lying at the feet of the Carpathian Mountains, it is a picturesque village with only around 400 inhabitants.

Here 36 mansions adorn the streets, half of them are still in their original state.

Built mostly in the 18-19th centuries in Baroque and Classicist styles mixed with local architectural style, these modest but charming mansions were constructed mostly using stone and traditional building materials. These arcaded stone porches, asymmetrically placed pillared, arched elements, Baroque style ornaments and floral patterns enrich the artistic value of these buildings.

Hopefully this heritage will be included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

We invite you to discover Szeklerland while having for base one of the castles or mansions from Covasna County. They will surely fascinate you with their luxuriously archaic atmosphere.

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Nestled in a foothill of the Carpathians, the 50 hectares Castle Park with its buildings bring to you the luxury of the 19th century. The rooms fitted with open fire places and free standing bath tubs for a special twist emanate a bygone atmosphere. www.zabola.com Count Kálnoky’s Guesthouses The antiques-furnished houses have preserved their original Transylvanian charm and character.

A stay at the Count’s Cottage is like being transported into a Tolstoy novel. As an added value to this atmoshpere, you have the possibility to discover the region on horseback as well!

One of HRH The Prince of Wales’s private retreat lies nested amongst the meadows and hills of an isolated village, Valea Zălanului. The property has its own vegetable patches and orchards, so you can have the most delicious traditional Transylvanian meals. www.transylvaniancastle.com Gaál Kúria

Castle Hotel Daniel

Try out the comfort of an old castle, where century-old wooden elements are combined with traditional style in a modern way, and frescoes surround you everywhere. Spend your night in the Constantinople Room and find out what story the mural above your head hides. www.danielcastle.ro Zabola Estate

The 150 years old manor house is a unique blend of young and old. While the harmonic main building rules the estate with its presence, the redeveloped Barn comes to pamper you with hot tub and sauna… all this in the tranquil softness of the deep countryside. www.gaalkuria.com Benke Mansion The 19th century classic style building offers the comfort of a luxury boutique hotel. You can also indulge your senses, invigorate your mind and spirit in the wellness&spa area after discovering the neighbourhood by bike. www.conaculbenke.ro Museum of Transylvanian Life Dating back to 1648, the Kálnoky Castle is home to the Museum of Transylvanian Life providing insight into several centuries of Transylvanian cultural history. Take a step back in time and see how an aristocratic residence in Transylvania looked like and how noblemen lived.

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Covasna county – Land of Mineral Water

Water, one of life’s fundamental elements, can be found in a very wide range in our region. Due to the volcanic activities that took place tens of thousands of years ago, the Eastern range of the Carpathian Mountains is home to mineral water and mofetta gas, hidden deep underground.

According to the different sorts of mineralization, you will meet various types of fizzy and still mineral water: they differ in colour (brownish, yellowish, lime-white), smell (sulphurous, ferruginous), and taste (ferruginous, salty). You can try them bottled or directly from the source (mineral water spring).

Drinking cures can ease gastric problems and bowel complaints, while bathing cures help in treating cardiovascular diseases. For drinking cures look for the following bottled mineral waters: Malnas-Aqua Telluris, Benkő-Regina and Vâlcele.

Small mineral water basins can be found in the forest or in the glades. Be careful: the water of these traditional Szekler mineral water baths is cold, but is perfect to refresh yourself on a hot summer day!

Besides waters, volcanic repercussion is also present through mofettas (CO2 bath), a key factor for healing circulatory diseases. Being heavier than air, the uprushing CO2 is captured in pits and used for healing purposes. Patients are taking a mofetta whilst standing or sitting. A cure lasts approx. 15-20 minutes, while the CO2 takes its effect through the skin. Due to vasodilation, the patients’ blood circulation is enhanced and blood pressure is lowered. Indicated in cases of vasoconstriction and high blood pressure.

Replenish Yourself in Covasna Resort!

Enjoy the picturesque landscape trekking in the Fairy Valley while you are relaxing and healing. Be the guest of any of the hotels in Covasna Resort for a refreshing treatment!

The Covasna Method is a unique healing method whose benefits can be availed only in Covasna Resort. The inventor, Géza Benedek MD, combined traditional healing procedures with the beneficial effects of natural resources of Covasna.

The method is based on the use of mineral water, mofetta, negative-ion-rich air, low-fat and low-salt diet, regular exercise and active relaxation. The aim is to overcome classical risk factors through blood-pressure regularization, giving up smoking and overcoming obesity through exercise.

Clermont Hotel awaits you with Health Centre and Beauty Centre. “Stress is for others” is developed for active,

young people, with straining professions that affect them neuropsychically. “For a healthy heart” is recommended for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases and arterial hypertension. www.clermonthotel.ro Hotel TTS is all about spa & wellness and treatments. Here, wellness means not only pool, sauna and salt room, but a healthy lifestyle, harmony, energy, relaxation and well-being; wellness in pure harmony with the body, mind and soul.

Balneotheraphy is also available. www.hotelttscovasna.ro You can also relax and let yourself be pampered in the the Grand Santerra Spa of the Grand Hotel Balvanyos at Balvanyoș Resort or in the Cellarium Slow Down Spa of the Castle Hotel Daniel at Tălișoara.

Remember! Recreation is one of our fundamental rights, essential to give harmony to our body and soul.

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Traditions and crafts – Heritage from bygone times

Tradition is part of our life. Who would we be if we forgot old times with all their values: customs and traditions, creative folk art?

Szekler traditions are bound to seasons, holidays and important life events.

Have you heard about the Carnival (Shrovetide) of Belin where winter is buried by masqueraders on horseback?

The main actors of the group usually are a spokesman, the newlyweds (where the bride is a man, hiding behind a veil), a bridesmaid (also a man) and best man, a gypsy woman (also a man) and her husband, followed by the band – they assure the good mood for the participants with their songs, rhymes and jokes.

Did you know that on the second day of Easter, on “Watering Monday”, boys do not spare girls and sprinkle them even with a bucket of cold water? Well... this happens mainly in the countryside, in the yard, where boys may arrive in groups, singing. In cities, the custom has changed: girls are sprinkled mostly with perfume. After the boys’ poems, the girls give in return the youngsters red-painted Easter eggs. Even today, the Easter Sprinkling and Easter eggs are considered symbols of fertility.

In autumn, at the Harvest Ball, grapes are guarded and if the thief is caught in the act, he is mulcted. Join the locals for the event, and learn how to dance csárdás!

Sântilia or the Nedeia Mocănească from Covasna town is a Romanian celebration. In the past, on the day of Saint Elijah (Ilie in Romanian, and that is where Sântilia is coming from), the shepherds descended from the mountains to find a wife. Nowadays, the event presents a traditional Romanian wedding ceremony, where you can observe the folk costumes; you will also see sheperds milking the cows and preparing cheese.

You can try out the bulz, a Romanian specialty: polenta ball stuffed with curd cheese and baked on coal, while you enjoy Romanian folk dance and folk music.

Our craftsmen are capable of giving function to wood, stone, iron, industrial hemp, wool, etc. Through demanding labour, wood becomes headboard for our beloved ones who are laid to rest in the cemetery or carved and hand painted furniture; iron is taking shape as horseshoes, candlesticks and forged gates; weaving, sewing and embroidery rewards us with linen, homespun fabric and traditional folk costumes.

You can be part of the magic of these transformations and find out many secrets by taking part at a traditional craft workshop. www.folktrades.ro

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Events where time flies by

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Synchronize your visit to Covasna County when there is a gastronomic event and we assure you that you will experience the essence of the Szekler hospitality, namely that no one can leave with empty stomach! Here is what we recommend you: - Transylvanian BBQ Festival – Those who visit this year’s Festival will get a glimpse into the barbeque culture that is spreading very fast worldwide. In addition to the food specialities, the venue is not to be neglected either, as the competition and accompanying programs will take place in the backyards of the Mikó Castle in Olteni. The family atmosphere will be ensured by stage performances and interactive programs for children. We also invite everybody for a short time travel in the form of a guided tour of the castle, where you can discover what the well-preserved wall paintings hide.

- Kürtőskalács - Festival of Sweet Flavours - The chimney cake is a Hungarikum since 2015. It is a popular sweet pastry, Hungarian and Transylvanian at the same time.

Its name comes from its long, cylindrical shape that reminds us to the chimney’s smoke vent. The once festive treat, present at weddings, christenings, etc. became an every-day pastry, but kept the tradition that surrounded it: it can not be made by a single person, it takes at least two people to prepare it... and this is its charm: bringing together families and friends, laughing while the dough was raising and the sugar has caramellized on the coal.

Beside spreading the culture and love for chimney cake, the main goal of the Festival is to find “The Kürtőskalács of the Year in Szeklerland”. Beside the delicious sweets, concerts and handicraft fair awaits you!

- Sausage and Stuffed Cabbage Festival – Well... this is only for tough people, and for those who like comfort food. Every year up to 100 teams compete and prepare approximately 4 km of sausage and lots of stuffed cabbages in the cauldrons.

Each team has its own sausage recipe they stick to – it could be a heritage from a grandmother, from un uncle that used to be a butcher, etc. Try them, accompanied by the freshly baked potato bread and szilvapálinka (plum brandy) and we assure you that you will want to come back to Szeklerland!

We also recommend you the Saint George Days, the first and biggest annual city festival of Transylvania with tens of thousands of participants. It is a one week long event offering hundreds of different programs, entertainment for all tastes, where children and adults, fans of arts and sports alike find happenings close to their hearts and sphere of interest.

Expositions, concerts of light and classical music, sportsand skill contests, folk- and modern dance performances with teaching sessions, handicraft market, open air food and drink stalls welcome the visitors.

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Spend Some Time in Nature!

In the Carpathians bears, deers, wild boars inhabit the woodlands. Observe the bears in their natural habitat, in safe bear hides and take inviable pictures of them. You can do this in the ”Bear Cinema” at Bodoc, at the Zabola Estate or near the Saint Anne Lake.

Covasna County can be discovered by bike as well.

Take the 230 km long Nemira Trail that leads through 50 settlements, cities and villages as well, while you can admire the closeness of nature. The Sepsi Green Trail offers visitors the opportunity to go through 18 localities. Its purpose is to present the landmarks, the natural heritage, the cultural and local values, promoting a better knowledge of the regions among tourists and locals or visitors. The Zeroo Mountain Bike Trail leads you through the crest of the Baraolt Mountain, to the Vadas Pass. From here, it is possible to descend to Valea Crișului or Aita Medie villages (7.5, respectively 11 km).

Put your trekking shoes on and lose yourself in nature by trekking on the various hiking trails. Enjoy the green landscape and the fresh air given by the forests. The highest peak (Lăcăuți – 1,777m) of the region can be approached from Comandău. The Bodoc Mountain is the largest mountain of the area, there are a lot of marked trails leading to it from the small villages.

Winter is also fun here! You can glide on the skislopes or make a small trip on the horse sleigh while drinking hot tea or pálinka.

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Equestrian Tourism

We all know there can be a very special bound between man and horse, sometimes even a deeper one than between people.

For animal-loving people we recommend to discover Covasna County on horseback. At the Count Kálnoky’s Guesthouses and at The Prince of Wales’s private retreat you can choose from various riding tracks that lead through hidden villages, valleys and hills, forest and last between 3-5 days.

If you have only a few hours at your disposal, try one of the riding centers in Arcuș, Bodoc, Benedekmező, Zăbala or Chichiș.

Covasna County also has a few equestrian events: - Szekler Galopp – a qualifier for the Hungarian National Galopp that is organized every year in Budapest, Hungary. At the Szekler Galopp, that takes place in the Memorial Park of Hungarians next to Moacșa village, is decided which horsehorseman is representing Szeklerland at the Hungarian National Galopp. Beside the races, you are awaited with horse related activities: paint and sculpture exhibition, horseback riding for children, horse show, baranta show, open air horse theatre in the evening.

- Hussar-Recruitment of Covasna County – Today we

would say it is a ”promotion of military life”, because the aim of recruiting was to persuade young men to enter the army’s light cavalry. This was usually done by hussars meeting youngsters in pubs or other public places. This event brings back the atmoshpere of those times, with many hussars on their horseback, singing hussar songs and marches. Every year the recruitment has a different track.

- International Carriage-Driving Race at Olteni – In 2018 there were 18 carriages racing. Come and support your favourite!

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Harghita – natural treasure in the heart of Szekler Land Well-known for its enthusiasm for winter sports, famous for its Ciuc Beer, mineral waters and plum brandy, remarkable for its volcanic mountains and natural wonders, Harghita County is home to many historical and ethnographical treasures, to which the beautiful natural background is given by valleys, rivers and the gentle hills of the Eastern Carpathians, is a unique place certainly worth visiting during your stay in Transylvania.

“You can find four of the seven wonders of Transylvania in Harghita County, and we have so much more to offer for you.”

Photo: Andras Zsolt

About Harghita County If someone has once seen the only volcanic lake in Central Europe, the Saint Anna Lake, if one has once seen the green valleys of the Harghita Mountains rising over 1,800 meters above sea level, or the legendary landscape of Red Lake, it is certain that he/she will miss these wonders.

Harghita County is situated at the meeting point of the Eastern Carpathians and the Transylvanian Basin that are the borders of the Carpathian basin. Its history includes not only the history of the people who lives here, but also the past of the region.

The county has a predominantly mountainous relief with the Eastern Carpathians covering the largest part of the territory. Mountains, basins and hills are spread all over the county. 60% of the county’s surface is wood and highland.

You can find one of Europe’s greatest, about 170 km long, volcano mountain chain, the Caliman-Gurghiu-Harghita Mountains, in the center of the county. The Caliman Mountains deepened by glacier, a single volcanic massive, dominate the landscape in the north. The Gurghiu Mountains situated between the Mures valley and Liban pass is made of the volcanic mountains of Fancsal and Mezohavas, Sumuleu and Delhegy. The Harghita, out county’s namegiving mountain is made of more volcanic structures. In the middle, the Gurghiu Mountains and the volcanic Harghita

rise above the Gheorgheni Basin, situated at the upper part of the Mures gorge. The other basins, Borsec and Casin are characterized by plains and slight slopes, with wide, sometimes marshly river flats. The western side of the county is a part of the great Transylvanian basin through the SovataOdorhei hill-line and the Tarnavele Hills.

Because of the volcanic post-acting, Harghita County has the greatest colony of carbonized mineral water with the most varied chemical substances. The tourist and the explorers are attracted by more than one thousand mineral water springs and mofettas, which the inhabitants call “stinking pits”.

At the north of the county is in neighborhood with Suceava County, at the east with Neamt and Bacau, at the south with Brasov and Covasna, and at the west with Mures County.

If you want to visit us with airplane, the nearest airport is in Targu Mures, but Sibiu and Bucharest are available too.

The weather is characteristic for this type of geographical area: cold winters, but optimal for practicing winter sports, pleasant and refreshing summer breezes and a long, colorful and sunny fall. Stemming from its volcanic origin, the unique microclimate of the region provides several balneary and climatic resorts for treatment of a wide range of illness.

Harghita‘s fauna is very complex represented by deer, wild bears, ferrets, rabbits, wolves, brown bears, martens, lynxes and many others. The flora is represented by beech, holm, hornbeam, maple, spruce, fir, ice age relict plants and other species of plants.

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Harghita Treasures of the Szekler Land According to Wonders of Transylvania, five of the seven wonders are in Harghita County: the Red Lake and the Bicaz Gorge, Lake Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary statue of Sumuleu Ciuc and the mineral water springs.

Based on this list we started collecting special places in our county, which are considered unique and become our treasures. Below we present some of these.

Lake Saint Anne The only volcanic lake in Central and Eastern Europe, located in the Carpathian Mountains in the Eastern-Central part of Romania, formed in the bottom of Ciomatu Massif's southern crater, being one of the most visited travel destination of Transylvania.

The Carpathian volcano erupted about 32,000 years ago.

In this area, there were two craters of lava. After the last eruption, one became the Saint Anne Lake and the other become some sort of volcanic swamp, the Mohos Bog. There are many legends that are linked to the name of the lake. According to the locals, long ago, there was a girl named Anne that lived in the area. Before the existence of the lake, two wealthy men used to live in these parts. They were always in competition who had the most amazing objects of fortune. The man who lived where the lake is now had the idea to buy himself a golden chariot and to use young girls from the village instead of horses. The girls tried to move the chariot but it was way too heavy for them. The man, desperate for acknowledgment of his wealth and his idea started whipping the poor girls. One of them, named Anne, mumbled a curse. The next minute, the ground started shaking and crashing down, with the girls, the man and the chariot. It is said that all the water in the lake is actually from the girl’s tears.

The Heart of Jesus The tallest statue of Jesus in Eastern Europe. In 2011, the largest statue of Jesus in Eastern Europe was built on Gordon hill in Harghita, between Odorheiu Secuiesc and Praid.

Called “the Heart of Jesus”, the statue is about 22 meters high, and is made of iron and stainless steel.

Inside the statue, there are metallic spiral staircases up to the head, from where you could admire the wonderful view around.

Bears In Romania, there are more bears than in all of Europe. There are about 1,500 bears only in Harghita County. In recent years the bear watching tours become popular activities among tourists.

SkiGyimes The longest bobsleigh in Romania, located in Ghimes. A bobsleigh track, set up in Lunca de Sus commune, has become, in a very short time, an attraction for the tourists visiting the Ghimeş area or for the adrenaline lovers who come here to experience this sensation. Besides the adrenaline, tourists can enjoy a beautiful landscape, which many compare with those seen in Austria or Switzerland.

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Photo: Tatar Attila

Bicaz Gorge

Sumuleu Ciuc

An extremely picturesque geographic area. The Bicaz Gorge is located in the North-East of the country, in the Hasmas mountains, it is part of the Cheile Bicazului-Hășmaș National Park. It is considered among of the most beautiful gorges in Romania accessible to the tourists. The gorge was excised by the waters of Bicaz River and it serves as a passageway between the Romanian provinces of Moldova and Transylvania. The road along the 8 kilometres of ravines, often in serpentines with rock on one side and a sheer drop on the other, is one of the most spectacular drives in the country. Also within the gorge is the famous Red Lake.

Cheile Bicazului is one of the main rockclimbing sites in Romania.

A very important pilgrimage place, visited by about 600,000 people each year. The Şumuleu Ciuc/Csíksomlyó Pentecost pilgrimage began in 1567, a vow of pilgrimage of Szeklers for the protection of their Catholic faith, which has become the most significant pilgrimage of Hungarians since 1990.

According to the chronicles, the first pilgrimage to Şumuleu Ciuc, with the leadership of priest István, was started from Joseni more than 450 years ago.

The Franciscan church of Șumuleu Ciuc is one of the most famous architectural monuments, being the most important place of pilgrimage in Transylvania. The main adornment of the church is the wondrous statue of the Mother of God, placed on the main altar of the church. The linden wood sculpture represents the Mother of God holding the infant Jesus, as described by the Book of Revelation - The Woman Dressed in Sun. The sculpture, probably dating back to the 16th century, made of a linden trunk, painted and gilded, is the largest votive sculpture known in the world, having a total height of 227 cm.

Salt Canyon and mountain One of the largest salt reserve in Europe. The Salt Mountain from Praid is one of the most interesting attractions of Transylvania. This geological reserve, which covers 66 ha of land, lies on the south-western part of Praid bath resort, at 576 meters above sea level. The Salt Mountain is said to have 3 km in depth and has an elliptic shape, its diameters being 1.2-1.4 km long, and its vertical extension gives a mushroom shape to the mountain.

The shape of mountains that we see today is the result of the eroding activity of the Corund brooks combined with human activity as well. Here, along the Corund brooks valley we find the salt gorge, with formations similar to those of limestone. We can find salt dolines, salt caves, salt-cliffs, water run-offs, all these forming the protected area.

Mohoș Bog / Swamp Protected ecosystem near Saint Anne Lake, with hallucinogenic and carnivorous plants. Near the Saint Anne Lake you can see a second volcanic crater that turned itself into a swamp with volcanic ash and now it is named Mohos Swamp. It can only be visited with a guide and only on marked trails and bridges made of wood. It can be dangerous to step out of the trails. There is a tricky soil that, in some places, can be very soft and can act like quicksand.

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The Mohos Swamp is famous for its ice-age relict plants. Moreover, specialists have proved that the area is interesting not only from a botanic, but also from a zoological point of view, being the habitat of a number of rare arthropods.

The Merești cave The longest cave in the County, with eight chambers and a length of 1,527 m. Located in the middle of Varghis gorges in the Persani Mountains, Meresti cave is a speleological jewel, considered by the speleologists as one of the longest caves in the Eastern Carpathians. The cave is on the right wall of the Varghis gorges, near a bridge, in the so-called Rock of Wonders.

Corund Village known as a traditional pottery center. Corund pottery is specific for the region of Corund in Harghita County. After the clay was well cracked with some water and cleared of impurities, the cuted strips are molded on the pottery wheel until it has the desired shape. After a few days of drying, the bowls are burn in highly heated oven. The Corund pottery is painted by craftsmen with stylized floral and zoomorphic designs. Ceramics can be white, brown, blue (cobalt) or multicolored.

Praid Salt mine

Fântâna Brazilor Bog Site of community importance, with a surface of 41 hectares.

Fântâna Brazilor bog is located at an altitude of about 950 m, in the Central-Western part of the Praid-Dealu volcanic plateau, in Gurghiu Mountains. The plateau is composed of volcanic-sedimentary formations. At the Western outskirts of the plateau, water erosion revealed Pontian sedimentary deposits and salt. The Fântâna Brazilor bog was declared a Natura 2000 site in 2007. It appears as Luc or Ruc in the literature, but locals generally call it Datka.

Inlăceni The village won the “Europa Nostra” award. In the SouthWestern part of Harghita County, 25 km away from Odorheiu Secuiesc and 18 km away from Cristuru Secuiesc, lies Inlăceni, a village unchanged for hundreds of years, beautiful as in the stories of childhood.

The age of the houses is measured in centuries, most of them rural architecture monuments raised in a time when the planks were joined together with wooden slats. They look very similar with each other.

Built of stone and wood, they are painted white or azure, covered with tiny tiles made in the village, and the flower garden in front of the house is indelible. The entry in the house is made through a mezzanine, by climbing a wooden ladder or a few steps made of stone. The ground floor and the basement are reserved for the kitchen, the storage rooms and the cellar.

The Fortified Church in Dârjiu The only UNESCO monument in Harghita County. The Dârjiu Church, declared a UNESCO monument in 1999, is one of the most important fortified churches in Transylvania.

The most valuable assets of the monument are the wall paintings from the 15th century, of which the most important is the series of paintings depicting the legend of St. Ladislau, made in 1419 at the behest of István Ungi's son. The paintings are in a very good condition.

Among the church's attractions is the brick found in 1929 with Szekler runic writing, still visible today. The experts date the creation of this brick somewhere between 1274 and 1431.

Photo: Antal Levente Located at a depth of 120 m, it offers an unforgettable experience. The recreational base of the Praid salt mine is located at "Horizon 50", which is 120 m below the surface.

The salt buses transport the people 1,250 m through the mine, to the entrance of the recreational base.

Once you reach the Recreation Center, you can enjoy all the facilities of a small community: lighting, wireless access, television, children's playgrounds, creative and recreational spaces, ecumenical chapel, café, 3D cinema and a drugstore with herbal products. You can also enjoy wine tasting, or eat from the varied menu prepared by the salt mine restaurant.

During the year, around 400,000 people visit the Praid salt mine.

Mofettas The Harghita Baths, Sântimbru Băi Baths offer efficient treatment possibilities. One of the natural riches that our country are the mofettas. Originating from the Latin term "mephitis", which means "nifty emanation," mofettas are gas emanations that can appear through earth's cracks in the final phases of volcanic activity, through drilling, degassing of mineral waters, or can be made artificially.

Although mofettas are also found in France, Italy, Java Island or Yellowstone National Park (USA), the ones in Romania are unique through the emanations of dry gas rich in carbon dioxide (95-98%), a very effective therapeutic factor. Also, mofettas from our country, contain rare gases such as helium and radon, which complement the curative effect of mofetta therapy.

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What to do in Harghita Well, you can do almost everything if you are coming to visit us. We have bobsleigh track, wellness centers, traditional baths, Via Ferrata, adventure parks, bear watching places, pilgrimage route, traditional events, extreme sports, horses, off-road tours, bike tours, trekking, paragliding, etc. You can discover the beauty of Harghita County on foot, on horseback, on two wheels, on water, in the mountains or in the air. We've got your back!

Bobsleigh track – Lunca de Sus With its 1,300 metres this is the longest bobsleigh in Romania.

Wellness Tusnad

BIKKLA (Fat Electric Bike) is the easiest and happiest way to explore the Red Lake.

Transylvania Adventure Park (TAP) TAP – promotes and creates the opportunity for those with a spirit of adventure yearning to be carried away by adrenalin to try themselves in a wide range of extreme situations involving various machines and acquiring unforgettable experiences that inspire their spirit and stretch their mind to the extreme.

Bear watching in Baile Tusnad It is well-known that tourists coming to Baile Tusnad want to see bears. Bence Máté, one of the world’s most famous wildlife photographer chose the best location, which could fit in a fairy tale, based on many years of research. Bears can be observed and photographed in their natural habitat through a large, one-way glass.

Via Mariae Pilgrimage Route Mary’s Way or Via Maria is a spiritual way for tourists. It is also a pilgrim`s way, built by the nations of Central Europe to the honour of Mary, but it also connects the shrines of Mary, without interfering with any historical, cultural, or religious differences.

It is located in the center of Baile Tusnad spa resort, near Ciucas Lake.

Via Ferrata “Wild Ferenc”

Traditional Bath in Borsec The fairies garden bath is a group of mineral springs, which flow in open-air pools. The place has a wardrobe and resting points.

Balu Park In a natural setting of a rare beauty, among the peaks of the Oriental Carpathians, in the middle of Harghita's fir forests, Balu is one of the oldest adventure parks in the country.

Traditional evening in Ghimeș At the request of their guests, the Gyimesi Skanzen in Lunca de Jos organize cultural and artistic events.

Photo: Keresztes Emil The “Wild Ferenc” via ferrata route was opened in autumn 2016, in Suhardul Mic Mountain (1,345m), near Red Lake.

Bikkla

The Equestrian Center Ivo Riding Ranch The Equestrian Center Ivo Riding Ranch was founded in 2011 as a small family business in the Izvoare Valley, Zetea Village in Harghita. The Ranch has the only stud farm of Icelandic horses in Romania.

The Day of the Thousand Szekler Girls The day of the Thousand Szekler Girls, organized on the first Saturday of July in Miercurea Ciuc, is a celebration of music, dance and the popular Szekler clothes, which offers an opportunity to present, preserve and popularize the values of the Szekler folk art and garments.

Making the special Szekler cake We’d like to invite you for an exciting program. Location: in the garden of Nagy Lak II, at the Zetea dam. On the occasion of a familiar program, our guests could get to know the tricks of making the special Szekler cake.

Paragliding Have you ever wanted to soar like a bird? Well you can try with many team in Harghita County.

Horseback riding Do you like horses? Do you wish to explore Harghita County on horseback or by a horse-cart tour? Both are possible.

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What to see in most beautiful county in Transylvania With the help of local people, we gathered some travel spots, which can’t be missed. Below we present some of these. The entire list is available on the Visit Harghita app.

Red Lake, a natural dam lake formed following the collapse of a slope due to an earthquake in 1838 near Bicaz Gorge, one of the most beautiful gorges in Romania.

Wildlife Park of Izvoare If you are interested in the life of the wild animals in their natural environment, we recommend the Izvoare wildlife park.

Mikó Castle Miercurea Ciuc Mikó Fortress Castle, known as the "Fortress", is the oldest and most important historical monument in Miercurea Ciuc.

In 1970, after a general restoration, it became the headquarters of the Szekler Museum of Ciuc.

The Szekler Memorial on Pasul Casin The Nyerges commemorative complex marks an important moment in the history of the Szeklers, one of the last military confrontations in the Revolutionary and Independence War of 1848-1849.

Csíki Beer Manufacture In 2013, a local entrepreneur, András Lénárd took over the former communist distillery in Sânsimion, Harghita county, and started producing his own craft beer. András's local mark is called Igazi Csíki Sör, which means "The True Ciuc Beer ".

Sugau Cave In the Hasmasu Mare Massif, on the Southern slope of the Sipos Mountain at over 1,600 meters, there is a speleological wonder, a gem dug in limestone - the Sugau Cave. The name, which in Hungarian means "whisper", comes from the sounds made by the underground spring as it flows through the stones.

The Aragonite Museum Corund We look forward to greet you in the first and only museum of its kind in Europe. The museum presents the history and technique of aragonite polishing, an original collection of pieces that were made in the same building, some 100 years ago.

Zetea dam Zetea is the only artificial lake in the upper Târnava Mare area.

The work on the dam began in 1976, and finished only in 1992.

Csorgókő Waterfall from Varsag In the Varsag forest, along the Fantana Mare brook, is the Varsag waterfall. Fueled by 7 springs, the stream's waters drop from a height of 7 meters, forming a beautiful two-step cascade.

Frumoasa Dam The Frumoasa Dam is located on the Frumoasa brook, a tributary of the Olt river. The dam is made of ballast fillings, and a clay core. It has a height of 38 m and a length of 506 m.

Caracău Viaduct The Caracau Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the Miercurea Ciuc - Ghimes section, which was put into operation on 18 October 1897.

Photo Laboratory Kováts Odorheiu Secuiesc We invite you to travel in time in the only European photography studio that works by only using natural light. Ancient cameras, backgrounds, decors and other antique accessories can be seen.

You could look inside cameras that are a hundred years old; you could witness the magic of black-and-white film developing in dark rooms.

Butterfly House The first permanent tropical butterfly house in Romania, at Praid. Each year, the butterfly house can be visited in the warm months.

Varghis Gorge Varghis Gorge is located in the Persani Mountains (1,292 m), which belong to the Southern Group of the Oriental Carpathians. The gorge formed in Jurassic limestone and has a length of 4 km.

Healing Harghita Among the famous Salt mine in Praid and the wellness and spa centers, our county has some unique gifts.

Harghita County is the richest county from the point of view of mineral water and gas escapes in Romania. It is considered the home of more than 2,000 mineral springs. Due to their chemical substances, they are not only drinking water, but used for medicinal batch too. They are suggested to be used as drinking courses in the case of digestive tract, endocrine illnesses, liver and bilious complaints, kidney diseas and metabolism complaints.

Mineral water and the volcanic post-acting signs are characteristic all over the county. The salt and carbonated mineral water springs can be found in the northerns lopes of the Harghita and in the eastern borders of the Transylvanian basin: Praid, Corund, Seiche, Homorod, Lueta, Baile Chirui, Baile Selters, Vlahita.

The dry carbonated baths (mofettas) are good for everybody.

They are very good for the heart and vascular system, they stimulate the metabolism of the organism, control the functions of the main nervous system. It is known the good influence of the gas escapes for rheumatism and blood-pressure too. Local people used the mineral water and mofettas for medical courses for centuries. Nowadays they are surrounded by a lot of baths.

This is why Borsec, Baile Tusnad, Praid and Harghita Bay are well-known all over in Europe.

Harghita County in your pocket On the 12th of December, 2018, we’ve announced the official Visit Harghita mobile application and webpage, which was made by the Harghita County Council and co-financed by the European Union. You can download it from the Google Play Store and the App Store for free.

This is the only platform that answers all your questions and gives you all need to know before choosing a tourist destination.

With only a few clicks, you can easily access everything Harghita County has to offer to tourists. A unique feature of the mobile app is the audio guide available in Hungarian, English, and Romanian.

We wish you a pleasant time!

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Bibliotheca Telekiana

By Sidonia GRAMA

The city of Tîrgu-Mureş boasts the first public library in Transylvania and one of the most valuable in the country: Teleki Library. A quintessence of the Enlightenment spirit, it brings together the most significant scientific and humanistic editorial productions since the invention of printing and the richest treasure of publications contemporary with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Rare books, bibliophile editions of classical world literature, incunabula, valuable manuscripts, luxury editions of the Bible translated into various languages, they are all housed in the superb high edifice built in the 18th century with the specific purpose of a library.

Its founder, Count Samuel Teleki (b.1739 - d.1822), was essentially a man of the Enlightenment. A memorable historical figure, he had a political career the apogee of which was the position of Chancellor of Transylvania, which he filled from the death of Emperor Joseph II, whose personal adviser he had been, until the end of his life. However, it was not so much his political career that ensured his fame, even though, remarkably, Count Teleki was the first Protestant nobleman who held such a high Aulic rank in the Habsburg Empire, which was prevalently Catholic. His face is immortalized on the frontispiece of the Samuel Teleki Palace of Culture, along with other Hungarian cultural figures, because of his passion for education and culture, and for his role as a Mecena. The descendant of a Calvinist family belonging to the high nobility in the Principality of Transylvania, Samuel Teleki inherited, on the one hand, the title of nobility and a considerable wealth, the largest in the principality, acquired by his grandfather, and, on the other hand, he carried on the preoccupations of his father for supporting school education. He was an erudite scholar, received a distinguished humanistic and scientific education at the best universities in Europe, where he was inspired by the encyclopedic and rationalistic spirit of the time, and above all, he had a great passion that animated him his entire life. Samuel Teleki was a great lover of books. A refined, elevated bibliophile, with strong ties at the Court of Vienna, the Transylvanian count became, early in his youth, a collector of books who was intellectually competent and financially potent. For 60 years he systematically acquired - from leading publishers and booksellers in 25 European cities - the most significant works published since the establishment of printing, in the most elegant editions,

which attest today the exquisite art involved in creating the masterpieces of older European books.

In the cultural history of Transylvania, his undertaking can be compared, in terms of its magnitude, with the collections of Governor Samuel Brukenthal, housed in the museum that bears his name in Sibiu. Count Teleki’s bibliophile passion was shared by his wife, an aristocrat who had an impressive library which today is fully preserved in the Teleki Library funds. The bibliophile affinities of the couple attest to the immense value that books had in the past centuries and to the symbolic capital of private libraries. For the 18th19th century aristocracy, personal libraries represented the hallmark of their elitist social status. However, more than a cultural crest or an aristocratic hobby, Count Teleki’s love of books was a vocation. Biblio-philia meant then not only erudition and intellectual delight, but also clear vision, social responsibility for the cultural destiny of the nation, generosity, and even sacrifice.

For Count Teleki, his library was a treasure: “I have nothing more dear than my life, wife and children”, he confessed.

(Jakó Zsigmond, Philobiblon Transilvan). Teleki catalogued the books himself, and the systematic inventory of his collection, published between 1796-1819, in four volumes, in Vienna, was the first of its kind in our country, a landmark in library science. The thought of donating his precious library “for the benefit of the homeland, which is suffering from a lack of books”, accompanied him for a long time. In 1799 he had a building erected, specifically designed with the destination of a library, which he endowed with his collection from Vienna, brought home to Târgu Mureş. From 1802, in keeping with his will, Teleki Library became public, serving the readers in town and elsewhere, who are interested in its valuable collections, even today. Samuel Teleki turned his patronage of the arts into program of life and his bibliophile passion into an institution, Bibliotheca Telekiana, which endures and grows over time, today consisting of a stock of 250,000 books. Bibliotheca Telekiana not only serves as a museum and library but is also home to a number of cultural events and programs throughout the year.

Opening hours:

Monday – Friday: 10:00-18:00 Saturday: 10:00-16:00

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Over 100 years of art and culture The Palace of Culture, iconic for its Art Nouveau style, is a symbol of Târgu Mureş. This splendid edifice is managed by the Mureş County Museum, and supported by the Mureş County Council.

The palace, from its construction, was destined as a cultural centre; to this day, it serves this purpose, being also the home of three major public institutions: the Mureș County Museum, the County Library and the Târgu Mureş State Philharmonic Major county events also take place at the Palace of Culture in Târgu Mureş such as concerts, music festivals, theatre performances, congresses.

Museum and Gallery The Palace of Culture hosts the city’s art exhibitions: The Romanian Modern Art Gallery, the Hungarian Classical Art Gallery, the Ion Vlasiu Gallery, the Elisabeta and Gheorghe David Donation Gallery and the Dósa Géza Gallery are the permanent galleries that can be visited.

The palace is home to temporary national or international exhibitions as well. Some of the exhibitions organized in the previous years were: ‘Romania’s Ancient Gold and Silver’, ‘Engravings by Dürer, Mantegna, Hogarth’, bringing the most beautiful engravings from the Budapest Art Museum, ‘The Colours of Arcadia’ or the masterpieces from the Zichy Collection of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts – the first time this collection has been in Romania.

Along with the art galleries, the Concert Hall, the Hall of Mirrors and three museum exhibitions are open for visit: the György Bernády and Emil Dandea Memorial Rooms as well as the Secession Hall.

Opening hours:

Monday – Friday: 9.00 – 17.30 Saturday, Sunday: 9.00 – 15.30 The ticket grants access to both the permanent and temporary exhibitions.

The Târgu Mureș State Philharmonic Established in 1950 thanks to the efforts of exceptional musicians such as Zeno Vancea and Kozma Géza, this institution has been organizing and supporting symphonic, vocal-symphonic, opera, choral, chamber and educational concerts for over 60 years, so that everyone may enjoy the beauty of classical music. Every year, the Philharmonic organises three wide-ranging festivals: Târgu Mureş Musical Days, the In Memoriam Constantin Silvestri Festival, Musica Sacra International Festival. In addition the public enjoys various other projects – performances of film music or the Easter and Christmas concerts.

The County Library As early as 1913, when the Palace of Culture was brought into use, a whole wing of the impressive edifice was given the destination of Municipal Library. The number of books increased over time, today consisting of a large stock of books of over 900,000 volumes in the domains of literature, diverse scientific and technical books as well as children’s books.

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The first salt baths in Sovata

Sovata, one of the best-known thermal resorts in Romania, is situated in north-eastern Transylvania, in the eastern part of the Mureș County, 60 kilometres from the county seat – the municipality of Târgu Mureș.

The balneary and therapeutic potential of Sovata is recognised nationally and abroad and it is one of the main elements that recommend the county as a tourist destination.

The waters of salty creeks and lakes were used for their benefits since before the 18th century.

Until the spring of 1875, the area of the present-day Lake Ursu used to be a pasture in which the Toplița and Auriu creeks would flow. In time they eroded the soil and generated a sinkhole which then formed the lake shaped like a bear fur.

Water still erodes the salty lakebed, so the salinity of Lake Ursu widely varies, according to depth: 100 grams per litre between 0 and 2 metres, 220-330 grams per litre from 2 metres to the lakebed. The sweet water of Toplița and Auriu, with a lower specific density, stays on top of the salty water and acts as a one-way thermal insulator: allows sunlight to warm the lower water layers, but does not accumulated heat escape – a phenomenon known as heliothermy.

Lake Ursu is the largest salty heliothermic lake, covering 40,235 square meters and with a maximum depth of 18-19 metres.

In 1884, Sovata is officially recognised as a balneary resort and thermal spa.

Treatment facilities for rheumatologic and gynaecological benefits were built here as far back as the 1900s, near Lake Ursu and Lake Negru. The resort later benefitted from major investment and in the 70s, five hotels and a new treatment facility were built.

After 2000 there was a flurry of requests to approve the construction of cottages, cabins and holiday residences – micro-zones appeared with small-capacity tourist accommodation, especially from the private sector.

2006 marked the beginning of a new wave of major investment: the rehabilitation of the urban roads of the resort and of pathways around the salty lakes, the expansion and rehabilitation of water and sewage networks.

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Transilvania Motor Ring, the biggest motor racing circuit in Romania The biggest motor racing complex in Romania and the only one of its kind in Transylvania was launched in the autumn of 2018. Transilvania Motor Ring was made with an investment by Mures County Council with European and public funds worth more than 12.5 million euros. The circuit has 35 hectars and is situated between the Cerghizel and Cerghid localities, near Târgu Mureş municipality and International „Transilvania” Airport Târgu Mureș.

The motor racing events organisers exhibited an increased interest towards the Transilvania Motor Ring, prompting a schedule for 2019 that numbers 40 events.

No.

Date

Event

1.

May 04-05

Private championship

Vili Motorsport

Organiser Category Auto

2.

May 10-11-12

Rotac

Rotac

Auto

3.

May 18

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4.

June 01-02

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5.

June 07-08-09

Drag Racing

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6.

June 21-22-23

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7.

June 29

ACR

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8.

July 02-03-04

European Triathlon Championship

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9.

July 05-06-07

CNVEEA+T.Attack

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July 13-14

ACR

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August 11

Romanian Cup

12.

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Vili Motorsport

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August 23-24-25

Rotac

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Transilvania Motor Ring Race Track

14.

September 10

Press Cup

CJ Mureș

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15.

September 20-21-22

Moto championship

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Moto

Circuit Length: 3.7 kilometers Location: Romania, Cerghid Nr. 1/G Dedicated mainly for motor sports.

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16.

September 27-28-29

Private championship

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October 4-5-6

Time Attack

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Starting from May 7 every Monday – Auto Track Day

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The szekler legacy of the Mureș county

By Ligia VORO & Ionel ALBU In a fairy tale land, the “Szekler” area of Mureş County, from Târgu Mureş to Bălăuşeri, Sovata or the localities on the Niraj Valley, represents an important cultural, ethnological and historical legacy of Transylvania and Europe. Fairy tale landscapes, churches, castles, the unique folk costume, and exciting events wait for you to discover them throughout the year.

The Călugăreni Franciscan Monastery

The Franciscan monastery and church from Călugăreni is perhaps the most valuable religious edifice of the Niraj-Valley.

The Franciscan friars settled down there in the 17th century, at the time of Protestant princes. The Transylvanian Roman Catholic Status asked for auxiliary priests from the Bosnian province in 1630; subsequently, four friars arrived at the Mătrici parish. As a result of their activity the surrounding villages preserved their Roman Catholic belief. One of the man supporters of the Franciscan friars, who also initiated their invitation, was Mihály Toldalagi, chief constable of Marosszék. In 1635 he bought a house and an estate for them in Călugăreni. The friars who moved there from Mătrici built a stone chapel and a wooden monastery next to it. In this work they were assisted by their fellow friar, the later bishop Kázmér Domokos, who also assumed to mediate between the friars not speaking the Hungarian language and the people.

János Kájoni becoming the prior represented a new era in the life of the monastery. In 1666 he had the existing monastery pulled down and, in its place, he started to build the storeyed stone building that also exists today. At the same time, he extended the chapel into a church. After he had left (1669), his successors continued the work started by him.

In the 17-18th centuries, the monastery becomes a cultural and spiritual center of major importance in the life of the Szekler.

Source: visit-mures.com

to Transylvania have not been fortuitous; underlying them are the blood ties that the British Royal Family has in this corner of the world. These genealogical roots go as far as the small town Sângeorgiu de Pădure in Mureş County. Queen Elizabeth II is the great-great-granddaughter of Countess Claudine Rhédey, who is buried at Sângeorgiu de Pădure, in the crypt lying underneath the Reformed Church. The fame of the castle in this town is linked to her name. Hers is a beautiful story with a sad ending.

Countess Claudine Rhédey was born in 1812, received a distinguished education and was one of the most beautiful women of her time who frequented the Imperial Court in Vienna. Claudine Rhédey, as the chronicles record, fell in love at first sight with Alexander of Württemberg, the son of the younger brother of the German King Frederick I of Württemberg, but the young couple got married only in 1835, after the death of Claudine’s father, László, who opposed the marriage of the two because of their difference of rank.

Claudine and Alexander had three children Claudia, Ferenc and Amalia. In 1841 the Countess died, and was buried in a lead coffin, at Sângeorgiu de Pădure, where Duke Alexander also retired, overwhelmed with grief and sadness.”

Located, just like most noble Hungarian castles, near a watercourse, by the River Târnava Mică, on DN13A BălăuşeriSovata, the noble residence was built in the 18th century. Its current Baroque appearance is due to the rehabilitation works that took place between 1807 and 1809 when the castle was already owned by the Rhédey family. The new building was one floor higher, had large, arched parlors and very many murals. The castle also passed through the dark period of nationalization.

The building was reduced in size, wooden beams were placed on the ceiling, and almost nothing was left of the beautiful park.

The castle accommodated the local school group for a while.

Declared a historical monument, Castle Rhédey began to be rehabilitated with funds from the Ministry of Culture and Cults.

The church sunk under Rhédey Castle, the Countess the waters of Lake Bezid of Hearts and the British Crown The visits Prince Charles, heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, has made

At Bezidu Nou, the few remaining houses speak of a community that could have been a model of inter-ethnic coexistence and religious tolerance. It is what the ruins of the former Roman Catholic church seem also to whisper out of the lake waters. The lake, now a tourist attraction and a real paradise of fishermen, hides the sad story of the 180 families that went into exile in 1989 because Bezidu Nou was

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sunk. The communists wanted to build a hydro-technical work on the site of the village for the water supply of the Tîrnăveni plant. The locality had a rich history being first mentioned in a document as early as 1566. Presently, Bezid is the only reservoir lake in Mureş County, and the legend attracts thousands of Romanian and foreign tourists every year. The lake is at 2 kilometers distance from Sângeorgiu de Pădure and 42 kilometers from Târgu Mureş.

The Roman-Catholic church near Bezid Lake which was destroyed a couple of years ago will be rebuilt and open for visitations for tourists due to a project launched by the Sangeorgiu de Padure City Hall.

“Mocănița” (narrow gauge railway) Sovata Câmpul Cetății

the support of the Franciscan friars.

In 2002, several actors dreamed of organizing a summer festival, the Theatre in the barn, which has since moved from a crowded cultural home to a shaky barn, later rebuilt.

The purpose of the event that takes place during the theater season’s summer break is to preserve and revive culture in the communities of the Niraj Valley, living far away from cultural centers and preserving traditions. It is held every year at the end of June.

Câmpul Cetății (The Fortress Field), land of fairy tales and gastronomy

“Sovata” Mocăniţa, which tourists enjoy nowadays on the route Sovata- Câmpul Cetăţii, travels on an ancient narrow railway that was built in the period 1912-1915 between Târgu Mureş and Praid. It functioned until 1997 when it was deactivated. The railway was restored on the Târgu Mureş - Sovata segment between 2010 and 2011, and from August 2011, “Mocăniţa” has been put into service on the Sovata-Câmpul Cetăţii segment, as a train with a steam engine and a trainset with 4 gondola wagons. The maximum speed of the mocăniţa is 35 km/h, and the autonomy is 30 km.

“Galopiada Mureșeană” (Mureș Galloping), riding and culture at superlative

After having enjoyed the mountain trout’s authentic taste, cooked by traditional recipes, at the “trout” restaurants, you can enjoy the “Balloons Parade” from Câmpul Cetăţii, an internationally acknowledged event that marks its 14th edition in 2019. Dozens of hot air balloons make every year a real aeronautical show, attended by thousands of spectators from all over Romania and abroad. This year, the event will take place on September 27-29.

“Galopiada Mureșană” is a riding competition, which started in 2013, for amateur riders, which is supplemented by cultural programs and a craftsmen and local manufacturers fair. Recently, Sângeorgiu de Pădure has been the host of this successful event organized annually at the end of June.

“Theatre in the barn” in Călugăreni The tradition of the Călugăreni theater has its roots since the 17th-18th centuries, when the students of the religious school held performances, in Latin and Hungarian, with

The “Valea Nirajului” (Niraj Valley) Festival, treasure of craftmanship traditions The “Valea Nirajului” Festival, which coincides with the “Days of the Miercurea Niraj City”, takes place annually in early August. It is a festival of the people in this area, an event promoting local traditions and culture, local and craftsmanship products. The festival’s schedule includes a craftsmanship products fair as well as a series of theatre, dance and music shows.

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CLUJ COUNTY – THE HEART OF TRANSYLVANIA

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CLUJ COUNTY – THE HEART OF TRANSYLVANIA

The County of Cluj covers 6,674 sq. km and is situated in the heart of the historical province of Transylvania, in central-western Romania, in the contact area of three major geographically units: Apuseni Mountains, Somesan Plateau and Transylvania Plain.

The County population is of approximately 730,000 inhabitants, out of which 65% are living in the urban area.

One of Cluj County’s main characteristics is the variety of ethnical groups that are cohabiting with Romanians, such as Hungarians, Gypsies, Germans and Armenians.

Thus, along with the majority ethnic group – Romanians, representatives of Hungarian, German, Armenian and others are living in harmony and altogether are contributing with many personalities and values to the humanity and to the world heritage.

Regarding the cultural activity, Cluj County is nationally recognized as one of the most attractive counties in this domain. Having a valuable patrimony, an old tradition and well-known institutions, Cluj has nowadays a complex cultural and academic life.

Cluj County is one of the most balanced and developed counties in Romania, with an economy that is based largely on services and industry, being the second largest banking center in the country. TETAROM, the three industrial parks – owned by the Cluj County Council – contribute to the economic development of the county; thanks to the facilities offered to investors, as well as to the willingness of the county authorities and their interest in the expansion and modernization of the local infrastructure, especially the air transport sector, road and rail, it managed to attract a large number of international companies. Thus, companies like Nokia, Emerson, DeLonghi, Bosch, to name a few, have

chosen these industrial parks, primarily because of the advantages that Cluj County offers in areas like exemptions from land and buildings (according to the law of industrial parks), state aid, investment incentives, lower price of land transfer in the industrial parks managed by the Cluj County Council etc.

Also, in order to explain Cluj County attractiveness in terms of investments, the high qualified human resource needs to be mentioned, mainly as a result of graduating of one of the 12 Cluj universities.

At the same time, what truly defines Cluj County is its academic environment. Cluj-Napoca is the oldest university in the country and the second largest in Romania, with as many as 12 public and private universities where over 100,000 students complete their studies.

Among the existing universities in Cluj-Napoca, a city with a variety of appreciated academic offers, "Babes-Bolyai" University is the most prestigious one, with beginnings dating back to 1581. Currently, "Babes-Bolyai" is the largest university in the country and at the same time one of the largest universities in South-East Europe, offering to its 42,000 students not less than 105 specializations. But what really makes this university special is its multicultural European recognition as a model of good practice. What is relevant in this regard is that 19 out of its 21 faculties offer study programs in Romanian, 17 in Hungarian, 9 in German and 2 in English.

In order to create optimal premises for a rapid development of the county, the Cluj County Council initiated a series of infrastructure projects meant to contribute mainly to the expansion and modernization of transport infrastructure in the region. Currently, Cluj County Council runs a number

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of projects which aim at expanding and renovating ClujNapoca International Airport, this authentic Air Gateway of Transylvania whereby over 2.8 million people, including tourists and investors, annually visit Cluj County and Transylvania region.

These projects, meant to encourage the development of aerial transportation of passengers and merchandise to and from Cluj County, involve the construction of a new 3,500 m long landing/take-off runway which will enable the landing of larger aircraft types, including jumbo jet (the first stage, of 2,100 m, was finished at the end of 2013), the construction of a cargo terminal that would facilitate the transportation of various types of goods for the investors of Cluj, construction of a new control tower, etc.

Also, in order to facilitate the access for foreign investors and tourists in every corner of the county, Cluj County Council is currently running a major project which aims at modernizing 741 km of county roads.

2019, a budget for development and for investments In 2019, Cluj County’s budget allocations for development, roads and sanitary infrastructure are almost double compared to 2018.

Recognizing the importance of investments in stimulating and accelerating the economic growth, Cluj County Council approved a record budget for 2019, with significant allocations for investments, development and infrastructure works. Thus, the total budget is 1,481,157,080 lei, a 7.5% increase on last year.

Within the budget, the amount set aside for functioning is down 25% compared to the previous year, so the funds saved are destined for development. Regarding the budget for investments and co-financing European projects, it has a total of 615,979,860 lei. Compared to 2018 Cluj County’s budget for development has recorded a spectacular increase of about 90% this year!

Speaking of the public investments chapter, the largest amounts allocated by the County Council are intended for

the transport sector, almost 336,912,220 lei were allocated for the modernization of road infrastructure, meaning almost a 97% increase from last year! From this amount, 246,647,220 lei will provide the co-financing of European projects won by the County Council for roads, the rest of the money being intended for routine maintenance work - 61 million lei, and modernization work from scratch for county roads - 27 million lei.

Another priority sector, supported financially very strong, is the improvement of medical services offered to patients.

With regard to the budget for the health sector, Cluj County Council has marked an absolute record in 2019.

To finance almost 14 hospitals in Cluj, the administrative forum allocated in 2019 an amount of 28,119,440 lei.

This financial allocation will be supplemented by further corrections. Thus, the amount allocated to health sector in 2019 is the largest in the history of the County Council, over 70% higher than that allocated in 2018 and almost 414% higher than in 2017!

As for the money allocated for co-financing European projects won by the County Council in the field of road and health infrastructure rehabilitation, the 2019 budget is an absolute record, meaning a total of 496,781,700 lei, an 89,95% increase!

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INVESTMENTS The key to raising new investments and boost tourism development in Cluj County At least 47 county roads will be rehabilitated in 2019.

Recognizing the importance that a competitive transport network has in terms of economic development, Cluj County Council decided that at least 47 county roads in Cluj should be subject to complex work of modernization and rehabilitation in 2019.

Regarding the maintenance work, Cluj County Council has allocated 61,000,000 lei for repairing 41 county roads.

However, in terms of rehabilitation and modernization, county council has allocated 27 million lei. The amount will certainly be supplemented during the year.

At the same time, a significant part of the Transport chapter from Cluj County’s budget, meaning 246 million lei will be used to finance European projects aimed for the rehabilitation of road infrastructure.

Thus, almost 138,840,000 lei will be used to continue working on road projects: Bistrița road and Apuseni road. Over 107 million lei will be used to upgrade and rehabilitate a total of 20 sectors of county roads. The sectors are part of the European project "Regional Northern Transylvania route", financed by POR 20142020, and are grouped as nine county routes.

Health investments, an absolute priority One of the main priorities in the actions of the County Council of Cluj, just as the budget allocation reveals, is represented by the health system development. Even if ClujNapoca is already known as a centre of excellence for the Romanian medical life, the government of the administrative forum in the county has stated that health needs special attention because of its great importance. In this context, along with the record-breaking allocations, in order to rehabilitate and modernize the buildings where all the medical activity takes place and to purchase ultramodern

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equipment, the County Council of Cluj has started off a project with vital relevance in the development of the medical sector in Cluj and all over Transylvania: building from zero a Monobloc Children’s Hospital in Cluj-Napoca.

2019 – Year with record allocations There are 5 hospitals subordinated to Cluj County Council, but the CJCC allocates funds and writes European projects for other hospitals in the county subordinated to other institutions.

In 2017, the budget allocation for hospitals, both in the CJCC and in the Ministry of Health subordination, was 4,266,000 lei, and the year 2018 ended with a total budget allocation of 15,968,870 lei.

According to the project, in 2019 we allocate from our own budget only not less than 27,067,000 lei for the financing of 14 hospitals in Cluj, amount to which will be added additional allocations to be granted through the subsequent budgetary corrections.

Thus, this year's health-related sum is the largest in the history of Cluj County Council!

Regarding the destination of these sums, the vast majority will be directed towards the endowment of the state-of-theart high-performance medical hospitals that are essential to the saving of life and health of many Cluj people.

At the same time and in addition to that, substantial sums will also be allocated for the financing of the rehabilitation works of the buildings of the medical units, respectively for the repairs to the salons, the laboratories, the cabinets and the other spaces necessary for the development of a quality medical act.

To this, we also add 13 projects on European funds, deposited and won, for 2017 - 2019, totalling 164,977,928 lei. These European-funded projects aim at equipping the Emergency Care Unit within the County Children's Hospital and Emergency County Emergency Hospital, financing the rehabilitation and endowment works of the Rehabilitation, Infectious Diseases and Pneumoftiziology Hospitals, sanitary units under the authority County Council.

In total, only in the year 2019 there will be implemented in the county of Cluj European projects aimed at improving the medical act and increasing the access of patients to medical services, totalling more than 75 million Euro, projects to which the County Council is either the titleholder or the partner.

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The future Monobloc Children’s Hospital The president of the County Council of Cluj, Alin Tișe, has announced at the end of February 2018 that they have a location to build the future Monobloc Children’s Hospital, a medical unit with a regional profile, achieved in partnership with the City Hall of Cluj-Napoca.

So, after consulting the experts and the ones who are responsible in that area, they ended up to the conclusion that the most suited location to build this Hospital is on a field from the former colony of Borhanci. Situated between Borhanci Street and Sopor Street, having access to the two bypasses of the Municipality, the field will be provided free of charge by the City Hall of Cluj-Napoca, giving all the support in this project.

The president of the County Council of Cluj, Alin Tișe: ”The timetable for this project is very organised and we hope to obtain by the end of the year even the planning permission. After going over the auction procedure, we plan that The Monobloc Children’s Hospital will be built in 2 years maximum after signing the implement contract, the same way we did with the edification of the stadium.

Obviously, the Hospital will have the most modern medical equipment, in line with the most demanding European standards in this field”.

The building will stand on the 7 acres provided by The City Hall, will have all the 14 structures, that is 11 medical sections, 2 compartments, the Emergency Room, the Dialysis station from the current Children’s Hospital, structures that function today in different locations in Cluj-Napoca with an approximately 4 km distance between them.

The new medical unit will have a regional profile and a capacity of 700 beds, with 200 more beds than the ones in the present. The building will have a ground space between 7,000 and 10,000 metres. The costs for this investment will be entirely borne by the County Council, through multiannual budget.

The County Children’s Hospital is currently serving the entire region of Transylvania, around 60% of the total patients coming from the nearby counties.

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Advantages generated by building the Monobloc Children’s Hospital The need to put a Monobloc Children’s Hospital into service is determined mostly by the fact that the Children’s Hospital is presently operating in no less than 14 buildings from 9 different locations.

The buildings are old, in a poor condition and most of them are claimed, making it impossible to repair and modernize by the County Council.

The main advantages generated by the existence of a Monobloc Hospital consist in the economy of time and money, in reducing the discomfort for the little patients and their parents and also in reducing the operating costs.

The utilities will cost less, considering the fact that there will be just one building, there will be just one laboratory, one food unit, one pharmacy, one ambulatory, etc. There will also be a greater control and an enhanced surveillance over the departments, an easier collaboration between the departments and a superior functionality. Apart from this, there will be operating rooms suitably equipped that will contribute to lowering the number of nosocomial infections and there will be a blood transfusion unit, according to the law, merging the two transfusion points from the hospital.

Cluj County Council, first place in accesing European funds Accessing non-refundable European funds is one of Cluj County Council's main strategic directions, as well as a continuous challenge. The European funds accessed in the last couple of years prove that the county authorities have found and implemented an optimal solution in this matter.

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with a total value of 122,681,606.38 lei. Three projects were contracted in April-May 2019 and aim to renovate special educational units under the authority of the County Council.

The remaining eight projects mostly intend to redevelop the outpatient units of the five major hospitals of Cluj County.

The financing applications are under administrative and technical-financial evaluation, with a strong chance they may be financed by the end of 2019.

Last but not least, to emphasize the insatiable appetite of Cluj County Council for European funds, at this moment the council provides sustainability for 11 more projects, valued at 170,924,316.5 lei. Their implementation and finalization period is 2019-2023, despite being awarded in previous periods.

European projects of over 1.1 billion lei under implementation Cluj County Council is currently the authority with the highest value of non-refundable European projects - 1,110,175,802.80 lei, almost 926,000,000 lei being European funds!

Specifically, in April 2019, Cluj County Council was managing 25 European projects, financed almost 75% by the 2014-2020 Regional operational programme, the remaining projects being funded by the Large Infrastructure - 20%, Environment - 10% and Administrative Capacity 0,4% programmes. The value of all these projects under implementation is most definitely the largest sum of nonrefundable funds in the history of the county!

The aims of the projects submitted for European financing – county road rehabilitation, medical and special education, waste management, historical building restoration or the informatisation of the activity conducted by Cluj County Council – demonstrates that the administrative leadership of the county made a solid effort to acquire non-reimbursable funds in every European programme where the eligibility condition was being met! Winning a record number of European projects also meant relieving the county budget from a massive financial burden, again proving the expertise of Cluj County Council in this area.

We would like to mention that this list also includes projects deemed „retrospective”, meaning investments already financed and brought to fruition by Cluj County Council from its own funds and reimbursed with the help of the specialized financing mechanism of the 2014-2020 Regional Operational Programme. Thusly, in 2019 alone, a number of 13 medical and transport infrastructure projects, valued at 334,860,481.24 lei were settled. The contribution of Cluj County Council, without its project partners, amounts to 272,583,022.61 lei.

11 new non-refundable projects, under contracting There are also 11 non-refundable financing projects submitted and in different stages of assessment/financing,

Grand projects, over 355 million Euro One of the largest European financed projects currently under way in Cluj and even at national level is the one implemented by Someș Water Company, a company with Cluj County Council as its majority shareholder. Thusly, due to the sustained efforts over the last few years to prepare for the fifth major water infrastructure extension and rehabilitation program, at the end of 2018, a new nonrefundable financing was obtained with the help of the 2014-2020 Large Infrastructure Operational Programme: “Regional project for water and wastewater infrastructure development in Cluj and Sălaj Counties, 2014-2020”. Valued at over 355,600,000 Euro, 85% being EUs contribution from the Cohesion Fund, this new investment will improve the water infrastructure of 174 localities from Cluj and Sălaj, by extending and developing drinkable water services, under safety and health protection conditions, in settlements with more than 50 people. Moreover, it insures the collection and cleaning of waste water from settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants. After its implementation, that is the end of 2023, Cluj will become the first county in the country to be almost fully connected to the water grid. According to the project, the percentage of people connected to a centralized water network will reach a rough estimate of 99.14%, while those connected to a sewage system 97.5%, way above the national average. Therefore, over 240,000 people from both counties will benefit, alongside the 700 thousand already connected, to drinkable water delivered through a centralized system, while 72,000 people will enjoy the benefits of a centralized sewage grid. The project is planned in such a way that it enables the connection of current and future local water networks.

Another successful chapter Over 40 institutions under the tutelage of the county council initiated and submitted project proposals, the county administrative forum acting either as partner, or consultant. Currently, the organizations subordinate to the County Council carry out dozens of European projects, valued at hundreds of millions of euros. Standing out are the projects initiated by hospitals for medical equipment, building rehabilitation, medical act improvement, laboratory upgrade, etc. Special education units also developed excellent programs for personnel training (Erasmus+, Copernicus), as well as for the improvement and diversification of therapy procedures for children with special needs.

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First place in Romania „The Secret” of outstanding development of Cluj, from economic point of view, is, mostly, due to development and expanding of TETAROM Industrial Parks.

Cluj County continued in the latest years the absorption of foreign and domestic investments made in the county, through the facilities offered but also through the development of the business infrastructure in the public and private Industrial Parks.

From this point of view, Cluj County is number one on national scale from the perspective of the invested capital – over 600 million Euro!

An important aspect in this context is the fact that majority of The Industrial Parks in Cluj County (seven from a total of twelve), as public shareholders. Among the seven, five are owned by Cluj County Council – TETAROM Industrial Parks.

SC TETAROM S.A., one of the most successful project to support private investors from Romania, had an accelerated growth in the last years. Started from 2001, the date of opening, the company is managing almost 200 hectares of land, office buildings, production and logistic areas, achieving a well-deserved reputation in the national and international business sector.

Tetarom is now integrating three full operational industrial parks, which generates commercial and fiscal revenues. With a 100% degree of occupancy, Tetarom parks are hosting more than 110 companies, with an approximate total of 12,300 employee.

Based of increasing requests of investors to be located in such parks, Cluj County Council begin the development of two new similar structures: Tetarom IV and Tetapolis.

First of these two, will be located in Turda-Campia Turzii area, with a surface of 115 hectares, situated in the vicinity of A3 highway Brasov-Targu Mures- Cluj-Oradea.

Tetapolis Industrial park will be located in the vicinity of Tetarom I, over an area of 8.6 hectares, and here there will be built office buildings equipped with laboratories, incubation and acceleration spaces, and other types of spaces dedicated to tenants (kindergarden, medical center, restaurants, etc).

List of Industrial parks in Cluj County 1. P.I. Tetarom I – operational, public shareholders 2. P.I. Tetarom II – operational, public shareholders 3. P.I. Tetarom III – operational, public shareholders 4. P.I. Tetarom IV – work in progress, public shareholders 5. Parc Științific și Tehnologic TETAPOLIS – work in progress, public shareholders 6. P.I. Câmpia Turzii – operational, public shareholders 7. P.I. Cluj Innovation Park – work in progress, public shareholders 8. P.I. Turda 1 – operational, private shareholders 9. P.I. Turda 2 – operational, private shareholders 10. P.I. Dej - MG Tec – operational, private shareholders 11. P.I. Dej - Arc Parc – operational, private shareholders 12. P.I. Poieni – work in progress, private shareholders

TETAPOLIS, an innovative project The Cluj County Council, as a major shareholder of SC TETAROM SA, has constantly been involved in the development of business innovations, facilitating new investments in the high technology industry with high

added value and generating growth, benefits and welfare for the entire community of Cluj County and beyond.

Therefore, one of the innovative projects promoted extensively by the county administrative council was the achievement of the TETAPOLIS Science and Technology Park, a project that benefited from a highly solid partnership between the local public authorities and the academic environment and is currently under implementation.

The necessity of this scientific park was created as a result of the desire to capitalize on the highly qualified human resources existing in Cluj County.

Built on an area of over 8.6 hectares, the Tetapolis project will include research offices and laboratories, complete incubation structures, conference rooms, exhibition spaces, parking and construction dedicated to sports and relaxation activities, aiming to become a true "hotspot" for the entire North-West Region of Romania.

From the very beginning, Tetapolis awakened the interest of foreign partners, including prestigious academic institutions such as Missouri University and Colombia University (USA), who were interested in the development of industrial research and development centres in Cluj area.

Among the important investments made so far at Tetapolis, we mention the launch of the first digital incubator in Romania, carried out under a project with a European funds of 60 million euros and with dozens of start-ups in the field of creative technologies and entrepreneurship.

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INVESTMENTS Also, given the existence of a shortage of 1.5 million cyber security specialists worldwide, about two years ago, the Cluj County Council facilitated the launch of the "Cyber Security Training Academy" in Tetapolis Science and Technology Park.

As the world's first specialized training program, it aims to interconnect the current training system by combining theoretical courses with an online cyber-defensive capability testing platform.

A strategic approach, scientifically designed and planned Cluj County, the first county in Romania where the Territorial Landscaping Plan will be developed with the World Bank technical assistance.

The Cluj County Council approved in April 2019 the conclusion of a Technical Assistance Agreement with the World Bank for the elaboration of the Cluj Territory Landscaping Plan (PATJ). The elaboration of this strategic document is necessary because the new plan is intended to reflect the most current development directions and priorities of the county.

Based on this agreement, the World Bank – The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide the necessary technical support for document elaboration through 10 substantiation studies, in areas relevant to territorial development.

At the same time it will provide assistance to Cluj County for the elaboration of a Territorial Development Strategy of the County, taking into account the territorial development directions and priorities of the county, based on the prospective diagnosis.

Last but not least, the Bank will provide assistance to the County Council for the development of a detailed action plan for the implementation of the measures proposed in the PATJ. This will include, among other things, the specification of the responsibilities and sources of financing public policies, public investment programs and projects necessary for sustainable and competitive territorial development. It will also include a plan for consultation and involvement of relevant stakeholders and the community in the planning process, proposals for measures to counteract potential physical or economic dysfunctions, depending on the findings of the diagnosis as well as the allocation of responsibilities and sources of funding for public policies, programs and public investments necessary for the sustainable and competitive development of the county's territory.

Cluj County, Smart territory The County Council of Cluj has realized that the administration of the third millennium is an electronic, online, simplified, integrated service that saves time, money and energy for the beneficiaries.

Not only has he understood but is already acting accordingly.

Urban planning documentation - at a "click" distance.

Simple and effective.

Cluj County becomes a "Smart Territory".

One of the main objectives of the "Smart Territory" project

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is to reduce to a maximum of 60 days the term in which a building permit is obtained, well below the 169 days that is the average term in the other EU countries.

This goal will be achieved by building a complex territorial atlas and implementing one-stop-shop and archiving IT solutions. The Cluj County Council is the only administrative-territorial unit of its kind in the country with such a program under implementation. Practically, the time lost for paying issuance fees and obtaining documents from multiple institutions, supplementary / subjective additions to files, endless queues at the counter, "attention", all disappear.

The overall objectives of the project are to increase the quality of services provided to Cluj citizens, to improve decision-making and strategic planning at the county level by introducing an integrated territorial planning system and facilitating access to online services for Cluj citizens by simplifying administrative procedures from a back- office.

The project "County Cluj - SMART TERRITORY" is financed from the European Social Fund under the Operational Program Administrative Capacity 2014-2020, Priority Axis 2 Public Administration and Accessible and Transparent Judicial System, Specific Objective 2.1.

The implementation deadlines assumed by the Cluj County Council are: the end of 2019 for the implementation of the Archives and the One Stop Shop, respectively 2020 for the Territorial Atlas.

The total value of the project is of 3,901,772.00 lei, out of which 3,316,506.20 lei is a grant from the European Social Fund (85%), 507,230.36 lei is a grant from the national budget (13%) and 78,035.44 lei is eligible co-financing from the Cluj County Council budget (2%).

The three major components: 1. Atlas Territorial application developed and implemented at UAT County Cluj County Territorial Atlas, a computer application that brings together, in a single platform, sets and databases of various institutions, spatially transposed, related to landscaping, urbanization, housing, economic development, to substantiate investment decisions, respectively to the strategic planning of the county.

The impact of this application at the citizen level stems from the fact that the best decisions can be implemented based on real data, in order to increase the quality of life in the county. The concept is not a new one, but it is not implemented at the level of public institutions, which gives the project an innovative character.

Currently, the query is made on demand without permanent access to up-to-date information and without real support in the implementation of the spatiallyintegrated, integrated database.

The Territorial Atlas application involves, through an interactive system, the analysis of territorial data and quantifications of the territorial impact of public programs in the area of spatial planning, urban planning, housing and regional development, using for this purpose a geographical information system and databases comprising information and statistical data required to characterize a territory. The information system will include cartographic representations to track the evolution over time and space of a large number of indicators in the areas of activity relevant to territorial development from public entities such as the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising (e-terra), The National Statistics Office (settlement files), the Trade Registry, the People Registration Offices, the Territorial

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Photo: Č˜tefan Socaciu Labour Inspectorates, the County School Inspectorate, the mayoralties, etc.

Thus, the senior management at UAT Cluj County will be able to access and interrogate this application in order to obtain updated data in real time in order to be able to substantiate the decisions generated by the accomplishment of the tasks.

2. Application One-stop shop for citizens developed and implemented at UAT Cluj County In the process of obtaining permits for building permits, for example, each opinion involves the citizen visit to each competent institution. The solution for eliminating this inconvenience would be to establish a single point of submission and removal of documents in the form of a one-stop-shop to ensure the reception and coordination of the obtaining of opinions from the competent institutions.

In this way, the citizen could present all the necessary documents for the permitting process (ante and post authorization) in a single visit to the county council to obtain all the necessary approvals to obtain the building permit.

In order to ensure the efficiency of the action, which does not involve the citizen's movement in order to obtain the necessary opinions and documents, it is proposed to create an electronic platform that will ensure the uploading and on-line transmission of all the necessary documents in the process, reducing the time needed to obtain the approvals.

Moreover, such a platform would not only speed up the process but also increase transparency, allowing citizens to continuously monitor the status of their applications.

3. Digitized archive at the level of Cluj County Council The electronic document management solution within the institution, its scanning for archiving and the retrodigitization of the archive are necessary in the context of the extensive and complex activity of the Cluj County Council, which doubles its annual files with which it operates. The territory is crowded and expanded and its management by the institution involves consulting a lot of archived information

or current information but not in electronic format.

The innovation of the project lies in the effective implementation of these IT solutions, which, although there are concepts in the country, are not implemented in practice at national or county level. The notion of SMART CITY has become, in recent years, the instrument for measuring the development of municipalities and cities, both in terms of computerization and providing facilities to their inhabitants. Taking into account that this concept cannot be applied to counties wishing to offer similar services to all citizens of the county, the proposed project comes to develop the notion of SMART TERRITORY, ie county - smart territory.

Cluj Arena – the emblematic stadium One of the successful projects implemented by the Cluj County Council, which irrevocably put Cluj County on the world map, is undoubtedly Cluj Arena Stadium, built within the central district of Cluj-Napoca.

Built according to the most demanding field standards and providing more than 30,000 seats, Cluj Arena was inaugurated in 2011, after carrying out an investment finalized in less than 2 years and with incomparably lower costs compared to other stadiums of similar sizes and facilities.

Designed as a multifunctional site, beginning with its inauguration till present, the UEFA Elite Cluj Arena has continuously proven its usefulness and importance for the community, hosting a series of truly memorable events, that can be mentioned here as an example: - sports competitions of all types and levels: games played Cluj football teams, as well as other Romanian teams, during national or international competitions; football games played by the national team against Spain, Montenegro, Denmark, Chile; international athletics competitions, marathon and half marathon, rugby games, etc.

- music concerts performed by renowned international

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Annually, about 150 events are taking place on the premises of the stadium, attracting over 500,000 people, attendees and viewers alike. It should be mentioned the fact that one of the essential components of the specific functionality policy is renting the existing spaces inside the stadium for about 50 economic agents and sports clubs.

Taking into consideration the further development of the stadium and contributing to its even greater appreciation, Cluj County Council has recently acquired an automatic system in order to accelerate the process of lawn photosynthesis. The equipment, worth 1,649,900 lei, is a highly performing one among the most advanced of its kind on the market - and it can operate even during the cold season, when the restoration of the game surface is more difficult to undertake, on account of the harsh atmospheric conditions and short lasting of natural light. Its role is to speed up the photosynthesis process up to three times compared to the one naturally occurring.

Currently, similar installations can be found within the most fitted stadiums in Europe, such as the ones found in Barcelona, Madrid, London, Paris or Munich.

Considering also that playing surface has not been changed for more than 7 years, during which it has hosted over 1,000 sports events, Cluj County Council recently decided to replace the current lawn with a highly modern one - hybrid type, made of natural grass in which synthetic fibres are injected through, by using a special technology. Following the example of Europe's famous stadiums, such as the ones from Barcelona or Milan, Cluj Arena will benefit this year of a highly resistant and improved lawn in terms of aspect and features.

Cluj, the county of memorable festivals and events!

An important part of the international fame that Cluj is currently enjoying at the present, as well as the number of tourists who decided to visit the county from the heart of Transylvania, are due to the fairs, festivals and truly memorable events of all kinds and tastes that have found a favorable setting to grow and develop here, already standing as genuine brands and attraction points.

Among these, we mention: Transylvania International Film Festival (31rst of May – 9th of June 2019) Sports Festival, Cluj Arena Stadium (13th – 16th of June 2019) Jazz in the Park Festival (4th – 7th of July) Mox / Music Outdoor Experience Festival, Drăganului Valley (11th – 14th of July 2019) Electric Castle Festival, Banffy Castle from Bonțida (17th – 21rst of July) Untold Festival (1rst – 4th of August) Smida Jazz Festival, Beliș (15th – 17th of August) Hungarian Cultural Days of Cluj-Napoca (18th – 25th of August) Wonder Puck Puppet Street Festival (13th – 15th of September 2019) Cluj City Days (27th – 30th of September 2019) Cluj Musical Fall Festival, 53rd Edition (15th – 25th of October 2019) Puck International Festival of Puppet and Marionette Theatres (14th – 18th of October 2019)

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AgroTransilvania Cluster, the most active and relevant cluster One visionary approach of the County Council, which stimulated the development of certain sectors, has been supporting clusters in bringing together all relevant actors from a specific field.

Set up in 2013 at the initiative of the Cluj County Council, AgroTransilvania Cluster recently received the highest award management certification at European level - Label of excellence in organizational management cluster (quality label) GOLD - Gold Label of the European Cluster Excellence Initiative.

At the end of an assessment carried out by independent experts, the certification has been granted for the entire conducted activity, long-term positive impact on the agrifood sector in the North-Western region of Romania, as well as for the organization and development of the whole activity.

As founding member and major promoter of AgroTransilvania Cluster, Cluj County Council constantly supports research, innovation, technology transfer and sustainable development of Transylvania agroindustrial sector, in order to increase both the competitiveness of this entity, as well as each of its members, on national and international markets.

At first, in 2013, the Association ”Cluster Agro-Food Ind Napoca” (AgroTransilvania Cluster) brought together 20 founding members, reaching by 2019 no less than 83 members - producers, processors, related services providers, universities, research institutes, financial institutions, public administration.

At the present time, AgroTransilvania Cluster is running six non-reimbursable funded projects, of which 3 are national (POC, POCU and POCA fundings) and 3 international (Horizon 2020 and COSME grants). In addition, there are many other projects that find themselves in various stages of processing or evaluation.

Cluj County Council, promoter of equal opportunities Puck Puppet Theatre's performances will reach all the communes of Cluj County.

At the beginning of April 2019, Cluj County Council and Puck Puppet Theatre, a cultural institution subordinated to the county administrative institution, launched an extensive project entitled "Access to culture for children from rural environment". This aims at putting on stage, in all the communes of Cluj County, theatre plays loved by the little ones, and not only.

Alin Tişe, President of Cluj County Council: It is, first of all, a matter of fairness. Access to culture should not be reserved only for children living in the urban area, children from villages are also entitled to these captivating performances.

This was, moreover, the reason why we gave financially support to several subordinated cultural institutions for purchasing modern minibuses, precisely in order to reach easily all the corners of the county."

Thus, stories such as "The Clever Little tailor", "Red Riding Hood and the Hungry Wolf" or "Journey into the Story World" are just a few of the performances with which the theatre from Cluj delights their audience in the tour began

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on April 1, 2019 and which takes place in the rural area of the entire county.

Thanks to the funding provided by Cluj County Council, Tudor Jarda Folk Art School from Cluj has the largest and most modern headquarters in Romania.

In November 2017, Cluj County Council officially and festively marked the completion of an ample process of rehabilitation and modernization, respectively the inauguration of the building that hosts Tudor Jarda Folk Arts School in Cluj, at the finalisation of works. ''It's a day of celebration for culture in Cluj. After a decade of construction and extremely substantial investments of more than two million euros from the County Council budget, this building, which once functioned as a simple sugar factory, has become a state-of-the-art modern facility capable of hosting the present "cultural factory", declared the president of Cluj County Council, Mr. Alin TiĹ&#x;e, at the moment of inauguration.

The works, which covered both the building and the adjoining courtyards, consisted in the restoration and consolidation of the basement, the restoration of the ground and floor strength structure, replacement of carpentry, replacement of wooden floors with reinforced concrete floors over the floor, the attic of the building by adapting to the specific needs of the cultural institution. Also the electrical, heating, sanitary installations were completely restored and a highperformance air conditioning system, including a heating plant, was installed.

President of Cluj County Council, Mr. Alin TiĹ&#x;e: "It is a great pleasure for me to offer a prestigious cultural institution an ultramodern and functional building. With a useful area of 4,300 square meters, it is the largest headquarters of a School of Arts in the country. Beyond the extremely generous spaces and the modernly designed sections, the School also has its own modern studio of recordings, unique in Transylvania."

The extensive works of rehabilitation and modernization of the headquarters of the School of Arts Cluj were necessary hence it was built in 1829 and therefore has a considerable length of time to be used as a headquarters of a prestigious cultural institution, complex construction and sectioning works had to be performed.

Prior to becoming the headquarters of the Arts School, the building on Fabricii de Zahar Street no. 51 from Cluj-Napoca had different destinations, being used over time as a sugar factory, barley factory, barracks, settlement of the Imperial Institute of Correction and annex of "Samus" Special Technology High School. Considering the considerable age of the building, although it is not classified as a historical monument, it has been treated taking into account its historical value, using a number of special materials as close as possible to the original ones.

Also in order to ensure the optimal development of the activity of this prestigious cultural institution of Cluj, Cluj County Council acquired in December 2018, for the Arts School, two new extremely necessary features: a concert

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As far as the piano is concerned, it was inaugurated on January 15th 2019, during an exceptional concert dedicated to the National Culture Day. The piano carries the famous "W. Hoffmann by Bechstein" mark and is a classic, for concert, ultramodern through the accuracy of the sound it emits.

This highly appreciated musical instrument comes to fulfil the artistic and educational activity of the School of Arts, contributing to the considerable improvement of the quality of performances supported by the students of this institution.

Also for the Arts School, Cluj County Council acquired a new minibus with 21 seats at the end of 2018. Therefore, the institution of education, art and culture has the possibility to move much more easily to the various organized events in the county, in the country and abroad, all the more so as the support of artistic performances and the realization of exchanges experience with similar cultural institutions are core activities in the educational process.

Authentic Cluj has a future More than 5,500 school students from Cluj have discovered the beauty of folk traditions, customs and folk music, within the cultural-educational project "Dowry of Cluj Traditions'' initiated by the Cluj County Centre for the Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture, a cultural institution subordinated to Cluj County Council.

Launched in 2017 with the declared purpose of transmitting the customs, customs and traditions of Cluj to the younger generation the project has reached so far 30 schools in the county. It aims to promote the traditional culture of Cluj County among pupils in the rural area, in all the communes in the county, but also in the urban area. It also wants to awaken the love and interest for the customs and traditions of Cluj and the development of the competitive spirit, through the traditional culture contest "United by Traditions".

At the same time, there are proposed for visualization sequences from the cultural-educational projects, aimed at the participation of the young generation with traditional moments.

The meetings took place in the festive venues of schools, or in Cultural Centres, according to the number of students.

The youngsters have been distributed leaflets with adequate content, screenings of ethnographic films and moments of vocal musical folklore (exemplifying doina, ballad and song itself).

Also the members of the project presented folk costumes from different folkloric areas of Cluj County, and at the end some of the students participated in competitions on traditional culture themes.

The project wishes, where possible, to create a museum corner within each school, consisting of popular objects collected by students, teachers and parents. The project also takes the form of a dialogue on the same scene. Students are challenged to become actors and present their colleagues folk songs, games, theatre and traditions from their area of origin.

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Produs de Cluj, a project of the Cluj County Council that supports the local economy Cluj County Council (CCC) established Produs de Cluj Association (PCA) in 2010, alongside the Agro Transilvania Center and the Tudor Jarda Art School. The greatest support is given by the CCC, which finances and supports its work. The aim of the association is to promote the traditions, values and culture of the county.

Produs de Cluj Fairs are an opportunity to promote the folk tradition and culture. The main and most important support granted by the county administration, namely CCC, to small entrepreneurs, is the organization of exhibition events, the PCA having its own stands, so that the fairs are a unitary one.

With the facilities provided, craftsmen and farmers are encouraged to keep their traditions, presence at trade fairs, helping them to promote and sell their products, contributing to the economic growth of the local community. Also, CCC, through PCA, involves various non-governmental organizations and individuals in promoting tourism and agro-tourist potential, identifies development and promotion needs, especially those in the rural area.

There are an average of 12 major national exhibitions annually, but the association also participates in other local, regional, national and international events, to which it is a partner or guest.

The first trade fair organized by CCC through PCA took place in June 2011, in the county seat, with over 80 exhibited own events, to which are added almost 50 attendances at similar events, with role of co-organizer or partner.

The events organized by PCA bring together the Cluj producers of cold-pressed fruit and vegetables, beekeepers and small farmers selling cheese, pork products, jams and natural syrups, sweet ginger, chocolate and homemade cakes, all prepared after original, old recipes, kept with holiness from generation to generation.

There is no lack of wines, lavender and lavender products, bio cosmetics, popular costumes and accessories, hand-made jewelery, ceramics, wood carved articles or leather goods.

The success of organized fairs is ensured primarily by the quality and diversity of exhibits, but is also due to the fact that the partners of the association exhibit traditional products made in households and in their own workshops.

From the fair to... international fairs Over the years, they have exhibited 150 small Cluj entrepreneurs on the stands of CCC - under the aegis of Produs de Cluj - especially family businesses - some of them succeeding in developing and creating successful business.

The most famous case, a product known today not only in the country, but also abroad, which has come to occupy the honorable position of a provider of the Royal House of Romania, is the Luna Solai brand, cold pressed oils from the Moon. Although they have a well-established distribution network, the business being in full swing, the owners continue to come to the Produs de Cluj fairs respecting the place where they had the opportunity to start the story of the oil trade.

A particular growth has been known for businesses based on lavender, honey and bee products. The owners of the Cluj apiary are appreciated all over the country and not only, the quality and diversity of the exhibited products being a serious business card.

Another specific feature of PCA events is that besides food and handicraft items, Produs de Cluj offer includes folklore shows from SomeĹ&#x; area, popular games and songs,

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performances by well-known and loved artists. To encourage young performers, talented but poorly promoted voices, the visitor of the youngest generation of vocalists is visible, giving them the chance to get used to the stage and the audience.

Produs de Cluj caravan in the country At the beginning of the activity, there were organized fairs in the cities of Cluj County, but since 2012 the brand has crossed the borders of the county and even of the country.

The first exit from the county was in Bistrita as a test for the way in which the public in other counties responds to the Cluj County offer. Of course, the cities in the neighboring counties, Zalău, Baia Mare, Satu Mare, Oradea, Alba Iulia followed. Then Cluj product expanded to Deva, Mediaş, Sibiu, Timişoara, Suceava, Arad, Iaşi, Bucharest.

The success of the CCC project throughout the country, the reception and appreciations both from the local authorities or the private companies with which it collaborates, as well as the positive reactions from the visitor audience, have led the organization to expand and pass through the Carpathians, to Iasi and Suceava.

The first national fair of traditional products in the province The most important fair, out of over 80 organized, was Produs de România, held in autumn 2018 in Cluj-Napoca and enrolled in the program of events dedicated to the Centenary of the Great Union.

Under the slogan "Cluj County Council unites Romania", the largest fair of traditional products between Tisa, Dniester and Danube has gathered 200 exhibitors representing all the geographic and ethno-folkloric areas of Romania, including 10 producers and artisans from the Republic of Moldova.

The folk performances also brought together the country, the artists who evolved on stage from all parts of Romania.

From Cluj, Berlin, London and Strasbourg The year 2012 brought the first exits abroad, the debut being in Zakopane, in the Malopolska region of Poland. In August

2012, CCC and Produs de Cluj participated in the European Traditional Products Fair with 16 popular producers and craftsmen. The products of the Cluj people were in great demand, especially because there were cooks who prepared traditional snacks and traditional dishes from the county.

In the spring of 2013, CCC and PCA were represented in London at the International Food & Drink Event, which took place in the ExCel exhibition complex. The event, which was attended by food business operators, gave the Moldovans the opportunity to demonstrate that this area has enormous potential as well as the ability to supply tasty and quality food to the foreign markets.

The Autumn of 2013 was to find the CCC and the PCA in Strasbourg at the XXVth Congress of Congress of Local and Regional Powers of the Council of Europe, where they had the honor to mark the Cluj County Day. It was an opportunity to promote the values of traditional folk culture and to increase the visibility of CCC in Europe.

Starting with 015, CCC and Produs de Cluj are presenting themselves at the Grune Woche (Green Week) International Exhibition in Berlin, Europe's most important agricultural and food fair.

"We are constantly trying to create a physical and spiritual connection between the present and the past, between modern and traditional, to develop the market that wants to revive tradition. In recent years, demand for authentic products is on the increase and we believe that market-based self-regulation mechanisms will work to stimulate fair trade and maintain traditional craftsmanship. The CCC events under the auspices of Produs de Cluj facilitate the formation of a network of partners through the active connection and support of the small producers and craftsmen ", the representatives of Produs de Cluj said.

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Visit Cluj – an imaginary trail of landmarks We have gathered in an imaginary trail the most emblematic Cluj landmarks as an invitation for you to discover them and see the architectural and natural beauties of the county.

Bánffy Castle in Bonțida Bánffy Castle in Bonţida is one of the architectural monuments representative of the Transylvanian Baroque, and because of the richness of elements specific to this architectural style it is also known as ‘The Versailles of Transylvania”. It was built by the Bánffy family in Bonţida village, located about 30 km east of Cluj-Napoca. The main buildings of the palace are dominated by the architectural elements specific to the Renaissance, and, in the 18th century, baroque extensions were made.

In 1387, King Sigismund of Luxembourg donated the domain of Bonţida to the Bánffy family, and at first a stronghold was built here, surrounded by a fortification system.

In the seventeenth century, Dionisie Bánffy builds the first building designed as a fortified ensemble, with the bulwarks in the four corners. A tower was placed at the entrance, and a garden was arranged in the south side of the ensemble.

Dionysie Bánffy II starts the reconstruction in 1745 in Austrian Baroque style. In his time, the palace is in the form of the letter U, during this period the recreational park in the same baroque style, with alleys, lake, statues and artesian fountains was built.

During József Bánffy’s time, a descendant of the family, a new wing of the building is raised, perpendicular to the southern side of the castle, he also restores the park.

In 1944, the castle was used as a military hospital, after that it was seriously damaged by vandalism and arson of back pulling German troops. After 1950, one of the castle wings became the headquarters of Bonţida Agricultural Cooperative of Production.

Currently, the castle is managed by the Transylvania Trust Foundation, which aims to restore and capitalize on the potential of Bonţida, where many cultural and artistic activities are currently organized, attracting a large number of visitors.

The Armenian-Catholic Cathedral in Gherla The town of Gherla was known in medieval times as Armenopolis, being one of the most important centers of the Armenian community in Central and South-Eastern Europe. A thriving community of merchants decides to raise a cathedral in 1748. From 1748 up to 1804 in the center of Gherla, now Gheorghe Şincai street, stood a monumental Baroque church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, with St. Gregory the Illuminator as secondary saint.

The church is an architectural monument of Baroque Transylvanian style. Over the main entrance three steeples

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were raised - a main steeple framed by two smaller secondary ones. Besides the main altar, there are four other altars: the altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the one dedicated to St. Gregory the Enlightener, the altar dedicated to St. Joseph and the last one dedicated to St. John of Nepomuk. The main altar, as well as the secondary ones, is decorated with paintings and statues specific to Baroque style.

In the church there is a painting, "The Descent of Jesus from the Cross" which is told to be the work of Rubens.

This painting was given to the church by Emperor Francis I as a token of gratitude for the important donations to the imperial treasury. The church had a fence on which the statues of the Apostles stood. In 1960, this fence was demolished; the statues were moved inside to the northern entrance of the church and, in the hall of it. The statues of the Apostles Peter and Paul are full size.

Beliș-Fântânele Lake Beliș-Fântânele Lake falls into the category of barrier lakes, is located at the confluence between Gilău Mountains (East), Vlădeasa Mountains (West) and Muntele Mare (Big Mountain) (South), in Cluj county. It has an area of 9.8 square km and a length of 13 km, being at an altitude of 990 m. The main purpose of the barrier lake is electricity production, this dam ensuring the flow required for the hydroelectric power plant in Mărişel.

Between 1970 and 1974, the villages frrom the valley of Warm Someș river were displaced, and people were forced to leave their households. On the dry summers, when the discharge of the lake is very small, one can observe the ruins of the church in Giurcuţa de Jos. Nowadays, the Fântânele resort is on the shore of the lake.

Turenilor Gorge Turenilor Gorge or Turului Gorge, located near the Turzii Gorge, and have a length of approx. 2 km, with tall walls, being "carved" by the Racilor (Lobster) Creek.

In these gorges one encounters numerous rapids and small waterfalls, as well as the slopes that shelter numerous cavities.

The flora is represented by shrubby vegetation (hawthorn, hazel and wild rose), annual dominant species (feathered pink, rampion), hornbeam forests, pastures and hedges.

From the point of view of fauna, it is represented by insects, amphibians (bittern, Transylvanian newt), birds (raven, wheatear), and so on.

Turda Salt Mine Salt Turda is one of the main tourist attractions of Transylvania, representing a true Salt Mining Museum in Transylvania, a modern recreational base and, at the same time, a treatment base. The age of the Transylvanian saliferous bed is about 13 million years, the Turda salt mine being part of the same alignment as Ocna Dej, Sic, Cojocna, Valea Florilor and Ocna Mureş.

It is assumed that the first stages of salt exploitation began in the Roman era, but the first evidence of activities related to extraction dates back to the 11th century when a document issued by the chancellery of the Hungarian Kingdom notes the establishment of a salt custom-house in Turda.

Since 1918, Turda Salt Mine’s role diminishes due to mining technology and mining development at Ocna Dej and Ocna Mureș. Since 1932, it has been closed, being used during the Second World War as antiaircraft shelter.

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From 1950 to 1992 it was used as a cheese warehouse, and, after 1992, it was included in the tourist circuit.

Turda Salt Mine underwent a major renovation process as a result of a €5.8 million project, and became a modern recreational and treatment centre. Thus: a panoramic lift, a mini-golf track, two mini-bowling tracks, a sports ground and an 180-seat amphitheater that hosts various concerts, were furbished. Also, there is a carousel that offers a panoramic view of the Rudolf Mine. A subterranean lake has been set up in Terezia Mine, offering opportunities for boat rides at 112-meter deep, in the salt mountain. Mine Ghizela was arranged to serve exclusively for spa treatment activity.

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The Holy Trinity Orthodox Monastery in Feleacu

The Reformed Calvinist Church in Mănăstireni The Calvine Church of of Mănăstireni was built in the 13th century, and it is a Romanesque hall church. The furniture, the pulpit and the ceiling with bays date back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

On the southern façade of the western tower there is a solar watch and two bass reliefs from Roman times Archangel Michael killing the dragon and Melusina - the virgin breastfeeding two snakes - this representation being unique in Transylvania. At the base of these sculptures we find two Roman funerary lions. On the north side, we find a simple rose window in the shape of St. Catherine's wheel.

In the hilly area of Feleacu village, located about 8 km from Cluj-Napoca, lies the Holy Trinity Monastery. In 1488, the vaivode of Moldavia, Ștefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great) (1433-1504), builds the church of Saint Paraschiva in Feleacu.

It is a church with a polygonal altar over which one can find the broken spring, a specifically gothic element, the painting on the arch that separates the altar from the nave, dating back to the eighteenth century.

In 1993, the foundation stone of the church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, a monumental church made in Moldavian Byzantine style, was laid-down. In the courtyard of the monastery there is a museum that is a reconstruction of a house from the Feleac area of the 19th century, which was restored between 2008-2010. This museum includes some glass icons Nicula style and a number of old prints, including the Ștefan Cantacuzino Gospel from 1682.

Muntele Băișorii Resort The resort is found at the foot of Muntele Mare Mountain from Apuseni Mountains, on the course of Iara river, at heights between 1200 – 1400 m, offering a vast view and a remarkable surrounding landscape.

Muntele Baisorii Resort can be visited in any time of the year, offering recreational opportunities for spending free time in all seasons. In the winter, the biggest attraction of the area are the ski and snowboarding slopes. In the other periods of the year, the resort is visited due to the natural

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beauties it offers. The marked trails can be used for activities such as mountain cycling and hiking.

Bánffy Castle in Răscruci

The tomb of Mihai Viteazul in Turda

Răscruci village was owned by the Bánffy family, being part of the Bonţida domain. The castle was built in eclectic neoclassical style, and it was surrounded by a vast park, the domain was used as the Bánffy family’s summer residence.

The entrance to the castle pavilion, built by Count Dionisie Banffy, is made on two stairways buit in the southern part, leading to the terrace supported by eight Doric columns. In the events of 1848, the property was damaged, and Adám Bánffy was the one who rebuilt it, and also took care of the interior design.

The parlour, built in the Renaissance style, has wooden walls and coffered ceiling. Above a door is a sculpturi with a Latin inscription "Salus intratibus pax exeuntibus" ("Health to those who enter, peace to those who go leave").

Upstairs access is through a staircase with solid wood railings, and from the castle’s balcony one can see the whole Banffy domain.

Lake Știucii (pickerel) The monument is the work of the sculptor Marius Butunoiu and was erected in 1977, being dedicated to Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave) (1558-1601), the first Romanian vaivode to succeed in the political unification of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania. He was assassinated in 1601, near Turda.

The obelisk has the symbolic height of 1601 cm and, it is made of reinforced concrete with travertine. The monument has three sides, each symbolizing one of the three Romanian principalities, at the base of the obelisk are the three coats of arms made of marble by the artist Vasile Rus Batin.

Lake Ştiucii is a protected area of national interest, located in Fizeşu Gherlii village, Săcălaia. The pickerel is the dominant piscicultural species of the lake, and gave the reservation its name. The protected area has approximately 57 hectares, with some rush-bed zones. This environment has favored the development of a biodiversity of fauna and flora almost similar in number of species to the Danube Delta. This is a freshwater lake on a salted soil, where there are species of fishing stock such as the pickerel, zander or cat-fish, also species as the carp, crucian carp, and birds like coot, bunting or aigrette.

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Dej Synagogue

Bologa Fortress

The Jews in the Urişor area settled in Dej in the eighteenth century, and rabbi Mendel Paneth settling in the city in 1853.

The Mosaic community buys a property, raises a house of prayer and arranges a cemetery. Between 1907 and 1909, this community raises the city's synagogue, located on Ştefan cel Mare Street, no. 1, one of the most beautiful in Transylvania.

Bologa fortress, situated at the foot of the Vlădeasa Mountain, was one of medieval Transylvania’s most important fortifications. The first documentary attestation of Bologa fortress, dating from 1304, mentions it as Sebuswar, a form preserved in subsequent mentions.

Bologa fortress was used continuously until the 18th century, suffering numerous transformations and additions. This is particularly noticeable by the circular donjon, one of the very few preserved in Transylvania.

In 1399, the fortress was donated by King Sigismund of Luxembourg to the Prince of Wallachia, Mircea cel Bătrân, for his contribution to the anti-Ottoman wars. The importance of the fortress grew in the seventeenth century, after the Turks conquered Oradea, when the garrison of the Bologa fortress stopped the Turkish army from entering through the pass of Crişul Repede river. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, during the liberation war led by the Prince of Transylvania, Francis Rakoczi II, against the Habsburg domination of Hungary, the fortress was blown up by the soldiers, for it not to fall into the hands of rebels, supporters of the movement release. In the middle of the twentieth century the tower lost its roof, one of the last preserved wooden elements.

Reformed Calvinist Sic Church The Reformed Calvinist Sic Church dates back to the 13th century. The church is raised with the help of King Matthew Corvinus and is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. The edifice is an architectural monument with Gothic style traits. During the Reformation, the Sic community adopts the Calvinistic confession. A synod of Reformed Churches was held in this church, in 1555, which was attended by Francis David, the founder of the Unitarian Confession.

In several chronological stages, the church was also the cathedral of the Reformed Calvinist confession. It was restored several times in the 15th-16th centuries after the tatar invasion of 1717 in the eighteenth century, which seriously damaged it, and between 1946-1947.

Inside, there are frescoes that date back to the 14th century, a coffered ceiling, organ and bells dating from the 18th century.

Lake Tarnița Lake Tarniţa is a reservoir lake located on the Warm Someş

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river. It spreads on over 200 ha, and the existing dam is made of concrete, in the form of an arch, with a height of 97 m, and a length of 232 m, with the main purpose of producing electricity.

The lake is the main water supply for the treatment plant at Gilau, which provides drinking and industrial water for Cluj-Napoca and other ubieties in Cluj County.

Various sports or sporting competitions are organized here by sports associations, periodically.

Orthodox Monastery, “The Assumption of Our Lady” from Nicula In the hilly area of Nicula village, about 7 km from the Gherla city, a monastery has developed to become one of the most important monastic centers of Transylvania. The year 1699 is marked by a miraculous phenomenon: The Icon of the Mother of God, painted by the priest Luca of Iclod, weeped between February 15 and March 12, 1699.

Currently, on every August 15, here is the largest pilgrimage in Transylvania, with the celebration of the Assumption of Our Lady, the patronage of the monastery.

In the area of Nicula Monastery a iconographic painting center on glass is being developed, a technique imported from Bohemia, Austria and Bavaria. But the difference between the icons in Nicula School and those in Western Europe consists in the specific stylistic elements related to the fact that most of the authors were anonymous craftsmen from rural areas, and, the themes are, almost exclusively, religious ones.

The first documentary attestation indicates the existence of a Maramures-style wooden church dedicated to the "Holy Trinity" which was destroyed by a fire in 1973, being replaced by a XVII century wooden church.

The first church was built between 1875-1879-1905, a large building with two towers above the narthex. The altarpiece of the Virgin Mary's miracle-making icon is carved in lime.

Nowadays, beside the wooden and stone church, a monumental church in Brancovan style has been erected and an architectural ensemble meant to become a patristic study center and workshop for the continuation of the tradition of the Nicula painting school on glass.

Nicula Monastery also has a museum endowed with a rich collection of glass icons from Nicula, Fagaras, Scheii Brasov, as well as with icons from Maramures made on wood and some icons dating from the 16th-18th centuries. The museum also has a collection of church books, wooden and root sculptures, ceramics, fabrics, and towels.

Cluj-Napoca Art Museum Founded in 1951, the Cluj-Napoca Art Museum benefited from older patrimonial funds: a collection of art from the funds of the former Transylvanian Museum and, in particular, from the "Virgil Cioflec" art gallery.

The museum’s headquarters are in Banffy Palace, built between 1774-1785 as the private residence of Count Gheorghe Bánffy, governor of Transylvania, by German architect Johann Eberhard Blaumann.

The National Gallery is the permanent exhibition of the Art Museum of Cluj-Napoca hosted in 21 rooms on the first floor of the building. The Art Museum of Cluj-Napoca includes more than 13,000 valuable pieces of Romanian and universal art (XV-XX centuries), consisting of paintings, sculptures, graphic arts, decorative arts and documentary background.

“Simion Barnutiu” Central Park from Cluj-Napoca The Central Park, also known colloquially as The Big Park is open to the public from 1830, initially named “The People’s Park”. Later, the alleys were set up, the lake and in 1874 The Summer Theatre was inaugurated, today being The State Hungarian Museum. The skating pavilion (today the Chios restaurant), the casino building and the artesian well were built in an eclectic style. After 1989 the park was named “Simion Barnutiu” Central Park.

Today, the Central Park enjoys a great popularity. All persons who pass through it can relax making use of the great variety of opportunities which the park offers. The open air setting is offering, besides the Flora, a nocturnal basket ball course, free access to fitness equipment, an artesian well surrounded by benches, a specially designed children park, a restaurant.

In the park are found statues of famous personalities like Antonin Ciolan, George Cosbuc, Liviu Rebreanu, Octavian Goga, Sigismund Toduta.

The Casino Building and the lake are the main attractions.

In the summer, promenades with the cockles and water bicycles can be made on the lake. Also in the summer, there are symphonic music concerts and civil marriage ceremonies organized near the artesian well.

The Matei Corvin House The Matei Corvin House, located on Matei Corvin Street no.

6 in Cluj-Napoca, is the only real estate of the 15th century that is still in its original form. It is a Gothic building that

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Hunedoara (1407-1456) and Elisabeta, who became king of Hungary. The layout of this statue was made by sculptors Janos Fadrusz and Lajos Pakey, winning in 1900 the grand prize of the Universal Exhibition in Paris.

Matei Corvin is surrounded by four contemporary leaders: Blasiu Magyar - Commander of the Black Army, Stefan Zapolya - the second man in the Hungarian state, Paul Chinezul - the Timis Command, Stephen Bathory - voivode of Transylvania. The monument is made of bronze and was inaugurated in 1902. In 1919, the historian Nicolae Iorga intervenes to preserve the monument on the current site, placing a plaque on the basement, specifying the Romanian origin of the Hungarian king.

was built by merging three houses, the ogival gate being the defining architectural element that fits it into this style.

According to legend, Matei, the king of Hungary, the young son of Iancu of Hunedoara, was born in this house. King Matei Corvin issued a decree exempting this house from paying taxes to the state, a decree respected by all the Hungarian kings who followed him. In the eighteenth century the house entered the city's heritage, being used as a prison or military hospital.

Following the visit made to Cluj, Emperor King Francis I makes a donation from which the memorial plaque is made, which reminds us that King Matia the Right was born in this place. Starting with the twentieth century it enters the patrimony of the Carpathian Society of Transylvania - one of the first associations of tourism, balneology and ethnography. After the Second World War the house became a college for students, later the building returned to the University of Art and Design Cluj. In 1996 the memorial plaque in the Romanian and English languages was placed and dedicated to King Matei Corvin.

Matei Corvin Monumental Complex from Cluj-Napoca The statue of Matthew Corvinus (Matei Corvin), in fact the sculptural ensemble of Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490), is located in Unirii Square, a central public space of the medieval city of Klausenburg, about 500 meters from the house where he was born in 1443 as the son of Iancu de

“Alexandru Borza” Botanical Garden in Cluj-Napoca The Botanical Garden was founded in 1920 by Professor Alexandru Borza and is subordinated to the "Babeş-Bolyai" University.

The garden occupies an area of 14 hectares with various collections of plants that make up about 10,000 species.

The space is divided into several sectors: ornamental, geobotanical, systematic, economic and medicinal plants, each with its own specificity.

The Roman Garden is dominated by the statue of the goddess Ceres and various archaeological pieces discovered in the Roman city of Napoca, being arranged with a variety of plants which used to grow in the Roman gardens. Also, the Japanese Garden is arranged in a traditional Japanese style and includes Japan-specific landscape features: an artificial lake, in the middle of which is a small island linked to the lake's edges on one side by a Japanese curved bridge at the end of which one finds a sacred Japanese gate. The area is planted with plants brought from the Orient.

The Botanical Garden is also home to the Botanical Institute, the Botanical Museum and, the Herbarium of the University, which houses 655,000 sheets with plants from all over the world.

TURZII GORGES Turzii Gorges is located at the eastern boundary of the Apuseni Mountains, Trascăului Mountains range. The latter are bounded by the Ampoiului Valley in the South, Hills of Cluj in the North and Gilău Massif – Muntele Mare (Great Mountain) in the West.

Turzii Gorges was formed during the Jurassic period, as a result of the limestone erosion caused by Hăşdate River. It is nearly 2 km long and 200 m vertically expanded, with the highest walls among the Apuseni Mountains.

The scenery presents a wide variety of karst topography with erosional caves (more than 60) following the Hăşdate stream, featuring scree, rocky cliffs, plain paths going across sharp walls or rock and scree fragments turning into rich vegetation.

The region flora includes over 1,000 floral species, among which White Gillyflower, Wild Thyme, Piebald Tulip or Callistephus. As for the fauna, there can be found various bats, fish (Cobitis, Squalius cephalus), amphibians and reptiles (Bittern, crested Triturus, Vipera berus) or birds species (nightingale, woodpecker).

Turzii Gorges also offers tourists and mountaineers plentiful facilities for leisure and practicing other sport activities, such as climbing, zipline or Via Ferrata trail, all these carried out under the strict supervision of the Mountain Rescue (Salvamont) staff.

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“ROMULUS VUIA” NATIONAL ETHNOGRAPHIC PARK

“Romulus Vuia” National Ethnographic Park is an open-air museum and one of the two sections of the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania, established on April 12th 1929.

This section was called “Romulus Vuia”, paying homage to the founder of this park.

The first sector includes technical installations and rural workshops from the 18th-20th centuries, which display the traditional techniques of wood and iron crafting; gold, wool canvas, clay and stone processing; cereals milling and oil production. The second sector contains traditional rural households representative for distinct ethnographic regions from Transylvania, comprising constructions dating from the 17th-20th centuries, equipped with the entire necessary household inventory.

Three of the most beautiful wooden churches in Transylvania are preserved in “Romulus Vuia” National Ethnographic Park: the church from Cizer (Sălaj County), built in 1773 by Nicola Ursu (also called Horea); the church from Chiraleş (Bistriţa-Năsăud County) from 17th century and the church from Petrindu (Sălaj County), dated from 1612.

Very close to the ethnographic park lies Hoia-Baciu Forest, one of the most famous places in the world, where paranormal

phenomena are recorded. Although its fame is due to these strange happenings, the site is quite picturesque for visiting, surrounded by strangely shaped trees and offering a wild oasis in the immediate vicinity of the city.

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ADMINISTRATION 147

Brașov County, Smart Administration for Smart Tourism With its 800-year-old history, with its multi-ethnic population and with a high degree of culture, but also with a rapidly expanding business environment, Brașov County is currently one of the main centres of growth in Romania. Because of this, local authorities have started a series of projects to keep Brașov attractive to investors and tourists alike.

The geographic position of the Brașov County – in the center of Romania, in the south-west of Transylvania, along the middle of the Olt River watercourse and at the meeting point of two mountain ranges (Eastern and Southern Carpathian Mountains) – has transformed it into an important hub of Romania. Its geographic advantage and its infrastructure (the Brașov County has the highest density of railroads from the Centre Development Region (62km/1,000 square km) and two international roads) have helped in developing policies which have led to transforming Brașov in a competitive county both for its residents, and for its investors.

Brașov, a “Smart Tourism” Destination The age of smart technologies prompted the local authorities in to answering the ever-growing global demand: the implementation of smart solutions to promote its tourist destinations. Brașov County is the first tourist destination in Romania preferred by both Romanian and foreign tourists. In 2018, Brașov County Council launched a tourism advertising platform: www.brasovtourism.ro.

It is basically a marketing tourism promotion package based on new technologies – online platforms, smartphone apps, interactive maps – whose content is permanently updated with the help of municipalities, tourism information centers, NGO’s, tourism businesses owners . This action plan, based on the power of partnership, has yielded very good results during the past three years. In its promotional activities, Brașov County authorities managed to include tens of representatives who wished to advertise Brașov beyond Romanian borders.

From the very beginning, the platform was structured on the principles of “collaborative economy”. Consequently, this app aims to create spaces in which demand and supply for tourism services and products are connected.

The Brasov Tourism App platform engulfs all the functions of Brașov Tourism: website and back office on the iOS and Android operating systems. It is a friendly platform, both with tourists and with the environment, because it brings in the forefront the idea of promoting a sustainable form of tourism that respects nature and the unique cultural heritage of Brașov County.

Ecotourism Is Helping You Uncover the Secrets of Brașov In order to promote the cultural and natural tourist attractions of Brașov County, but also to highlight the thematic routes in this county, local authorities in Brașov have

become a partner in the project Thematic Trail Trigger – ThreeT, financed through the Interreg Europe programme. ThreeT is centred on the principle of cultural tourism and ecotourism sustainability and it aims to improve tourists’ access to the destinations in the county, through developing public policies of accessibility and unmotorized mobility (cycling routes, hiking trails etc.); through the protection of the natural heritage; through the local socioeconomic development resulting from ecotourism. Brașov County is implementing this project alongside other eight European partners.

Integrated Management for a European Administration A high-performance administration, capable of coming up with integrated solutions to complex problems, needs integrated management systems. That is why Brașov County is searching for solutions to improve. Thus, the administration choose to implement the project “Integrated management system at European standards for the administration of Brașov County”. The goal is to improve the process of providing the public services offered by the local authorities in Brașov County, through the implementation, certification and usage of two performance management instruments in public administration: the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and the Quality Management System ISO 9001:2015.

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Brașov County, a Top Destination in Romania Brașov County is the most attractive tourist destination in Romania. In 2018, it has been visited by over 1.36 million people. The Legend of Count Dracula and the fairy-tale scenery are just two of the elements which forever capture the hearts of tourists. But there are many more things of wonder here: the Carpathian Mountains, resembling natural strongholds, the complex natural landscape and the charming medieval settlements. All of these recommend Brașov as a tourist destination.

Brașov for Every Season!

BeLive It!

Going hiking in the mountains, enjoying winter sports or walking on medieval streets to uncover urban architecture, savouring the local cuisine – discovering Brașov is immensely satisfying through any of these activities. The city fascinates with its medieval fortresses and fortified churches, its authentic pastoral landscapes, its ecotourism potential, its multiculturalism, its wild and glorious nature. Transylvanian medieval architecture prevails in most of the towns and villages in Brașov – from the towering Black Church of the Old Citadel of Brașov, to the impressively well-preserved fortified churches in Prejmer and in Viscri, true jewels of history that are part of the UNESCO world heritage. The Tâmpa Mountain – the only mountain that is a nature reserve in the heart of a city! – can be found in Brașov. Anyone who arrives here is fascinated by this place.

Brașov County is an important tourist attraction of Romania, due to its peasant citadels, fortified churches and impressive castles. Beyond their spectacular appearance and historic value, these central elements to the cultural heritage of Romania tell the story of the people living on this land, situated at the crossroads of the commercial routes between East and West. They are a testimony to a powerful people, ready to defend its greatest value – their land.

The Bran Castle, located 22 km from Predeal and 35 km from Braşov, is one of the best-known architectural and historic monuments in Romania, attracting millions of visitors each year. One million tourists from all over the world visited Bran Castle in 2018. It is associated with the famous legend of Count Dracula, the vampire.

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The Fortified Church Ensemble of Prejmer was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list and the three stars awarded by the Michelin Guide attest its statute as the highestrated landmark in Romania.

The Fortified Evangelic Church in Viscri, built in the 13th century on an old 12th century Roman basilica, is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage. The reputation of this monument and of the Viscri Village has gone beyond Romanian borders in recent years thanks to Britain’s Prince Charles. His Royal Highness bought a house here and visits the region every year.

The Râşnov Fortress is one of the most beautiful and visited monuments in Brașov County. Today, the Fortress can be visited after ascending with an inclined elevator, inaugurated in 2015, the only one in Romania and one of the few in Europe.

Feldioarei (Marienburg) Fortress, Rupea Fortress, Făgărașului Fortress, Brâncoveanu Monastery in Sâmbata de Sus, the Cave Monastery of Șinca Veche etc. are also unique tourist attractions in Brașov County.

The Gastronomy of Brașov The gastronomic tradition of Brașov County is remarkable through its specific elements, but also through Hungarian and Saxon influences. The cheese varieties are especially delicious, reflecting a traditional occupation of these lands – shepherding.

Fresh curd, kneaded hard cheese, smoked soft cheese or sweet cheese are plentiful on the table of the Transylvanian, for whom shepherding is more than an occupation or a tradition. Pork and mutton dishes reign supreme in the cuisine

of the Ţara Făgăraşului region. The cooking style has been influenced by the minorities living here. For instance, smoked pork pudding is typical for south-east Transylvania.

The cuisine of the Transylvanian Saxons is one of the legacies which have been passed on in Transylvania from one generation to the next. During these past decades, the recipes have been borrowed by Romanians living in the former Saxon villages. The dishes of the Transylvanian Saxons fascinate due to condiments that are unknown in other regions the country – like rhubarb and chervil –, through unique combinations of fruit and meat, a predilection for the sweet-andsour taste and for delicious deserts. Apple soup, lamb borsch with chervil, served on Easter, potato dumplings (Knodel), fine and seasoned liverwurst, borsch with liver dumplings, apple, sour cherry and gooseberry sauces coating steaks, hip berry jam, Hildenburg cake, cremșnit (kremschnitte) cake, hot doughnuts or the refreshing rhubarb cake are just some of the delicious dishes of the Transylvanian Saxons.

Urban Festivals, Day and Night For years now, big festivals have been organised in Brașov.

Tourists flock to attend the Fasching Carnival, Împușcatul cocoșului (Shooting of the Rooster), Focul lui Sumedru (bonfire night), Nedeia munților (a shepherding celebration). Each year, contemporary art lovers can participate in the Amural Visual Arts Festival, C’art Fest, Histories and Film Festival in Râșnov, Brașov Jazz & Blues Festival, Anima-est, Contemporary Theatre Festival, Vibrate Festival, Rockstadt Extreme Festival, Chamber Jazz and many more.

Tired of the urban energy, tourists can choose to go to Poiana Brașov – the biggest ski resort in Romania, only 14 kilometres away from the city.

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Brașov Airport, an airport for the future Brasov International Airport is the first greenfield airport built in Romania in the last 50 years and it will be a brand for Transylvania as it will be the first airport in the country to be consessioned to a private entity, the first to have a virtual control tower and the first to have such an authentic architecture of the passenger terminal.

Brasov International Airport is the great infrastructure project that people of Brasov have been waiting for 30 years. The project emerged as a response to increasing mobility of the citizens, as a result of the strong economy and tourism development of the area, the increase of commercial and cultural exchanges and the strategic position of Brasov for cargo activity.

Starting from these facts, Brasov County Council has developed studies and analyses on the opportunity to build an international airport near Brasov, serving mainly the counties of Brasov, Covasna, Harghita, a catchment area of around 2 million people. It will be the first airport built in Romania since 1970, which proves the high complexity of this project.

The airport began to take shape in 2014, when the runway, with a length of 2820 meters was completed.

After solving the site related patrimonial problems, the constructions continued in 2018 with the Taxi way and the Apron on which the aircraft park. Another

contract for the design and constructions of other complementary buildings, public parking, access route and airport fence has also been signed.

The Passenger Terminal is currently in tender process.

Its authentic architecture was designed by the famous Romanian architect, Stefan Dorin and it will be a spacious and modern building with a capacity to easily process 1 million passengers per year, which is the traffic forecast for the 8th year of operation. According to the studies, Brasov area has a great potential, the airport could be used by 5 million passengers per year in the long term.

There are several steps that are taking place simultaneously, in terms of airport infrastructure, airport certification, Air Navigation Services, airport business model and concession to a private entity. The target of Brasov County Council is to complete all work, obtain certification for the airport and begin the operation as soon as possible.

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Brașov, an Attractive Country for National and International Investments With an area of 5,363 km², a population density of 111 people/km², four municipalities (Braşov, Făgăraş, Codlea and Săcele), six towns, 48 townships and 149 villages, Brașov is the county with the highest urbanisation in the Centre Region of Romania and second highest urbanisation in the country.

In the last ten years, the “metropolitan area” concept has taken shape, which led to the unprecedented economic development of Brașov County, a region with great potential of attracting European funds. Also, due to its position at the crossroads of the commercial routes of every region of the country, the Brașov County has become the strongest city in the area, commercially, and has been declared an economic growth centre, beneficial for investments.

Brașov Is Developing with European Funds Of all the Centre Development Region, Brașov County is the absolute leader in accessing EU funds. On infrastructure plans, the Brașov County Council has developed four projects to modernise and repair county roads, investments of over 306 million lei (almost 65 million euros) and two projects to renovate buildings and equip county hospitals, amounting to 35 million lei (over 7 million euro).

Attractive for External and National Investors Brașov County is attractive not only for tourists, but also for investors. Multinational corporations now function on the sites of former factories of the Communist era – and bring significant investments in the region. According to the data given by the National Projection Commission, Brașov County has a gross domestic product per capita of 11,164 euro for 2018 – one of the highest in the country.

In Brașov, investments have been diverse and this allowed for the development of several directions: car manufacturing, metal industry, pharmaceutical industry, construction industry, transportation and logistics services.

Foreign investors have found that Brașov has huge development capabilities. Besides its geographic position and the tourist potential, companies activating in technical areas are attracted here by the fact that in Brașov live many German- and English-speaking people, as well as the fact that the work force is highly skilled in technology, IT and engineering. The implementation of a dual professional and technical education system is a model of good practices on a national level, and it allows business investors to train their own specialists. In addition, the Transylvania University Brașov has 18 faculties and over 19,000 students, and the Development and Research Institute of the University is offering research, development and innovation services, education and training courses and specializing in fields and in topics that answer the needs of the companies.

Other advantages for foreign investments in Brașov: 4 a technology and business incubator which promotes the start and development of innovative businesses, based on advanced technologies, in order to facilitate the trans-

fer of the scientific research results to the business environment; 4 business services that assist innovation and technology transfer; 4 research and development services; 4 technologic information services, technological audit, technological prognosis; 4 assisting and consulting for constructing experimental models and prototypes; 4 assisting and consulting for commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights.

Moreover, there are eight industrial parks in Brașov. The modern industrial area in Brașov is one of the largest in the country, with over 170,000 square meters, according to the data provided by Colliers International Romania.

The Partners of Brașov The top main commercial partners of Brașov County, regarding imports, are: Germany (40.8%), Italy (8.8%), France (8.6%), China (4.6%) and Hungary (3.9%); and, when talking about exports, they are: Germany (38.4%), Italy (7.7%), France (6.3%), Spain (5.5%) and Poland (5.6%).

Brașov remains a main engine for economic development in the field of industrial production, and two of its production sectors are constantly growing: automotive and aviation industries.

Some of the most powerful brands active in Brașov County, as named in a top made in December 2018 by business magazine Forward Brașov and BrandBerry Agency: Schaeffler Romania, Swedish automotive group Autoliv, Bilka, Dacia Plant, Sergiana, Continental Powertrain Romania, Premium Aerotec, Allview, Electroprecizia, Stabilus Romania, IAR Ghimbav, Quin Romania, Elmas Braşov, Preh Romania, Kronospan, Miele Tehnica etc.

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Transylvania, Romania’s economic tiger

editorial

Nicolae POP

With a fascinating history, with myths and legends born from happenings and circumstances determined by its geographical position, by wavering political evolutions and by the interference of cultural strata, Transylvania is now a so-called ‘flag region’ of Romania – increasingly enthusiastic for development and ever more tied to the growth in Central Europe.

With plentiful natural resources, with a well-trained workforce, always connected to European commercial flows, Transylvania has always been a richer region than its surroundings. The early establishment of schools and universities here, the development of ever wider categories of intellectuals and specialists connected to and constantly informed of the goings-on in major European economic centres – all of the above created the right environment for small businesses to appear and expand, as well as for factories which found their niches for industrial commerce, in Central Europe and beyond.

There are many remnants of old 19th and 20th century businesses we can see in Transylvania. The last century’s great wars, followed by major geo-political changes, left deep marks in post-1918 Transylvania. The new Romanian administration did not disturb existing commercial flows – on the contrary, modernity became more obvious in Transylvania as well as in the rest of the country.

After 1945, the communist regime in this part of Europe fundamentally changed economic realities. The centralised and state-planned economy generated new economic paradigms in Romania – similar to neighbouring countries. Collectivisation and forced industrialisation re-shaped the Romanian provinces, Transylvania included. There were huge plants here, as well as in other parts of the country – companies not actually integrated in the real economy based on supply and demand. It was why the competitiveness of Romanian products kept falling until they couldn’t keep up with foreign markets’ standards – which, in turn led to poverty.

The fall of the communist regimes reignited, at first only timidly, the big corporations’ interest in the Romanian market,

at the same time with increasingly daring attempts to structure the local capital. Somewhat aligned to the sinuous political developments in the ‘90s and on the ruins of former communist industry, the first Romanian business initiatives began to appear – and to establish commercial relations with companies both in Western areas and on other continents. This, in turn, helped form a class of local entrepreneurs and then of evermore competitive Romanian firms.

At the end of the second millennium and the beginning of the third, the closer ties Romania developed with the European political and economic space, its accession to NATO (2004) and then the EU (2007) once again placed Romania on European and international economic maps. The Romanian economy has re-entered market circuits, major German, French, Dutch, Italian brands have invested here – in agriculture, automotive business, real estate, IT&C, in banking and insurance systems, in the health system and so on, therefore bringing a massive contribution the Romania’s economic development.

Here is an example. There are now very many automotive companies in Transylvania; they have tens of thousands of employees and some have been recognised as business excellence models. An urban legend has thus appeared that there is virtually no car in the world to not have at least the tiniest of components made by one of the automotive firms in Sibiu, Oradea, Brașov, Cluj, Timișoara, Sebeş, Blaj, Bistriţa and so on.

Based on its special cultural heritage, its business traditions, based on the particular specialisation of the people here, on the spirit of entrepreneurship, on the this region’s appeal to foreign investors – but also because of the ambitious vision and involvement of some mayors or county administrators and owing to universities being better connected to real development needs, Transylvania could become Romania’s ‘economic tiger’.

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Emil Radu Moldovan, Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council President:

“There is no secret, only will, involvement, work, concrete actions!”

We wished to cross the mountains and head to a different destination, but we could not do this, until we found out what this county’s secret for development was!

“There is no secret, only will, involvement, work, concrete actions!” – declared Emil Radu Moldovan, BistriţaNăsăud County Council President.

The Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council and the city halls in the county have made in the past 6 years, public investments beyond 1.3 billion euros, that is over 5,700 euro per capita.

It is by far the largest rate of public investments in Romania!

Therefore, the Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council have made major investments in infrastructure, beginning with 2012.

Regarding county roads: • 2012 – 2016: 192.5 km modernized, 2016 – 2018 another 136.5 km modernized • in execution: 102.1 km.

• works to be put up for auction from the County Council budget: 91.6 km.

• works to be put up for auction, financed with European funds: 88.77 km.

• European funds obtained by financing already completed works: 153.2 km. A total of 52.6 euros.

From 2012 until the present, we have modernized and we are working on the modernization of 431 county roads with 503 million lei (108.2 million euros).

Alongside the county’s city halls, we have managed to attract financing for the modernization (asphalting) of 757.7 km of township roads, lanes and streets and of 745 km agricultural and forestry roads.

Overall, in the Bistriţa-Năsăud County over 3,000 projects have been submitted and were granted financing with European funds.

From the point of view of the County Council Budget for the year 2019, this is the most generous in comparison with the one for last year.

• 2018 – 137 million lei • 2019 – 183 million lei Difference: 46 million lei (33 %) In 2019, 75% of the County Council Budget was destined for funding of 166 investment objectives.

Water and sewage infrastructure: 1 billion lei (238 million euros) “We aim to have one of the best healthcare systems in Transylvania” – Emil Radu Moldovan, Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council President Emil Radu Moldovan, Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council President, along with the Bistriţa Emergency County Hospital management team, have managed to turn the hospital into an example of success and good practice. “Health matters most! We aim to have one of the best healthcare systems in Transylvania. For this, we have attracted investments and have allotted 36 million euros from the county budget for the development and modernization of the Bistriţa-Năsăud county health system infrastructure.

All these investments have attracted specialized doctors, who leave the great university centers and come to our county to practice, in order to assure quality medical services,” Emil Radu Moldovan stated.

Thus, the construction of the most modern Centralized Operating Theatre in Romania, the Oncology Department and the Obstetrics and Neonatology Departments were modernized, as well as building and equipping a new Surgery Department at the Bistriţa Emergency County Hospi-

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tal. Furthermore, alongside a high-performance team, the Bistriţa Emergency County Hospital’s Polytechnic modernization and gearing with the latest-generation equipment was also successfully completed.

What is next? By the end of the summer, with an investment of about 4 million euros, one of the vital departments for any Hospital, that of Intensive Care, will be extended, equipped and modernized in its entirety. Following this investment, Bistriţa-Năsăud County will benefit from the most modern ICU department in Europe. The Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council will unroll other projects to modernize the health infrastructure, after President Emil Radu Moldovan and Vice-Minister Daniel Suciu have sealed two financing contracts through the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020. The first signed project was one for the rehabilitation, modernization, extension and UPUSMURD equipping for the Bistriţa Emergency County Hospital. Through this project, one of the most crowded departments of the County Hospital will be enlarged from 280 mp at the present to 1,414 mp after modernization.

The department will be geared with the latest-generation equipment, to offer the highest quality medical services.

The necessary diagnostic and treatment time will automatically decrease, while the quality of the medical act will rise, and nosocomial infections will be reduced. The investment will facilitate the access to emergency medical services for disabled individuals.

“The County Council, out of its own budget, apart from the co-financing stipulated by law for the two POR funding projects, will fully fund, with 1.7 million euros, the heliport’s construction. It is a project which comes to complete the ER extension and modernization. By building this heliport, we will consistently reduce the transfer time for patient in a critical situation toward specialty clinics,” stated Radu Moldovan, County Council President.

The second signed project was aimed at the thermic rehabilitation and modernization for the infectious diseases, recovery, oncology and dermato-STD sections on the Alba Iulia Street. Among the works referred are the building consolidation, architectural elements and artistic components restauration, repairing the interior and exterior finishes for the façade’s construction, thermic rehabilitation works for the building’s jacket elements and for the heating system, the electric installations and the interior carpentry, as well as adapting the infrastructure for disabled individuals.

Even more, in Bistriţa the first ANL apartment building was completed for the young health specialists. “The Bistriţa Emergency County Hospital employs 163 doctors, among which 39 have arrived only in the past year. We have proposed this pilot program to the Romanian Go-

vernment, through which young doctors are stimulated to stay in our country. Following Bistriţa’s model, more counties in Romania have requested the building of such faculty housing,” stressed Emil Radu Moldovan, BistriţaNăsăud County Council President.

Things do not stop here!

The Bistriţa-Năsăud County Council have set the foundation for the most important project in the county’s athletic history, the Sports Complex from Wonderland, after it was proved that sport plays a special role in the county.

Through the County Council’s demarche, with the National Investment Company funding, a European-standards stadium will be built, housing 12,000 seats, a polyvalent hall with a 2,675 seats capacity, with public alimentation facilities and commercial spaces, and it will be equipped with minifootball, basketball, tennis courts and a sprint running track.

In the same complex, a synthetic court is to be built, surrounded by an athletism track homologated by the Romanian Athletism Federation, with a 600-seat stand.

Indeed, a unique project, polyvalent, healthy, which we would like to see in any Romanian county.

Before closing…

A people without culture is a people without identity and chances for development. In the 2012-2016 period, culture has received its due respect, the cultural institutions are in the “new home,” and Bistriţa-Năsăud even has a 3D cinema, within the Dacia Cultural Center. … and we did not manage to say everything about BistriţaNăsăud!

We are just telling you that it is worth visiting and discovering!

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#TheRoadThatUnites an NGO with the Authorities TăȘu, as it is known by its friends, aims to change the mentalities of those around it and it has succeeded! Through all the Association’s projects it proves that the community and collaboration lie at the foundation of any success and only together, the authorities and the NGOs can make Romania grow.

In the Centennial year, Tășuleasa developed a projectsymbol, probably the most daring project in Romania by any similar association. It is the Via Transilvanica, the road that unites, the road that crosses Transylvania on a roughly 1,000 km distance. Alin Uhlmann-Ușeriu, president of the Tășuleasa Social Association, understands that such a project comes to fruition by the power of the word “together” and through actions. Thereby, by an unprecedented collaboration which breaks stereotypes, alongside the Bistrița-Năsăud County Council President, Emil Radu Moldovan, and other important institutions, such as the Prefect’s Institution, they succeed making this extraordinary project happen. The project that unites!

Emil Radu Moldovan, the County Council President, was directly involved in this project, kilometer by kilometer, from the implementation Guide, to setting the milestones, offering an example that the authority representatives can excellently collaborate with the NGOs. The first 132 km that were set up cross the Bistrița-Năsăud County, giving to all the country’s regions a relevant example of collaboration between the most important local NGO, and maybe in the country, and the most important county authorities – The Ministry of Tourism, the Office for Cadaster and Real-Estate Publicity (OCPI), The County Police Inspectorate, The County Gendarme Inspectorate, the Bistrița-Năsăud Emergency Situations Inspectorate, the National Roads Department.

From the project’s first presentations until the route’s certification – as a touristic route –, the Bistrița-Năsăud County authorities followed well-established steps, which will serve as an inspiration or even assistance in the project’s implementation.

From meetings and mobilizing the mayors, the Thematic Route’s virtual marking, alongside the OCPI representatives, the route’s crossing and measurement virtually drawn (Bistrița-Năsăud Ccounty) with a GPS identifier and placing

kilometric marks with the Bistrița-Năsăud Public Mountain Rescue Service, to meetings with UAT representatives, institutional partners, strategic partners, the project’s sponsors and ambassadors to present the landmarks, the demonstrative marking of the “county’s first kilometer,” technical report on the landmark layout and a technical demonstration for setting up and positioning them.

Certainly, the thematic route’s homologation, respectively all the compiled documentation by the Bistrița-Năsăud County Council with the Bistrița-Năsăud Public Mountain Rescue Service.

This entire itinerary was documented, and all these steps were described in detail in a “Technical Guide of Implementation for the Thematic Via Transilvanica Route” - useful for the other 9 counties that will covered by this trail.

The Bistrița-Năsăud townships on the route, the 134 km respectively, are: Lunca Ilvei, Tiha Bârgăului, Bistrița Bârgăului, Livezile, Cetate, Dumitrița, Mărișelu, Șieu, Șieuț și Monor, including the forests belonging to the Prundu Bârgăului township. This road represents what we leave to the generations to come, it is a message for the future that Romania must follow the right path!

The roads have always united people and places. They give a sense and offer a unique experience.

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Borgo Pass. The place where Stoker placed Dracula For those who ask themselves where the country of the famous Count Dracula is, the answer comes quickly – in Borgo Pass. It is a place abounding in mysteries and stories about vampires, undead, fairies, and supernatural beings that are swarming through the forests owned by the Vampire Count.

In Borgo Pass the Irish writer Bram Stoker, author of the famous novel Dracula, imagined the dark castle of the bloody count, a place where night is never ending, and nobody comes out alive.

Thus, in order to walk with our imagination on that terrible land let’s try retracing the journey across Bistriţa-Năsăud of the main character, lawyer Jonathan Harker, who came from London to the Carpathian castle of the terrible vampire. We are starting our travel from the “Golden Crown” Hotel, the first objective described in the novel. Today, the hotel shelters the “Jonathan Harker” lounge, unique in the world, open in celebration of the Dracula novel centennial apparition.

After having some rest in the center of Bistriţa, the lawyer took the mail coach and started his way to Count Dracula’s castle in the mountains on May 4, 1873, to meet the famous vampire at midnight.

Count Dracula’s mysterious realm begins at Prundu Bârgăului. Here, at the entrance to Borgo Pass, the coach stopped because the count’s carriage was waiting for lawyer Jonathan Harker to take him to the castle. What possibly could better highlight the entrance into the mysterious realm than a church sheltering in its attic a colony of over 1,000 bats? Built in 1837 of river stone, the Prundu Bârgăului Church shelters in summer a colony of 1,000 bats, made only of females and their baby bats…

But, let’s resume the lawyer’s journey. There was only one way to the castle, starting from Pasul Bârgăului (Borgo Pass), a twisted road going up through the dark wood under the menace of sidelong cliffs and chasms.

Pasul Bârgăului is situated in the Bârgău Mountains, at the border between the Bârgău Valley and The Dornelor Depression, at a height of 1,200 m.

It abounds in dream landscapes and forests untouched by man. Here lies the Forbidden Forest as well. The legend says that on top of the Răchiţaua mountains there is a door toward the east. The door is an opening in time and space and only who has the key can open it.

According to the legend, a treasure is buried.

Little by little we arrive at the castle. Situated at 1,116 m altitude at Piatra Fântânele, Dracula Castle is the only place on the earth that bears the Vampire Count’s name and dominates the large panorama of the Bârgău Mountains. It is the only castle type hotel in Romania and the only one having a graveyard in front of it. In the hotel’s basement “Dracula’s Tomb” is arranged for the brave tourists. Its construction took 7 years and was achieved after the famous book’s details. The 21 members of the London based “Dracula” Society carried brick with their hands and with the wheelbarrow.

They left a document bearing their signatures hermetically closed in an empty Scottish whisky bottle. The place where this document is hidden is known only by the owner of the “Dracula” castle, who invites you to discover the mysteries at Borgo Pass.

Our steps also take us to Colibiţa – Count Dracula’s hunting place and realm of the fairies… The legend tells that after having reached the Bârgău Mountains and having built his castle, Dracula went for hunting on a full moon night and came across a group of fairies of unparalleled beauty, who were bathing peacefully in a lake sheltered from mortal eyes, well hidden in the mountains… He watched them, then he barged in on them and succeeded to catch three of them. He took them to the castle, and they became his companions.

Terrified, the other fairies left the lake (Tăul) where they were bathing since times immemorial and ran into the Rodna Mountains. Today the Lake of the Fairies (Tăul Zânelor) is one of the most beautiful natural lakes. Despite his small size, the lake offers an exquisitely picturesque landscape, being surrounded by a spruce forest, excepting the northern side, where the Meadow of the Fairies (Poiana Zânelor) lies.

And there, in the Rodna Mountains, at the Stream of the Fairies (Pârăul Zânelor), Dracula followed them.

One can see today the Grotto of the Fairies (Grota Zânelor), considered a genuine wonder of nature, with the most complex system of ramifications in Romania. The legend tells that the fairies were hiding their jewels there. Colibiţa is presently a resort of regional interest and one of the most beautiful areas in BistriţaNăsăud, with a reservoir of 270 hectares and the purest and ozone-rich air in Europe. A comparable ozone concentration can be identified only in the Alps.

Furthermore, if you are coming down the Transylvanian Bistriţa Valley (Valea Bistriţei Ardelene), don’t forget, the Castle of the Potter (Castelul Olarului)…

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Bistrița-Năsăud a county with traditions worthy of the Book of Records Bistrița-Năsăud, a land where past and present harmonize like colors in a peacock feather. The peacock is seen at the entrance to the county, but also on the nice holiday and dance hats of the sons of Salva, Mocod, Rebrișoara, Coșbuc.

Sign of distinction, but also of welfare, the crowns of peacock feathers with three, four or more rows of feathers on the young people’s hats have become in time emblems of the Bistriţa tradition.

Bistrița-Năsăud is a land with picturesque landscapes that combine the mountains bordering it in the North and North-East with Maramureş and Bucovina, with the hillocks and hills, where it loses itself toward the southern and western edges at the limit of neighboring Mureş and Cluj.

The mountain villages on the heights, with picturesque houses guarded by the woods, previously inhabited by peasants, miners and border guards in the time of the Empire, cities with mixed populations, deeply marked by the style of the old German colonists, the communes with hardworking and obliging people show us a delightful and friendly space, where people feel comfortable in the course of their traditional life and where the stranger is welcomed with hospitality and goodwill.

This county is the birthplace and land of inspiration for George Coșbuc, Liviu Rebreanu and for the national anthem lyrics written by Andrei Mureşanu, which originate from there as well.

They take pride in this and they value culture, tradition, learning, a county with authorities in writing, singing, and outstanding academics.

Bistrița-Năsăud has a rich tradition that taught its inhabitants to keep their identity, their nature and their characteristic qualities, but it has also allowed those brought there by major changes in history and those who have voluntarily arrived, to keep being themselves. Because respect gives birth to respect, to politeness one responds with politeness, and diversity brings beauty and wealth.

The traditional emblems of this county, which make it peculiar and singular in Transylvania and in the country, have not lost the battle with time, but have managed to preserve their authenticity. The beauty of villages, communes and towns has developed and conserved at the same time, and changes characteristic of modern standards have not destroyed the legacy inherited from our long history.

The people of Bistriţa, Năsăud, Bârgău, Ciceu, Călimani and the Plain have understood that promoting inherited values - our true hope chest transmitted from our forefathers - is a duty for those who have the privilege of administering these lands. The inhabitants of this area are proud of their inheritance and ready to work for the development of Bistriţa-Năsăud County in the direction requested by its belonging to a European country in the 21st century. They know that they are a part of a regional, national and European whole, and they try to offer something unique from the heritage created over the centuries in these places.

The Năsăud Mayfest, a patriotic holiday of the young people The Năsăud pupils’ Mayfest (Maial in Romanian; Maifest in German) is one of their most popular holydays.

Cultivated by patriotism and pride to be as good as you can, unaffected by the whims of time, always reborn and enriched, traditions have given strength and continuity to the over 150 year history of the border guard Secondary / High School. They have always stirred up the pupils’ thirst for learning, their desire for affirmation, or the adolescence nostalgia or longing of the graduates in all promotions.

The celebration that takes place every year in mid-May has its origins in an event of national history, being linked to the anniversary of the Great Assembly on the Liberty Field in Blaj on May 15, 1848, when the crowds gathered there and shouted in a voice “We want to unite with the country!”.

This festivity was initially held in the Dumbravă (Grove), on the western side of Năsăud, in order to avoid the watchful eyes of the authorities. There, students and teachers gathered after parading in folk costumes, led by the fanfare, and they peacefully celebrated this symbolically and emotionally charged historical event. The popular parade and the spectacle of the Năsăud pupils perpetuated over time, an opportunity to scroll dressed in the beautiful Năsăud costumes.

Mayfest in 2017 represented the opportunity for the Bistriţa-Năsăud County to enter the Book of Records, establishing two new world records, namely “The largest number of people simultaneously wearing the traditional Romanian costume” and “The largest Romanian folk dance, achieved synchronously, by 9,506 people”. Bistriţa-Năsăud managed this performance after 9,506 people, dressed in traditional folk costumes, gathered in Năsăud and took part in a popular dance called “Wheel of Runc”, which is played in Runcu Salvei commune.

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The tourist attractions of Băile Figa and Sîngeorz-Băi (Figa and Sîngeorz Baths) Situated downstream of the Someșul Mare confluence with Șieu River, in the border area of the Transylvanian Plain and Someşan Plateau, not far from Ţibleş, Rodna and Călimani Mountains, Beclean is the second large city in Bistriţa-Năsăud County, due to Figa resort, which became a part of the city’s territory, the main tourist attraction of the area.

After about 5 km journey, this is the distance from the center of Beclean to Figa, the tourist will arrive at a superb spa treatment base with lots of green spaces, playgrounds, sandy and grass beaches, a spa center, indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, two freshwater swimming pools and two salt water pools, a rustic mud pool, a waterfall, a salt lake and a lazy river that tourists can explore with life belts and inflatable boats.

“In 2018, 172,000 tourists visited Băile Figa, and the number tends to increase from one year to another. I know that this compels us to keep a high standard and we will continue working as usually. Moreover, for the near future the construction of new slides is already in progress, which will be the most spectacular”, Nicolae Moldovan, Mayor of Beclean, considers.

Since Băile Figa have been opened, about 9 years ago, 1.6 million people entered the gates of the spa complex. Last season, the large heated water pool and the hot water pool specially created for children were the last season’s novelties.

People with rheumatic diseases can try the salty water pool or the rustic pool, fitted with wood intertwines, where they can take a perfect sludge from, to start a treatment for the relief of rheumatic diseases, the peripheral nervous system, the locomotor system, and even gynecological disorders. It is worth mentioning that the properties of salted water and sludge are like those of Techirghiol (Constanța County).

For those who intend to exercise, the resort provides three grounds arranged with synthetic lawns, a football and two tennis fields, and a fitness center that can be used inside the SPA center.

Over 1,000 accommodation places in tourist cottages, guesthouses and holiday cottages are provided for tourists, which allows them to make longer stays, one-week holidays perhaps.

If we are talking about the balneary tourism, we must mention that the Sîngeorz-Băi resort is also situated in this county.

Located at the foot of the Rodna Mountains, in a fairytale landscape, the resort of Sîngeorz-Băi is renowned for the healing mineral waters coming from the numerous springs in the area, having been designated a balneary-climatic resort since the 17th century.

These waters cure digestive system diseases (gastritis, ulcer, chronic constipation), cholecystitis, degenerative rheuma-

tism, chronic pancreatitis, obesity, chronic hepatitis and even gout with manifestations in the joints.

Moreover, it is said that these mineral waters have healing effect, like those of Vichy and Karlovy Vary.

The “Ballet dancers” of Beclean Let’s return a little to Beclean.

In addition to the activities the resort provides, tourists can also visit the Beclean Herghelia (Horse Farm), three kilometers away from the town of Beclean, a horse farm that stretches over 220 hectares and shelters horses of the Lipiţan and Semigreu Romanian breeds. Horseback riding lessons are provided at the horse farm, and carriage rides or horseback riding can be done on the hills surrounding the resort.

An endurance stage and the one-, two- and four-horse harness championship are taking place here annually in the frame of the Romsilva Cup. Lipiţan Race originates from Lipica, Slovenia, and these equine animals are considered the ballet dancers in the horses’ world due to their gracious performance of complicated training movements. The Lipiţans can be seen in action at the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, as well.

We do not have enough space to write about this surprising county. We should mention the Valea Vinului (Wine Valley), Rodna Mountains National Park, the country’s second national park, the spectacular landscape of the Călimani Mountains National Park, biodiversity and the variegated tulip, the medieval fortress of Rodna, attested in 1235 in the Russian chronicles that valued it for its mining complex of great importance, about ...

About people and places But you know what!? Visit Bistrița-Năsăud to personally discover the tradition, culture, history and beauty oasis hidden between mountains and valleys, in this spectacular county!

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Lechința, the Land of Revived Saxon Vineyards The Lechința vineyard, spreading across the hilly area between Someșul Mare and Mureș at around 400-meter elevation, is one of the northernmost on the Transylvanian Plateau. The vineyard areal includes the Bistrița, Beclean and Reghin outskirts.

The bioclimatic conditions are favorable for wine-growing cultures, with good brown alluvial clay soils, brown luvic, brown mesobasic and anthropogenic soils, and various slope inclinations with a southern exposure, ranging between 5° and 25°. The graperies are not unique on very wide surfaces, but rather they take the appearance of oases. They however share a series of common properties, which justifies their framing within the same vineyard.

The wine produced in the Lechința vineyards has an original story with special significations. It is both the story of an unforgettable wine for those who get to taste it, but also the history of the “the wine of emperors.” The vine culture has a long tradition in this area. It was practiced by the Dacians, the first known inhabitants of the area, and it then developed under the Roman rule, especially in when building roads which served both military purposes, as well as trade, one of the paths having been discovered in Teaca, an important wine culture center. In the 12th-13th centuries, wine culture has experienced a crucial development

period, due to the arrival of the Saxons from the Rhine lands, settled in many vine culture areas in Transylvania.

They brought new vine varieties, as well as more efficient cultivation methods. It is said that the wine in this area, after Transylvania came under Habsburg rule, was favored by the Austrian Royal Family, from where it actually received its name as “the wine of emperors.” This seems to be an area that was especially created to produce exceptional wines.

The vineyard is comprised of important wine culture centers: Lechința, Teaca, Bistrița and Batoș, the latter being situated in the Mureș County.

The Vie-Vin Lechința Wine Cellar is the proof that people who love what they do manage to move mountains and to overcome any difficulties. Adrian Botiș inherited his passion for wine from his grandfather, and, today, with a strong brand behind him, Pârâul Uscat (The Dry River), he reintroduced select wines on the market: the famous

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Neuburger, from a grape variety only Saxons possessed, Sauvignon Blanc, White Fetească, Royal Fetească, Muscat Ottonel or Pinot Noir.

The Bistrița-Năsăud County Council President, Emil Radu Moldovan observed that Adrian Botiș succeeded in accomplishing his dream. “I remember the conversations we had years ago, when he held such a project in his imagination and it is a great joy for me to see that here, in the present moment, we have a vineyard in the truest sense of the word.

We have a cellar with wines of the highest quality, and I cannot but congratulate Adrian Botiș, Bănică, the way we call him, his family, and everybody who supports him for what he has accomplished here. It is a way of putting Bistriţa-Năsăud County on the map of wine cellars, of very good quality wines,” stated the President Emil Radu Moldovan.

He wished to also underline the fact that the local authorities, through mayor Romeo Florian and the Local Council, have met the investors’ needs halfway and have modernized the agricultural road which leads toward the vines in Vermeş, thus blending the administration’s programs with the private ones. “In the Bistriţa-Năsăud County, according to the latest statistics, we find ourselves with the vine cultivated areas somewhere above what was before 1989.

This is a highly positive thing. The number of wine cellars is the highest and I congratulate everybody who put Bistriţa-Năsăud on the wine map. In the county we also have the Harșianu Wine Cellar, The Zaig Wine House, the Lechburg Wine Cellar, the Valea Ascunsă Wine Cellar, the Jelna Wine Cellar.

All with quality wines and with the desire to make their mark on both the internal and the external market. This is an especially important aspect for us. With wine becoming a robust ambassador of our county,” Radu Moldovan also stated.

The Harșianu Wine Cellar. Spreading on Dumitra lands on a 10-hectare surface, the Harșianu Wine Cellar was created in 2013, to further the 875-year-old wine cultivation tradition in the area. It required a quarter of a century, but also substantial investments, Octavian Harșianu’s ambition and passion for the tradition and heritage left by the Saxons to be resurrected. Enthusiasts will be able to taste wines from the White Fetească, Royal Fetească, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat, Merlot, Black Fetească, Traminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Neuburger varieties.

The Zaig Wine House. In the land of the seven citadels, around the northernmost one, Bistrița, a small vineyard with selected wines has been developed. One of the last Saxons in the area, Zaig Eckhardt, attempts to restore the methods from several centuries ago, with modern technology and using traditional methods for vineyard care, picking and processing the grapes, blending technology with the art of winemaking, trying to maintain the place’s and people’s fingerprint. The grape varieties used in creating the Zaig House’s distinguished wines are: Chardonnay, Muscat Ottonel, Sauvignon Blanc, Neuburger, Traminer and Black Fetească.

The Lechburg Wine Cellar. The Lechburg Wine Cellar is the story of an Italian family. The deep passion inherited from generations of viticulturists once again stirred the desire to invest in wine culture, reestablishing new vineyards in the Lechința viticulture areal. The wine cellar was founded in 1962. Inside the facility, the grapes from the Lechința vineyard were processed, with a capacity of 20,000 hectoliters of wine with Controlled Origin Desig-

nation. The grapes, carefully picked for wine production, are from the Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurtztraminer, Rhine Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Muscat Ottonel, Royal Fetească and Black Fetească varieties.

The Valea Ascunsă (Hidden Valley) Wine Cellar. The Valea Ascunsă vineyard is positioned in Teaca, on a 20-hectare field. It is a family-run wine cellar, equipped to the highest technological standards, with a production capacity of 100,000 liters per year. People here work painstakingly, carefully, with love and joy, in a Transylvanian fashion, to ferment the living nectar extracted from the varieties: White Fetească, Chardonnay, Muscat Ottonel, Sauvignon Blanc, Royal Fetească and Black Fetească.

The Jelna Wine Cellar. Located in an important viticultural area, with a controlled origin designation (D.O.C.), Lechința, the Jelna vineyards were rediscovered by two local brothers, Daniel and Ovidiu Moldovan, around 7-8 years ago. Even its name and logo were inspired by words uttered by tasters with fine taste buds: Jelna – Transylvania’s Fingerprint. The grape varieties that can be used for obtaining the wines with a Lechința controlled origin designation are Traminer Rose, Pinot Gris, Muscat Ottonel, Sauvignon, Neuburger, Italian Riesling, Royal Fetească, White Fetească, Chardonnay.

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Visit Târgu Mureș – the eclectic cultural city Târgu Mureș detaines an various architectural patrimony, and tourists can enjoy visiting monuments from Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque or Art Nouveau era. They can discover the intrigued history of these beautiful buildings on TGM Tour App, developed by Crug for Târgu Mures City Hall. The tourism application can be downloaded from Google Play or App Store.

City Hall (former County Hall) You are now in front of the most important landmark in the Neo-Romanian style in Tîrgu Mureș. It currently serves as the City Hall, although it originally had a different role, as the building was erected to replace the former county hall, which no longer met the standards required of it at the time.

By the beginning of the 20th century, it had become increasingly clear that the county hall needed a new headquarters. The building in which the institution’s activities took place was in an alarming state of degradation, and the quality of the area it was located in, gone downhill.

A new county hall needed to be built, and the first step taken was to organise a competition for the project. The winning proposal was put forward by Komor Marcell and Jakab Dezső. The two architects, renowned specialists in the Secession style, were familiar with Tîrgu Mureș, having been responsible for two of the city’s landmark buildings just a few years earlier: the Palace of Culture and the Administrative Palace. However, the plans were put on hold because of the outbreak of the First World War. At the end of the war, with Transylvania now having become part of Romania, discussions began once again. The need for a new county hall was just as great as it had been before, but there was one new requirement. The building had to be constructed in a style that was indigenous to Romania.

At the beginning of 1935, a competition was once again organised. This time the winner was a Bucharest-based architect, Eugen Grosu. The fact that he was chosen over a local architect should not come as a surprise. While Transylvania by no means lacked major architects, their

preferred style was Secession. For the construction of a building in a recognisably Romanian style, the real specialists were to be found in the capital.

Work began in 1936, and six years later, in 1942, the new county hall was finished. Besides the city centre’s two monumental Secession buildings, Tîrgu Mureș now had an imposing structure in the Neo-Romanian style.

The building is composed of three sections, forming a U-shape. The largest is the central section, which has a symmetrical facade, the entrance being located on its central axis. Above the entrance you can see the loggia of the Hall of Honour, which is situated on the first floor. The loggia opens up to the outside through a row of arcades with six supporting columns. If you look closely at any of the arcades, you will observe it has a very special shape, that makes reference to Oriental Architecture. This is one of the most common features of the Neo-Romanian style.

However, Tîrgu Mureș in the 20th century, was a place with an unpredictable history, and the building was used for its originally intended purpose only for a short time. Not long into the period of communist rule, in 1950, the County Hall stopped functioning here, as it needed to house the headquarters of the People’s Council. A few years later, in 1968, its fortunes changed once again. The People’s Council was moved to the Administrative Palace, the current county hall, and in its place the City Hall was moved here. Since then, the Municipal City Hall has been housed in Tîrgu Mureș’s most beautiful building in the Neo-Romanian style.

Medieval Citadel The story of Tîrgu Mureș’s medieval fortress begins in the 15th century. At the time, surrounding the Reformed Church that you can now see, was the Franciscan Monastery complex. It was the biggest monastery of this type in Transylvania, and it was significant not just for the local population, but also on a regional level. Feeling the need to assure the monks and parishioners of a degree of security, the authorities decided to build stone fortifications around the monastery, and work on this was completed in 1492.

The area enclosed within the walls was much smaller than that which you can now see, and the walls left a lot to be desired in their ability to withstand attacks. This had severe consequences in 1601, when the town was attacked and easily overrun by the troops of the Habsburg general, Giorgio Basta. There were more problems to follow a year later, when the fragile walls were of little help to locals defending themselves from the 400 mercenaries enlisted

by Moses Székely.

After these incidents, the need for sturdier fortifications had become obvious, as building a new defensive system

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was now a matter of life and death. The inhabitants of the town contributed with money, as well as with unpaid labour.

Five of the seven bastions of the citadel were built by five of the town’s wealthiest guilds: the tailors, the coopers, the furriers, the boot-makers and the butchers. Members of each of these associations of craftsmen were obliged to maintain the bastions they were responsible for, and to defend them in case of an attack. This explains why each of the five bastions still bear the names of the guilds that took care of them.

The different shapes and sizes of the bastions demonstrate that the citadel wasn’t built according to a unified plan.

Despite this, those building it knew very well what features they needed to have, and two of these can easily be observed.

Firstly, all of the bastions were built to accommodate the latest firearms. The lower levels are fitted with holes for cannons, while the facades of the upper levels contain openings for lighter-gauge weapons. Secondly, the citadel was built entirely of brick, which is more durable than stone, and better able to withstand attacks from firearms outside.

Once the citadel was complete, Tîrgu Mureș could be said to be made up of two separate towns: one within the defensive walls, and another outside. Wanting to ensure safety for their family and their property, townspeople were far more interested in buying houses within the citadel. In order to avoid speculative property buying, a law was enacted stipulating that any citizen could only own one house inside the walls.

In the 18th century, with Transylvania now part of the Habsburg Empire, the citadel was taken over by Austrian troops. The townspeople living inside the walls were evicted, some residences demolished, and those that remained were transformed and adapted to the needs of the army. In time, new constructions appeared. These included a barracks close to the entrance, as well as a storehouse for cereals used for military supplies.

The citadel stayed in the possession of the Austrian army for two centuries, until the First World War. In the years that followed, it was still used for military purposes, the fortifications and the buildings inside, now in the possession of the Romanian Army. In 1984, the Citadel came into the care of the local administration.

Nowadays, following a thorough restoration process, the former medieval fortress has become one of the most visited points of interest in Tîrgu Mureș. As well as being a mustsee for those visiting the city, for many locals it’s the perfect place to unwind.

Once inside, visitors can visit the Tîrgu Mureș Museum of history and Archaeology. Here you can find some of the most valuable items that have been discovered by researchers inside the walls of the Citadel. These include artefacts from a workshop that made bronze goods in the 15th century, and objects used in the brick factory that was located here in the 16th and 17th centuries.

According to some specialists, this may in fact be the first building of an industrial nature in Romania.

Wooden Church (Eminescu’s Church) Around 1790, Tîrgu Mureș didn’t have an Orthodox church.

In order to attend religious services, the faithful had to go to Sîncrai, a village on the other side of the river Mureș.

However, this situation was resolved with the construction of the church on Andrei Șaguna Street. It’s official name is the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, but the locals know it by a more familiar one: The Wooden Church.

Its construction, which was completed in 1794, lasted two years, while the murals inside it were finished two decades later. An inscription to the right of the altar bears the names of the founders of the church, the names of the painters, and the date the paintings were completed: 1814.

The main donor of funds for this place of worship was a Greek trader called Stoian Hagi Costandin. The fact that it was a Greek and not a Romanian who put forward the biggest contribution to the first Orthodox church wasn’t by chance. In the 18th century, a large number of Greeks settled in Tîrgu Mureș. Thanks to their affinity for commerce, many of them had managed to amass large fortunes. Profoundly Orthodox and with considerable resources at their disposal, it wasn’t uncommon for them to donate some of their money to churches that would follow Byzantine rites.

The beams of the building are arranged in a shape that resembles a swallow’s tail. This was one of the most widespread construction methods for Romanian churches in Transylvania. However, to say that the building is a traditional structure wouldn’t be fully accurate, as there’s one detail that’s clearly in the baroque style, which was prevalent at the time. Specifically, this is the tower, with its roof in the shape of a bulb.

At the time when this place of worship was raised, the town’s other churches were the Reformed Church in the Citadel, the Roman Catholic Church in the centre, the Franciscan Church and the neighbouring Stone Church. This means that from an aesthetic point of view, there was serious competition. We’ll leave it to you to decide how well the church founded by Hagi Stoian bears up to the competition.

Synagogue (Great Temple) At the end of the 19th century, the Jewish community of Tîrgu Mureș accounted for almost ten per cent of the

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suffocated and burned in Auschwitz in the year 5704 (1944).

Nowadays, the Great Temple has been fully renovated and its doors are open for all who wish to visit. However, the city’s Jewish community is considerably smaller than what it once was, currently numbering around 180 members.

Franciscan Tower

population. From a doctrinal point of view, there were two branches of Judaism: the progressives and the conservatives.

The latter faction called themselves the Status Quo Ante, and represented a traditional branch of Judaism that was common both in Transylvania and in Banat.

The synagogue that we are now admiring was erected by conservative Jews – the Status Quo Ante community – in record time. Construction began in 1899, and just one year later, in 1900, it had already been finished. The building was designed by Jacob Gartner, a Jewish architect who was based in Vienna, while the work was coordinated by a Tîrgu Mureș native, master builder Sóos Pál.

The funding for the building was obtained from donations made by congregants. The most generous contribution was made by the president of the city’s Jewish community, Adalbert Bürger, the owner of a local beer factory, and one of the wealthiest citizens in Tîrgu Mureș at the time. As well as him, many other donors contributed to the construction of the synagogue, and the names of the most important of them were immortalised on a marble plate that can still be seen today, in the hall of the building.

The Great Temple is considered to be the most beautiful synagogue in Transylvania, as well as one of the most important in Romania. The Jews of Tîrgu Mureș were so proud of their synagogue that the festivities celebrating its inauguration lasted three days.

Regarding its style, the words that best describe this place of worship are eclecticism and monumentalism. Elements specific to western architecture are complemented with details characteristic of Muslim styles, and the result is a visual spectacle of restrained opulence. The central rosette above the entrance has gothic influences, the central bulbshaped dome is baroque, while the decorations on the towers allude to oriental art.

The inscription above the rosette proclaims in Hebrew the universality of the God of the Old Testament. It is taken from a verse in the book of the prophet Isaiah, which means: My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

The interior of the synagogue offers plenty of space, with seating for over 550 worshippers. However, due to the surge in numbers of the Jewish population of Tîrgu Mureș between the two world wars, the capacity of the synagogue was no longer sufficient. To compensate for this, in 1923 work began on a second synagogue, but due to a lack of funds, this was never finished.

Transylvania did not escape the horrors of the Second World War. No less than 7,550 Jews from Tîrgu Mureș ended up in Auschwitz. Of these, 5,943 didn’t return. They are remembered inside the synagogue on a white marble monument on which the following words are written: The number of martyrs from our town is 5,943. The stone of the walls cries in pain, and all Jewish people lament the extermination of our parents and loved ones who were

The lone tower on the edge of Theatre Square is all that remains of the Franciscan Church, one of the city’s most visited religious landmarks.

At the beginning of the 18th century, once Transylvania had entered the sphere of influence of the Viennese Imperial Court, the Catholics, who had been expelled 150 years earlier during the Protestant reforms, returned to the town. The Franciscans, an order of monks who enjoyed a high degree of respect and influence in the Roman Catholic Church, were among the first to come back.

Displaying their organisational skills from the outset, the monks quickly set about purchasing land, and around 1740, they were lucky enough to be able to buy a parcel of land in the very heart of the city.

The tower you can now see was once part of a church, which in turn belonged to a monastic complex built here between 1745 and 1777. The land belonging to the Franciscans was by all means generous. To get an idea of its size, imagine a monastic garden extending beyond the current location of the National Theatre.

It’s worth noting that this place of worship was located around half a kilometre from the town’s other Franciscan church - the one that belonged to the Minorite branch of the order – on the current Köteles Sámuel Street. Both of them were built in the 18th century, after Transylvania came under Habsburg control. The biggest difference between them is the fact that only one of them managed to pass the test of time. While services still take place in the Minorite Church, all that remains of the Franciscan Church complex is this baroque tower.

The demolition took place in 1972. The local council needed a space on which to build a national theatre in the central area of the city, and this parcel of land was the best suited to the purpose. The reasoning was simple: the surface was large enough to also accommodate a public square next to the theatre building.

Negotiations between the local administration and the Roman Catholic Church were difficult and drawn-out, and an agreement wasn’t reached until 1968. In exchange for the land they had relinquished, the church received property in the Libertății neighbourhood, in a peripheral area of the city. However, this relocation also presented them with an advantage. Tîrgu Mureș had grown considerably after the Second World War, and the number of Catholic faithful had increased threefold. While parishioners living in the centre had all the town’s Catholic churches at their disposal, those in the suburbs were deprived of a place of worship. With the transfer of the Franciscan church, this state of affairs changed.

News of the imminent demolition was delivered to the city’s faithful by the Roman Catholic bishop Márton Áron. The statue of this huge personality – who distinguished himself in the Second World War through his actions to save the Jews of northern Transylvania, and later through his attempts to resist communism – can be seen in the courtyard of the Church with the Two Towers, which is found opposite the Franciscan Tower, on the other side of Roses Square (Piața Trandafirilor).

These days, the only thing that reminds us of the presence of the Franciscans in the centre of Tîrgu Mureș is this baroque tower. However, the inheritance from these monks also includes a part which cannot be seen, but which is nevertheless

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well-known among natives of Tîrgu Mureș. It comprises the crypt of the former church, which wasn’t demolished, and can be found beneath the tower. The existence of these socalled catacombs has fuelled urban myths about a network of underground tunnels which stretch from one part of the city to another.

The Hangman’s House Through the second half of the 20th century, the coquettish house on Bolyai Street that you’re now looking at stood in a sorry state of ruin. Its regrettable appearance, however, was oddly fitting when we consider the name that the old house is referred to by locals: the Hangmans’ House.

Where exactly the name came from is unclear, and is still somewhat disputed. There are natives of Tîrgu Mureș who will tell you that this was the home of a long line of town hangmen. Others will tell you that the house’s name comes from a simple misunderstanding.

Disagreement aside, one thing we know for sure is that the house was built around 1640. In those days the area was located close to the town centre, just as it is now. At the time, hangmen, who invariably hailed from the lower echelons of society, would have been much more likely to have lived on the outskirts of town.

But we can’t deny that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and as with any urban legend, there appears to be at least a grain of truth in the story. The first owner of the house was a judge, who was well-known for the severity of the sentences he delivered. While he may not have been present on the scaffold, we can’t ignore the role he played in sending prisoners there.

Another possible explanation for the name of the building is the resemblance between the Hungarian words for judge and hangman, meaning that the story may have simply arisen from a mistranslation. In the 17th century, rumours that your new neighbour was a hangman, even if incorrect, would have been likely to spread like wildfire, and it wouldn’t have been surprising for Tîrgu Mureș natives to have adopted the nickname straight away.

While the legend may be more memorable than the building itself, the architectural value of the Hangman’s House still shouldn’t be ignored. Specialists consider it to be the first building in the town in which baroque elements can be detected.

The building’s current appearance owes itself to renovations in the early years of the 21st century, following which it was put to its current use, as home to the Music Department of the Tîrgu Mureș Art and Theatre University.

National Theatre In 1965, at the 9th congress of the Romanian Communist

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However, that shouldn’t lead us to believe that natives of Tîrgu Mureș hadn’t had the chance to attend the theatre before the inauguration of the current National Theatre.

In 1946, right after the end of the Second World War, the Hungarian section of the State Theatre had been established.

Performances took place in the Great Hall of the Palace of Culture. A decade and a half later, in 1962, the Romanian section was founded. The only place where they could stage theatre productions was, needless to say, the same Great Hall of the same Palace of Culture, which was starting to become rather crowded, as the Philharmonic State Orchestra also held concerts in the same location.

This demonstrates that the decision to construct a new building dedicated exclusively to theatre performances, despite being taken by an undemocratic body, wasn’t based on a whim.

Unfortunately, for the new building to be installed in its current position, a sacrifice had to be made, namely the demolition of all the buildings that previously stood here. The Franciscan Monastery complex, of which the baroque tower that you can now see in the corner of the square is all that remains.

The communist regime that was in power at the time was pleased with the results, and in 1973 the four architects who designed and coordinated the construction of the Tîrgu Mureș National Theatre were awarded a prize from the Romanian Union of Architects.

The modernist style of the building, which is characterised by angular shapes, its play on volume and its excess of corners, emanates a feeling of monumentality. At the entrance, the visitor is greeted by a spacious foyer, which takes up two levels that communicate with each other by means of two spiral staircases. The interior is richly decorated. The most frequently occurring materials are marble and wood. The walls are covered with carpets with vegetal motifs, while the space is punctuated in various places by huge items of furniture.

The most important feature is the main hall, with its 600 seats. There is also a second hall, which is smaller, and is used for experimental theatre performances and for smaller productions. The National Theatre building also contains space for offices for administrative staff, for dressing rooms and storage space for props.

As part of the same project, the area in front of the theatre was also remodelled. In one part of the square you can see an artesian well and a series of statues that depict the muses. Elsewhere you can see a work of art called the Shell, together with another group of statues that depict Genesis.

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“100 years of Romanian traditions” in the Reghin region

By Alin Zaharie

Reghin municipality and the Ethnographic Museum “Anton Badea” have celebrated beautifully during the “Reghin Days 2018” events the Centenarian of The Great Union by showcasing the beauty of the folk clothing with an impressive parade called “100 years of Romanian traditions” in the Libertății neighborhood’s small square.

The event was made possible thanks to the private collectors Mărioara Jiga and Sergiu Cioban joined by Andrei Romanică who managed to offer a lesson on folk clothing to the public.

The parade was also recorded in the beginning of March at “Eugen Nicoară” House of Culture during the launch of the photo album “100 years of Romanian traditions”.

Edited using exceptional graphics, the photo album excels in content as well. “100 years of Romanian traditions” is one

of the projects organised by the Reghin Municipality City Hall for the anniversary of the Centenarian of The Great Union and European Year of Cultural Heritage.

“The follow-up and the expansion of this project made possible by our colleagues from the Culture department was in my opinion a big accomplishment especially since it was a special event organised during Reghin Days in 2018.

We did what was necessary to preserve the tradition of our people considering that globalisation is overtaking more and more territory. The citizens really appreciated this project and this is why my colleagues considered it necessary to save this event in a photo album that will outlive us” said Maria Precup who also thanked the collectors that contributed to the success of this project.

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Reghin municipality, from a rich history to digital technology

By Alin Zaharie Reghin Municipality (German “Sächsisch-Regen”, Hungarian “Szászrégen, Nagyrégen”), Mureș County, has a special charm and has been blessed by the nature, the history and especially by the people that touched the small, but kindhearted city situated at the junction of the Mureș Valley with Gurghiu Valley.

First mentioned in 1228, Reghin has witnessed a continuous development, being known throughout history as the area that paved the way towards wood craftsmanship due to nature’s blessing of a forest that surrounds the beautiful town that lies on Mureș river’s shore like a caring parent.

The Saxon ethnic group influenced the town’s development, building the important Saxon Church that is seven centuries old, as well as other ethnicities that lived in Reghin Hungarians, Jews and Romanians - who all contributed to the town’s development all leading up to 1863 when Reghin was established as a free royal city.

Witnessing the history, Reghin always knew how to prosper, beginning with the old craftsmen who made the city proud up to the great industry that knew how to use the abundant existing raw materials, but most of all due to the hard work put in by those who knew how to highlight its qualities.

Reghin has always been in the front row, whether we are talking about wood, the first violin, sporting goods or heavy industry, metallurgy, forestry equipment manufacturing and it still holds its position, being the only city where both violin and tractor found a 100% Romanian home.

Reghin doesn’t have only industry, factories and plants, but also culture highlighted by personalities such as Josef Haltrich, Petru Maior, Augustin Maior, Eugen Nicoară, Alexandru Todea and Ovidiu Bojor, to name just a few from the long beautiful list of Reghin personalities.

But those who have left their mark on the city have been its people, no matter the ethnicity, who have managed to find a common ground for Reghin’s development, without denying their own traditions - Reghin’s traditional Romanian, Hungarian and Saxon events being evidence in this respect.

Reghin CityApp, an open gate towards the future Reghin’s history is still written using skill and new forms of expression by the present generations, proof that Reghin never stays in the past, but breathes nicely the new air of technology.

In 2018, the year in which Reghin celebrated 790 years of existence, a new successful app has been launched Reghin CityApp - which was awarded during Smart Cities of Romania Gala.

“The project for which I have been nominated and awarded, even if not the grand prize, was a courageous project of the young people in my team. It’s not my achievement, I have just collected the award, and it is strictly the achievement of the young team in the City Hall that had the courage to promote it. I didn’t think that the effect on the citizens that always communicate with the City Hall employees will be

that great, as well as on the municipality’s employees. A complaint received during the night can get a reply with the steps that have been made in that direction right in the morning. Everyone is connected to this project, measures are taken and we are aware of all the complaints, accidents, basically of everything that moves because the operators need truthful information, but also to tourist and entrepreneurship promotion. All of our businesses are connected and promote their products, services and their entire business for free.

Economically, the Reghin municipality is highly developed, and we only have issues with the workforce” said Maria Precup, mayor of the Reghin Municipality.

Reghin City App is an app created to solve two big needs of the community: promotion of tourism and entrepreneurship, but also the facilitation of direct communication between the citizen and local authority, both being crucial components in the e-government strategy.

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Sovata – a Tourist Resort of Over 140 Years

By Ligia VORO & Florin Marcel SANDOR

In the interwar period, Sovata was a resort renowned not only in Romania, but also outside the country’s borders. After 1990, local public authorities have developed numerous projects to restore its shine and reputation. For the most part, they have succeeded.

Located at about 54 kilometres from the city of Târgu Mureş, Sovata has earned, throughout the years, the reputation of a European medical spa, mostly due to the Ursu Lake. The lake was formed on May 27, 1875, at 11 AM, after a salt mine collapsed. It is the biggest heliothermic lake in the

world (40,235 square metres) and it is unique in Europe. The heliothermic effect is due to the greenhouse effect produced by the thin sweet water layer that flows over the salt water lake. The maximum depth of the lake is of 17.5 metres.

Its water is suitable for treating various gynaecological, rheumatism related, endocrine, metabolic and neurological health problems.

Sovata is classified a Resort of National Interest, and the town is listed as an administrative territorial unit with large and very large anthropogenic resources. Through the Government Ordinance no. 2151/2004, Ursu Lake and the forest on the high-salt land – with an area of 79 hectares – were included in the “nature reserve and natural monuments” category.

The local authorities of Sovata knew how to exploit this natural advantage, and tourism soon became the main sector for this town, attracting local investors. Sovata has no unemployment. Actually, potential employees are hard to come across.

Ambitious development projects also mattered in developing the area. Consequently, tourism infrastructure was supported by large investments in road infrastructure and in renovating and modernizing tourist attractions. These projects were mostly done with the help of European funds obtained before and after Romania became a member of the European Union.

Ambitious Investments Since 2006, the municipality has been rebuilding the roads of the resort and the alleys around the salt water lakes, has repaired and extended the waterworks and sewage system, has modernized the water treatment plants.

Two projects started before Romania became a member of

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the EU and worth mentioning are the upgrading of the Sebeș forest road – financed through SAPARD (Special Accesssion Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development programme) with over 4 million lei (900 thousand euros), through which the seven kilometres of the Sebeș forest road were modernized and repaired between 2007 and 2009 – and the Phare programme of over 26 million lei (over five million euro), through which the urban roads of Sovata spa resort were repaired – namely, 14 streets and three bridges, stretching over 14 km. The project was implemented between 2008 and 2010.

These major projects have completely changed the aspect of the resort, and the modernization of Sovata continued through other projects. One of these is the National Centre of Tourist Information and Promotion, developed through a project financed through POR 2007-2012, priority axis – 5.3, which also included building and equipping this centre. The project was finalized in 2015 and cost over 500 thousand lei (105 thousand euro).

Repairing and extending the infrastructure used by tourists in the nature reserve “Ursu Lake and the forest on the highsalt lands”, landscaping the Tineretului Lake for leisure activities, building the Observation Tower near the lake area etc. were other important projects launched in the first budgetary cycle after Romania entered the European Union.

Repairing and extending the infrastructure used by tourists in the nature reserve “Ursu Lake and the forest on the highsalt lands” was done through a project financed through POR 2007-2003 – 5.2, amounting to five million lei (over one million euro) and was carried out between 2011 and 2015.

The Projects Continue During the current financing period, the town of Sovata is implementing two projects amounting to over 15 million lei (almost three million euros) and which will make the resort even more attractive.

On November 5, 2018, the Mayor of Sovata, Fülöp László Zsolt, signed the financing contract for the project “Landscaping the multifunctional leisure space around Doina Cinema”, amounting to 6.4 million lei (1.3 million euro). The project provides the renovation of a public space of about one hectare and the establishment of new public leisure areas in Sovata, the town of Mureș County which has become synonymous with relaxing and balneary treatments. In the new leisure area near the Doina Cinema, the Sovata City Hall intends to build a green and natural oasis, minimally intervening in the public space, but with great effect for tourists and locals.

Therefore, by the end of September 2021, the place will be transformed in a modern public and leisure area, ecoefficient and protective, accessible to the general public and to people with disabilities, through building and setting up pedestrian alleys, park furniture, completely landscaping “The Sovata resort is unique in the world, because of its salt water heliothermic lake, surrounded by luxuriant vegetation. Due to its natural attractions, but also thanks to the beauty of the whole region and to major investments, Sovata is a brand of Mureș County and a national brand. Because of the healing properties of the water and sapropel mud, we can see ourselves as an important tourism destination in Romania.

All those working in local administration have had a major role in what Sovata has become

green areas, adding new light fixtures and surveillance cameras and couplings to all necessary utilities. The project is financed through the Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020, Priority Axis 7.

By the refurbishment of this space, the area will have higher value and will be develop into multifunctional outdoor leisure grounds. Local authorities have met the potential beneficiaries of the project. Both parties expressed their intention to invest in six areas in the region that will directly generate 34 new jobs. Officials estimate that, in five years’ time, the number of tourists in the resort will increase by 22% compared to the reference year.

The financing contract for the second project was signed this year. The project financed through REGIO 2014-2020 entails repairing a street network of over 5.4 km, through the project “Modernizing urban streets in the town of Sovata”.

The project amounts to almost 9.27 million lei (1.94 million euros), of which the eligible value amounts to 9.19 million lei (1.93 million euros). The FEDR financing amounts to 7.815 million lei (1,6 million euros) and the contribution from the state budget is of 1.195 million lei (250 thousand euros).

The difference is allotted by the Sovata City Hall. Through this project, 16 streets in the town will be improved over two and a half years.

Along with these projects, local authorities also intend to build an aquapark. “We have sent an application to the Ministry of Tourism. The Aquapark would have both openair and covered pools. The main reason for building it would be to divert some of the tourists from Ursu Lake, in order to protect the quality of the water there”, explained the mayor of Sovata.

The private investments in tourism and those of local authorities, started by the former mayor, Péter Ferenc, now president of Mureș County Council, and continued after 2016 by the current mayor, Fülöp László Zsolt, have raised the standards of accommodation, restaurants and leisure activities. Consequently, Sovata has now become one of the most attractive resorts in Romania.

today. Especially in the last 15 years, with the money received from structural funds, and with the local authorities’ financial help, we have managed to transform this resort in an important tourist attraction. This is a great gain both for the city, as well as for regional and national tourism.

We will not stop here with our investments.

We will continue to develop the city and tourism activity, especially through opening new perspectives in the leisure area.”

Fülöp László Zsolt, Mayor of Sovata

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Timișoara, a pole of excellence in the Central European cultural space Sometimes big changes start on street corners. In 1884, Timișoara was the first city on mainland Europe to have electric street lighting. In 1989, the sparks of Revolution against Ceaușescu’s regime were ignited on the streets of Timișoara. In 2021, we aim to become a European Capital of Culture, so that we can share our aspirations with the rest of Europe.

Our narrative is about setting civic energy in motion.

Drawing on the powerful metaphor of light, we want to spread the values we believe in to other cities in Europe, for an open-minded and visionary attitude. This is why we say: Shine your light—Light up your city!

Drawing on its experiences and history, Timișoara is a place that shows courage when standing up for its values.

Mutual recognition and respect are at the core of the city's intercultural, multiconfessional and entrepreneurial community. Over 30 different cultures have lived here side by side for centuries, including Romanians, Germans, Hungarians, Serbians, Croats, Italians, Spaniards, and Bulgarians. Also, Orthodox, Catholics, Jewish people, Protestants, Lutherans, Reformists, Muslims and other religions worship freely in our region.

Here, 'tolerance' has come to mean 'community'.

Throughout its existence, Timișoara has been a city of small sparks that ignited transcontinental transformations. It has been the spiritus movens of the region and the main bridge between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and SouthEastern Europe. In difficult times, its citizens were able to unite and inspire others to do the same. With its diaspora spread around the continent, Timișoara interacted with other Europeans, facing similar challenges from different perspectives. It is our ambition to live up to this potential and further develop it, as European Capital of Culture in 2021.

The Timisoara 2021 European Capital of Culture Association assumes the mission to contribute actively to the creation, support and promotion of a dynamic, diverse and inclusive space based on the multicultural, educational, historical and civic values of the community, which valorize the identity, diversity, creativity and cultural avant-garde of Timisoara as engines for sustainable community development.

Our values are community participation and mobilization, openness to multiple cultures and sectors of activity, valorisation of the multicultural potential of the city and geographical position, tradition, innovation and European dimension of Timisoara, transparency, inclusiveness, nondiscrimination and equal opportunities. Since Timisoara was entitled European Capital of Culture 2021, the past years have been rich and challenging. The StartUp Phase comes slowly to a close. We are humble in the face of the task delegated to us, not in our ambitions but in our expectations. We know the journey will not be easy. And we are more convinced than ever of the development potential that Timisoara 2021 carries - for the city, for citizens and for culture makers.

We imagine a challenging Journey, from loneliness to togetherness, from light through darkness and back again, across three Territories hiding keys for Europe’s current struggles: People, Places, and Connections.

We gather courage and travel through 6 Stations, following 18 Trails throughout the process of becoming the European Capital of Culture 2021. The main generator for this Journey is the Power

Station. It provides competence, energy, synergy, and skill.

We brokered partnerships, took the pulse of the city and identified international partners. We faced obstacles and inspired debate. Like with all beginnings, we learned to navigate in unmapped waters. Timisoara is becoming a European Capital of Culture.

The Action Phase begins. Our 2019 Programme is filled with collaborations, performances, concerts, exhibitions and discovered spaces for culture. We feel the energy and a strong will “to shine a light”, by an ever-widening community.

Looking back on 2018, we see a season of new windows into our city. With grand events like BEGA!, Light of Liberty, Memories of the City and Moving Fireplaces, audiences met art in uncommon places. They participated in workshops through the Power Station or partner initiatives like Slowing Down and Atelier Identitate. Guest artists from Italy (Teatro delle Albe), Spain/Basque Country and Northern Ireland (Windows), from Austria and Bulgaria (Light of Liberty), from Norway and New York (Re:Tracing Bartok) brought sparks from other European cultures.

Come Shine YOUR Light with us during 2019, as we take the next steps.

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Porolissvm Fest, a historical reenactment festival. The 9th edition will take place again this year during the second July weekend (July 13-14) in the ambiance of the Porolissvm Dacian-Roman Archaeological Complex (Moigrad, Sălaj County). We will offer guided visits on the archaeological complex trails, interactive

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workshops, interactions with warriors from camps, competitions for public, and battle scenes, including a barbarian night time siege on castrum. For the first time, we intend to reenact on Saturday that what the Porolissvm citizens could see during a day of events in the Roman amphitheatre.

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Photo: Mihai ȚUȚU

From El Camino, passing through Via Maria Theresia, to Via Transilvanica

By Voicu BOJAN Photo: Voicu BOJAN

Buen Camino El Camino means the Road or for the most spiritual, the Way - no matter which of its many possible routes you choose: Camino Frances, Portuges, Ingles, Primitivo or del Norte.

The Santiago de Compostela Cathedral is the target. Saint Jacob is the spiritual patron of this pilgrimage, which is perhaps the most classic in the world. The Shell or the Yellow Arrow are the signs that a traveler is on the right track. Buen Camino! it's the standard salute, and Ultreia! is the desire of the pilgrims in motion. Otherwise, health, good boots, patience and hard walking. And time as much as you can take. And some Rioja wine would be good, but, later in the evening.

The Camino pilgrimage still has the power to change people.

For the way itself, like any long journey on foot, has the raw force of transforming everything.

Whether you arrive or not at your destination to receive Compostela, the paper that certifies your official pilgrim status, the way you are going after many other thousands of people has the gift of putting everything under the interrogation.

Alienation, walking, passing through, joining other travelers, it is said that all this is re-launching the big questions. And it is also said that after El Camino people are no longer the same, they do not see the world as before. That means that the journey has fulfilled its mission.

How would it be, really, would it be possible to create our own Camino one day to walk it here, at our home?

The dream It all started with a dream, not a night dream, but a day dream, born of the fatigue and three friends’ walk, wandering several days up and down through the Călimani Mountains.

Mountain ridge roads, paths on the level curve, some looking

Photo: Mihai ȚUȚU like actual paved roads, set up in olden days, roads that inspire you to stride and go all the way until nothing else is left but the way left behind and this step forward, followed by another, in an emptying thoughts mechanism, a vacuum, which the most fantastic dreams can possibly arise from.

And Alin suddenly lifted his head from the ground and said, “How would it be if we set up a road to be ours, but with more people walking on it, not just us? Because you see how cool it can be?”

This is how dreaming started, with wonder followed by all sorts of questions. Even so, if the expression of our leaders’ incapacity is the very absence of cool road and motorway networks, why wouldn’t a non-governmental organization build a small road for friends? A kind of Camino in miniature.

Or even, how would be rather a mountain marathon?

In the evening we sat next to a fire and began, as in the old times the wisemen and dream readers of the Egyptian Pharaoh, whose night thoughts were haunted by 7 thin cows and 7 fat cows, to decipher the dream, to split hairs, and to interpret it with our own minds.

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We were so much spellbound by the fire and fantasy that we forgot to raise the tent while it was still light, and we did not even notice the flashes of the lightning that was stealthily coming close to us. And the rain woke us up and the soaked dream readers came back to reality. And then, in the morning, we dried up. But the dream was still there, among us. And from that day on, we looked differently at the mountains and pathway, with other eyes, a little bit more technically.

The context The interest for the preservation of the natural heritage values in the Călimani Mountains became visible for the first time in 1971, with the designation of the 12 Apostles’ Geological Reservation and the Jnepeniş (Juniper) Scientific Reserve with Pinus cembra. Since then, Călimani National Park has also been acknowledged, with an area of 15,300 ha. Owing to the mining prospects in the Călimani area, a unique phenomenon in the world was discovered and for the first time described in Romania, namely the volcanocarst. This discovery’s center of gravity was the grotto system that formed Luana’s Caves, acknowledged as a monument of nature in 1973. It was only in 2000 that the demarche of establishing the Călimani National Park began to materialize, which has been acknowledged with a surface of 24,041 ha.

What we have subsequently called Via Maria Theresia is a historic road in the Călimani Mountains, built hundreds of years before, in order to support the military frontier troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with weapons and food.

The trail connects Suceava county (Şaru Dornei locality) with Bistriţa-Năsăud (Pasul Tihuţa). It is the only one in the country settled in a national park and the longest in Romania. Presently, Maria Theresia trail is partially overlapping another tourist route rather poorly signaled and thus very rarely followed by tourists. To this trail’s value of historical monument, as a testimony of an epoch long gone, the Călimani Mountains’ value of natural environment is added.

It’s just that, sometimes, if you look closer, things are not exactly what they seem to be. Here a parenthesis is required.

The ecologic disaster The day looks bad, with thick and low clouds. It looks like a morning when you even haven’t had a sip of coffee. You don’t feel like pulling at the wheel, to take turns. The road climbs in tight serpentines, on a road made of old cement plates. On the left there is the Neagra Șarului River, from which the last life form passed away many decades ago.

Why? Because in this river the residues are being drained from the sulfur mine on Negoiu Românesc Mountain in the Călimani National Park, the mountain we are now heading to. And the mountain peak, it vanished into thin air! From 1,900 meters it had been cut to 1,500. Sulfur exploitation began in 1969 and has lasted for almost 30 years. In its happy days, if we can call it so, more than 8,000 people were working at the mine.

For the enormous, up to 7,000 lei salaries at that time, but otherwise in vain, since the exploitation has never been profitable.

But for fear, the leaders, otherwise brave people when it was about sprees and going hunting with their party colleagues, have constantly reported inflated figures. The lie as a state policy. The lie as our daily bread. Time of lies.

The city cut into the mountain, today silent and grey, once

thundering with life. It had everything: blocks, shops, pubs, cinemas, and even a club where popular bands were wandering around to entertain the working class. Many windows still have a view toward the surface mine, but not for long, since the demolition of the blocks has started. This ghost town will disappear, together with the iron sheet, scrap metal and anything that could still be exploited.

Unfortunately, Ceausescu’s villa will also disappear. It would have looked good as a small museum of communism.

The Wittfeld company from Germany won the auction for the region’s greening. On a plateau, a huge bundle of wires and tangled pieces of rebar looks like a contemporary art installation. No one can possibly describe the dumps and the yellowish-reddish caves dug into the mountain, from which, with every rain, streams are flowing into the river.

Nevertheless, some pierced rubber boots, ownerless, tell everything about those who left, those who have once moved in this gloomy reality.

It is already raining like in a Russian movie. Rhododendron shrubs project color spots on the mountain ridges.

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Then, after each pillar has been marked on both sides with little plates indicating the distance, direction and degree of difficulty, the joy of hiking the entire trail: some walking, others running, others (partially) cycling.

Since then, in summer-winter, thousands of people have journeyed on the Via Maria Theresia, happy to exist.

Meanwhile, alongside tables and resting benches, a series of informative panels in four languages were placed.

Now, after several years, it is invigorating to remember the wood’s pressing in the flesh of the shoulder, the drop of sweat precariously clinging to the eyebrow, and the wheezing of your own breathing made difficult by the effort of each step.

It might be a good idea to remember that, unfortunately, many panels were vandalized, many pillars pulled from their place, and many markings hit with the axle edge, over kilometers. It's a mystery why somebody would do such a thing. Several informative panels on the trail, especially Hungarian translations, have also been victims of vandalism, being covered with black paint. Maybe all this happened just for us to relearn the Art of bearing the cross and leading the good fight to the end. For evil has power only when good people feel discouraged and abandon the battle, choosing to stay away.

There in Călimani, among the unknown rocks, the guerrilla will continue until Via Crucis becomes Via Maria Theresia again and again.

Just as we established at the outset. And we will run on mountain edges and contour lines, further, again and again, as we have learned from Tibi Uşeriu, meaning to the end.

Via Maria Theresia The beauty of the landscape makes you forget for a moment the absurdity of this city born from a Balkan dictator’s crazy dream, where life and death mingle in such an original and intoxicating cocktail, that only us, who have experienced it, we can still swallow it, telling its story.

From this very spot, just from the Sulphur mine, through a tall wooden gate, a large group of mountain runners will leave, following the marathon trail. Miraculously, I shall be among them. Only that until the start, we must get over this hump: right after our crazy dream, the arrangement of the trail followed.

It is obvious that from the dream we switched to practical things, to a battle plan. And practical things turned into something unexpected and profoundly theological: all of us, thousands of volunteers, learned the art of bearing the cross.

The art of bearing the cross A pillar’s journey from the bottom of the valley through the Terha Clearing (Poiana Terha), among the sheep dogs, to the top, on a path, and then its thrusting in a pit sometimes dug into the rock, was a radical adventure.

As a volunteer you are offered the chance to learn humility, grit your teeth, overcome your own limits, but also the joy of team working in order to carry out an absurdly beautiful thing.

It was one of the craziest and most incredible Tăşuleasa Social actions, which has in a special way united all of us who have been involved in it.

The trail presently has a length of 42,195 km and will constantly remain open for marathon, mountain-biking and hiking, during summer or winter, day or night, for all interested. Owing to the specially arranged halts, signaled hydration points and informative panels, every traveler will be able to enjoy the trail and receive detailed information without a guide. Over 200 volunteers, young and mature, Romanians, Germans and Americans, have already participated in the Maria Theresia theme path development in the Călimani Mountains. Among them there were German students from Tăşuleasa Social partner schools, employees of Raiffeisen Bank, the project partner and numerous Tăşuleasa Social volunteers. The volunteers carried heroically, with their hands and backs, kilometers away, over 300 landmarks in the ridge, digging pits, fixing the mile posts with 278 groups of stones to protect the posts from rain and stabilize them.

In other words, while the wood thieves were carrying the wood from the forests to the sawmills, the volunteers, the incurable naive ones, were carrying on their backs the beams back into the mountains.

Via Maria Theresia was inaugurated on August 16, 2014. It was the first edition of the VMT marathon, absolutely an exciting event. At the start there were over 200 marathoners, semi-marathoners and cyclists as well as hundreds of supporters along the trail. Sportsmen were applauded and encouraged by over 120 volunteers and about 100 hikers.

The organizers provided several military cars and 8 guides on four different segments of the trail, with increasing lengths (5-11 km), in order to awaken their interest in movement in nature and for this thematic path with its stories from historical past.

You can find films and stories on https://via-maria-theresia.ro/ And the way we jumped from this point to the great dream called Via Transilvanica, Alin will tell you in the interview.

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Our Via Transilvanica, as an Open Lesson

By Voicu BOJAN

Photo: Voicu BOJAN & Mihai ȚUȚU Alin Uhlmann-Ușeriu, I propose to start this conversation about Via Transilvanica slightly indirectly. You have been walking all your life: as a child, as a volunteer, on the country’s mountains, with friends wandering about in the country, you have walked the Camino. What is the meaning of walking and what does it do to a person?

Via Transilvanica is about a path and lots of walking. We cannot avoid the question: What is the meaning of walking on foot? What does it have to do with finding oneself? I think it is a necessity, an innate human gesture. We were made to walk. Not to run, not to climb summits, but to simply walk.

I understood this and I had the time to process these thoughts when I walked alone on the Camino, for 50 days.

The least 8 km, the most 48 km in one day. You cannot avoid not asking yourself questions. Even now I ask them, after 4 years: what was I doing there, what did the road teach me, what is the connection between walking and myself, as a human being?

My personal history is, actually, a little history of walking. It is divided into stages: from the end of a walk to the beginning of another. My parents sent me after the cows when I was a child, not far away from this place where we are, in Tășuleasa.

‘Go and bring an onion from your grandma, take a matchbox to your other grandmother’ passing through the woods so frightening for a child that one would make the sign of the cross with the tongue, because fears do not show themselves, not even toward yourself, not to melt your heart.

You were a mountain guide, mountain rescuer...

When I was a teenager, I went through an extreme phase. I wanted to go on all our mountains, then to climb all peaks over 2,000 m, but this was more of a competition, an athletic activity. It was about performance. And this has nothing to do with normal walking, steady, connecting point A from a point B and in which you learn something about your companions and especially about yourself.

This is what Via Transilvanica is: the lesson of a necessary therapy, something against the stream. Especially now, when walking tends to go out of fashion. We want air conditioning and fast transport, whether we talk about the metro, tramway or the minibus taking the children to school. It takes them from the front of their house, and it brings them back there.

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I remember, I would walk for 3 km to school, on foot. People walked to work, sometimes even in the industrial area. Now people have become very lazy. This is a problem.

I walk daily somewhere between 2-5 km, which proves that I exist, that I am alive. I have three friends with whom I go on foot, on mountains and hills around 200 km per year.

Or I walk with the children who come to our campus, I take them at least once to the Tășuleasa Peak.

This simple idea of placing a step in front of the other has something magical, it brings a unique clarity. With Tibi for instance, I am not able to link ideas drinking coffee, instead we can hold long conversation sessions walking and running.

Keeping pace with him is not exactly easy, luckily, he is patient with me and he adapts himself. We think clearly in nature and in motion.

You have, it seems, a history of attracting people toward you not only in the association’s projects, but effectively, getting them on the road.

Over time, you are right, I have walked not only on my own, but I have taken people with me. And as a mountain guide and association president involved in various projects, like the Mountain walking school. Only in this story I have helped directly or indirectly over 1,000 grown people discover nature, to move on the mountains and maybe even like it.

And Via Transilvanica is somehow the fulfilment of an obsession. I consider being the president of an organization which conceived such an endeavour a gift from God. You have no idea how happy I am that alongside others, I have become the initiator of this project that puts people on the trail. It gives them impetus, somehow, to discover themselves, discovering a country on the go. Remembering El Camino, the most classic pilgrimage path. Imagine that 2,7 million people arrived at Santiago de Compostela in 2017 to receive a certificate that they have covered the entire distance, whether they have come from 4,000 km away, or they have travelled 120 km on a network of roads spread throughout Europe. It is about an initiation. When you are born, you enter in the life’s labyrinth, you have to go through several paths. Practically, you become what your own steps had made of you.

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How did Via Transilvanica happen? The manner in which the ideas coagulate and how did it happen for this project, one of the many projects by Tășuleasa Social that now catch speed and seems to garner enthusiasm more than others. Why is it?

Each of our projects it is somehow created to garner enthusiasm, be it planting, collecting plastic, offering gifts, organizing schools for mountain walking or for young volunteers. What is shocking about Via Transilvanica is that we have managed, in a colossally short time, to gather an enormous sum of money. This never happened to us before.

We now have about 400 thousand Euros destined for the next 400 km of trails. Indeed, I think that this project has strung not one, but several sensitive chords. It is a surprise.

Let us sketch the context. In the past 30 years in Romania, the majority of successful projects in the NGO area were created somehow on the negative, implying the word ‘humanity:’ poor people, living in hardship, children with cancer, hospitals, etc. There are enormous social projects, that have coagulated knowledge, people have responded, and millions of euro have been collected from all over the

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world. And it is admirable.

But it is unusual to have the sudden start of something positive, of national scope, as a public invitation to become part of something that is built on the go. Our society cannot live in the negative all the time, I think. Via Transilvanica charms people because it has a positive aura, it is no longer about poor people, but about all of us, it is a luminous, nonaggressive story.

people’s history and story.’ A Romanian emigrant to America would be able to explain to curious fellow citizens: ‘Yes, there is a Pacific Trail here, but we have Via Transilvanica.’

Doesn’t it seem simple? This simplicity makes people identify with the project, to donate, to dream of walking the path.

Next thing we knew and look, we already have 140 km that can be explored from tomorrow on. You only must put your hiking boots on and to set off.

Can the enthusiasm for Via Transilvanica also be connected to the fact that we seem to be a country frozen in an eternal project? We are a state that is incapable of finishing large infrastructure projects, such as decent roads. Everything is always blocked in auctions, expropriations and feasibility studies.

This is a more complicated discussion. The Romanian state is the answer to who we are, in reality. It is like you go for medical tests and you end up with bad results because you have been living a gnarly life. The situation with the Romanian state and its politicians is sort of like this. They represent the ‘tests’ for a certain health condition, and we are the nation’s health condition. And the nation is as it is, imperfect, as much as we are content with this thing. We have constantly denied out values, and we have murdered those who have achieved the Union ourselves, in our prisons, not those of the Turks.

Let’s tackle another angle. I have lived in Germany for 12 years. And I always thought about how I could translate to my friends what my country is about if they wanted to visit it. Well, every time new themes arose: let’s go to Bran, let’s go to the Transfăgărășan, let’s go to Moldova, to the monasteries. It always ended up a road trip. But there was no cement, no connection, something that had a story.

Let’s not forget that Transylvania is Romania’s most serious country brand. The Danube Delta then follows. We insist on selling The Carpathian Garden or Mother Mary’s Garden as country brand, which proves our inability to tell a credible story. At tourism fairs we promote bears, virgin forests from which we clear out, we promote wilderness until people will begin to believe that the country is inhabited by some savages.

One day I could tell my German friends: ‘Look, Transylvania now has its own path, a long-distance trail, which will reveal a

We are talking about a touristic path or an adherence to an emotional story here?

It is not tourism; it is something more nuanced. The story starts from us, as an organization. It is connected to our coming of age. Just last year we reached legal age. And Via Transilvanica was born from here, from ripening in our minds, from a continuous struggle with ourselves for 18 years. I think that if we had 1 million euros 5 years ago, I don’t think we would have been able to build anything.

I don’t think we would have had the courage to propose a project that had to be assumed by an entire country. That empty saying about us Romanians being the most hospitable on the planet can now be filled with sense, tested. We will prove that we are hospitable only if we care for this trail km by km, community by community, that is about 400, let us clearly understand each other. Can we as a society assume this story or will we destroy it and eliminate it as a foreign object?

Do you believe that simple people will understand the benefits of such a trail near their households? Or, as some people always have something to hide, will they sabotage the project? We already have some vandalism cases on the many trail kilometers.

We don’t know, we’ll find out. This risk exists. But if you are fearful from the start, you won’t do anything. If you imagine Swiss tourists being eaten by Romanian sheepfold dogs, you become paralyzed. If you read mean comments, you become bitter. There are plenty of problems, but you have to start from somewhere.

One of my most secret joys is that Via Transilvanica passes through obscure villages, which do not exist on any map of so-called ‘touristic objectives.’ They are small pieces of heaven, that have neither salt baths, nor caves, nor waterfalls.

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Suddenly, something happens in their world, a trail passes, and people will walk on that trail. Well, this thing is waiting for the community’s answer, and until now the reactions have been encouraging.

Most non-governmental organizations, with us in the lead, have been over time committing an enormous mistake.

We went to the communities, and we told them: ‘We will teach you, that is you are rather uneducated, we will give you something, that is you are rather poor, we will show you how it is done…’ This sort of thing is, from the get-go, seen with great distrust.

Via Transilvanica teaches us first a great lesson, the lesson of humility.

With our guard down, with our pride low we have to go in absolutely every village of the 400 and tell them: We have not come here to teach you lessons, we have come to offer you a path, a way. You have to stay as you are, your oldest houses have to be minimally restored, to be clean and habitable, don’t build stainless steel villas and space ships.

An old country house will be cherished by a traveler who will sleep there and who will buy cherries from the old cherry tree in the backyard. You, residents of this village must be partners in this project. You already know everything. You know how to make an omelet and how to make polenta, you become the main actors.

And the communities, at least apparently, were enthusiastic.

The adherence is not only for the over-1,000 donors who, in average, have donated around 200 lei or for our important sponsors, but it is precisely for the people living in forgotten villages. Now, this thing gives the story its organic aura. And as for me, it gives me trust.

How does Via Transilvanica link to the other Via Maria Theresia trail, on which you worked on?

This border trail going through the Călimani Mountains was known, but no matter how much I tried to propose its rehabilitation, nothing gelled. Wilderness, splendor, history, national heritage, a trail, a story and nothing. It wasn’t until the arrival of our friend, professor Mircea Miclea, who connected with my brother, Tibi Ușeriu’s obsession to organize an athletic competition. And this was the birth of the story which in its turn birthed the larger story, Via Transilvanica.

We worked really hard to mark the Via Maria Theresia trail.

In 2018 we celebrated the competition 5th anniversary, a successful one, exemplarily organized, which gathered over the years more than 10,000 people. We invested a lot in safety, and this generated trust. We had no serious accident in 5 years, which proves that we have done our homework well.

Plus the vibration brought by many volunteers, who carried melons to the top of the mountain. For years we have invested enormously to create this culture of volunteering. We could live by ‚lending volunteers’ to other organizations, such as those led by Dragoș Bucurenci or Ivan Patzaichin, whom we helped.

Initially the two trails cohabitated, but we then realized it is better to separate them, because they have different identities and lives. But anybody who feels like deviating from the trail, can venture to the Via Maria Theresia, only a few km away.

Does that mean that Via Transilvanica may have all sorts of collateral smaller paths attached?

Imagine the back of a fish. Its spine is the Via Transilvanica, and its little bones are the possible trails, maybe tens or even hundreds. I estimate that, in a reasonable span of time, this trail will be crossed by around 200,000 individuals a year.

Maybe not the entire 1,000 km, but on various sectors. The signs are already really positive for the 140 km. Many have

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completed the track; others are preparing to do so.

The trail only goes through Brașov county on a small distance, around 10 km. But the county council president alongside the business environment came up with an idea.

Creating an offshoot to the Black Church in the city’s center, with signs, milestones and all. There are other such organically-born ideas coming from Cluj and Sibiu as well.

Well, I see an enormous chance here for us to become visible.

Because if you look on the worldwide tourism map, there are more things to see in Mongolia or Sahara than in our country.

It seems the desert is here, not a 2,000-year-old culture. On the European Union’s map we seem like an uninhabited country.

How is that possible? I noticed this at the Bistrița-Năsăud trail’s certification by the Ministry of Tourism.

Believe it or not, apart from this stage of Via Transilvanica, there is no other certified hiking trail in the country. The only ones are those on the mountains, with a very old history.

But nothing that is on foothill or thematic, such as the wine, road, or caves road, nothing.

Please cut an imaginary road section and tell us what would marking a km of this trail would entail. Logistically speaking, what energies, what costs would it imply?

First, we talk about directly impacting around 2 million people. The trail crosses 10 counties in the whole country, it is not a joke. A kilometer costs, loosely, 1,000 euros, this is an organizational calculation. An andesite milestone, which serves as a witness and sentinel, costs in itself around half of this sum. Let’s not forget, it is personalized and sculpted.

Those who donate sometimes want certain motifs to be engraved in the stone, whether we talk about grandma, about Iuliu Maniu or Cardinal Iuliu Hossu.

Some have asked us: Why didn’t you just paint trail signs and then, if it will be validated by hikers, only then put some milestones? No, we wanted to make everything progressively, learning on the go. We could have easily rushed everything by painting the sign with Via Transilvanica on the trees and on all the fences, but we didn’t want that.

The trail’s union needed something monumental, a solid milestone, weighing 230 kg, on a cement foundation. We thus assumed these heavy milestones, made of andesite, which would probably cost 5 times more if a foreign company would have to turn them on all sides.

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Luckily, we have here, in the campus, high-quality logistics, we have employees. Sculptors from all over the country come to us as well, we organize a camp, we offer accommodation and meals. The rock itself is strong, durable, comes from the Rodna Mountains, it is not some bounders brought from China, it is sandblasted here in our yard. It is beautiful to imagine an exhibition stretching from the Danube to Putna.

Then follows the specific signaling, the road signs. You always have to have the next sign in your visual range at about 50 meters, not to get lost. We hope that people from everywhere and of all ages will come here. They will cover the trail on foot, on a bike, riding even.

And what will you do to ensure a minimum safety?

You have a number of unavoidable maintenance, communication costs. But there won’t be any large red panic button for you to press and we’ll teleport there to salvage the situation. This is why we created the guide, which is a printable PDF file. There were 5 girls who walked the trail step by step and then worked another month to write up the guide.

This guide will be a sort of work in progress, we will constantly come back over it with new information, details and it will ultimately cover the entire trail. As the trail will organically grow, the guide will be diversified in several languages, I am sure of that. The marking itself is on limited costs right now, we are in our own county. But in Sibiu the price could go slightly higher, we are talking about transporting a ton of stone.

You divided the trail into 7 regions with specific regions: Cerna, Terra Daco Romana, Mureș Valley, Terra Saxonia, Terra Siculorum, Călimani and Bukovina. Why? Because it is important to discover the ethnic and cultural variety embedded into our own country’s inner fiber. We had to consider the natural beauties, the historical regions, the ethnic diversity, because this is Transylvania in reality.

People. They are the land’s salt. This project starts and ends with them. Now, they are not all the same, we call them Romanians, but they are very diverse.

Terra Siculorum contains a very interesting and capable people (the Szeklers), with whom we have had our historical

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matches, in the same way as they Hungarians may have had. But they are an enormously important component for Transylvania. How can we ignore this fact?

Or Terra Saxonia. Today it is perhaps one of the most interesting open-air museums in the world. We are talking about an impressive culture, a thousand years old. We are talking about an almost mythical land, guarded by fortified churches, many of them renovated, which has a unique charm.

This trail will be a great open lesson, with a minimum fingerprint on the environment, with hardly any negative connotations. It can only do good, it passes through public roads, the paths exist, we do not build, we do not cut, we have a maximum respect for the places which we cross.

Who are the actors involved in this dance? Local authorities, sponsors, volunteers, donors, ambassadors?

Let’s talk a bit about each, at a time.

Let’s be honest. In 18 years Tășuleasa Social had no declared political affinities, it never used public money. Our way of manifesting and protesting has been centered on deeds.

We went where there have been abusive deforestations to plant, we fought with everybody, then we reconciled with everybody, because we were forced to work together.

We started with Bistrița, so we met with mister prefect and mister president of the county council. This is how it works in any country; you must work with those put there to administer it. We gradually understood that you cannot have a belligerent attitude, because that way you achieve nothing. There is no purpose of planting, if you have nobody to foster the future forest, there is no purpose of working with children from a community where parents are hostile towards you.

Here you don’t only need to obtain approvals to put some signs, but also a promise that local authorities will keep watch, will continue to help, will fix a footbridge, will report a missing sign and other things.

Until now we have met with members of Social Democrat Party, with liberals and with members of Democratic Union of the Hungarians in Romania. Beyond political colors, we have met with a number of people and this is what makes

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the difference. We clearly have no political stake, yet we found ourselves having to work together with a locality’s administrators. The great surprise was that they reacted very positively, because the project appeals to the locals.

The force comes from bottom to top, very democratically, this is a nation’s secret, not the directives assigned from the area of power.

I admit I detest mister Radu Moldovan’s political options.

But I cannot avoid admitting that I have been working exceptionally with him, that he was a genuine partner and together we created a model that could be replicated by the other counties as well. Now we are dealing with another county leader – mister Flutur. I am looking forward; I hope it will be alright.

Sponsors? Seen and unseen?

Exactly one year ago we made optimistic calculations and we thought we would be able to barely gather money for about 20 km. Next year another 10 km, and so on for about 10 years until we become old and we retire. We would abandon the story and like 30 years from now, somebody will look at the andesite stones and say: ‘What a cool idea these ancestors had, maybe it is worth continuing it.’

Well, last year, until September 29th we scratched off 140 km with the mobilization of several hundreds of locals, with mayors and cadaster, council leaders etc. Our traditional partners entered the stage, those with whom we had a relation for many years: the strategic partnership Raiffeisen Bank, Coca Cola, but we were also joined by local companies, like those of Lactate Monor. Or new partners, like Egger.

But we were swept of our feet by the donors’ enthusiasm.

Any donation means the beginning of a partnership. A lot of them are from the diaspora, with impressive stories.

Somebody who donated a significant sum wrote to us: ‘Behold one of the projects that could make me come back to Romania.’ We will place somewhere on the trail a special, spectacular, monument, which will be a sort of homage to all of our sponsors and donors.

This is the force of society, the best form of implication and protest: deeds, participation, going forward. And this in a country that has 0.2 recurring donors from the population total, that is next to nothing. We also have company volunteering, such as Endava or Branzas Design. So, the project, seemingly destined for the next Centenary, could approach its half with a little bit of luck, in a record time.

The way things are, when would Via Transilvanica be finished and marked?

I don’t know, reasonably-optimistically maybe in 3-4 years, if no calamity, no blockage intercedes. We were bombarded with many promises; we don’t know if they will materialize.

We don’t only sell kilometers; we also sell emotion and we guarantee with the already proven trust. We depend on donors, on authorities. We are still stubborn not to take public money, but we ask the city halls to save some money for upkeeping, for traffic lights, for pedestrian crossings, fixing footbridges, etc., unexpected vandalism, because there the money will return indirectly, from the travelers’ pockets. The marking belongs to us, so does the Via Transilvanica brand and they are all morally in our possession and indirectly belong to the sponsors and donors. We give a finished, turnkey project. The communities must learn on the go what they have to do with it, to adapt. This happened on the Camino as well. Once it had daylight robberies. This was the reason for the birth of the Knights Hospitaller order, those who protect the travelers.

We will give one example. At the campus gate we created a special refuge spot for travelers. We will provide running

water and put a sink there. Yesterday we had 8 young people of which 3 were riding bikes. If necessary, we can also offer accommodation in return for a donation.

Ambassadors?

I can only start with my brother Tibi, a Tășuleasa Social product, who identified himself with this mission as far as personal sacrifice, as not long ago he almost froze at Yukon Ultra. We also have many distinguished people: Andreea Esca, Mircea Miclea, Marcel Iureș, Dragoș Bucurenci, Prince Nicholas, Mani Gutău and others.

Ambassadors not only stake their own prestige, but they assist you on the go, because you can always make mistakes and go astray. They are influencers who help us gather funds, these people are very important to us.

These ambassadors also assume risks alongside us. What if we hit the fence? What if nobody will want to walk this trail?

What if it will get destroyed? It’s not exactly a picnic to spread tons of andesite throughout the country. It is a matter of scale, that needs humongous energies. The risks match that.

‘Cale bună (Good Trail)’ as equivalent for ‘Buen Camino?’

Do you think this greeting will catch on?

This is Ana Szekely’s hand, our programs directors. She came up with the idea. She was also the one who came with the Tășu abbreviation and many of the things we are naturally using. And this slogan is exactly like the entire project.

It depends on us if we will use it, if it will be validated in time or not.

Informing and communication are two important components, they have an educational role. We wrote a letter for each of the inhabitants of all the communities. They are about 4,600 families in the 10 Bistrița-Năsăud townships.

We used children-messengers who gladly took the letters and they were well received. There we explained to them what Via Transilvanica was, we suggested what they should and shouldn’t do, we told them how important their involvement was. The last sentence was: ‘And we ask you kindly to greet the visitors with Cale bună (Good trail).’ From there on we will see, our duty is to try, to spread the seed. And not to stop hoping.

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Diary Fragments in Search for a Sense: Via Transilvanica

By Voicu BOJAN Photo: Voicu BOJAN

Four friends crossed a country on foot, from the Tihuța Pass to the heart of Szeklerland.

They prospected a future road. The question that guides them: what effects could arise from rediscovering the homeland’s intimate fiber, seen from up close, afoot? Each one will find a different answer after 9 days and approximatively 200 kilometers of walking.

Photo: Mihai ȚUȚU

Day One The mists rise and the sun comes out a bit. With our backpacks on, we exist through the campus gate, we turn right, and, like pilgrims, we slowly set out, at a temperate step, on the path guarded by fir trees. We set out to a place with a beautiful name: Străjii (Sentinel) Valley. There, somebody is already working on a peerless tripe soup, which the four of us know too well. And, just like that, the morning’s timid dream receives a vectoral, concrete sense: with sour cream and hot peppers, the way the traveler likes it.

The first 10 kilometers are for adjustment, followed by wandering on the edge of some Mureșenii Bârgăului apiaries.

We nibble cherries on the go. Both sweet and sour. Next, we have a relatively tough climb toward Brazii Buni (Good Fir Trees), while we mark the places that matter in the GPS. The sight at the watershed, in a place named Poarta Bistriței, opens towards five townships on the Bârgău Valley: Mureșeni, Tureac, Tiha, Prund and Bistrița Bârgăului.

On the way to Uncle Vasile’s chalet, who picked us up on the way, we come across three trout farms – closed but promising. The king of trout farmers is no other than Uncle Vasile, who, in the old days, in the 90s, broke the shore with sales amounting to half a ton around New Year’s Eve. Then

the competition wolfed him down and he quit.

His coolest story is with a bear who, in 1974, was sweet enough to swoop down one of his calves. Out of spite, Uncle Vasile, then young and brave, charged at the bear. He put his axe down and hit him in the head with a rock.

A mistake. This thing cost him a month in hospital and an eye, because “the bear was badly innervated”.

Day Two Generally, the image of travelers who seem to wander aimlessly begets outright astonishments, but not many have the courage to ask us who we are, where we come from and where we are heading. This was kind of, I think, the medieval pilgrim’s condition: you treated him nicely as you would with a usual suspect, because you didn’t know what he carried in his bundle. You didn’t know if he was some thief, a fugitive or a king in disguise, purposefully mixing with the parishioners, to learn what their thoughts are.

We climb the Dealul Negru (Black Hill), Ceaușescu’s famous hunting ground. The billboards with “Shelter the fowls” are the irony of ironies. On the right, the Cușma village lies exactly like in the cup of a palm, as, for that matter, all the villages one can see in the distance. The landscape is vast,

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soft and embroidered with bluish mountains, right in the background.

Not far away, a man is talking with his horses. We carry on a conversation. We find out that all the community’s horses are let loose there, to graze. The image reminds me of Kyrgyzstan, a world of free horses and mad riders.

On the top of the hill, the entire panorama opens. As the poet Ioan Alexandru wrote: “Transylvania is a hymn”. Next to the road, two perfectly round pies of asphalt: the heliport where Ceaușescu would land when he came to “gun down bears”. They say Khrushchev also passed by here in the days of Dej and fell in love with the Lechința wine.

The area’s maximum interest point is Ceaușescu’s chalet, now restored, which can be rented for various events, but with early enough booking. It maintains a few original elements: the cast iron lanterns on the alleys, stag antler candelabra, bear trophies stacked on the wall and two enormous terracotta stoves, which had special loading champers, from the back.

They are, it seems, the masterpieces of a French artisan. I try to imagine how many blow-outs, forbidden stories and scenes, if they could talk, the terracotta stoves.

Day Three We go forward silently and crooked by our wet tents and rucksacks, dreaming about better times. On the old CAP (Agricultural Production Cooperative) there is a burnt doll, with a wire hanging from its neck, like a noose. The last thing we needed was some morning Transylvanian voodoo.

The Măgura hill seems to be close, but the way there doesn’t seem to end. A little puffing tractor, like a toy, catches up with us and the man stops just like this, to look at us. I think we look like retreating soldiers, coming from some lost battle, in an absurd war, like all the world’s wars.

On Măgura we come across a monument, next to a cross with World War I hero names inscribed on it. From there a 360-degree perspective opens around us – Spatiul Mioritic (the Mioritic Space), in all its splendor. A timid sun begins to dry our clothes hanging from the rucksacks and the bearer pants as we walk.

A new portion of asphalt follows, until we come across the apple orchard above the former hunting mansion, long abandoned, belonging to Count Teleki. The mansion was built in the Baroque style in the village colonized by the Germans a long time ago, sometime in the mid-18th century. The entrance bastion had a chapel and it also served as a guest house.

As you enter the beautiful yard, with a garden and benches in the middle, you can imagine the carriages coming and pulling in front of the rectangular-shaped castle, surrounded by stables, sheds, plus a small prison.

The Communists nationalized it in ’45 and changed it into an IAS (State Agricultural Enterprise). They cut the forest around it and made space for boozes next to the lake and, to wash away some of their sins, they planted an apple orchard nearby.

Now everything is looted, broken, ravaged. The metal heraldry was torn out and carried by tractor sometime ago, maybe taken to be scraped or used to cover some hole in a stable somewhere.

Day Four For us, the wanderers, a new stage of asphalt follows until Batoș, from where the great wilderness dalliance will begin.

It’s just that we don’t know this yet. So we charge into the

township, otherwise quite garnished. When you go into a totally new place, small details of the first 100 meters help you realize if the mayor is thoughtful of the citizens, or if he or she leaves them to fend for themselves.

For example here, in Batoș, not only you have playgrounds, sidewalks, flower garlands, but also a statue of a giant apple, next to an infinite column, all in front of a church with a very Russian air, like we saw last year throughout Siberia.

We are going there as well, to find out from the people what would the best way for us to follow to Reghin, to avoid the asphalt, as much as possible. There, a photographer’s occupational hazard, I immediately notice that, under a large red umbrella, there are three guys in red t-shirts, plus a plump and jovial old man, Uncle Relu, who periodically tenderly kisses a little bitter beer grenade, only for strong men, which he must have been in the old days.

Bent above the maps, what follows are passionate debates about where we should go, interrupted by “You shut up, Uncle Relu!” any time Uncle Relu, a vigorous tavern pillar, proposed a route reconfiguration. From his stillness, he issued erudite opinions about movement.

“Climb that hill, go on the ridge until you reach an abandoned cottage, from there you can see the Lilac Wine Cellar vineyards, and then descend in the valley to a watering hole and you have to walk a lot toward the right, until you see the corner of an oak forest. ‘No,’ then from there go down to the highway heading to Reghin”.

And the triumphal entrance to the city of Hora musical instruments, with beautiful and straight sidewalks, after more than 25 kilometers of zig-zag walking, is a load of promises with a perfume of civilization and, especially, of cold craft beer, bearing the name of Csíki Sör.

Day Five The sky is heavy, dark and threatening. We ask the way to Iernuțeni and, out of five people, three decide it would not be good to mingle with strange people. So they remain silent. Our friend Google gets us out of trouble, through a road on whose end there is an elderly people home, next to a railway, beyond which it is backed by a cemetery, at the edge of the forest.

A road cradled with walnut trees takes us through strange villages, like they were forgotten by God and people. Lower and Upper Beica, Căcuciu, Șerbeni and Lower and Upper Chiheru.

Seen from afar, they somehow seem beautiful, with white steeples puncturing the sky, but from up close they prove to be deader than the fox found on the path, frozen in a sort of run.

All these villages seem more unmovable and more naïve

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than the wooden crucifixions in Beica de Sus (Upper Beica).

They seem to have lost the match with progress, with the future. They are waiting resignedly either their extinction, or some unexpected rebirth. Time will tell. We meditate on these and on the globalization sitting in the rain and eating mackerel canned in oil produced in Thailand, imported in Dolj and which mysteriously ended up in Căcuciu.

The only village in which life still vibrates somewhat is Beica de Jos (Lower Beica). Otherwise, they’re depopulated and silent just like the football field where the brambles are one meter high. A child on holiday, bored to death, rides his scooter in parallel with us and rapidly summarizes the situation: “My brothers have gone to Germany. One works on spices, the other on salami. I only have three children on the street, but I don’t really get along with them. The village is half-abandoned. I think I will go to Reghin as well, to school. Maybe I’ll become an electrician. Or I go to my brothers. Take care on the Devil’s Bridge, because a friend fell in a ditch there riding his bike, and it was daytime”.

Day Six On the entrance board for Sovata there is a delicious grammatical disagreement: “Localitate (locality – feminine) supravegheat video (video surveillance – masculine).” A long time ago, Sovata was a sort of legendary location, where one would walk with these words hanging around the neck: “Take me to Sovata, mother/So I can also meet my father”.

Why? Because it was a resort known for its salt waters which cure various gynecological disorders, and it even stimulates fertility. The fact that there were two military units in the vicinity increased the effectiveness of treatment sessions with such a great success rate, that it was said that some women would return from these baths already pregnant.

Today the resort is modern, beautiful, filled with flowers and spas. You can ride the steam train to Câmpul Cetății (Field of the Fortress), you can shoot around at paintball, you can have horse-riding tours, or you can lie on a lounge chair next to a pool.

The guesthouses struggle to have magazine-worthy floral arrangements and rock formations, mandatorily with large lavender bushes. It seems like a landscape design competition.

There is an air of universal peace, as we are going up to the station on none other than the Liniștii (Silence) street.

We struggle to find rooms without matrimonial beds. In the resort, everything is renovated, filled with people and restaurants offering menus that suggest that maybe you have ended up, accidentally, in some culinary heaven: tripe stew with onions, grilled mutton, catfish paprika with Szekler

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noodles, ribs in sweet chili sauce, like we first had in America.

And a blend of white Miniș wine, crafted by Balla Geza, for those in the know. In an ice bucket. Two, please. Thank you.

Day Seven Sovata’s birds either have a broken biological clock, or they’re only thinking about mating. At around 4 they started singing at the top of their lungs, all at the same time. They were backed by two husky roosters, convinced they too were singing birds, not base ingredients in the vermicelli soup known as “leveșă” in Transylvania, served hot on Sundays, with lots of parsley, right after returning from the holy church.

Waking up not because of some defective alarm, but from bird trills whose volume are too loud, this is the perfect training for the Heaven seen as a “place of greenery, from where all sorrow has escaped”.

The morning is joyous and refreshing. Our spirit is so raised by the chirping cacophony, that we drink four coffees on a table’s corner, on the sidewalk, and we almost take off at naughty pace, almost forgetting to pay them.

We pass horses farm bred for equestrian tourism, but also by one for pit bulls, destined, I hope, for protection, and not for the clandestine dog fights. Our senses open in the Ilieși village, where we change our wet t-shirts how the postal horses were once changed.

There is such a humidity in the air which only in Havana, in August, we have served before. A chilly Harghita beer prepares our souls for entering the land belonging to the one called God’s Chainsaw, may he rest in peace, because many hectares of forest have been obliterated under his order. The storm clouds gather above the Atia village, hidden under a thick mantle of larch. A lightning bolt makes us mend our pace toward the tavern in the middle of the village. It is the third time this has happened to us. We immediately take refuge and take our shoes of, this having become a standard gesture, as the bubbly summer shower begins. We look at the water, at the streams forming on the road. In one hour both the rain and the wake are over. And everything, but everything, suddenly takes a memorable turn.

A thin, athletic gray-haired guy with a timid smile shows up out of nowhere. One of the patrons must have called him.

His name is Árpi and he invites us to his place. His sister, Ildi, welcomes us to the outside table, also smiling.

His yard is vast, and the house – wonderful, decorated with a genuine passion for traditional design. And his attic is equipped with exactly four beds for guests.

We have that fortune we have been waiting for and have only found with Uncle Vasile, in the first day. To find some

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local hospitaleros, ready to offer, for a price, their space to travelers. The same way as it is on the Camino. The way it should also be in our country.

Day Eight The houses in Firtușu seem like a museum in conservation.

Above the gates sculpted with vines small bird houses were built in rectangular shapes, with shingle roofs. The Szeklers are great woodworkers. I kept looking at dozens of little houses, but I saw no bird going in our out. The birds stay where they want to stay, not where the people build houses for them.

Right outside the village there is a jolly shindy. Smiling people ask you, looking you straight into the eyes, essential things: who are you, where you come from and where are you going? It’s incredible how much life it emanates, how much intensity this colorful and energetic vicinity contains, without which Transylvania would have been so much duller.

A few naked children drive a wheel with a stick, like what I saw in India, in Digha. Women in pleated skirts haughtily breastfeed, at the house threshold, men perched on the roof mend it with tin for the rain not to come in, piles of animals in the open yards, communicating among each other, a cacophony of barks, squeals and high cries. And over everybody and everything, the same suspiciously hot sun, who seems to have also put the magnifying glass on us, dark clouds dim our way.

Before reaching Păuleni, the plot thickens. Flashes and thunders. Cowering into raincoats like walking ghosts, we shelter ourselves under the sawmill eave. Suddenly, somebody opens a section of the wall, like a rectangular hole, and invites us to squeeze inside. It is as if there would be, as poet Ion Mureșan would say, a hole in Heaven’s wall. It smells like fresh wood and fir resin. Outside it pours cats and dogs.

We are all silent. The three workers leave for a meal. It is cold and humid. We each drink a sip of pălincă, what else can we do? We wait for it to pass.

Day Nine We enter in Odorhei descending on a hill, next to a farm.

After so many landscapes and villages, we carefully step as on thorns, with the humility given by this fusion with the crowds where you become just another passer-by.

“You are sick of the city because nobody knows you there.

You can die without anybody having any idea who you are”.

This is what my neighbor from the mountains pondered, expressing the peasants’ atavistic fright of any urban congestion in which you become the perfect stranger. Or, as they say in Transylvania, “nime-n drum (nobody on the road)”.

After you have spent many days scouring the world of the village, which has its own unwritten rules and a certain mental coherence, a city seems like a shrillness nightmare.

Apart from freshly renovated historical buildings, you come across monstrosities such as the ANAF headquarters. A sort of green glass barn, with the claims of a failed skyscraper, from which people with files come and go like the bees at the bee entrance. I think that all the glass architecture in Romania should be immediately blown to pieces, by some decree.

The beer garden where we pull at has high standards.

The waiters are groovy, gelled, they seem to move with style, but wear fake wristwatches. To loosen the haughty atmosphere, we discretely take our shoes of under the table, like gentlemen. Our naked soles are leeches sucking the coolness of the cold gritstone.

In the menu we find all sorts of fantasies, of which we amuse ourselves. My eyes fall on a meal with an irresistible title: “The King’s Preference.” It doesn’t matter that I don’t have a centimeter of clean fabric on me, I don’t care what it contains, how much it costs, I want it! I want to go all out, to spoil myself. This meal name, whatever it may be, reminds me of a Vegas restaurant ad: Eat like a king, drink like the village idiot!

While we eat, we vote: will we walk another 30 kilometers to the south, another day, or will we simply buzz off to home, with the first bus? With two abstentions and two votes “for,” we decide that, it’s over, the 200 kilometers are enough for us.

Day Ten – Conclusions “To travel on a portion of Via Transilvanica is an impetus.

Beyond crossing, seemingly for nothing, the same landscape, where the hills, fields and forests alternate, a state of grace emerges at some point. It is a state of grace of search and recovery.

For my part, I have found myself in the old households forgotten by the world that matters, the one in which the powerful people of today make the games. I have found myself in the scents and tastes that accompany those places.

I have found myself because these things are actually me, the child who has left the primordial world, not knowing then what he was living: a magical world.

We walked 200 kilometers in 9 days, and we returned from where we left in just a few hours, changing two buses. In those hours, I have transcribed fresh thoughts and emotions experienced in those days.

Many times, I have travelled day after day by car. I have worked for weeks, months, years, but I haven’t written, ever, anything about all of these. A great amount of this time I have lived will not become a recollection burdened with feelings.

That is why I believe that any journey that guides you imperceptibly, through simple and obsolete tricks, toward yourself acquires the opportunities of an earned, recuperated and, finally, lived time”. (Toma Fărcane, aka don Tomasso) “I have started this unknown path with worries, and I returned with certainty. I could feel the dampness of thoughts climbing the walls of my mind: Will we be able to carry out the project? Will we let people down, or will we let even ourselves down with so many problems we encounter until discovering the obvious direction?

And then we kept walking. Walking helps. It brings peace to human soul! Let all your questions, your quandaries and

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Concretely, beyond the unparalleled experience of friendship, I have understood three things from the 200 kilometers I walked: A. That our historical delay and clinging to ancient customs can become real chances for an eco-ethnic type of tourism, charming and hard to find in other European countries. Rural Romania has a unique story and it had better take it seriously.

B. Walking a long way, you rediscover the forgotten art of looking at the reality, attentively, not cosmeticized, as it is delivered to you. It’s a child’s wonder when perceiving the world through people, insects and birds, through insignificant things and archetypal gestures.

C. That this country of ours is still generous with people.

It gives you the feeling of safety and freedom to wander fearlessly around at your heart’s desire. And encountering the Other, either Romanian, Hungarian, Roma, Bulgarian or Saxon, is usually a good chance to celebrate alterity”. It is a sublime manner of valuing the differences that bring us together”. (Voicu Bojan, aka Brother Metodie)

doubts come in bulk to your mind. Then, without doing anything special, but just walking down the road, they all melt gradually into a sea of sensations: scent of bedstraw flowers, bitter cherry taste, rain drops, people’s words, sweat flowing down your forehead into the eyes or just the long cattle lowing, when it gets dark.

And suddenly, the soul is lighter, and life becomes much simpler and clearer. I think we need this journey. It can give us peace and calm in troubled times”. (Mircea Miclea, aka Brother Kiril) “In a country that looks like having lost its (political) minds and direction, in a country struck by the curse of eternal stiffness in the project, how would it be to imagine a genuine, impeccably marked road that would bear a story, from a point A to a point B? It's like you suddenly find the terra ferma beneath your soles while sinking into a marsh. How would it be to rediscover, while marching, the inner fiber of your country? How exactly would it be to fall again in love with your country, forgetting a little bit about those who want to lead us on obscure ways, only known by them?

This is for me the dream called Via Transilvanica. It is a paradoxical dream of revelation and oblivion.

“The Monor was spreading in front of us when I have nostalgically recalled that three years ago, I was on a similar hill, close to Santiago de Compostela. It was once said that, in that place, the man belonging to a group of pilgrims, who sees the first roof of the cathedral built on the very tomb of the Apostle Jacob, is entitled to be named Rey. After walking over 1,000 kilometers from Bordeaux, I had confused thoughts at that time. One of them was very clear: My journey cannot possibly end here.

And then, even after having arrived at the cathedral, I left for Finisterre, returned to Santiago, went to Porto, and all my days of my journey were over, that thought was still haunting me.

I returned on the trail with my son Mattis. And we've covered other 100 kilometers together on the Camino Portugues, rather to convince myself whether the way still looks or not like the one I had once traveled by myself.

And, somehow, I wished to determine my lad to fall in love with walking alongside thousands and thousands of young people of his age, who were roaming on those paths. And again, the same thought visited me: that the way cannot stop abruptly, in that beautiful moment when we arrive and stand with our mouth open near the cathedral that represents the climax for the thousands of people who are entering Santiago every day.

Over time, I reached an answer on the hill near Monor: Via Transilvanica is a way that matters, it’s a worthwhile way. May be, long ago, an apostle has journeyed on this road, and he will give us from his absolute strength to go on to the end. I only know one thing: the excitement I have felt while walking this road of ours is nothing less than everything we experienced on El Camino. (Alin Uhlmann-Ușeriu, aka Mister Captain)

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Transylvania, an image of habitation

By Vianu MUREŞAN

For an outsider who has not yet visited Romania and did not study this European region’s history, Transylvania either lacks representation, or it has an ambiguous, indistinct one.

In some cases that representation may be associated with Romania’s general image, in other cases, on the contrary, it may be detached from it, autonomized or connected to the medieval and modern Hungarian and Austrian history. These differences derive from the primary data, the most accessible, searching on the internet to get a first idea. In such cases, Transylvania is an image, a cliché, an approximately adequate artificial representation, and not a geographic, historical, ethnographic, cultural and anthropological reality defined by its specific character. We intend to start from these very clichés or approximate representations of Transylvania and to go step by step towards its detailed realities, in order to reconstruct the correct, recognizable image, with what makes it peculiar in the Central European context. The

long historical connections with Vienna and Budapest have influenced both the Transylvanians’ identity construction and their European image. This identity has its specific characteristics in relation to the Romanian, Hungarian or German peculiarities identifiable in the Transylvanian culture, history and space. When speaking about the Transylvanian Saxons, Swabians, Szeklers, Hungarians, Romanians, Armenians, Jews, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Serbs, the common element is the Transylvanian, not the ethnic one, built from manifold identity traits not from ethnic data, but carried out through the so-called habitation. This term has very complex significances, from the actual settlement on a territory, domain, property, to the construction of a habitat (houses, cities, towns, churches), and the behavior’s

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ingenious creativity in a certain space. As an example, the Teutonic Knights were only present for 14 years in Țara Bârsei (Burzenland) between 1211-1225, but the concept of the fortified fortress introduced by them and put into practice in the five fortresses they built was a revolution in the architecture of that time, and, by generalizing their model, it favored the salvation of the Transylvanian communities in the wars with the Tartars and the Turks. In a decade and a half, the Teutons have “modernized” defensive constructions in the kingdom, introducing an inhabiting manner that has lasted since then throughout Transylvania’s history.

Another example within reach is the presence in the 13th century of the Cistercians, who had only one settlement, the abbey of Cârţa, but by this they introduced the Gothic into Transylvania’s ecclesiastical architecture, at their turn introducing a way of inhabiting. The Jesuits created in Cluj and Alba Iulia the first universities in the 16th century, which means a manner of habitation as well. So are the Armenians, so are the Jews. Even religious beliefs are, profoundly, types of inhabiting the world. Their succession and coexistence has enriched Transylvania’s spiritual history.

From this perspective, we will refer to the Transylvanian inhabitants throughout its history, in other words, those who have settled on these territories, built villages and cities, fortresses, cathedrals, schools, made regulations and laws, administration and culture in the broadest sense.

We rather prefer the term habitation to that of belonging because the former has the original meaning of a civilizing factor, while the second is strictly administrative. Since then, certain inhabitants of Transylvanian areas have meanwhile disappeared, such as the Swabians, Saxons, Armenians, Jews in large proportions, but who continue to preserve civilization and culture here. Inhabiting this space, they have imprinted a specific matrix, peculiar style and their own way of being in the world. Transylvania has become what it is by the historical conjugation of the inhabiting manners brought here by the Romanians, Cumans, Bulgarians, Szeklers, Saxons, Hungarians, Jews, Ruthenians, Slovaks, Armenians, Ukrainians and others, which have been preserved, regardless of the administrative forms that have succeeded.

Multiethnic secular cohabitation in the same area has produced direct or implicit acculturation phenomena, influences and contamination of national identities, so that one can speak of a “Transylvanian” national characteristic beyond the national or ethnic one, a certain type of

Transylvanian civilization composed precisely from the historical determinant merging of the populations of this territory. In other words, a peculiar image of habitation.

Legend, mystification The popularity gained by Dracula’s legend, where literature and cinema have successfully collaborated, has turned Transylvania into a fabulous realm. The writer Bram Stocker, directors F.W. Murnau, Tod Browning, Terence Fisher, Paul Landres, Werner Herzog, Erle C. Kenton, Roy Ward Baker, Dan Curtis, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Almereyda and others have nourished the popular appetite for Dracula’s legend, and this phenomenon lasts even today. Even though the myth of “Dracula” does not make a good introduction, it opens nevertheless a theme, a form of curiosity towards Transylvania. The Dracula “brand” has been internalized and exploited for advertising, so that a former Tourism Minister had even an initiative to create a “Dracula Park”, where visitors could experience terrifying sensations, traveling through the Count’s legend, but the project has never been put into practice. Therefore, before having arrived in Transylvania, the foreign traveler, the tourist becomes acquainted with its legend and he is thrilled by the prospect of meeting with the immortal Count Dracula’s realms.

History Transylvania (Ultrasilvania, in Latin, Erdély, in Hungarian, Siebenbürgen, in German), like a multifaceted diamond, changes its appearance after the angle from which it is viewed, but also after the light in which it is placed. From an anthropological and cultural perspective, differences enrich the space in which they proliferate. The co-habitation of the Transylvanian nationalities in medieval and imperial formulas over time has left ample space for interpreting the relationships that create communities, those of belonging and domination. From the Dacian territory, Roman province, Hungarian colony, autonomous principality tributary to the Ottoman Empire, Habsburg province and until it has become part of Romania, Transylvania has passed through more than two millennia of known history, which left its traces in language, religion, culture, administration and the lifestyle of its inhabitants.

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ANCESTORS The one who contemplates it from the outside, simply curious, tourist or visitor, is struck by the wealth and cultural diversity well placed in established stylistic frameworks, specific to the ethnicities that had lived here in the last thousand years - Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, Szeklers, Jews and Armenians mainly. The toponyms of the main geographical areas and of the medieval heritage places have Romanian, Hungarian and German resonance, with the accent shifting over time according to the administrative center - Budapest, Vienna, Bucharest - and the influence of the majority populations. Their identity preserves cultural heritage woven through centuries of multiethnic cohabitation. Transylvania is a form of Central-European cultural memory.

Studying the urban-rural connections, one notices that the urban landscape better preserves the style of the Central European, Hungarian and German Catholic, Reformed, Habsburg peculiarities, while the Romanian genuine features are better preserved in the rural landscape, in the architecture of the wooden churches, of houses, but also in the household type and community habitus. Typical German rural areas, however, represent the best-preserved type of Germanic native habitat in Central Europe. Moreover, some typical Hungarian villages, among which Rimetea, the Alba county, which before the communist period was called Trascău in Romanian and Torockó in Hungarian are considered monuments of traditional rural civilization, among the best preserved and maintained in Transylvania.

The minimum co-ordinates we need for understanding Transylvania are the territory, the population and the local cultural diversity, where, certainly, the spoken languages included.

The territory In a very strict sense, Transylvania is the territory comprised in the mountain arch, located West of the Eastern Carpathians, East of the Apuseni Mountains and North of the Meridional Carpathians with an area of 57,000 km². In a broader sense, if we include the Maramures, Crişana, Sătmar and Banat areas, we have an area of 100.293 km², which represents about 42% of Romania. Bordered by the mountain chain with Moldavia to the East, and Wallachia to the South, Transylvania has a northern border with Ukraine, in the Transcarpathian region that includes northern Maramureş, to the West with Hungary, and to the Southwest with Serbia. According to the current administrative division, Transylvania comprises the following counties: Alba, Bistrița-Năsăud, Brașov, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Mureș, and Sibiu, as well as parts of Bacău, Caraș-Severin, Maramureș, Neamț, Sălaj, Suceava, and Vâlcea. The traditional ethnographic

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areas of Transylvania are: Țara Bârsei (Burzenland), Țara (Land) Buzaielor, Țara Chioarului, Țara Făgărașului, Țara Hațegului, Țara Hălmagiului, Țara Mocanilor, Țara Moților (German: Motzenland), Țara Năsăudului, Țara Oașului (Hungarian: Avasság), Ținutul Pădurenilor, Ținutul Secuiesc (Szeklerland), Pământul crăiesc (Latin: Fundus Regius, German: Königsboden, Hungarian: Királyföld), Mărginimea Sibiului (Hungarian: Szeben-Hegyalja), Țara Zarandului, and Țara Silvaniei (Sylvania). Each ethnographic area has something characteristic associated with the geographical territory, the landscape, the climate, but also with the local population. The type of house and household, their practical activities for sustenance, language, dialect or accent, clothing, traditional costume bear a specific influence, represent a unique cultural heritage, unfortunately very impoverished or even lost with the modernization or depopulation of the Transylvanian villages.

The population About 7,221,733 inhabitants live in Transylvania, which represents one third of Romania’s population. As a percentage distribution, 75% of the population is Romanian, 18% Hungarian, and the remaining 7% are Jews, Slavs (Slovaks, Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Serbs), Germans (Swabians, Saxons), and Roma. The highest population density in Transylvania is concentrated in the cities of Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Braşov, Oradea, Arad, Sibiu, Târgu Mureş, Baia Mare, and Satu Mare. Of the entire population, the percentage of rural inhabitants varies significantly from one county to another, but the average is of 50%. This population distribution points out certain relevant aspects regarding the economy, society, culture, education, living standards of the population of Transylvania. On the one hand, in certain counties, most of the population is concentrated in the urban centers, where they enjoy better education, better living and working conditions. In the city, economic life is more dynamic, the labor market offers are increasingly varied, the possibilities for qualification and professional reconversion are more accessible. Large cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Braşov, Oradea, Arad, Sibiu, Alba Iulia, Târgu Mureş have become the most dynamic regional development centers, essentially owing to the university activities meant to create a young, educated, qualified, dynamic population, but also due to local government projects and to certain multinational companies’ investments.

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The cultural identity The cultural identity of Transylvania is bestowed by its diversity, created over long periods of time, with medieval roots if we take into consideration spoken languages and religious beliefs. In the last thousand years, Transylvania’s inhabitants, Romanians, Saxons, Szeklers, Hungarians, Ukrainians or Serbs, and Armenians belonged to one of the important Christian Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

Beginning with the 16th century, the Reformation process started in Transylvania, the Hungarian and German population partly adopting Lutheranism or Calvinism.

Johannes Honterus, born in Brașov, was one of the Saxons’ most active and efficient religious reformers, and Gáspár Heltai, a Hungarian scholar of German origin, who was the first reformer of Cluj, a Lutheran pastor and translator of the Bible in Hungarian in 1565. Owing to the Hungarian nobility, who adopted Protestantism, a great proportion of the Hungarian population was converted. The two churches, Calvinist and Lutheran, were divided at the Protestant Synod of Aiud in 1564.

The Unitarian Church was established in Cluj-Napoca.

David Francisc (German: Franz David, alternatively Davidis, Hungarian: Dávid Ferenc 1520-1579) was its founder and first bishop. Former Calvinist bishop and pastor at the court of the prince of Transylvania, David Francis won the recognition of the Unitarian Church in the Transylvanian Diet of Turda in 1568. Subsequently, David Fracisc was accused of heresy, tried and sentenced to jail. During the reign of the principles Gabriel Bethlen (Hungarian: Bethlen Gábor) and Gheorghe Rakoczi (Hungarian: Rákóczi György), Transylvania became the center of Hungarian culture and humanism, but also the chief bastion of Protestantism in Eastern Europe.

An important phenomenon for the Romanian identity in Transylvania was the birth of the Romanian Church United with Rome (or Romanian Greek Catholic Church), in late 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century.

After Transylvania had come under Austrian influence, the Jesuits started a campaign of recovery of the Catholic faith, given that a large proportion of the Hungarian and German population in Transylvania had embraced Lutheranism or Calvinism in the last century and a half. Since the main demographic basin was represented by Orthodox Romanians, the Jesuits tried to draw the Romanians to Rome.

The transition to the Greek Catholic Church (Uniate) was accomplished under Vienna and Rome’s pressure.

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Representing the Transylvanian Orthodox believers, the Orthodox Bishop Athanasie signed a statement of subordination to the Primate Bishop of Esztergom and to the Pope, pledging to re-ordain the priests. On March 30, 1701, Emperor Leopold I issued the official founding act for the new Romanian Church United with Rome in Transylvania.

In addition to the Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical-Lutheran, Reformed, and Unitarian churches, there existed the mosaic cult of the Jewish community in Transylvania. The cities of Transylvania also reveal today this complexity of traditional religious culture through their cathedrals, churches, synagogues. An illustrative image today is the central perimeter of Cluj-Napoca, where you can see the Orthodox cathedral, Catholic cathedral, Greek-Catholic cathedral (still under construction), Lutheran, Calvinist churches, David Francisc’s Unitarian church, and some synagogues.

The same image of an ecumenical space welcomes us in the centers of other cities, where the churches and cathedrals are, in fact, the most imposing, emblematic monuments: Brașov, Oradea, Alba Iulia, Târgu Mureș, Bistrița, Timișoara, Arad, and Sibiu.

Transylvania is, according to Academician Ioan-Aurel Pop, “the only place in Europe with such a complex cultural and confessional structure”. The fact that so many types of religious and confessional identity have cohabited over the centuries has made the region’s cultural dynamics and wealth possible and has considerably led to the establishment of a social ethic of tolerance, responsibility and work.

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Professor Marilen Pirtea, Rector of The West University of Timisoara:

„The West University of Timisoara is today the most developed higher education institution in the western region of Romania” The West University of Timișoara is nowadays the most developed higher education institution in the western region of Romania, a privileged position given not only the excellent results expressed by the quantitative indicators that place us among the top three best universities at a national level, but also given particularly the quality standards that we have displayed and through which we have achieved international recognition both in Central-Europe and in the global world of European education.

We are a community of tradition, following our public mission in the service of knowledge, but also a community of young, modern spirit through the energy and the living talent of our academics, students, and graduates, due to our passion for discovery and innovation.

In the past few years, the results of the assessments, rankings, and classifications of our university confirmed what we have come to believe when looking around us: the West University of Timisoara has successfully combined tradition and innovation, history and the challenges of the moment. With academic results in ascending dynamics, we are visible in the international university rankings where the top universities are the ones which are the most renowned around the world. We constantly hold a meritorious place when it comes to the Romanian universities, as evidenced, for example, by the Meta ranking of universities in Romania, where we constantly rank among the top five.

The West University of Timișoara, a social space of knowledge and research, celebrates its 75th anniversary since its foundation, with remarkable results both at the national and the European level. The institutional architecture of our university has strengthened over the past ten years, so that it now represents a model for comprehensive higher education. We currently host an educational platform of eleven faculties and over ninety study programmes, with more than fifteen thousand students enrolled in courses at all three Bologna levels.

In my capacity as Rector of the most important comprehensive university in the western region of Romania, I am honoured to be part of a highly esteemed and scientifically valued academic community which has been joined by prominent international personalities who have accepted to be award the title of Doctor Honoris Causa.

Through their contribution to the shaping of our public profile as a university involved in community life, we are proud of the European and international personalities who have studied at our university, as, for example, the Romanian born writer Herta Muller, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

We are equally honoured by the fact that prestigious international personalities have joined our academic community, by becoming Doctors Honoris Causa, among them: Professor Ştefan Hell, Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry in 2014, Professor Gerard Mourou, Nobel Prize winner for Physics in 2019, philosopher Andrei Plesu, cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu, physicist Ioan Piso, economist Mihai Tanasescu and Sergiu Manea, actress Maia Morgenstern and actors Marcel Iures and Florin Piersic, poet Ana Blandiana, sportsperson Simona Halep, writer Horia-Roman Patapievici, diplomats

Simona Miculescu and Emil Hurezeanu, as well as former presidents of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and Romano Prodi. We also appreciate the professional ties created among the thousands of graduates, who form the WUT Alumni Community which constantly grows every year, they are our representatives around the world. They are the most convincing and authentic ambassadors we have at international level, they are the figures associated with the West University of Timisoara.

It is a great honour to our academic community that Timisoara, the city where the Revolution of December 1989 started, was designated by the European Commission to become the European Capital of Culture in 2021, as a symbol of pluralism and multiculturalism. Besides being an honour it also creates an extraordinary opportunity for our community to enhance its level of visibility. Under the circumstances, such an opportunity is also represents a challenge to the West University of Timisoara to contribute to the promotion of local culture and values in the world. We participate, together with all local and international partners in the development of the European programme being prepared for 2021, including the opening of a unique Masters Degree programme in Cultural Leadership, as well as by proposing a new cross-curricular course in our university, on the topic of recent history and political analyses dedicated to the 1989 Revolution in Timisoara.

We invite you and are waiting for you to visit the West University of Timisoara. Our doors are open to international students and to educational and cultural exchanges that come our way. Our windows, too, are open towards sources of knowledge achieved through international studies and research which we contribute to, together with our European partners who come from the most dynamic cities of discovery and cultural cooperation. We are also convinced that it is always worth keeping our minds open when teaching and training our students to become good citizens of the 21st century as well as provide them with the intellectual tools to help them reach their full potential and to become their best versions of themselves.

Rector, Professor Marilen Gabriel Pirtea, PhD

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UMFST Târgu-Mureș, „ambassador of the tradition of the Romanian school of medicine and pharmacy abroad”

By Arina TOTH

The opening of the branch in Hamburg, Germany, of the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology (UMFST) from Târgu Mureş is a visionary idea that will place Târgu Mureş „in a position of maximum international visibility”. More details will be provided by Professor Leonard Azamfirei, PhD, Rector of the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technologies of Târgu Mureș.

The opening of the Medicine Study Programme in English, in Hamburg, is a first for Romania, and it represents a visionary idea of the University from Transylvania, with long-term effects. At what stage are the preparations for the beginning of the academic year 2019-2020 and which are the next steps?

For the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technologies of Târgu Mureș, the academic year 2019-2020 means the opening of a branch in Hamburg, Germany, which represents a success for the university, as well as for the city of Târgu Mureș. As I have highlighted on previous occasions, through this success we become ambassadors of the tradition of the Romanian school of medicine and pharmacy abroad. The quality standards of the Hamburg branch are very high, as is the educational infrastructure which will be made available for the students. The teaching staff from Târgu Mureș, who will be teaching in Hamburg, are currently working very hard on the preparation for the future academic year. A number of 150 students will be educated in English in Hamburg every year. The official opening is scheduled for September 30, 2019, and it is meant to be a landmark event for the entire Romanian academic world and beyond.

How was the idea of creating this programme in Germany, by a university from Romania, received? What kind of

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feedback did you get from the local German authorities, and from prospective students?

The idea of setting up a study programme in English, in Hamburg, was extremely well received, both by the authorities and by the future students and their parents, as the first admission session, successfully concluded, shows.

The next admission session will take place in May. The students will be studying in a modern medical campus, equipped at the highest educational standards. Some of the most important elements of the teaching activities will consist in digital learning and the use of the latest medical equipments and technology, such as the biology and chemistry laboratories, interactive virtual tables for 3D dissection, IT working points, etc.

Is this a more efficient form of internationalization than the one in which foreign students are educated in Târgu Mureș?

Within the process of internationalization, the fact that the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technologies of Târgu Mureș opens a branch in Hamburg represents an extremely important objective for the team.

At the same time, at UMFST Târgu Mureș we have the “early admission” session for the study programmes in English, at the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Dentistry.

Therefore, on the one hand, our university educates hundreds of foreign students in Târgu Mureș, within the two study programmes mentioned above, and, on the other hand, it will offer medical education for foreign students in Hamburg, one of the most attractive university centres in Germany. It is a way in which the teaching staff of Târgu Mureș carries on Romanian medicine, transferring knowledge and forming new generations of doctors.

Have you thought of the next development stages of this project in Germany, maybe of replicating the extension for Medicine and for other faculties within the university?

This project started over three years ago. There were several steps we had to follow – the ARACIS authorization process and the administrative requirements from Germany. We will carefully monitor the way the educational process is carried out in Hamburg, we will analyse the results, consider the feedback and then we will make a decision regarding this possibility.

At present, UMFST Târgu Mureș is a comprehensive unit which comprises a lot of domains within its six faculties, thus there are possibilities of cooperative activities among them. Have such activities been approached? To what extent the results of these activities will be able to bring changes in the educational landscape and beyond?

At the moment, UMFST Târgu Mureș has six faculties: The Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry, the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, the Faculty of Sciences and Letters, and the Faculty of Economics and Law, as well as an institution for doctoral studies, which has two components: the Postgraduate School of Medicine and Pharmacy, and the Postgraduate School of Letters, Humanities and Applied Sciences. As regards the study programmes, there are 66 undergraduate and MA study programmes, and 7 fields for the postgraduate ones. It is, indeed, quite a comprehensive university, a model for other universities in the country, and it has its own special specificity due to interdisciplinary programmes, which now offer a great variety of options to students and employers interested in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. For example, the medical engineering and bioinformatics programmes within the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology are a response

to the young people who wish to become experts in an increasingly relevant field.

Within the university, what educational or scientific projects does the university have at the moment, ongoing or about to start?

At UMFST Târgu Mureș not a day goes by without a scientific, educational, social and cultural activity or event. In 2019, we aim to analyse the short-term and long-term needs of the faculties in the fields of technology and humanities, in order to revise the educational offer and to make it more suitable to the needs of the society. The private sector must become a more active component in what we do, from an educational point of view, and must have a permanent presence in our university. Given that there is such high demand in the field of human resources, it is our duty to adapt to these needs as quickly as possible, to invest in modern educational processes, in creating the conditions necessary for the students to acquire practical skills, not only theoretical ones.

UMFST Târgu Mureș has been created in order to be a university for the academic future of Mureș County, and to bring extra-value to the local community and beyond.

What mechanisms of sustainability can be created in order to promote the development of the community?

In its current structure and with the opening of the branch in Hamburg, UMFST Târgu Mureș will have over 11,000 students. This is a strong, multicultural and extremely dynamic university, with education in Romanian, Hungarian and English languages. The Hamburg project places the university and the city of Târgu Mureș in a position of maximum visibility, at the international level. A strong city must have a strong university, therefore our city cannot become stronger if it does not have a high-quality educational establishment in the form of a university. I consider that UMFST Târgu Mureș represents one of the most important developmental factors for Târgu Mureș and its community.

At present, at UMFST Târgu Mureș, there are students from various parts of Romania, as well as over 700 international students from 52 countries. For all of them, Târgu Mureș is like a second home, the place where they spend three, five or six years of their lives, the place where they grow into accomplished human beings and professionals. Through all these, UMFST Târgu Mureș has a great contribution to the development of the community.

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The opening of UMCH means the opening of a new branch of the UMFST of Targu Mures in Germany. At the UMCH, students can study and obtain a degree in Human Medicine in English. In addition, in the first year of study, the course Medical Terminology is taught, which acquaints students with medical terminology in English.

Th anks to the strong international orientation of the university, students are offered the opportunity to participate in leading congresses and symposia all over the world and to gain insight into many multidisciplinary projects. UMCH‘s educational model and network will enable and encourage future graduates to work in various EU health systems.

UMCH’s study concept combines research, teaching, and practice and offers its students a high-class practice and science-oriented education. Besides the transfer of knowledge made possible with the help of experienced and prestigious lecturers, the UMCH places great importance on the development and promotion of psychosocial skills.

Along with theoretical knowledge and practical training, psychosocial skills are elementary if you want to become a physician. UMCH stands for professionalism and quality – we offer our students a practice-oriented education through the latest methods and latest medical technology in a dynamic learning environment.

The medical license of the EU country Romania is automatically approved throughout the EU, including Germany, on the basis of the directive on the recognition of professional qualifications.

The degree opens the way for UMCH graduates to practice as physicians throughout the EU and additional countries.

Studying at UMCH is accredited by the state and divided into 6 years of study. The medical license from Romania is approved EU-wide, also in Germany. Patient-oriented and practice-oriented, science-based and with the focus on innovative research: The UMCH degree program in Human Medicine offers an academic education at the highest level.

The main goal of the study program is to provide students with a holistic introduction to all fields, skills, and abilities relevant to the profession. Th is includes the teaching of basic knowledge about bodily functions, the learning of human pathology including emotional aspects as well as the acquisition of knowledge and skills needed for diagnostics, therapy, health promotion, prevention, and rehabilitation, and the development of communication skills.

The campus offers students the most modern facilities, such as multimedia lecture halls, learning and IT areas with excellently equipped IT workstations. In laboratories equipped with the latest medical technology, students

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acquire the required medical skills and have the opportunity to conduct research-based experiments. These include laboratories for biology, chemistry, and microscopy.

The campus in Hamburg provides the students with the most modern medical technology, e.g. a 3D anatomy and dissection table – the technologically most advanced system for the visualization of the anatomy. The use of this innovative technology helps medical students to explore the anatomy of the human body in a varied and vivid way.

With the help of 3D representations, anatomical structures can be interactively conveyed and organs, blood vessels and nerve fibres can be viewed from all sides.

At the UMCH, students receive an innovative and practiceoriented academic education at one of the most modern campus locations in Europe. Throughout their studies, they are intensively guided by a renowned team of professors, lecturers, and international specialists.

A joint project of the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Targu Mures and the CPE Europe GmbH

CPE Europe GmbH Ostertorwall 12 D-31785 Hameln Represented by the managing director: Dipl.-Kfm. Matthias Musmann University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Targu Mures State and accredited university Gheorghe Marinescu, 38 540139 Targu Mures Romania Represented by the rector: Prof. univ. dr. Leonard Azamfi rei All requirements of § 117a of the Hamburgischen Hochschulgesetzes are fulfi lled. apply.umch.de UMCH – University Targu Mures Medical Campus Hamburg Albert-Einstein-Ring 11-15 22761 Hamburg, Germany Phone: +49 (0) 40-2093485-00 Fax: +49 (0) 40-2093485-09 E-Mail: info@edu.umch.de Web: www.edu.umch.de/en/ Opening times: Mo. - Fr.: 9 am - 6 pm

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The University: Driving Force of Social Development

By Vianu MUREŞAN

The university life in Romania finds itself in a continuous search for form, identity and social function following the trends adopted immediately after the 1989 Revolution. The inertia of anachronic forms and ancient education methods specific to the communist period has made the reform of the university education system difficult primarily during the first post-revolutionary decade and the imposition of new methods and programs to delay their practical effect.

The legislative decisions already adopted at the beginning of the 90s, regarding the de-ideologizing of university education and university autonomy have represented the platform of higher education development in the last decades.

The anachronic status of the inherited university curriculum, the lack of specializations and competences claimed by the modern European society have forced the rapid creation of new faculties, departments, divisions and specializations in all universities as well as the establishment of research institutes related to the new specializations. Although some of them were made rather hastily, mimetically and initially as “forms without substance”, they proved in time their utility in the maturation process of the Romanian society faced with tendencies, habits and demands for which it was not prepared. The major challenge of the post-communist Romanian university was to adapt education to the European model and to diminish the inherited cultural handicap, by modernizing the verified methods of education as quickly and efficiently as possible and by introducing new fields, disciplines required by the progress of the rapidly changing society.

In the post-1989 crisis period - social model crisis, economic crisis, political uncertainty, lack of efficiency and authority of state institutions - the university was the one that maintained a social balance and provided standards by instantly adopting the European model, to which we certainly had to aim. At both cultural and political level, but also as an open society model based on information, knowledge, communication,

exchange of goods and ideas, the university has constantly encouraged and supported the younger generations’ change of mentality. Additionally, predictive in terms of the changes that the Romanian society would have to bear in the difficult period called "transition" from communism to capitalism, from dictatorship to democracy, university programs were modernized and continuously adapted to provide knowledge, skills, qualifications of the students for new needs on the internal labor market or on the European one. Practically, only one generation had to progress from the bankruptcy model of the socialist planned economy to an efficient, dynamic liberal economy model, and from a closed, controlled society to a European-type of society. The education of this decisive generation in the recent history of the country has chiefly belonged to the university.

The Bologna European platform adopted on June 19, 1999 and signed by 29 ministers for education from the EU countries has redefined the goal of education in the presentday knowledge-based society. The education reform in the European space is supported by the collaboration of the education ministries and the higher education institutions with representatives of the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the UNESCO-CEPES, the students’ organizations and the ENQUA quality assurance agencies.

Romania has aligned itself with the Bologna Process, fact that determined the restructuring of the entire university education system on several important directions.

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EDUCATION The academic system and the Romanian society have been progressively adjusting to be qualified for the European methodology and curricula. These changes have been in fact imposed by the modifications introduced in the Education Law soon after 1999. The reform’s important points are the following: a) structuring the three-cycle specialization system - the bachelor's degree, master's degree, doctorate; b) mobility of the academic staff, specialists and students within the European institutions; c) European cooperation in order to ensure the university education quality standards; d) close correlation between the students’ education and the professions/skills required by the labor market; e) permanent learning as a necessary condition for the skill and competence accumulation simultaneously with the rhythm in which the society based on knowledge, technology and competition evolves.

Several of Romania’s current universities were founded shortly after the 1989 revolution, in the early ’90s, on the structure of former higher education institutes, which had been functional in the communist era or by the integration of certain autonomous faculties and institutes or local branches of certain large regional universities. Mention must be made that in the early ‘90s the faculties with technical and agronomic profile knew a sudden decline together with the economic failure of industry, farms and state agricultural property. Nevertheless, on the other hand, the humanities, classical studies, law and new specializations such as psychology, informatics, information technology, massmedia and television, public administration, communication, public relations, European studies, security studies, as well as certain new branches of medicine have emerged at a fulminant rhythm among the universities.

The university curriculum’s new configuration was also improved by the development of computer science, computer industry and communication technology at an accelerated pace, resulting in the modification of the entire professional configuration of the current society. Furthermore, the creation of the global Internet communication network has also stimulated the education systems to adjust to this new information platform that has generated a genuine revolution whose consequences are hardly visible nowadays.

The fact is that mankind has lately progressed in a new era of knowledge and communication technologies, where information is the essence of reality, which the means of communication and media turn into the global society’s common good.

The universities, as places of elite formation, encourage the assimilation of information at the highest level and support

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society through the specializations and competencies provided to the students. The specialists are the “soldiers” dispatched to the front of the future, as the specialization tendency is increasingly obvious and any social or individual issue is addressed to the "experts", waiting for their solution.

The modern societies’ progress unfolds from top to bottom, from the level of performing specialists and technologies to the mass level, by means of education, specialization and skilled trades, which involve further information and technology. Given that the new societies’ activity is grounded on information, the media have become the younger generations’ education and training instruments.

This proves that school, with its traditional methods and programs, is no longer the unique educational institution, but just one of them. In principle, the school endeavors to play the most important part in the infinite flow of generally accessible information. The university is the institution that filters useful, forming knowledge, ideas, paradigms and cultural values of the recent “fluid” society, as defined

by Z. Baumann.

In the early ’90s, universities have been founded in Transylvania in almost all the large cities, some state universities, other private, and the local communities’ life was stimulated and largely shaped by the evolution of university activity. The cities with the best rhythm of development and notable performances both on cultural and administrative levels and as life standards are precisely those where university activity is very dynamic. Examples are Cluj, Timişoara, Braşov, Oradea, Alba-Iulia, Sibiu, and Târgu Mureş. Academically structured knowledge is both an instrument of recent society’s development and a capital that can be invested in constructing our future. The course of knowledge through the information and technologies that generate, disseminate and instrumentalize it, is currently the driving force of social development and probably the decisive factor in configuring the world of tomorrow. Intelligence, innovation, and human creativity nowadays require technical support to act efficiently in the cultural and social evolution of the world we inhabit.

The Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is named after two scholars of European reputation: the bacteriologist and morpho-pathologist Victor Babeş (1854-1926), born in Vienna in a Romanian-Austrian family and the Hungarian mathematician János Bolyai (1802-1860), the author of the non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry. The remote origin of the University of Cluj lies in the Jesuit College having the rank of academy and teaching in Latin, founded by the prince of Transylvania, Ştefan Báthory in 1581. Another important

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school in Cluj was the Unitarian College established in 1557, which carried out its activity in a former Dominican monastery in the central area of the city. Its first headmaster was David Francisc, who would establish later the Unitarian Church. Moreover, soon after the religious Reform, Cluj became the most important education center in Transylvania.

After the Jesuit order’s suppression in 1774, the college was transferred to the Piarist Catholic Order administration and was awarded the title of Universitas, including chairs of Theology, Philosophy, Medicine and Law. The Romanian University of Cluj was founded only in 1919 and it was named Dacia Superior University, while since 1927 it was named King Ferdinand I, which would change in 1948 as Victor Babes University. The state university called the Bolyai University, founded in 1945, with Hungarian as language of instruction, functioned concomitantly. The current designation has lasted since 1959, acquired by the merger of the Romanian University Victor Babeş with the Hungarian University János Bolyai. The first rector was the renowned historian and archaeologist Constantin Daicoviciu. At the time of the merger there were functioning only six faculties: The Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Natural Science and Geography, the Faculty of Philology, the Faculty of Legal Sciences, the Faculty of History and Philosophy.

After the 1989 revolution, with the recovery of academic autonomy, the Babeş-Bolyai University encouraged the development of new teaching departments in Hungarian and German languages, thus becoming the higher education institution in Romania with the most pronounced multicultural character, representing the main communities in Transylvania. Today it is the largest university in Romania and among the largest in Central Europe, with over 42,000 students enrolled in bachelor, master and doctoral programs.

It includes 21 faculties, 516 study programs conducted in Romanian, Hungarian, German, English and French.

Owing to the four existing faculties of theology - Orthodox

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Theology, Reformed Theology, Roman Catholic Theology and Greek Catholic Theology – the principal religious communities from Transylvania are represented in the university programs.

In addition to the faculties in Cluj, the university also has 12 extensions in several cities from the neighboring counties.

There is also a considerable number of institutions playing an important part in the life of the students and the community administered by Babes-Bolyai University, such as: Alexandru Borza Botanical Garden, with a surface of 14 hectares and over 10,000 plant species representing the flora from the main areas of the world, a botanical museum and an herbarium gathering about 635,000 samples from all over the world; Iuliu Haţieganu Sports Park, comprising outdoor football, tennis and rugby fields, track of athletics, two swimming pools, an athletics hall and football, volleyball, basketball and tennis halls. Here the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, as well as the members of the sections of the University Club are carrying out their activities;

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The Lucian Blaga Central University Library situated in a palace designed by architects Kálmán Giergl and Flóris Korb and built between 1906 and 1908. It is the largest library in Transylvania, one of the oldest and most important in Romania, comprising over 3,800,000 volumes, among which 500,000 periodicals, 55 reading rooms providing over 2,100 seats, and medieval incunabula collections. Each year the library is attended by over 400,000 readers, the majority being students and researchers; The Museum of Mineralogy of the Faculty of Biology and Geology, which comprises a collection of minerals and mineral rocks, processed gems and meteorite samples, approximately 16,500 samples in total; The Astronomical Observatory, located in the Botanical Garden, equipped with an artificial satellite tracking station, a 15 cm lens diameter refractor, a passive telescope and a photo lab.

The Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Cluj-Napoca was established in several stages through the development of the Faculty of Medicine, included in 1919 in Dacia Superior University, where Iuliu Haţieganu was a professor and the first dean. In 1948, the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy was created, where the Faculties of General Medicine, Hygiene, Pediatrics, Dentistry and Pharmacy were functioning. In 1990 the University of Medicine and Pharmacy was instituted, being renamed in 1993 after Haţieganu. Three faculties are functioning in the frame of the university, providing 12 specializations, with over 9,000 students enrolled in bachelor, master, residency

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and doctoral programs, among whom over a quarter of foreigners from approximately 50 countries. The teaching languages are Romanian, English and French.

The Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy has a Center for Practical Skills and Simulation, unique in the country, where the students can practice and form their practical skills in most specialties and at all levels, both in usual situations and those that require rapid intervention.

The center is organized modularly. It has specific laboratories for basic medical operations, for emergency surgery, basic surgical techniques, for anesthesia and intensive care, for ultrasonography, endoscopy, as well as a surgery room for simulation and operations on animals.

The UMF students, resident doctors, doctors working in hospitals and medical centers in Cluj, students and doctors from other university centers, trained in research programs or experience exchanges with those from Cluj can benefit from the center facilities.

The University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca is one of the oldest agricultural high schools in Europe. It inherits the Institute of Agronomic Education Cluj-Mănăştur founded in 1869, which was promoted in 1906 at the academy rank and renamed as the Academy of Agriculture Cluj. After 1990 the university was reorganized into four faculties - Agriculture, Horticulture, Zootechnics and Veterinary Medicine, providing bachelor, master and doctoral programs. Alongside these faculties a Department of Teaching Staff Training and a Quality Assurance Department are also functioning. Besides the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine the Research and Development Center for Pomiculture is carrying out its activity. In over 60 years of existence it has developed and homologated 27 varieties in the fruit-growing field, which have been included in the national patrimony.

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EDUCATION Master Brudaşcu was "the unseen part of the iceberg, what is unanimously accepted as the School of Cluj" - Mircea Cantor.

Owing to the concept of artistic management promoted by Plan B, the art of the Cluj school was promoted in exhibitions from Austria, Germany, Italy, France, England, USA, Turkey, and Israel. The University has two faculties and a Doctoral School - the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design -, each with five departments and study programs structured according to the Bologna system in three cycles: bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. Moreover, besides the specialization programs, the Cluj University of Arts has assumed the task of cultivating tradition - to the extent that art experiences an organic evolution in history, through uninterrupted links from one epoch to another, and from one style to another -, and artistic innovation and creativity as well. These tasks are meant to facilitate the young artists’ integration into the contemporary trends and styles, where multi-art and performance concepts are reaching a wider space of manifestation.

The Technical University of Cluj-Napoca is the result of the Polytechnic Institute’s reorganization in 1992, which has functioned in Cluj since 1953. In 2011, the Technical University of Cluj merged with the North University of Baia Mare, resulting in a new institution called the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca - North University Center in Baia Mare. Owing to this decision, the number of faculties augmented to 12, and the number of students exceeded 22,000, the second in size among the universities established in Cluj. It provides bachelor, master and doctoral study programs as well as continuous training programs, conducted in Romanian, English, French and German. Furthermore, each faculty has research structures, groups and collectives, laboratories, centers and research platforms in the fields of: Information and Communication Technology, Advanced materials, Advanced products and processes, Efficient use of energy. The Technical University has extensions in Alba Iulia, Bistriţa, Satu Mare and Zalău.

The University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, developed after 1990 from the former Ion Andreescu Institute of Fine Arts, has become in the last decade the most renowned Romanian art school owing to the recognition and international success of the young artists educated in Cluj - Victor Man, Adrian Ghenie, Ciprian Muresan, Mircea Cantor, Serban Savu, Radu Comsa, Marius Bercea.

The pedagogical quality and the artistic creativity have developed at UAD Cluj at a rate that no one of the Romanian art schools has reached after the revolution. Furthermore, the school of Cluj has reached in no other field such a high level and has not raised the graduates to an indubitable international reputation like the art school, particularly the painting. The education programs, the quality of the teachers-artists, the great international opening of the rectors Ioan Sbârciu, Radu-Călin Solovăstru and the chancellor Radu Pulbere, as well as the presence in Cluj of eminent artists like the painter Corneliu Brudaşcu contributed to this phenomenon. Emulated and frequented by the best and most visible artists of this young generation, grouped around the art management concept called Plan Gallery B,

The University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Târgu Mureş is the university consortium created in 2018 by the merger of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Marosvásárhelyi Orvosi és Gyógyszerészeti Egyetem in Hungarian) with the Petru Maior University (Petru Maior Egyetem in Hungarian). The University of Medicine and Pharmacy draws back its origin in the 16th century when, in 1565, the Diet of Transylvania decided the foundation of a medical college in Cluj, having the status of a free-royal city. In order to provide the optimal functioning of the college, qualified teachers from France and Switzerland were brought. At the beginning, the College was administered by the Jesuit Order, and after its abolition by the Piarist Order. After the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria had established in 1872 a university in Cluj, which was named after him, a Hungarian School of Medicine with Hungarian language of instruction was functioning in its framework.

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After the First World War and Romania’s unification, the faculty of medicine with Hungarian language of instruction moved to Szeged. In 1940, the Franz Joseph University was re-established in Cluj, and in 1945 it was renamed the Bolyai University. Its Faculty of Medicine was then moved to Târgu Mureş in the Hungarian secessionist style building of a former military high school built between 1906 and 1907 by the City Hall. After the 1948 education reform, the MedicalPharmaceutical Institute (Orvosi és Gyógyszerészeti Intézet in Hungarian) with Hungarian language of instruction was established, comprising faculties of general medicine, pediatrics, hygiene, dentistry and pharmacy, whose first rector was the famous dentist, author of specialty literature and writer Lajos Csőgör. In 1962 the Romanian section was established within the Institute. The University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Târgu Mureș, has the status of a multicultural university with Romanian and Hungarian languages of instruction.

In 2018, the senates of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Târgu Mureş and Petru Maior University of Târgu Mureş (the heir of the Pedagogical Institute established in 1960, subsequently renamed Higher Education Institute) adopted the merger decision through the absorption of the Petru Maior University by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Târgu Mureş, thus creating a new institution with more than 10,000 students. As a result of the merger, the university increased its faculty number to six. Within it there are functioning - the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Dental Medicine, the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Sciences and Letters, the Faculty of Economics and Law - with bachelor, master and doctoral degree programs.

The University of Arts in Târgu Mureş (Marosvásárhelyi Művészeti Egyetem in Hungarian), with Romanian and Hungarian instruction languages, is the heir of the Hungarian Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art founded in Cluj in 1946 by a decree signed by King Mihai, the Minister of Arts, Mihail Ralea, and the Minister of Finance, Gheorghe Tătărescu. In the framework of the 1948 public education system reform, the Romanian Institute of Art with dance, music and acting departments was created in Cluj, and the Hungarian Art Institute, which functioned with music, drama, acting and dance faculties.

In 1950, the two institutes’ theater faculties merged, and

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the Szentgyörgyi István Theater Institute was founded with Romanian and Hungarian instruction languages. In 1954, following a new restructuration, the directing specialization from the Hungarian department and the entire Romanian department of Szentgyörgyi István Theater Institute in Cluj were transferred to the I.L. Caragiale Institute of Theater and Cinematography in Bucharest, and the acting specialization from the Hungarian department was moved to Târgu Mureş under the institute’s title. Since 1972, the Hungarian language directing studies have been resumed, and since 1976 the Romanian acting department has been re-established. In 1992 Szentgyörgyi István Theater Institute was turned into the Academy of Theater Arts, and in 1998 it became the Theatrical Art University through a government decision. In 2009, the University's name changed from the Theatrical Art University in Târgu Mureş to the University of Arts in Târgu Mureş.

The "1 Decembrie 1918" University of Alba Iulia was created in 1991 and comprises five faculties - the Faculty of History and Philology, the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Exact and Engineering Sciences, the Faculty of Economic Sciences, the Faculty of Orthodox Theology - offering study programs organized in three cycles according to the Bologna model, the bachelor, masters and doctoral levels. The name of the university is connected to the historical significance of the day of December 1, 1918, the day of Romania's unification, when the city of Alba Iulia became the symbolic capital of the country.

Academic education in Alba Iulia began in the 17th century with the humanities high school founded by Prince Gabriel Bethlen in 1622, which was the second university school in Transylvania alongside the one founded by the Jesuits in Cluj. The school functioned in a building made in the late Renaissance style of the Alba Iulia Fortress. In 1629 Collegium Academicum Bethlenianum was raised to an academic school level, where faculties of philosophy, theology and philology with Latin language instruction were functioning. Among the teachers who taught at this college mention must be made of the father of German literature, the Silesian poet Martin Opitz, as well as the famous scholars Johannes Henricus Alstedius, Johannes Henricus Bisterfeldius, Johannes Piscator and Isaacus Basirius. Alstedius, considered one of the most important European polyhistors at that time, who had taught for 9 years in Alba Iulia, where he printed a part of his textbooks and writings.

Also, Bishop Anton Sigismund Sztoyka established in Alba Iulia a Roman Catholic seminary in 1753, called "Seminarium Incarnatae Sapientiae", and in 1758 he constructed a building close to the cathedral for the institute of theology.

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After the suppression of the Jesuit Order, Empress Maria Teresa transferred the Jesuits’ church and monastery to the seminary together with the entire patrimony in 1778.

The theologists taught their courses here until 1792, when Bishop Ignatius Batthyány obtained the Trinitarians’ former monastery. In the former church, the bishop organized the valuable Batthyaneum Library, and the Roman Catholic Theological Institute was installed in the inhabited part of the monastery, where courses have been taught until now.

The University of Oradea, created in 1990, has at present 15 faculties, 49 departments and 27 research centers, which provide 112 bachelor programs, 83 master programs and 12 doctoral programs for the over 18,000 students. The post-graduate studies and research programs provided by the Oradea institution contribute to the achievement to that objective included in the Bologna charter, which is continuous training. The Department of Permanent Education, which is functioning within the university has as its chief objective the very development of skills and the improvement of the knowledge accumulated in a form of initial education of an undergraduate, master or doctorate type. Through the activities in the field of continuous professional training the professional conversion/ reconversion for the qualifications required by the labor market is envisaged, regardless of age. For this purpose, specialization courses and postgraduate training courses, workshops are provided.

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The Oradea university center has a rich tradition, the first important institution being the Royal Catholic Academy of Law founded in 1780 by Empress Maria Tereza, with a Faculty of Philosophy and, beginning with 1788, a Faculty of Law, with Hungarian language of instruction. The Academy had functioned until 1919. In 1923, two Theological Academies were established, and in 1934, the Faculty of Law was transferred to the University of Cluj. The Pedagogical Institute, founded in 1963 in Oradea, had the Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, with the Faculty of Physical Education and the Faculty of History and Geography added one year later.

The West University of Timișoara was initially planned to be established in 1944 through a law passed by King Mihai, with specializations in Law, Letters and Philosophy, Sciences, Human Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacy and Theology, but the respective decision has not been implemented anymore.

In 1948 the Pedagogical Institute was founded, with the Faculty of Mathematics-Physics, to which in 1956 the Faculty of Philology was added, and in 1959-1960, pedagogical faculties organized in three-year studies in the fields of History-Geography, Biology, Chemistry, Music, Fine Arts and Physical Education. In 1962, the five-year Pedagogical Institute, with the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and the Faculty of Philology, was transformed into the University of Timișoara. The current name of the institution was adopted through an order of the Ministry of Education in October 1994. The West University has 11 faculties, which provide study programs structured according to the Bologna system in bachelor, master and doctoral cycles, around 13,000 students, out of which 4% are foreigners.

The Polytechnic University Timișoara is one of the Romanian advanced research and education schools, with a centenary tradition and both nationally and internationally acknowledged reputation. Founded in 1920 under the name of the Polytechnic School of Timișoara, it presently has 10 faculties and 25 departments providing bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs destined to 13,500 Romanian and foreign students. Furthermore the university has a Permanent Education Center established in 2000 with the aim of providing the institutional framework for the continuous training activities imposed by the dynamics of the specializations and qualifications lately emerging at the university level and on the labor market. The Center uses the faculty specialists’ didactic, research experience and expertise to create connections with local or regional economic actors, with local and central administrative institutions interested in investing in their own employees’ training and specialization. It is organizing postgraduate professional training and continuous education programs aimed at the graduates who intend to improve their level of qualification and competence in the field of practice or to acquire new qualifications. The fields where postgraduate studies are organized are selected by a systematic study of the labor market and the professional needs of our society, which is undergoing an accelerated dynamic both of adaptation to the structure/model of European society and of the qualification standards required by the transformation rhythm. In addition to the students’ education, qualification and training programs, the Polytechnic University of Timişoara carries out research programs through its centers and institutes, takes part in national and international project competitions, organizes conferences and debates on scientific and economic matters. It is engaged in regional and national economic life through cooperation at the level of technology transfer, expertise, consultancy, partnerships with trade factors. The university accomplishes annual collaborations with local, regional and national firms for consulting, research and development programs.

The University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Banat "King Mihai I of Romania" in Timişoara is the designation ascribed in 1995 to the former University of Agricultural Sciences of Banat (1991), whose structure was envisaged in the period of five years after the Dictate of Vienna, when the Faculty of Agronomy from Cluj was transferred to Timişoara. After 1945, the Faculty of Agronomy functioned within the Polytechnic of Timișoara. Today, six faculties are functioning within the university: the Faculty of Agriculture, the Faculty of Horticulture and Forestry, the Faculty of Agricultural Management, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the Faculty of Agri-food Products Technology, the

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Faculty of Zootechnics and Biotechnology. Beginning with the 2005-2006 academic year, the university has adopted the Bologna system, organizing three specialization cycles.

There are 13 undergraduate study programs, 15 master level programs and four doctoral study areas.

The Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, founded in 1990, consists of 9 faculties with study programs organized on three cycles according to the Bologna system and approximately 14,000 students. The history of this university is closely connected to that of the Romanian University of Cluj, which was transferred to Sibiu after the Dictate of Vienna, where it had functioned until the end of the Second World War. At that moment the number of students in Sibiu increased to 3,400, and the Sibiu Literary Circle created around Lucian Blaga’s personality was born at the same time.

The members of the Circle have become notorious figures of the Romanian postwar culture: Ion Negoițescu, Radu Stanca, Cornel Regman, Ștefan Augustin Doinaș, I. D. Sârbu, Nicolae Balotă, Eugen Todoran, Eta Boeriu, Radu Enescu, Dominic Stanca. In 1969, the Faculty of History was established in Sibiu, as a branch of the Babeș-Bolyai University, which would become in two years the Faculty of Philology and History, with departments of Romanian, English and German. In 1976, the first autonomous institute of higher education was created in Sibiu, including the faculties of Philology and History, Economic and Administrative Law, and Machine Building Technology. After the Polytechnic Institute of Cluj-Napoca, had taken over the Faculty of Machine Building Technology, through restructuration, the rest of the faculties ceased to exist.

The Lucian Blaga University has an official program of internationalization, meaning crossing strictly national borders through the type of programs provided to the students and the cultivated skills and the students’ instruction for the European and global society.

The Transylvania University in Brașov, with its 18 faculties that provide for the approximately 20,000 students 105 bachelor programs, 73 master programs and 18 fields for doctoral studies, is the largest institution of higher education in the central area of Romania. The designation of “Transylvania” was adopted by the Brașov institution by a Senate decision and a ministerial decision in 1991.

EDUCATION It is a university with a complex profile, which includes specializations both in the technical and medical, humanist, law, administrative and forestry fields, as follows: the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Technological Engineering and Industrial Management, the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Product and Environment Design, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Forestry and Forest Exploitation, Faculty of Wood Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Faculty of Food and Tourism, Faculty of Mathematics - Computer Science, Faculty of Music, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Faculty of Physical Education and Mountain Sports, Faculty of Letters, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. It is a university with a complex profile, which includes specializations both in the technical and medical, humanist, law, administrative and forestry fields, as follows: Since the 2005-2006 academic year, the university has aligned itself with the structure of the Bologna system.

The University of Brașov was created in 1971 by merging two institutes, the Polytechnic and the Pedagogical ones, each of them comprising several departments and specializations.

Presently, the university is structured on eight faculties, to which, during the 1990-1991 university year, the Faculty of Electrotechnics, the Faculty of Music, the Faculty of Sciences and the Faculty of Economic Sciences, then the Faculty of Medicine the following year were added. In 2002, the Faculty of Law and Sociology departs from the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Sciences is restructured as follows: Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Letters and Faculty of Sports and Physical Education. In 2003, the Faculty of Forestry departs from the Faculty of Forestry, and in 2004 the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences is established. In 1995, the Faculty of Machine Building Technology was divided in two: the Faculty of Technologic Engineering and the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering.

The Transylvania University in Brașov holds a pluridisciplinary Research and Development Institute, which was completed in 2013 and represents the largest investment in the research infrastructure of any university in Romania achieved with European funds. The aim of the institute is to stimulate research at national and international level and to increase the researchers' competitiveness level. At the same time, through the research conducted there, the University of Brașov intends to provide expertise in regional business environment research and to correlate its research programs with the needs of innovation and business activity.

The Institute carries out its activities in 11 buildings, which are hosting 30 research centers having state-of-the-art infrastructure and equipment for advanced research.

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Architecture Concepts in Transylvania

by Vianu MUREȘAN

Architecture civilizes the space, yet at the same time it expresses certain visions, conceptions, cultural models that are dominant in a given period. An era’s memory acquires spatial forms through architectural accomplishments.

If we find ourselves in a Transylvanian city such as Oradea, Sibiu, Brașov, Alba Iulia or Cluj-Napoca, for instance, walking in the streets, in the central areas, we encounter buildings, houses, palaces, churches, cathedrals, apartment buildings, bank firm headquarters, office buildings, different from each other in shape and style and we understand

the urban landscape’s historical character. The diversity in concepts, styles, tastes throughout periods extending to almost a thousand years coexist in each of these Transylvanian cities, heirs of former 13th century fortifications or several Medieval market towns. When observing such a city – and our gazes descend from the cathedral crosses to

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the universities’ walls, sliding down the secular walls consumed by dampness and are lost on glass luster from the IT companies –, we see in them the architectural archive of a millennia of history. Obviously, between the 15th century gothic cathedral, a secession palace and a concrete and glass high rise, the most important differences are not the construction material, but that of style, concept, taste and purpose. The purpose of architectonic objectives will help us order our perspective on the Transylvanian space on two axes: a) urban architecture – rural architecture; b) laic architecture – sacred architecture.

Urban Architecture - Rural Architecture A first element to consider when referring to buildings is the material. The traditional Romanian civilization is a civilization of wood and because wood has a shorter lifespan than bricks, stone or concrete, the traditional wooden architecture has been conserved less than the one in stone/ bricks, and only from relatively close eras. The first stone urban edifices on Transylvanian territory date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, the determined moment when their construction was introduced was the first Tartar invasion in 1241, which devastated the region. Nevertheless, neither did stone withstand the era’s religious and adminis-

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trative waves. Several fortresses in Medieval Transylvania were built on the places or using materials from past Dacian fortifications. After the 16th century religious reform, many monasteries and churches that had belonged to Catholic orders were closed, demolished, or transformed in stone quarries, while the monks and priests who refused to convert were banished.

The first fortifications As early as the 11th century, Hungarian kings maintained a constant policy of colonization, bringing Szekler (a Hun, Gepidae and Hungarian mixture) warriors, Saxon populations, Saxons, Walloons, but also formidable Teuton knights toward the kingdom’s eastern border. Arpadian king Andrew II (1175-1235) promised Țara Bârsei (Burzenland) located at the kingdom’s eastern limit. In exchange for protecting the borders from Cuman attacks, the knights were granted the right to settle, to build fortresses and to populate the region with colonists. At the same time, the knights also played a religious role by disseminating Catholicism in the areas inhabited by Romanian and Cuman populations.

Between 1211 and 1225, they have built five wooden fortified fortresses, including the Feldioara Fortress (German: Marienburg), the most important edifice they constructed in Transylvania, the Black Fortress (Schwarzburg) located at an elevation of 980 meters on the Codlea hillock, The Cross Fortress in Râșnov. They also worked at fortifying the Brassovia Fortress, they built the Sfântul Bartolomeu (Saint Bartholomew) Church (the oldest Brașov construction), and in 1218 they began constructing the Prejmer fortress.

The fortification concept applied by the Teutons meant the circular geometric organization of inhabited space, in which there was a central square, a church and the residences, then building the wall and defensive towers, enforcing the entrance with Zwingers. The outer wall and the surface occupied by Zwingers were intended to delay the attacks against the fortress. By drawing the attackers in the angles below the defense walls, they were exposed to retaliation, vulnerable, confused, and the fortress’ inhabitants gained more time to organize and find convenient defensive positions. Ingeniously conceived as defensive systems, the Teuton fortifications induced probable tactic fiends in which the confrontations with potential attackers took place, in such a way in which the defenders would always hold the better position. Remarkable engineers and military strategists, the Teuton knights, shortly after their founding (1099), became one of Europe’s redoubtable forces. The fortresses they es-

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tablished in Țara Bârsei, strategically conceived as a homogenous border defense system, were at that time the most “modern” edifices in Transylvania and perhaps its contemporary entire Hungarian kingdom.

The Teutons colonized in the area an important population of Saxons peasants and artisans who contributed to the fortification’s construction. In 1222, the king allowed them to build stone fortresses and camps, but because of their increasing strength and expansion tendencies, they had become a threat for the kingdom, so in 1225 they were banished from Transylvania. The Saxon colonists brought in by the Teutons in the Bârsei area remained and developed a community after the knights were cast out. A decisive clause for the area’s colonization by Saxons was when Hungarian king Andrew II issued the “Golden Adreanum Bull” in 1224. It was a privilege diploma which granted them the administrative-territorial and ecclesiastic organization in the Sibiu county (Comitatus Chybiniensis), beneficiary of an autonomous status under the name of Saxon Lands. The Saxon colonists played a decisive role in Transylvania’s urbanization, as they essentially built cities like Brașov, Sibiu, Sighișoara, Bistrița, and with them one can speak of an urban administrative and architectural concept.

Along with the establishment of Saxon settlements in the second half of the 13th century, the fortress model and the fortification impose a standard, a concept which would quickly spread throughout Transylvania, by constructing the Ciceu Royal Fortress (Bistrița-Năsăud), Bologa (Cluj), Liteni (Cluj), Uioara (Ocna Mureș, Alba), Piatra Craivii (Alba, in 1267, with materials taken from the old Dacian fortification), Deva (Hunedoara), Bálványos. The Deva fortified citadel, built by order of Arpadian king Béla IV in 1264, was one of the largest edifices of the era. Strong bastion in the battles against Tartars, by the end of the 13th century, it had become the residence for Voivodes Roland Borșa and Ladislau Kán. After 1315, the fortress was taken over by king Charles Robert of Anjou.

The Fortresses Fortresses represent defensive architectonic concepts, built during war periods with the purpose of protecting the community, to withstand against attacks and sieges for as long as possible. Fortresses can be conceived as complex installations to filter historical violence, on one hand, but also as protection belts against edifices and institutions which are crucial for community life – churches, schools, administrative centers, workshops, squares. During the time of Austrian administration, in Transylvania, several fortresses with both military and administrative purpose, were built while older fortresses were restored. The largest and best conserved to this day, and which has gone through several stages of rehabilitation in the past couple of decades is Alba Carolina.

The Alba Carolina Fortress in Alba Iulia was built between 1714 and 1738. Acknowledged as a representative Vaubantype bastion fortification, it was built according to a project

by Italian architect Giovanni Morando Visconti. The actual efforts to strengthen the Fortress began on 4 November 1715, with the setting of the Charles bastion foundation stone, dedicated to the emperor, placed on the compound’s northern side. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, it fulfilled the role of Transylvania’s military center and a general armory. The walls perimeter is around 12 kilometers, which were built with the help of 20,000 serfs. The Fortress consists of 7 bastions (Eugene of Savoy, St. Stephen, Trinity, St. Michael, St. Charles, St. Capistrano, St. Elizabeth) configured in a star shape, a common characteristic for the era’s fortresses.

The fortress’ walls are built using bricks, stones from quar-

ries or Roman ruins, and are supported by counterforts.

The entrance can be done through six gates, decorated with statues and reliefs created by a group of sculptors led

by Johann Konig. The Fortress’s most imposing gate, Gate III was only returned to the touristic circuit in December 2008, after more than a decade since the restoration works were started. In April 2008 the mobile bridge was also inaugurated, rebuilt after the original projects found in the Vienna archives.

The fortress is imposing both due to its decorative elements, but also through the architecture of the fortification’s six gates, unique in the European military architecture, with motifs inspired by ancient mythology. Johann Konig, Johann Vischer and Giuseppe Tencalla hold the artistic merit for these. The fortress is thus remarkable as a significant, perhaps the most significant, ensemble of Transylvanian Baroque figurative art.

The Alba Carolina fortress benefits from an immense symbolic capital, its story is one of Romanian history’s most amazing narrations. In the same perimeter one can find the monument dedicated to Michael the Brave, who accomplished the first union of the three Romanian countries in 1600 and made Alba Iulia its first capital; also the Union Hall, where the 1 December 1918 assembly was held, when delegations from the entire country signed Transylvania’s union with Romania. Greater Romania’s sovereigns were also crowned here, on 15 October 1922 King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, whose busts can be seen in front of the Coronation Cathedral, but also the equestrian statue depicting Emperor Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire (1685-1740), who

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was simultaneously king of Hungary, Bohemia and Prince of Transylvania, actually visible on the fortress’s main entrance gate, gate III. Furthermore, one can also visit the cell in which Horea was jailed, the statuary group with the Great Union’s main personalities, Horea, Cloșca and Crișan’s obelisk, The Princes Palace – a sumptuous residence combining elements from the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles, used by Transylvanian Princes between 1542 and 1690, when Alba Iulia was the principality’s capital –, the Apor Palace (currently hosting the 1 December 1918 University), the Saint Michael Roman-Catholic Cathedral, where John Hunyadi was buried. The Cathedral is the only religious building founded by king Stephen of Hungary that has resisted to this day in its original form, to which members of the Báthory family share the greatest merit in transforming it from an Episcopal residence to a sumptuous palace combining Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements.

The Oradea Fortress is, alongside the one in Alba Iulia, among the few in Romania that continue to be used, where there are institutions headquarters, churches, museums with constant activity, and which benefitted in recent years from systematic restauration programs. The fortress’ history extends to 1,000 years ago. In the 11th-13th centuries, the fortresses were a vallum and palisade fortification, and at the end of the 11th century Hungarian king Ladislaus I founded a monastery consecrated to the Holy Virgin Mary, and its church has be-

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come Oradea’s Roman-Catholic Bishopric cathedral, founded in 1010. In 1192, Pope Celestine II issued a beatification act for king Ladislaus I, the Oradea fortress founder.

In the 14th century, between 1570 and 1620, a new heptagonally-shaped fortress was constructed, with a main entrance gate flanked by two massive cannons. The fortress was conceived in Flemish style following plans by Italian architects, while the serf peasants in the surrounding areas served as main workforce. In 1598, the fortress was sieged by the Turks, who nevertheless, weakened at Nicopolis by Michael the Great’s attack, were forced to retreat. In 1658, a second siege took place, concluded with an armistice between the Transylvanian prince and the Turks, through which the former maintained his possession over the fortress. On 13 June 1660, the Ottoman troupes, led by Ali Pasha entered the city of Oradea. A part of the city’s inhabitants took refuge in the fortress. The Turks commenced the siege with an army amounting to roughly 40,000 men. At that time, the military garrison was absent from the fortress, because it was attending the funeral of Transylvania’s former prince, George Rakoczy II. The fortress’ defender, numbering less than 1,000, counted on reinforcements from Vienna, who would not arrive. Weakened, the fortress surrendered on 27 August. Once the fortress was conquered, the Turks founded the Oradea eyalet, which would barely last for 32 years, only for the Austrians to conquer the fortress in 1692, thus chasing the Turks away from Bihor.

The fortress had five bastions and built places, among which the princely palace, the Austrian garrison staff, the fortress’ administration, the clock tower, the stables and the shed hosting carts. It also included a Roman-Catholic church.

The fortress has been recently rehabilitated. The Centre for Touristic Information “The Oradea Fortress” function within the structure, inaugurated on 11 November 2003 as part of the “Oradea Fortress” Administration Service, part of Oradea’s Heritage Direction. The center’s mission is to value the existing heritage, to support the fortress’ restauration activities by attracting projects and funds, and to promote the Oradea Fortress as a valuable historical, architectural and cultural destination in European context.

The Arad fortress, built between 1762 and 1783 during Maria Theresa’s reign, according to projects by general Ferdinand Philipp Harsch is, also, illustrative for the Vauban-Tenaille style in Transylvania. One of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s largest military prisons was here until World War I, where Horea, Cloșca and Crișan were imprisoned for a time, and also after the 1848-1849 Revolution Romanian leader Eftimie Murgo, alongside other 500 participants in the revolution, most of them sentenced to death and executed.

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Because of the very strict regime and inhuman detention conditions, over 4,300 prisoners from Bosnia and Herzegovina died here during World War I. Nowadays, a section of the fortress is a military base for the Mixed RomanianHungarian Peacekeeping Battalion, founded in 1998.

Located on an island, surrounded by the Mureș river waters, it had several defense channels, which could be strategically flooded, and the connections with the exterior were achieved using three bridges defended by vallums. Within the fortress there is a Franciscan church built by the monks sometime between 1750 and 1800, a construction conserved and enclosed by the fortress, having preceded it. The last monks left this location around 1861.

The Saxon residential architecture The typical Saxon residential architecture constitutes a subject of special importance. One of the reasonings is that the rural Transylvanian Saxon architecture represents the richest medieval heritage of this kind in Europe. The Saxon village style reveals itself if we understand that the buildings were conceived and arranged for practical purposes, considering the territory. That is, the territory was marked and divided using the “Flemish sessile” system, and compact household groups were built afterwards. The communities were in this way more compactly organized, with a greater practical cohesion. The church was placed in the center or on the highest point close to the center. The committee’s administrative building was also located in the center. The Saxon village structure during the colonization era with two high streets and a central square is kept to this day in Transylvania.

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The village’s plan, with a high street to which all houses aligned, creating a common façade and gate front, which then flowed toward the central square’s node and stopped at the church, served the purpose of social cohesion and maintaining the feeling of belonging to the community, of creating solidarity and facilitating the possibility for mutual support by participating to common works for the collective interest. The Alma VII village (Almen in German) part of the Moșna township in Sibiu county, dating from 1289, being one of the oldest Saxon villages in Transylvania, perfectly illustrates this habitat concept. The church on the hill was built in the 14th century, and two centuries later it was fortified with a river stone and brick wall with 1.5 meters at the base, and a slight thinning toward the top. The Saxon houses were built on a river stone foundation with mortar, with brickwork, and on the beams, roof, ceiling and floors wood was used – oak, fir, sycamore.

The Viscri village (Saxon dialect: Weiskirich, Veiskiriχ, Veeskirχ, German: Weißkirch, Deutsch-Weißkirch, Deutschweißkirch,) in Brașov county is an old Saxon hearth and home with a history of over seven centuries, and with a well-preserved rural architectural heritage. Owing to the land’s geography, similar to other localities in southern Transylvania and at the former Hungarian kingdom’s border, Viscri was founded by Szekler colonists relocated here in the 12th century by the order of Arpadian kings. They served a primarily military purpose, to defend the Hungarian kingdom’s eastern border. The settlement’s toponym originates from greenish-white chalk stone church these first inhabitants built.

In the second half of the 12th century, the Szeklers were moved toward the Transylvanian eastern border, and Saxon villagers then called “Frandrenses” were settled here. The colonization process was tasked to several lessors, leaders with administrative positions in the relocated communities. These were part of the small nobility of the so-called greavs. The

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village’s first mention is around 1400, whose name in Latin refers to this white church built by the first Szekler colonists – Alba Ecclesia. The German name – Vyskirch –, in the Saxon dialect – Waiskirch – and in Hungarian Szászfehéregyháza – translate this Latin denomination.

Around the mid-15th century, the village was awarded the status of free village by removing the counts’ family. Through the administrative reforms achieved in the second half of the 19th century the locality would become part of the Rupea village under Saxon leadership. Until the Lutheran reform, the Saxons had practiced the Catholic faith. The Viscri Saxon community was joined by a group of Romanian shepherds, settled here in the 18th century. Around the beginning of the 20th century, ethnically Viscri hosted two

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thirds of Saxon inhabitants, the rest being Romanians and Roma. The situation completely shifted after the ’89 Revolution, when the majority of Saxons, amounting to roughly 400, left the town to settle in Germany. After a period of decline and degradation in the 90s, the old Saxon habitat has received a new identity, a new inspiration. The greatest merit belongs to the Mihai Eminescu Trust foundation, which initiated, beginning with 1999, a complex program to salvage and capitalize the locality’s cultural heritage, architectural identity and rural infrastructure. The success of such projects has a simple secret – the local community’s implication in their progress. For the activities to be efficient, the foundation supported professional formation internship for traditional crafts – blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, carvers, stone workers, etc. – and built blacksmiths workshops, brick and tile furnaces, carpentry workshops, a lime pit in Viscri. The Saxon habitat restauration and capitalization is achieved through traditional methods, using ecological materials (stone, manually-produced bricks, wood, wrought iron, lime), and by artisans belonging to the community.

Viscri presents a typically rural landscape for the Transylvanian Saxon style. The specificity of Saxon households has remained unchanged since the beginning of the 17th century, when they switched from wood to stone constructions. The characteristic elements are the façades with two ventilation openings of the gables and decorative stuccos, symmetrical windows with wooden shutters, painted in various colors. The houses, built after a rectangular plan with a smaller side toward the street and its length advancing toward the inner yard, are even aligned along the highway, without any gardens or yards between them and the street. The gables are tall, and the two roof slopes, some with a splayed pinion toward the street. The household usually consists of annexes lined to the house’s main building

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– stable, coops – and of the barn disposed on the entire width, symmetrical to the main entrance. The orchard and gardens are located beyond the barn. Furthermore, other specificities include the tall gates built as high as the house walls, with which they form a continuous front with canopied entrances and tile roofs.

Even if it is no longer inhabited by Saxons, the Viscri village maintains the characteristics of the Saxon habitat, one of the most beautiful and best conserved ones in Southern Transylvania. Besides, the entire architectural ensemble, along with the fortress have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage, considering their historical value, the authenticity of the households, houses, yards, barns and interiors, reminders of the traditional Saxon civilization. The fortified fortress with a church and tower, with its own museum and typically Saxon house arranged in such a way to offer the most relevant image of the traditional-Saxon rural civilization model, constitute attractive touristic objectives for the village’s visitors.

The Saxon rural civilization in Transylvania has well-preserved remnants in the Valea Viilor (Saxon dialect: Wormloch, Vurmliχ, German: Wurmloc), Dârjiu (Hungarian: Székelyderzs, colloquial Derzs), Biertan (in the Saxon dialect: Birthälm, Bierthalmen, Bierthalm, German: Birthälm, Birthalmen, Hungarian: Berethalom), Saschiz (in the Saxon dialect: Keist, Kaest, German: Keisd, Kaisd, Keißd, Kaißd, Hünenburg, Hujnerschburg;, Hungarian: Szászkézd), Prejmer (in the Saxon dialect: Torteln, German: Tartlau, Tartlen, Tortalen, Hungarian: Prázsmár), Cristian (German: Neustadt; Hungarian: Keresztényfalva), Dorolea (in the Saxon dialect: Bästärz) sites and also in many towns throughout the Sibiu and Brașov counties.

Rimetea, the Museum Village The village of Rimetea, in Alba county, located in the Trascău Depression, at around 25 kilometers away from Turda and Aiud, has become in the past decade one of the most beautiful and visited vernacular sites particular to the Transylvanian rural civilization. As an acknowledgement of its value, it has also received the European Commission’s Europa Nostra Award in 1999. It is the only Romanian settlement that has enjoyed this success until today. The village, where 17th century houses are still surviving, has an architectural structure, a style created in the 19th century by a discreet syncretism of the Szekler and Saxon house models, characterized by elegance. Out of about 300 houses in the locality, the majority were built after the 1870 devastating fire.

The “high house” type is characteristic to the Rimetea village, which emerged out of practical reasons where people were engaged in craftsmanship and a part of their house was a workshop. The house’s basement was usually destined to a workshop, the access to the street being of great importance. Nevertheless, it was also used as a cellar for storing food and drink. The houses are as high as the Saxon ones, but contrary to the Saxon models, their facades are not connected through wall gates at their height. The houses are separated by courtyards, and the low gates, which rise to about half the height of the houses, allow the view of the upper floor. The vault windows are protected by outer shutters made of plank, painted in the typical Szekler green. The houses are outstanding by the exterior walls’ white painting, which gives a clean touch of elegance and simplicity.

In its long existence, over 700 years, the village has crossed successive periods of prosperity and degradation, according to the representative economic activities in the area. Owing to the rich iron deposits, the craft of the blacksmith was very much developed, and the settlement became a market place

in 1493, reaching the town rank in 1666. The basic activity that led to this spectacular growth was metallurgy. In 1716, when Transylvania was already under Austrian administration, 16 ore melting furnaces and 16 hydraulic hammers were working in Rimetea. The town became one of the chief metallurgical centers in Transylvania, the quality of the agricultural tools produced in the Rimetea workshops being exceptional, to such an extent that they were sold in all the major centers in the province from Brașov, Bistrița and Arad to Debrecen. The exhaustion of the deposits, the lack of raw materials, and the competition from the Reşiţa and Hunedoara foundries in the 19th century gradually made the industrial activity cease in the town of Rimetea. A part of the population has left the town and had to earn its living by working in small workshops, agriculture, milling, and trade. A 200-yearold water mill is still working in the village today.

The Transylvania Trust Foundation has carried out the town’s heritage rehabilitation project in 1996, inviting homeowners to renovate and rehabilitate the houses after the original model and with natural materials, preserving the original quality and style. Around 140 homeowners joined the project, participating with their work and their own funds in the rehabilitation process, with financial support from the Foundation. The Rimetea village is perhaps the best example of the way a cultural capital may be turned into a business.

Agri-tourism has become the main source of income in the locality, and the number of tourists is increasing annually, the majority coming from Hungary, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

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HISTORY The Romanian villages From the heritage of the rural areas spread in Transylvania, there are both the types of houses, dwellings and the type of yard with the additional buildings of the household - stables, barns, hay fields, savannas -, the yard gates and the fences surrounding the dwellings too. The arrangement in space of the house, barns, and other outbuildings in any yard model was determined by functional needs, utility and accessibility. If in the typical Saxon villages the houses are generally arranged on a plane or a slight slope ground, connected by gates, with the facades oriented right to the road, in the Romanian villages, instead we usually find houses separated from one another by courtyards and gardens, which are not placed directly by the road, but withdrawn in the yard, separated from the village road or the highway by the yard and fence. The fence is both a safety belt, a house, a courtyard, a property guard, and a symbolic form of individual property delimitation. In the traditional Romanian villages, the fence architecture has developed spectacularly, conditioned by the area and the materials they used, becoming an integral part of vernacular stylistics. The villages, dwellings, homes, households, lanes” models have developed over time, depending on the environment, the characteristic of the place, but also on the level of modern technology and historical context. They were literally integrated into the landscape in a natural way, avoiding ostentation and defiance of the natural environment. The mountain, the hill, and plains areas “select” by themselves the possible type of habitat or the most suitable for habitation, depending on how steep the roads are, how is the climate like, what materials are available.

As a permanent shelter place, the house was designed strictly according to the specific climatic conditions and the aesthetic reasons are secondary or additional. In warm and dry areas, more materials with high thermal inertia, such as stone, earth, and clay and straws that keep cool, have been used to build houses. Furthermore, the houses have been grouped very close to each other or even attached to avoid large areas exposed to the sun. For the same reason, some buildings were half-buried, close to a hill, and walls were painted in white or light colors. In

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mountain areas such as Maramureş, Apuseni, Bistrița, the houses have steep slope roofs to help rapid drain of rain and let snow slip in the winter.

Stone, earth and wood are the most commonly used materials for house and household construction. The brick was used intermittently, but its prevalence increased in the industrialization period. In the wine-growing and agricultural areas, the houses have been designed with large cellars for storing wine and products. Here homes are deep in the ground. In the hill and mountain areas, where life depends on animal husbandry, we see high roofed houses - which also function as grain storage and as smoke houses -, as well as high hay storing barns. An area where we can find homes built entirely of stone is the Ceru-Băcăinţi village (German: Bocksdorf; Hungarian: Bokajfelfalu) in Alba County. Because there is slate in the area, both the walls of the houses, stables and annexes, and the roofs are made of stone.

When speaking of rural vernacular architecture in Transylvania, we must consider its diversity, to which, besides the elements mentioned above, the socio-cultural characteristic contributed. This could explain that in the same villages, where there is a mixed population, the Romanian and Saxon house models are different. The same between the Romanian and the Szekler houses. The term “stylistic matrix” introduced by Lucian Blaga to explain these differences does not say everything, but draws attention to the psychological, spiritual dimension of the habitat. There is also this “stylistic unconscious” that, for example, the Saxon communities carried with them along the colonization of the Țara Bârsei (Burzenland) and Banat, as there is such a Romanian element in the architecture of wooden houses and churches. On its foundation, the so-called ethnographic areas were created, Maramureş, Apuseni, the Saxon region being very clearly outlined.

If we consider the house traditional concept beyond the aesthetic and utilitarian aspects, we notice a manner of ordering the space in the relation of the exterior with the interior, the opening with the closure. The house is essentially a closed, delimited space, a place of isolation with respect to the exterior. The passage from the open to the closed space is not done suddenly, but gradually, through the intermediary areas - the porch, the veranda, the hallway, the vestibule or the anteroom. Moreover, the passage over the threshold has like the porch a magical function. The symbolic decorations of the porches represent an entire magical type culture in whose system man was bound to nature, mysteries, phenomena, beneficial and evil forces, trying to benefit from the first and to shelter from the last ones. Several symbols on the porch, threshold, house door, and window frames had apotropaic function. The vestibule or the anteroom usually had an oven for cooking and heating the whole house, and it was the place where people had their meals. Current houses with several large rooms built in the village as well, traditionally have not existed. Only in the 19th century was the house concept modified, by expanding the surface and creating a “good house”, an uninhabited room that was used only on certain occasions, holidays, or for distinguished guests. The hope chest and the clothes of the brides to be were kept in this room.

Secular architecture ecclesiastical architecture It is well known that the oldest cathedral in Transylvania is Saint Michael’s Cathedral in Alba Iulia. It is also known that its structure combines four architectural styles, whose evolution can be observed in the structure elements, but also in the aesthetic ones. It is justly considered that it is the synthetic image of the history of ecclesiastical European architecture.

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The original edifice was built around the middle of the 11th century – a three naves and a circular apse basilica - and lasted until 1241, when it was destroyed during the Tartar attack. In 1246, when Alba Iulia acquired the episcopal fortress status, the reconstruction of the church started. The reconstruction plan, taking over some of the elements of the late Roman style, was unique and new in Transylvania at that time. In 1271, the cathedral was demolished for the second time during a rebellion of the Sibiu Saxons against the bishopric who had imposed burdensome taxes. After the resumption of the construction in the first half of the 14th century, the Gothic sacristy was built. The South-West tower was erected at the initiative of Iancu de Hunedoara (Latin: Ioannes Corvinus, Hungarian: Hunyadi János). Beginning with the construction of the Lázói chapel in 1512 and the Várday Chapel in 1524, the Renaissance style was introduced in the Transylvanian architecture. During the Calvinist administration, 1565 – 1715, the inner fresco and decorative elements were destroyed. Between 1601 and 1603, the cathedral has been robbed and the South-West tower was set on fire. With the installation of the Austrian administration in Transylvania, at the beginning of the 18th century, the cathedral has been transferred again to the Roman-Catholic Church. The sacristy was rebuilt, and Baroque style elements were then introduced.

The cathedral comprises funeral monuments characteristic of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Besides this, regarding the definition of the 13th century architectural styles in Transylvania, the monastery of Cârţa (German: Kerz; Hungarian: Kerc) is worth mentioning. It was the first Gothic building, the only Cistercian monastery in the province. The Alba Iulia cathedral and the Cârța monastery (founded in the first half of the 13th century) represented models and led to the installation of an ecclesiastical architecture typology in Transylvania. Some of their elements can be found in the fortified Cistercian church of Hălmeag (in Saxon dialect: Halmajen, German: Halmagen, Hungarian: Halmágy), of the Reformed church in Sic (Hungarian: Szék; German: Secken), of the Catholic one in Radna, of the Minorites’ Church in Bistrița, known as the Church of the Crown, or the Evangelical Church in Sebeș -Alba. The

powerful Cistercian monastery, which had ten localities from Țara Bârsei in its administration and played an important part in the colonization of the Saxons in the Sighișoara area, in the Sibiu and Brașov counties, also owned stonemason workshops, as well as architects who brought a decisive contribution to the introduction and spreading of the Gothic architecture in Transylvania in the 13th century.

The fortified churches The Transylvanian churches’ fortification process was triggered by the damage caused by the Turks’ invasion in 1491. In the first half of the 16th century, over 200 churches were fortified after the fortification model used in the cities.

There are three general types of fortified churches, all conceived as defensive solutions to external war attacks: 1) churches with a fortified enclosure, spread on the plateau of Ţara Bârsei. Their defensive facilities are in the enclosure, the church itself being partially or not fortified at all. The best illustration of this fortification type is found nowadays in the church of Prejmer.

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2) the fortified churches with defensive elements distributed both on the actual building of the edifice and on the precinct. The lateral naves of the initial building have been eliminated, the defensive grounds were built above the main nave, a bastion overlapped the chorale, and the tower was transformed into a fort.

The church was also surrounded by a fortified enclosure.

These patterns are specific to hill areas. The well-preserved churches of Valea Viilor (Vineyard Valley), Biertan, Viscri and Moşna (German: Meschen; Hungarian: Muzsna) are illustrative. The church of Moșna, built between 1480 and 1486, comprises in its defensive network a fortified enclosure with towers and bastions, supply rooms, a chapel, a gate tower, a bell-tower, zwinger. It is one of the most beautiful Gothic churches in Transylvania, to the construction of which the Saxon stonemason from Sibiu, Andreas Lapicida participated. He has also worked at the fortified churches around Sibiu, in Ațel (Saxon dialect: Hätselderf, Hâtseldref,

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German Hetzeldorf), Richiș (Saxon dialect: Rechesdref, Reχestref, German: Reichesdorf, Reichersdorf) and Cristian, as well as at the Evangelical Cathedral in Sibiu during one of the final stages of its reconstruction.

3) the churches-forts, which are the last fortification model, introduced around the end of the 15th century. They were designed from the beginning as defensive targets, equipped with enclosures and installations that served this purpose.

The first built after this model is the church of Saschiz, which began in 1496 and was completed only in 1525. Inspired by the late Gothic, it was built of quarry stone, a very long and wide hall type, reinforced by 22 buttresses, with the chorale enclosed on three sides. Above the chorale there is a level of defense built of brick, and above the sacristy there are two levels. The three portals are provided with arched embrasures, and in the walls of the defense floor there are masked casting holes. The walls are provided with ramparts, and in the highest part there are buffer walls against the projectile. Erected 16 meters above the level of the defense floor, the tower is also part of the defensive complex. The way of protecting the communities by the fortification of the churches was taken over by the Szekler settlements, typical for this influence being the fortified church from Dârjiu, Harghita, which was built in the 13-14th century, and it is among the six fortified churches of Transylvania included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. The existing form presents a Gothic style restored and extended version from the 15th century.

The fresco in the church is of great documentary value and it represents the legend of Saint Ladislau and the battle of Chirales (Battle of Cserhalom) in 1064. Ţara Haţegului is one of the areas with the richest history in Transylvania. Here are the ruins of the former capital of Roman Dacia, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, founded after the victory of the Romans in 106 by Provincial Governor, Decimus Terentius Scaurianus. At less than 50 kilometers distance, on the present place of Grădiştea Muncelului

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village there are the vestiges of the former capital of PreRoman Dacia, Sarmizegetusa Regia, currently included in the list of monuments belonging to the UNESCO Cultural Heritage. Within this perimeter there is the most elaborate synthesis of the Dacian and Dacian-Roman civilizations’ antiquity, since we are talking about the political-administrative centers of a kingdom and then of a Roman province.

In the village of Densus (German: Demsdorf), a few kilometers away from the road from Hateg to Sarmizegetusa, there is a unique church from the stylistic aspect, the Sfântul Nicolae (Saint Nicholas) Orthodox Church. George Bariţiu wrote that this church is “the most complete monument that has survived on Dacia’s territory. That church, built by the Romans, is today a Christian church of the Romanians”.

Iorga opiniated that the church’s age did not go further than the 16th century, but that it still represented a “unmatched” object in the church architecture on Romania’s territory.

According to C. C. Giurescu and D. C. Giurescu, the church was built towards the end of the 13th century, but not in the form we see today. Certain parts were added during the 14th -15th centuries. Considering the Roman cultural richness of the area, Aron Densuşianu thought that the place of the present church was a mausoleum of the Roman general Longinus, and the church tower has taken over and incorporated the evacuation chimney of the old edifice. In his book Antiquities of Dacia in Transylvania, when the beautiful country was ruled by the Romans, Baron Hohenhausen was convinced that an ancient pagan temple dedicated to Mars was stylized and “converted” into a Christian church. The most realistic hypothesis is probably that we are dealing with a medieval monument for whose construction columns, funerary stones and epigraphic monuments were used from the immediate vicinity, some might have been brought from Ulpia Traiana. The result, what we see today, is an interesting stylistic hybrid between the late Romanesque and the early Gothic, which the craftsman has

HISTORY interpreted with plenty of fantasy and originality. The fake counterfeits of the Roman columns on the southern and northern facades of the nave were placed much later, probably in the 19th century, and had only a decorative function.

So are the two Roman funerary lions on the roof of the apse.

The initiators of the construction were members of a local knyaz family, the Muşineşti from Răchitova, according to an inscription on a marble tombstone, now turned into a lintel above the church entrance. In the 16th century, after the disappearance of the Muşineşti family, the church was used both by the Orthodox peasants and by the nobles converted to Calvinism. The prolongation on the western side of the church dates to that period. In early 18th century, with the support of the Habsburg authorities, the local Greek-Catholic community took charge of the church.

The mural fresco was executed by an icon painter named Ştefan (Stephen) around 1443. Its qualities recommend it among the most valuable Byzantine church painting vestiges in Transylvania. The western wall and iconostasis were painted in the 18th century by the most famous icon painter at that moment, who was working in Tara Haţegului, Simion of Piteşti. In 2003, the preservation and restoration of the mural painting was completed by a team of artists from Bucharest, coordinated by Silviu Petrescu. Then, in 2005, the church wall and the bell tower were consolidated and restored.

The Reformed church from Sântămărie Orlea (Hungarian: Őraljaboldogfalva, German: Liebfrauen, Mariendorf), next to the Kendeffy Castle (18th century), has undergone over the centuries all confessional metamorphoses specific to the area. At the beginning, it was a Catholic church, and in a short moment of its history it probably became Orthodox, for it to be Reformed later. Its style, something between the late Romanesque and the early Gothic, indicates that most likely it dates from the 13th century. The church was consecrated to Virgin Mary, as it results from a Latin inscription on the southern side of the nave: hista ecclesiae est dedicata pro honore beata genetricis. The Latin engraving was made after covering the interior and a part of the frescoed exterior in 1311. The patron of the church gave the village toponym, villa Sancte Marie.

Ever since its construction, it was planned as a parish church for settlers established in the locality. In 1447, governor Ioan de Hunedoara (John Hunyadi) donated the Sântămăria to his close friends from the Cândeştii de Râu de Mori family (becoming Kendeffy through Magyarization), who did certain repair and improvement work, required after the 1420 and 1438 Turkish devastation of the church. It seems that the fresco was restored at that time. What makes the fresco on the church walls unique is the combination of

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Balkan-Byzantine and Romanesque-Gothic styles, comparable to churches founded by Ştefan Milutin in Serbia.

Additionally, the church presents a special historiographical interest owing to its oldest visible religious fresco ensemble on the territory of Romania. Following the Ottoman attack in 1788, the church suffered some damages, which were mended in the following period. Between 1869 and 1874, the Monuments’ Committee in Budapest decided to restore several frescoes inside the church, then providing extensive masonry restoration work. Throughout the 20th century, there were other interventions to maintain this place of worship. In terms of the cult, today the church belongs to a small community of Calvinists.

The Assumption of Our Lady Orthodox Church in Strei is on the site of a former Roman farm and close to a former necropolis, whose ruins were used for the new construction. The settlement’s origin goes back to the 13th century, and it corresponds stylistically to the late Romanesque and Gothic beginnings. To the west of the church tower there was a narthex, added to it in the 14th century, but it was demolished in 1700. The traces of its existence are still visible. Painted shortly after its construction, today the church is keeping fragments of the original fresco, completed by a famous icon painter named Grozie: in the altar Jesus in glory and the apostles, and in the nave the Holy Annunciation scene and St. Nicholas and the saints. The church painters were acquainted with the Italian trecento technique and view, being probably instructed in Western workshops, but they adapted their knowledge to Byzantine iconographic canons under Serbian influence.

In the 14th century, when the first documents concerning the rulers of the place appeared, the church was active as a place of Orthodox worship in 1377. However, the community has undergone various confessional identity transformations, also visible in the fresco. In 1700, in order to provide the possibility of confessional manifestation and to temper the Strei community, a chapel for the Reformed believers was built.

The Orthodox services are held here for the local believers.

At Streisangiorgiu there is the Saint George church, which Nicolae Iorga considered the oldest foundation of Romanian petty noblemen in Transylvania. As a result of a complex research, the

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medievalist archaeologist and historian Radu Popa established that on the site of the present church there was an older wooden church surrounded by a cemetery in the 11th -12th centuries.

The current church was built in the old one’s place in the first half of the 13th century, having a simple, provincial, Romanesque-style, with one nave and a rectangular apse.

The fresco was achieved in stages, as the church votive inscriptions indicate. In the first stage, in 1313-1314, knyaz Balotă, priest Naneş and painter Teofil contributed to this. The entire inner surface of the shrine was painted then. The original fresco was restored in 1743 by the initiative and financial support of Greek-Catholic Bishop Inochentie Micu Klein, after the rather rudimentary “color over color” procedure. Over the centuries, the fresco has undergone numerous similar operations, which makes the original impossible to reconstruct.

The wooden churches The wooden churches in Transylvania are probably the most valuable legacy in the traditional ecclesiastical heritage, not only by their age, but by their stylistics too. Their uniqueness is part of Europe’s Christian material civilization, certain being acknowledged in the UNESCO Heritage.

Wood being a perishable material, we can rarely find churches over 300 years old. The one from Lupşa (Alba), dedicated to “Saint Nicholas”, which had a version built in the 15th century, preserves the present form after the restoration in1694, and it is one of the oldest in Transylvania.

The wooden churches in Maramureş County have a well-defined style, where wood art has witnessed a unique development and originality over the centuries, visible from church architecture and houses to gates, cemetery crosses and home and household items. Maramureş is the most famous Transylvanian region for wood civilization. Built in the 17th and 18th centuries a great number of those churches were included in the heritage. They are distinguished by the rectangular planimetry extended on the east-west axis, the vaulted nave, the two-step and four slope roofs, the thin and very tall tower, lengthened in the Baroque style. The wood of the building is carved with Christian decorations and symbols,

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which is an easy-to-understand religious language along with that of icons. Iconography was initially a form of Bible in images provided to believers who could not read. The essential meaning of Christian teaching had thus been perpetuated for centuries. The walls are decorated with painting on the inside and, in some cases, on the outside. The painting, usually achieved by local craftsmen, is peculiar by its representation of figures, but also by its colors, where scenes from the Byzantine analysis canon are interpreted with naive art methods, present everywhere in the villages of Transylvania.

Among the oldest and best-preserved churches there is the Greek-Catholic Church dedicated to the Archangels of Șurdești, built in 1766 by master Ion Macarie. Acknowledged in the UNESCO Heritage list in 1999, it is personalized by its stylistic perfection, the slim and very tall 54-meter tower, being among the world’s tallest wooden churches. The interior painting was achieved in 1783 by well-known painters Ștefan (Stephen) at the altar, and Stan and his disciples at the navy and the narthex. The porch has two rows of overlapping arches. The large tower is guarded at the corners by four other small towers, which may be the symbolic representation of Jesus Christ’s authority in relation with the evangelists, the authors of the synoptic gospels.

Included in the UNESCO Heritage as well, the church of Budeşti Josani from 1643, painted in 1762, was considered a perfect achievement at that time. Placed on a hill, it was the highest 17th century wooden construction in Maramureş. Alexandru Ponehalschi, who painted the interior walls and icons, was one of the greatest icon painters of his time in Transylvania, his works included in the iconostases of the Sârbi-Susani, BudestiSusani, Ieud-Deal, Berbeşti, Deseşti churches. The Icon “Coronation of Mary” on the communion table and apse of the altar were made in 1812 by the icon and muralist painter Ioan Opris.

The Saint Paraschiva Church in Deseşti was built in the middle of the 18th century and it was painted in 1780. Well preserved, the mural painting illustrates the characteristics of the post-Byzantine style in Maramureş. The paintings were made by two of the best icon painters from Maramureş, Radu Munteanu and Gheorghie (?). The church in Bârsana consecrated to the Entry of Virgin Mary into the Church dates to 1711 and was erected by priest Ioan Ştefanca, together with his sons and villagers as a sign of gratitude to God because their village was spared by the plague that had struck the surroundings one year ago. On the walls, painter Toader Hodor represented scenes from the Genesis in the naos and the Last Judgment in the narthex. The Poienile Izei church, built in 1632 by the community, has a surprising detail on the tower, a metallic crescent moon attached under the cross at the top probably to defend the church from destruction against the Turkish attacks in 1717. The “Nativity of the Mother of God” Church in Ieud Deal is founded by the Balea local noble family in the 17th century. In 1921, priest Arthur Artemiu Anderco discovered in its attic the Codex of Ieud, which certain historians consider the oldest Romanian language writing. It is a large church welcoming over 340 people, painted by Alexander Ponehalschi on the entire surface of the nave, the narthex and the altar.

The church in Rogoz, Lapus, consecrated to the “Archangels Michael and Gabriel”, built in 1663, painted in 1785 by Radu Munteanu and Nicolae Man, has certain construction features that contribute to its historical value, acknowledged in the UNESCO Heritage: the polygonal narthex, the rectangular nave and the polygonal altar apse, with seven sides, in evacuation.

The rope motif is carved on the main beam and consoles.

The entrance door has an opening in accolade and frame where rope and rosette model decorations were made.

The southern façade has a medial area decorated with the same motif of the rope. The asymmetric roof, which is 1.20 m displaced from the axis shaft, also offers a unique aesthetics, but has a practical function too, namely, to enlarge the eaves on the northern side under which the elders were sea-

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ted at the Mass. The eaves of the church are supported on consoles arranged according to the “horse head” structure.

The bell tower is square, with the bell room open, and at the corners of the pyramid roof there are turrets.

The Transylvanian wooden church phenomenon is much more complex than the Maramureş type, because in almost all the province’s areas we find older or more recent forms of this ecclesiastical architecture whose cultural, spiritual and even moral value cannot be detached from the history of the Romanian community in this country area. In other parts of Transylvania, where the Saxons and Szeklers settled and the fortified churches also developed in cities such as Brașov, Sibiu, Sighișoara, Alba Iulia, Cluj, Oradea, we talked about the stone masons’ craftmanship. They have built churches and cathedrals, where they have taken over, interpreted and applied forms of the European ecclesiastical architectural styles. By comparison, in the case of wooden churches, there is more to say about originality and even uniqueness. Thus, we can rightly claim that the genius of the sacred architecture in Transylvania is identifiable in the wooden churches’ construction. The carpenters and church painters have written the ecclesiastical history of the Romanian villages in Transylvania.

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Bran – Queen Marie’s Heart Castle

By Sidonia GRAMA

Motto: “This old castle has seen, along centuries, the good and the evil.” At night, when all the lights are on, it sits on the sky like a fairy tale shadow with hundred of flames punching holes through it.” Queen Marie of Romania

Bran – a gate of the Carpathians Lonely and imposing, built on the steep rocks of Southern Carpathians, between Bucegi Mountains and Piatra Craiului, Bran Castle has been guarding for centuries Bran-Rucar pass, surrounded by unforgettable landscapes, with forests, pastures and gardens. “There’s no road more beautiful than this one,” wrote the famous historian Nicolae Iorga, describing the old pass from the Carpathians, of crucial strategic relevance ever since the Dacian and Roman time, windingly connecting Transylvania to Wallachia.

Bran is the Slavonic word for gate: a symbol of passing, of entries and exits, of separation and unity. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Teutonic knights built a medieval fortress serving as a customs office, while also being an impenetrable citadel. The inhabitants of Brasov finished the construction in stone in 1388. Its role become even more important during the reign of Transylvanian princes .

Bestowed for a certain amount of time to the rulers in the Romanian lands to the south of the mountains, in exchange for their loyalty in the fight against the Ottomans, the Bran region enjoyed certain privileges under the rule of Mircea the Elder, Iancu of Hunedoara or Vlad Tepes (Vlad The Impaller),

also known as Vlad Dracula. Despite being ally with Bran and Brasov, Vlad Tepes severely punished the Saxon customs officers demanding higher and higher customs taxes, all the while supporting his rival to the throne. It is said that, out of spite against Vlad Tepes, the Saxon community took revenge in later chronicles, by obsessively depicting Vlad Tepes as a blood-thirsty ruler.

Dracula: a Gothic fantasy with vampires Dracula’s historical myth is tied, vaguely and confusedly, to the name of the Wallachian prince, Vlad Tepes or Vlad Dracula, the son of Vlad Dracul, member of the Knights’ Order of the Dragon (Ordinis Draconis), acknowledged in Europe as ruler of Wallachia. Born in Sighisoara, the son takes his father’s name, a noble title. Dracula’s legend will transform the name, however, into a demonic, vampire-like one. It is the legend that still haunts, playfully, the cultural and touristic imagery in the West regarding Transylvania.

Bram Stoker’s famous book published in 1897 launched Dracula’s myth in Western culture. Written in a Victorian period passionate about Romantic mysteries and travels, the book is a Gothic fiction about a Transylvanian vampire

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count, haunting a lofty castle in the Carpathians. It is possible that the image of the castle in the Carpathians was inspired

by Jules Verne’s famous novel or even by the postcards of the time with Bran Castel, since the exotic charm of Saxon Transylvania was expressively described by the travelers of the period. In the 20th century, a few successful movie adaptations of the book will ensure this eerie vampire fantasy’s place in pop culture, tying Transylvanian imagery to the Anglo-Saxon one.

Beyond fiction and legend, we are left with the history of Bran Castle. It certifies the fact that the biggest transformation the old military and customs fortress had seen was the one after the Great Union of 1918.

Bran Castle – the summer residence of the Crown of Romania Two years after the union of Transylvania with Romania, the destiny of Bran castle would forever be linked to the name of an unprecedented personality: Queen Marie of Romania (October 29, 1875 – July 18, 1938), wife of King Ferdinand (August 12/24, 1865 – July 20, 1927), Creator of Greater Romania.

After the end of World War I, on December 1st, 1918, by popular will and under the auspices of the Crown of Romania, Transylvania and the other Romanian provinces united with the country, in a favorable international context, called “the astral moment of Romania”. December 1st, 1918 became Romania’s national day after the December 1989 Revolution and Romania’s return to democracy. In 2018, 100 year since the great union were celebrated.

Queen Marie was, in her time, an international charismatic personality, and one of the most acclaimed royal figures in the world. “I gave Romania a face, my face” confessed the Queen after her 1919, diplomatic tour in Europe, when the queen consort was the irresistible ambassador of Romania’s cause, an exemplary model of royal diplomatic efficiency,

the most powerful country brand, in today’s words.

From 1920 to 1947, Bran Castle functioned as the royal residence of the Crown of Romania, property of Queen Marie, bestowed to the sovereign by the people of Brasov as a symbol of their gratitude and respect. Who else could have turned the sober medieval citadel in a comfortable, Romantic and eclectic home? With artistic flair, Queen Marie of Romania, also known as the last Romantic and the first modern woman, would forever imprint her unique stylistic touch on Bran Castle, just like she had done with the Castle in Balchik (today in modern Bulgaria), Pelisor Castle in Sinaia, and the royal palace in Cotroceni, Bucharest.

Bran Castle will thus become one of the most appreciated royal domains from Transylvania belonging to the Crown of Romania, together with the later castle in Savarsin, property of her grand son, King Michael I of Romania, today the symbolic place of royal Christmas.

From this date on, the history of Bran Castle is organically connected to the one who brought it back to life, to Queen Marie’s heart and to the dramatic destiny of the royal dynasty and of Romanian society.

“My beloved Brana” Two years after the Union, as a symbol of their gratitude for the one who had been queen of hearts and mother of the injured in the Great War, the people in Brasov donated Bran Castle to Queen Marie. The donation document from December 1st, 1920 reads: “We, Brasov Town Council, (…) unanimously decided to give Her Majesty Queen Marie of Greater Romania the ancient castle of Bran, so rich in historic memories, (…) as a token of our deep veneration and of the solid dynastic loyalties of our city… (…) towards the great queen (…)”. Since then, Queen Marie would be honored by the locals as the Empress of Bran.

The powerful medieval atmosphere of this citadel would also inspire Queen Marie for the ritual of her and King Ferdinand’s coronation on October 15, 1922, in the Coronation Cathedral in Alba-Iulia, founded by the two sovereigns especially for this historic event. “I don’t want

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polished oak doors, vaulted ceilings and large rooms, with just a few items of furniture breathing simplicity and refinement, balconies overlooking the interior garden, full of dahlias and geraniums, all give the castle an irresistible charm.

The massive past of the citadel walls or the fine past of the antiquities are reconciled here with the most modern utilities for that time: electricity, hot water, lift, funicular, telephone stations, infrastructure elements benefited by the localities around Bran Castle.

Great care was also dedicated to other elements of the royal domain: the castle garden and park, a small green house and a rose garden, where native species from Codlea or rare foreign species grew, the lake of the castle, where trout and swans lived, protected by votive stone crosses and fountains. The domain also had a hunting hut, a small wooden church and two traditional huts, an exotic refuge for the Queen and her closest daughter, Princess Ileana, which celebrated the Romanian vernacular architecture, the peacefulness and simplicity life could have; pots, stoves, icons, Romanian carpets, pillows, round wooden armchairs.

The chapel would be the place for the spiritual, adorned with precious paintings and icons made in 1927 by Artur Verona. Bran Castle becomes once again what it had been in the past: a gate to different worlds, to both the West and the East, to the past and the future.

The journey of Queen Marie’s heart

anything modern a queen might have. I want everything to be medieval”, stated the Queen, as quoted by Diana Mandache in Bran Castle, Romanticism and Royalty. The Queen’s crown, made of the gold the people in Transylvania offered to the one they affectionately called “our empress”, was made in Paris, with a vegetal motifs and lateral pendants design specific to Byzantine diadems, and the Queen’s attire resembled that of Byzantine princesses, so that the aura of medieval sacred royalty would surround the two kings of Greater Romania.

The medieval theme is kept and valued in the interior design of the royal residence in Bran. The castle was built “in harmony with the rock beneath, none of the rooms being straight, with small, steep stairs,” wrote the sovereign, proud of her possession.

The queen has the vision of the castle, for which her pet name was feminine in gender, in a bright winter night: “Bran, or my beloved Brana, as I jest in calling my castle, earned a soul through me (…). The unconquerable little castle had that night a completely different appearance, it suddenly became ethereal (…).”

With a vivid imagination, the queen and the architect Karel Liman managed, together with landscape architects and artisans from Sibiu, to bring harmony to the opposites, in a supple and fascinating syncretism.

The castle joins together Teutonic and Saxon Western austerity with the Oriental sensuality and spirituality, the Byzantine atmosphere of the interiors, embroideries, lamps, Oriental rugs, old icons, set in the niches of the thick walls of the citadel, together with severe libraries and Western chairs.

Fireplaces, arcades, steep or spiraled stairs, secret staircases,

The transformation of Bran castle from an austere fortress into a welcoming home has lasted 10 years. Between 1920 and 1930 the royal domain underwent work in parallel with the arrangement of the residence of the Queen’s heart, the Castle in Balchik, on the Black Sea, so that, in the epoch, Bran and Balchik would become the trademark for her unmistakable style.

These were tough years for Queen Marie and more and more frightening for Europe. After King Ferdinand’s death in July 1927, queen consort Marie would be marginalized from political life by her son, King Carol II. “My only joys remain Balchik and Bran,” wrote with bitterness Queen Marie to a friend in 1931. She came to Bran more and more often, together with Princess Ileana and found here moments of peace and delight for which she was grateful. A prolific and talented writer, Queen Marie found at Bran the time to write parts of her memoir “The Story of My Life”. At Balchik, in 1933, the queen wrote her memorable letter will-worth, “To my country and my people”: “By the time you read these words, my people, I will have passed the threshold into eternal Silence (…). I bless you, beloved Romania, the country of my joys and sorrows, beautiful country that lived in my heart and whose paths I have known all. (…)”

On July 18, 1938, after a long suffering, Queen Marie passed away at Pelisor and was buried in the royal necropolis in Curtea de Arges, together with King Ferdinand. However, her heart, the center of her being, would stay, according to a strange last wish from the sovereign’s will, in the Stella Maris Chapel in Balchik. Just like the old knights of Jerusalem, Marie, the cross-crusader of all Romanians’ union dream, wanted her heart to rest for eternity in one of the dear places she had brought to life.

However, history’s vicissitudes would not allow the sovereign’s heart to rest in Balchik. Beginning with 1940, when the history of the Romanian Cadrilater ended, the queen’s heart knew a long journey. With great pains, Princess Ileana managed to bring the case with Queen Marie’s heart

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at Bran and deposited it in a rock alcove in front of the castle. The place has become a place of pilgrimage for the inhabitants of Bran and Brasov, who worshiped the queen.

The exile of Princess Ileana, heiress of Bran Queen Marie left Bran Castle to Princess Ileana, because she was the only person who shared her love and devotion for these lands. “Bran has a heart and can only be mastered by someone who understands its heart.” To honor her mother, princess Ileana has built in Bran the hospital “Queen’s Heart”, where she would work as a nurse for a few years, in memory for the part Queen Marie played for Romanian soldiers in World War I. She also has a chapel built, a replica of Stella Maris from Balchik. In 1941, after an earthquake, the remains of Prince Mircea, Queen Marie’s youngest son were brought from Cotroceni and buried at Bran. Thus, a branch of the royal family would become grounded at Bran, as a seal over time, set against the gloomy years to come.

In 1948, when communism took over Romania, King Michael I, Queen Marie’s grandson was forced to abdicate, and the last fortress standing for democracy and constitutionality in Romanian society fell to the ground. Exiled, the members of the royal family would cherish for over 40 years the dear memories of the country they loved and served. Before her exile to the United States of America, Princess Ileana managed to take with her a handful of earth from Bran, which she placed in a small metal box that never left her until her death. Becoming a nun, under the name of Mother Alexandra, Princess Ileana got to see again her country right after the revolution, in 1990, when she was welcomed by the inhabitants of Bran with extraordinary warmth, after decades of communist oblivion. Shortly after her visit home, Ileana died on January 21, 1991, in the United States, still carrying with her the same small metal box of earth taken before her exile in 1948, a telluric symbol of her yearn for her country.

Bran Castle in (post)communism and today From 1948 to 1989, the years of the communist regime in Romania, Bran Castle was taken over by communist authorities, and it was turned into a museum in 1956.

Like many other items of royal heritage, the signs of the constitutional monarchy were deleted, destroyed, subjected to an intense politics of oblivion.

As the rock sanctuary with Queen Mary’s heart continued to attract clandestine pilgrims, in 1977 the authorities decided to move the precious case at the Museum of National History of Romania. Considered national heritage, but never shown to the public, taken out of the case encrusted with precious stones and stored unworthily on a shelf in the museum, waiting for better times, the heart’s exile would last for almost 77 years, 2 countries, 4 cities and 3 changes of political regime. The queen’s heart came back from this strange exile of oblivion in 2015, when King Michael I of Romania, her illustrious grandson and the last sovereign of the country, barely returned himself from a too-long exile, decided to bring the queen’s heart to Pelisor, in the Golden Room, where the sovereign of Greater Romania had passed away.

Between 2006 and 2009, following a property restitution process, Bran Castle became the property of Princess Ileana’s heirs, being re-opened to the public and enjoying a considerable tourist success. Today, the generous space hosts every year eclectic cultural and entertainment events: Jazz at Bran Castle, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, choral concerts, European Night of the Museums, Children’s Day, cat exhibitions, medieval re-enactments, public readings of the fairy tales written for children by Queen Mary.

Such events experiment in a postmodern manner the inbetweenness of history and legend, Western myths and local traditions, fiction and reality, art and entertainment, creating an attractive touristic and cultural offer.

Since 1989, the history of the royal patrimony has been gradually recovered, restored and valued, in the form we have the chance to see and understand today. The story of Bran Castle brought back to life by Queen Marie, and of the castle in Savarsin, both famous royal residences of the Romanian Crown in Transylvania, shine light on part of these dramatic and fascinating stories.

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Săvârșin: The Memory of the Royal Christmas

By Sidonia GRAMA Photo: www.romaniaregala.ro & www.familiaregala.ro To European culture, both in cities and the countryside, Christmas is one of the most important Christian celebrations; it is part of people’s identities and families.

In Săvârșin1, Arad county, the now restored memory of the royal Christmas symbolically brings back the 150-year continuity of a celebration: the profound solidarity between the royal family and the Romanian society.

In fact, the very rituals of the Christmas tree and festive dinner, now so familiar to everyone but actually borrowed from Catholic and Protestant traditions, have only been observed in Romania and Europe for a century and a half.

In our country, these traditions largely began at the same time with the establishment of the Romanian dynasty, in the second half of the 19th century, by King Carol I, credited with modernising Romania, and Queen Elisabeth, known to the world as poet Carmen Sylva.

The centuries-old tradition of royal Christmas has only recently been resumed at Săvârșin. The royal estates became the cradle of this major winter holiday – for the royal family and all Romanians. An iconic image is that of the Săvârșin Castle, beautifully night-lit and carolled by local folk, dressed in traditional vestments, or by well-wishers came here from all across the country. Săvârșin is therefore the living symbol of a successfully restored historical memory.

2001 marks an important moment in the timeline of this restoration. King Michael I and the royal family’s post-exile exile ended then, thanks to a political context favourable to Romania’s accession to the EU and, in fact and law, the country’s return to European values – the same values that the Romanian society naturally shared before the advent of communism.

Săvârșin: a royal home In the ‘40s, the royal estate at Săvârșin used to be more than a summer residence for King Michael I of Romania and for his Queen Mother, Helen. It was home and refuge for the young sovereign whose constitutional prerogatives had been drastically reduced in the troubled times Romania and Europe faced around the Second World War. An old hunting manor belonging to a Hungarian count, the building had been restored in the 19th century. It was bought

by King Michael because he needed a stronghold residence in Transylvania after the Vienna Diktat2 and the withdrawal of King Carol II. In a few years, the good taste and ambient style of Queen Mother Helen transformed this small castle in a comfortable, discreet home. The Săvârșin community warmly welcomed the royal family, always held it in profound respect and deep, lasting affection. A deeply-rooted rural community of farmers lived here, in the nine villages of the Zarand region; in the olden days, their ancestors would help transport salt on the Mureș River. There are now around 3,000 people in the region and the community memory is still touched by the royal encounters. The elders remember Queen Helen visiting the locals and helping them – just as today royal family members led by Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Crown and Kings Michael’s daughter, go 1 2

there each Christmas Eve and give presents to the people in the villages. The elders also remember the young King Michael, tall and lean, resolutely roaming the hills, woods and even streams with his jeeps, of which he was so fond ever since he had been a teenager. The image of the young solitary

Small picturesque town in western Romania, in Transylvania, along the banks of river Mureș.

Also known as the Second Vienna Award or Second Vienna Diktat, it was an agreement arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, by which Romania was forced to cede half of Transylvania to Hungary.

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king, daring the swift creeks with his amazing amphibious car, had then intrigued and amused the villagers.

Many years after his final return home and even in his old age, King Michael would still be seen by locals driving his car – sometimes all the way from Lausanne, in Switzerland – and even stopping to pick a villager hitching a ride. Their king would be their driver.

Via Regis: The Exile Although they loved these places, the royal owners of Săvârșin didn’t spend much time here. On the fateful day of 30 December 1947, King Michael was forced to abdicate, blackmailed by Communist leaders obedient to Moscow, and the royal family had to go into exile. Via Regis, the royal road, was the road of exile: ‘a leap into the unknown’ made then ‘with death in our hearts’, as King Michael would bitterly remember. That path would last for more than 40 years. About 3 January 1948, the day he left the country in the royal train, King Michael said: ‘I was leaving everyone’s inferno to go into that of my own. While exiled, our loneliness was greater, especially as the longing for our country and the need to live alongside all Romanians were being questioned’. The Săvârșin railway station was the last brief stop before the Curtici customs.

Only much later, in the ‘00s, with the return home of the Royal Family, Săvârșin once again celebrated a memorable royal arrival. Then Princess Margaret of Romania and Prince Radu would write in the Royal Christmas Book: 'On 1 June 2001, the road between Deva and Arad was packed with people of all ages in folk costumes. Some were waiting on horseback. They escorted the car King Michael drove, up to the entrance of the Săvârșin royal estate'. This ritual borrowed something from the medieval solemnity of Romanian princes' ceremonial arrivals, or those from the

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imperial times in Transylvania. This was the time to restore the historic memory of royal Săvârșin.

Restoration and healing The restoration of the Săvârșin royal estate started in 2007 and ended in 2015. It was possible with the dedicated work of professionals close to the Royal House – architects, local craftsmen and traditional artisans. Construction followed an initial plan drawn by Royal House Architect Șerban Sturdza, with the constant input of David Baxter, built heritage specialist. The project involved construction works both on the inside and on the outside of the building, as well as restoring interior decoration and furniture, which completely vanished in 1948.

In October 2015, the Royal House announced 'the completion of a detailed, complex and vast process of cultural and historic restoration that his Majesty, King Michael I and her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Margareta, wanted to be an example for the Romanian society'. A reason for this is that the restoration was also intended to be a long-term sustainable development project of the area, a school for young apprentices in preserving endangered traditional crafts.

The idea to restore the royal estate originated in the need to restore a valuable historical memory, violently silenced under communism. Out of respect and affection for his illustrious father, Princess Margareta put her whole heart and energy into bringing new life into the estate, as Queen Mother Helen once did. But sources for this restitutive endeavour were fragile and evanescent: King Michael’s memories and a few photographs princess Margareta remembered she had seen in her teens at Versoix, in Switzerland, going through her grandmother Elena’s albums. Fortunately, fifteen black and white photographs of palace interiors, taken by guests

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of the Queen Mother, were discovered in the royal family archives and then put together with other negatives; blown up3, these visual representations decisively helped re-create the atmosphere and decorations from before 1948.

Restoration works respected the most natural lines and materials, after painstakingly removing the alterations and after healing the castle of the brutal intrusions of the communist regime.

The dendrological park around the castle was then rebuilt.

It is one of the oldest and most important such areas in Europe, with natural monument rare species of trees and bushes: silver fir, spruce, thuja pyramidalis compacta, bald cypress, Japanese pagoda tree, Himalayan pine, Turkish hazel, oak. Restored, this park became, after an old British tradition, a park for remembrance. The secular oak is, in the Royal Family’s emotional memory, a symbol for King Michael and his dignified life amid the troubled times of 20th century history.

The Royal Automobile Museum Also in the honour of King Michael, the old garage building of the castle was re-purposed and, on 25 October 2011, was opened to the public as the Royal Automobile Museum.

Every Christmas Eve, especially for carollers, the Royal Family decorates one of the Christmas trees brought from Sinaia4 – the others being offered to the town hall and the church. Because here, the generous space can easily be transformed into a concert or events hall.

The coming home of his Majesty’s Jeep collection was documented and presented in November 2017 by the Romanian public Television. These cars had had their own exile, 70 years in England then Switzerland – but the four World War II cars had accompanied King Michael and Queen 3 4 5

Ann their entire life. The Royal Automobile Museum in the Royal Village on the Săvârșin Estate would host and display these vehicles for the public beginning with May 2018.

This remarkable museum is a heartfelt gift in remembrance of the most enduring hobby in the amazing life of King Michael I. In the year of its opening, King Michael still was the last surviving head of state from World War II. Decorated by both US President Harry Truman and his USSR counterpart, King Michael was commended for his historic decision of 23 August 19445, which shortened the war by at least six months and significantly avoided more loss of human life.

Memory and Identity The successful restoration of the royal estate at Săvârșin therefore represents the restoration of precious historical memory. Obviously pleased, King Michael would humorously describe the new atmosphere at Săvârșin: ‘It has become again a very welcoming house, civilised and with no hidings’.

The King sent his 2013 Christmas message from Săvârșin – just as had done almost uninterruptedly for 74 years, from exile.

His message, warm and encouraging, stated: ‘(…) These days, the Săvârșin castle echoes with carols, buzz and preparation.

The entire Romanian society looks to the Săvârșin Christmas as part of their own home. I am certain the somewhere in Heaven, Queen Helen is happy for all of this’.

The time for the restoration of the Royal Estate in Săvârșin was therefore a time to heal historical memory. And memory is identity: Transylvanian, Romanian, European.

Film photography procedure in which a photography or a part of it is optically made larger Mountain resort in central Romania and location of the biggest Royal residence in the country, the Peleș Castle, now donated to the Romanian state by the Royal family.

At 23 August 1944, Romania broke its forced partnership with Nazi Germany and joined the Allies, as the Romanian population had long-time demanded

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Unique in Europe “Peonies won’t perish” replied Marcu Sâncrăianu, the fi rst guardian of Zau de Câmpie Nature Reserve, Mureş County, when he was 8 at most, listening in 1932 on the Botii hill to the academician Alexandru Borza talking about the wild purple flowers which will disappear if unprotected.

The botanical reserve sits at 450 m, the highest elevation where peonies have ever adapted, at approximately 50 kilometers from Târgu Mureş municipality. It’s one of the most important touristic landmarks of Mureş County which attracts thousands of visitors annually. Peonies flower usually in April and May and sometimes in June.

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Illumination

By Ion MUREŞAN Translated by Carmen-Veronica BORBÉLY Photo: Sidonia GRAMA

In the villages of Transylvania, All Souls’ Day has a very beautiful name: Illumination. If it were up to me, I’d make All Souls’ Day one of the national holidays. On that day, I believe that children can better understand what their homeland is than on Heroes’ Day or on National Day. These abstractions are hard to grasp by tender minds. But don’t many adults actually face abstractions with tender minds?

Without sounding hollow, you could say during Illumination the homeland is a patch of land that is not indifferent to you.

A patch of two-square-foot land that you hold dear and are ashamed of. And that later, you’re afraid of. You hold it dear because you often go to see it and say a prayer across its expanse. You go there often, but only in your thought. You’re ashamed because you don’t walk with your feet, because you lay down flowers in your mind, not with your hand.

But, during Illumination, you leave everything aside and make a small gesture: with flowers and candles in hand, you walk up the path to the cemetery, your children trailing alongside. You take them along and show them the place that is not indifferent to you, so that later they will know without hesitation where it is located. Lest they should get lost, lest their steps should fail to find the way, when they come alone.

After all, it is like walking trees, strange and stunted, like trees on wheels – I’d like to say – that we go to visit our own roots.

The day of Illumination is the day of Their Majesty the Dead.

It’s the day of their Highnesses: the great-grandfather and the great-grandmother, the grandfather and the grandmother.

It’s the day of His Highness, Father. The day they emerge from the dark side of memory and enter the light of thought and remembrance. There, near the graves, the candle flame turns into a lens. If you look through it, you can see your father’s face. And you can also see your mother’s face. The candle flame is a “hole in the wall of Heaven,” as one poet put it. And there are so many candles in the hills that surely

Illumination is the day when the wall of Heaven is riddled with holes. Next to each hole, a dear face is waiting for you to come to the meeting. To come to the prison fence – I would say - for I do not know, and no one knows, who is free and who is imprisoned.

On this day there is a terrible bustle. The streets no longer cope with the lines of cars, hitchhikers make signs desperately on the side of the roads, and a sea of people enter through the gates of cemeteries. All have candles-lenses and flowers in their hands. But no one gets lost. Each arrives at the meeting point without fail. It’s the same beyond, in the world of the dead, on this day. Even there, despite the hustle and bustle, no one gets lost.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve been going to these places that are not indifferent to me (on All Souls’ Day the hectares that I have a “Title of Ownership” on and that are listed in the “Land Registry” are more indifferent to me than the two square meters). Over the years, slowly, slowly, the illumined side of the cemetery has shifted. It has migrated.

The graves near the village, which forty years ago were watched over by a crowd of people and adorned with flowers and candles, have been engulfed by shadows and by the wilderness. Grass, plum trees and the weeds of oblivion have grown over many of them. Perhaps the names on the crosses have faded or are barely legible in an ID card or a passport in some foreign country. Now the candles bring out from indifference the once deserted territories by the forest. And I think that, slowly, slowly, following the path of the candles, the cemetery in my village will travel around the world and that, one day, maybe a thousand years later, the candles will end up, like the ships of Magellan, exactly where they set off from.

Until then, every year, I put a candle on a few graves that no one comes to. I put a lens through which a soul that no one has come to meet can see the village again.

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The Story of Wine

By Vianu MUREŞAN

“The soft season of youth returns.

I miss this wine in which All smiles bloom. Be it harsh, I still cherish it.

Do not scold me. It is harsh, for it has the taste of life.”

Omar Khayyam

The Wine in the Inkwell Perhaps no other drink is as connected to a mythology, a culture, even a religion in certain time periods as wine.

The wine consumer, no matter how much of an expert he deems himself or how much of a man of fine taste, is the last to arrive at the “barrel”, after the gods (Bacchus), the heroes, the poets and the artists had already savored it.

Perhaps these characters of the past no longer mean much to the winemakers, who first and foremost think of creating strong wine brands, unique varieties or blends, desired by as many consumers as possible. However, let us not forget that the poems by Anacreon, Omar Khayyam, François Villon, Verlaine, Byron, Esenin, Eminescu, Pillat, Păstorel Teodoreanu and even Mircea Dinescu are part of the wine culture and perchance even part of its price. Whoever sells wine, also bottles it in its cultural mythology, created not by the great drinkers, but by the great poets. In the same manner, whoever buys wine also buys its story. The story told and forgotten countless times in the wineries, pubs,

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cellars in which two or more goons stray in order to honor its name like the name of a god. When we drink wine, we also drink everything ever told about wine and what comes to mind, what sings in our ears are the inspiring voices of the poets of wine.

If the famous philosophical banquets with which Pericles’ Greece tormented our minds were held today, it is almost certain that among the drinking partners there would also be one who would demand cognac, whisky or, why not, a Turț brandy that cleanses the soul, calls for spiritual peace, washes the mind as one would a dirty window and, suddenly, everything in life is enlightened. However, since neither whisky nor brandy could be found in Athens, Socrates’ companions seem to have wet their lips with wine before threshing their divine words in enchanted cadences. Those words, somewhat obscure and difficult to fumble, have been read and repeated across the face of the civilized world for 2,300 years. We do not believe that if he had not strengthened his spirit with a pitcher of wine, Aristophanes would have had the courage to unveil, during the banquet, the story of the creation of the Androgyn, its unprecedented perfection and its fight with the gods, their terrible revenge and the painful separation of the man from the woman, after which the lives of the poor creatures became sad and bleak. Only love was left to them, to delude them that, in sporadic copulations, their lost unity could be recovered. That was impossible, and this was as clear as day when their amorous nights fell apart under the sharp teeth of dawn. But, in its kindness, life sometimes hands them a baby, to smoothen the broom of their faces every now and then with its tiny finger.

Without a short respite at the rim of the beaker in which the sweet sparkling wine fizzled gently, we believe that not even Diotima – the woman who was wiser than Socrates, who reached unprecedented philosophical peaks with no training in feminist dialectics, but rather on mystical paths – would have spoken freely about the philosophical Eros, born of godly bone and destined to raise the souls of the willing to divinity. Perhaps even only to mentally follow, to comprehend these heads of mysterious sapience, the attendees to the Socratic banquets needed one or two cups of wine. And even if they did not understand everything, after a few more cups drained leisurely, by morning, when they each dispersed towards their conjugal homes, the immediate screams of their thus awoken wives may have sounded like the tweets of angels, beloved jewels sprung from the lips of Aphrodite. It is true that in the case of some, like the young wayward Alcibiades, the sweetness of wine boggled their

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minds and, at the time of retiring to their quarters, they saw women in the place of men. They were just as gentle and just as tender as they would have been with a woman and their passion was explained through the interpretation of the same story told by Aristophanes, the story of the Androgyn. Namely for why, pray, is man drawn to man as to a woman. It is not a matter of myopia, there is no real connection to loss of sight. How could poor Socrates have endured the relentless nagging of wife Xantippe his whole life, had he not strengthened his thought with wine and philosophy? It is said that at the end of the banquets, after a night of maieutic acrobatics sustained by wine that was not watered down, instead of getting drunk, he seemed to be even more lucid and clear headed. Perhaps, at that time, there was no wine stronger than philosophy in all of Greece.

If there were, it never found its way into the hands of the divine Athenian babbler.

We do not know what vine varieties there could have been at that time and what types of wine the Greeks had predominantly drunk during the Dionysia or the Romans during the Saturnalia. It is likely that it was something similar to our homemade wine, which contains all the grapes from the vineyard, regardless of the variety. A wine made through primitive methods and kept according to the circumstances, but one certainly cleaner (bio), since nature was at that time not yet polluted. Essentially, the variety of wine is unimportant; what matters is the cultural and religious effect developed by these people by drinking it. Their intoxication left something behind in history, something that is actually beyond the wine and the pleasure of drinking.

Our Dacian ancestors, for the chroniclers of that time, did not stand out through their abstinent outings, quite the contrary, through the fiery spirit given by the strong wine which they believed could make them immortal. For the sake of immortality, they were always in an ongoing bash and shindig until the gods fated them the occasional war with the dreadful Romans. Not from madness did the mage Deceneus – a holy man who travelled across Egypt and who had a passion for mysteries – conspire for the vineyards of Dacia to be eradicated. It is possible that the drinking of wine mixed with ivy could somewhat explain the Dacians’ bellicose temerity when it was needed, but perhaps it can also explain the betrayal in dire straits. We do not know how their passion for the bacchanalian potion could have inclined the feelings of their wives towards the Roman soldiers, who, once they reached Dacia, struck a discordant note through their military severity and abstinence. Women have always been fascinated by men in military uniform… it

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is a historical fact that Dacia was conquered and the young wives, even the fiercest ones in their conjugal fidelity, at some point wound up pouring wine in the cups of the conquerors with helmets and breastplates. Those cups of wine poured by the blushing Dacian wives for the Latin speaking soldiers birthed, if not the Romanian people itself, at least their story.

That still counts for something.

If there were not wine, many stories would not have been told.

Much would not have been written, much would not have happened. Wine has its stories that are told circumlocutorily at first, but after the heart gets warmer, wine loosens the tongue of he who drinks it. For years it remains silent in the bottle or in the barrel, stored in darkness in the wine cellar, so that no ray of light disturbs its slumber, and all the while wine continuously dreams. It dreams and it awaits the day it is take out of its container, free to show its skill and power. The purpose of wine is to reach man’s soul, to assess his nature, to test him, to tear him out of sadness and melancholy. When it reaches the glass, it heats up with joy, it gives the lover courage, it blushes the cheeks of the girl prepared for marriage, it shows the philosopher the path towards truth, it gives the artist vision, but all on one condition – moderation.

The Alchemistic Oenologists The oenologists’ work with potions is no less delicate and mysterious than the work of alchemists with minerals, lulled by the heresy of the philosopher’s stone. Focused on the still,

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the alchemist watches the transmutation of the elements, he puts them through several stages of distillation, sublimation, coagulation and unification until he obtains the “gold”, the quintessential matter. The alchemists knew something essential about nature, something that we have forgotten or that we never even learned, namely that the chemical substances and the natural elements have a character, a personality, qualities and flaws, that they are in a continuous process of kneading, adjusting, changing. In nature, nothing is definitive; everything evolves, changes, in laborious processes of transmutation. What truly matters is the direction of the change, and the alchemists believed that they had found the perfect method though which they could transform the gregarious matter into gold, which was, in fact, the symbol of perfection. The wonderful metaphor the alchemists found for this process of transforming the elements into gold was the mystical wedding. The substances fall in love, touch, bind and give birth to new, more refined, perfect substances.

Similar to the alchemists’ laborious processes that still fascinate through their eccentric spirit and the foolish ambition to bring the matter back to the purity of the uncreated mystical light, the oenologists’ process of transforming certain varieties of wine into something better is, in technical terms, called blending.

The varieties of wine are numerous and very different, and the differences are not only in taste, quality – felt in the mouth, in the state obtained after drinking, or in head, the following morning –, but also in “nature”, “character”, “personality”. As they can be sour, acidic, sweet, semi-sweet, watery, liqueur, wines can also have weak, strong, effeminate, virile characters and shy, bold, hesitant, exuberant, patient, impetuous, calm or hasty natures. If knew the nature, the characters of wines, we could write novels about them like Balzac’s Human Comedy, or even Dante’s Divine Comedy, since wine has truly always accompanied man in his adventures since the dawn of time. It has always been a witness, counselor, devoted friend or mortal enemy at different times and in different circumstances.

Thus, what do the oenologists do through their blending operations? They work on the characters of the wines; they attempt to adjust them, to improve their natures, their qualities, to increase their values, to obtain new tastes and properties that no pure variety contains. The wines are put together in a form of intimate relationship, in which they must “accept” each other; they must “like” each other in order to “love” each other and to “give birth” to a new wine.

The oenologist does not hold absolute power over the wine, which is what it is though nature’s long labor, namely the variety of the vine, the conditions in which the grapes ripened and the earth from which they fed, the methods of juicing, vinification and maturation etc. Therefore, the oenologists

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takes an already licensed product – with fixed data in the form of sugar-acidity-strength –, to which he must add a final note, a particular character, and all of this is done by combining good varieties, similar in quality. For instance, the wines obtained from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc are combined in accordance with the famous recipe from Bordeaux in order to create a wine with a strong personality, but at the same time fine and balanced. Wines of the same variety from different years can also be combined in order to confer strength and courage to the new wine through the maturity and the strength of the old one, which accepts it as “one of its own”. Never must one combine a good wine with a bad wine, sour or old, and neither should strong red wine be combined with a weak white wine. A fine wine has its pride, it does not lend itself to quite any combination.

The blending is done with wines maturated in barrels for longer or shorter periods of time, and a pre-established proportion of the varieties put together cannot be applied.

The percentages are approximate, what gives the final note is the oenologist’s flair, who first mixes the proportions in a vial and tests different combinations until he obtains a certain “note”, a taste that is good and unique. Usually, obtaining a new taste takes several days and requires hundreds of tests, and when the recipe is ready and the proportions are established, the wines meant for blending are taken from the wooden barrels in which they slept separately and put into large stainless steel barrels in which they begin their cohabitation. From there, they are pun into bottles, in which they truly live their “honeymoon”. If the recipe was inspired, if the wines in the bottles were “happy” together, this is what each consumer must feel after opening the bottle. The taste and the knowledge of the consumer must also be cultivated.

“Nobody is perfect”, not even in the world of wine, which is why people are always working on improving the qualities and characters of wines and on elevating their “spirit”. A good wine, just like in the case of the characters of people, is obtained through education, refining efforts and constant evolution. It is likely that among oenologists, there are ones as ambitious of alchemists, trying to obtain the “philosopher’s stone” of wines. The perfect wine that does not intoxicate you, but elevates you morally and enlightens you. As is the case of the perfumers who seek the absolute perfume (see P. Süskind’s Perfume).

Weinland Dragged by the ambitious Arpadian kings towards the far eastern region of the Hungarian Kingdom, with the clear task of colonizing the Transylvanian Plateau and to imprint their diligent household spirit, the Saxons who reached

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the Târnave Rivers region found themselves surrounded by unending hills covered in grapevine. Moved by passion, suddenly stirred by what their eyes beheld, they instantly named the region through a mantra: Weinland. A land of wine, thought the Saxons, tired after the long journey from the Rhine Valley to the Mureș and Târnave Rivers, was everything they ever needed. It also almost occurred to them that they had wandered to the edge of Paradise.

They were good Christians who knew that wine was the blood of the Lord, and a country to which God gave so many grapevines could not be far from heaven. The country was as beautiful as one must have been in biblical times; as far as the eye could see there were rows of grapevines with thick branches and golden bunches, untouched by rust, around which bees sparkled. A never before seen beauty that made the Saxons forget their parents and their homelands and to quickly build a new life for themselves on these planes.

Some of the colonists who were royal favorites settled down in the villages of Cricău and Ighiu and took up viticulture.

The chronicles mention them starting from 1206, the period of King Andrew II’s reign, who, for the cultivation and production of wine, completely exempted them from taxes.

A document from 1255 specifies that they, “the fist guests”, cultivated new varieties of vine, and the exemption from obligations concerns the sale and purchase of the production obtained from the vineyards they had planted. Together with their settlement in the region, viticulture developed considerably, due to the fact that they brought new vine varieties, more efficient technologies and methods both in the care and cultivation of the grapevines, as well as in grape processing and wine conservation. Moreover, their proverbial diligence and discipline imposed a new spirit, a new administration style and a new work ethic.

Today, the region the Saxons named Weinland contains four of the most important vineyards in Transylvania – Alba (Țara Vinului, Aiud, Sebeș-Apold, Târnave). Their administrators built an association that would outline a regional tourist wine touristic plan which would also contain the traditional cultural patrimony, a “Wine Road” between the traditional wineries and cellars, following the model organized by the Assembly of European Wine-producing Regions. The region’s natural beauty, the important medieval heritage compiled of the villages with well preserved vernacular architectures, fortified churches, castles, manors, palaces, churches, cathedrals, the existence of certain village communities that kept their traditional lifestyles are all additional arguments that support the wine tourism. In short, the idea is to combine the local wine patrimony with the cultural patrimony in more attractive and, why not, more profitable touristic projects.

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THE ART OF WINE DOSAR In 2007, through a decree issued by the Alba County Council on June 29th, the “Wine Land” Association was created in order to promote the wines from the Alba-Târnave region, to stimulate the wine tourism following the established and successful model of the great European winemaking regions. The founding members are wine producers and retailers, among which there are Jidvei S.R.L., S.C. Viticola Gârbova S.R.L., S.C. Logos S.R.L., S.C. Domeniile Boieru S.R.L, the associations of wine-makers from Aiud, Bucerdea Vinoasă, Cricău, Crăciunelul de Jos, Ighiu, Alba County Council, Alba Iulia Local Council, Aiud Local Council, Blaj Local Council, Teiuș Local Council, the local councils of the communes of Câlnic, Cetatea de Baltă, Cricău, Crăciunelu de Jos, Galda de Jos, Gârbova, Ighiu, Jidvei, Mihalț, Sâncel, Sântimbru, Șona and Valea Lungă. The association elaborated a complex work strategy in different directions, among which testing and increasing the quality of the wine products, promoting the local wine brands, supporting their retail, campaigns to promote the wine tourism, creating tourist wine routs integrated in the European circuit, consultancy and projects meant to support the adaptation of the adjacent infrastructure to the needs of the wine tourism, consultancy in the cultivation of grapevines and grape processing, professional formation programs and continuous formation programs in the field of wine culture, organizing information sessions, workshops, contests, wine tastings, wine fairs and festivals, organizing certain exchanges of experience with wine producers from other countries with a wine tradition.

The potential tourist, attracted by the Wine Land project, would have many vineyards to see, many wineries to visit, many unique wine varieties to taste and, perhaps, to take home. For a tourist to form a somewhat adequate idea of the wines from Transylvania, it would be best that he spends at least a summer’s vacation here, for there is much to see.

Not even we, who have been raised here, know all of them and we still come by many wonderful surprises. In the past 10 years, several new, extraordinarily tasteful wineries appeared, containing previously unknown or very little known wine varieties and blends that fill you with respect for the oenologists who had been inspired to produce them.

Let us take some of these wine establishments one at a time and let us hope that the spirit of abstinence shall accompany our journey, so that we can visit as many wineries as possible.

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We shall begin with the largest one, how else? The Jidvei vineyard from the Târnave Rivers region, owned by the Necșulescu family, is the largest one in Transylvania, with a surface of 2.500 acres, as well as the biggest winemaker in Romania. Moreover, it is the largest unique owner vineyard in Europe. The history of the local viticulture and winemaking probably begins in antiquity, if we were to think of Herodotus’ references that, 2600 years ago, noted the Daco-Getae’s skills in viticulture, as well as their unrelenting enthusiasm for the consumption of wine. The first written records come from the Middle Ages, from the 12th century, when the region started to be colonized by the Saxons. An important benchmark in the development of the area was represented by the construction of the Bethlen Haller castle between 1570-1580 by the Chancellor of Transylvania, Miklos Bethen and restored between 1615-1624 by Count Ștefan Bethlen. It was inspired by the Chambord Castel on the Loire Valley, in the French Renaissance style and it was probably designed by the famous Italian architect Domenico da Cortona. Historians do not dismiss the possibility that Leonardo da Vinci participated in the project.

After World War II, when the communist regime took over Romania and the private properties had been nationalized, the Jidvei vineyard became a State Agricultural Enterprise, and the Bethlen-Haller castle that thus became the property of the SAE was set up as a production line for champagne.

The current owners of the vineyard, the Necșulescu family, bought the castle from the former owners, the heirs of the Haller family, who had obtained the castle after the Revolution from 1989 through the retrocession carried out by the Romanian state. After laborious restorations, the castle regained its elegance and the solemnity of its former style. SAE Jidvei was privatized in 1999, when S.C. Jidvei S.R.L. was born. The new owners developed a comprehensive plan for the modernization, tech and renewal of the vine varieties. There were massive investments in planting new vine surfaces, replanting in the areas in which the vine was degraded, thin or degenerated, modernizing the sustaining systems, modernizing the winemaking technologies, the wine storage and maturing conditions, in the renovation, expansion and construction of new wine cellars.

Today, the company has four wine cellars, namely the Jidvei wine cellar, built in 1974, with a storage capacity of 21,5 million liters and a bottling capacity of 12.000 bottles per hour; the Tăuni gravitational wine cellar, built in 2014, with a storage capacity of 4,95 million liters; the Blaj wine cellar, built in 1989, with a storage capacity of 3,95 million liters. The oldest wines of the Castel variety, 200.000 collectable bottles, are stored in the Blaj wine cellar; the Bălcaciu wine cellar, built in 1958, with a storage capacity of 2,4 million liters, that contains the sparkling wines and the wine distillates.

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At the present time, Jidvei owns the largest gravitational wine cellar (that uses the principle of vessels connected at the drain and decantation of the mash) in Europe, the first computerized winemaking system and the first planting machine equipped with GPS. Furthermore, in Jidvei, the first private school of grapevines in Romania was established; it produces cuttings and grafts of different varieties for the new plantations on a surface of 17 acres.

Many factors contribute to the quality of the Jidvei wines, the first of which being the quality of the grapevine varieties, the quality of the brown forest soil and the environmental conditions – a continental climate typical for a plateau, moderate autumn temperatures with no sudden oscillations, with fog and sun that favor the slow ripening, the accumulation of sugar and aromas, the balance of the acidity. Moreover, the skills of the cultivators and processors, the quality of the winemaking technologies, the skills of the oenologists and tasters, who actually decide the final tastes of the brands made available on the market. The immense Jidvei wine-growing area is located at an altitude between 200 and 500 meters, on south-facing cliffs where the heat of the sun spread throughout the summer months and the atmospheric currents contribute to the quality of the grapes.

The varieties that occupy the largest surfaces are: Fetească Regală (824 ha), Sauvignon Blanc (467 ha), Muscat Ottonel (427 ha), Italian Riesling (247 ha) and pink Traminer (163 ha). 100 acres out of the total rod surface are occupied by black grapes of the Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Fetească Neagră and Syrah varieties.

Among the winemakers of Romania, Jidvei has the widest selection of products, the largest production of white wines and wines with Registered Designation of Origin. The brands produced and marketed are: from the Tradițional selection, the Fetească Albă and Riesling dry white wines, the Traminer, Muscat Ottonel, Chardonnayand Rosé medium sweet wines and a medium dry wine, Feteasca Regală; from the Jidvei Clasic selection, Fetească Regală, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc; the Premiat selection contains the most widespread varieties: Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc; the Grigorescu selection contains Dry Muscat, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Rosé; from the Nec Plus Ultra selection, the Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Rosé varieties; the Tezaur selection contains some of the first blends made in Romania – Muscat Ottonel with Fetească Regală, Sauvignon Blanc with Fetească Regală –, and the Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling wines; the Castel selection contains the Sauvignon Blanc, Fetească Albă, Gewurztraminer and Muscat Ottonel wines. They are kept for six months in oak barrels in the cellars of the castle from Cetatea de Baltă, after which they are bottled and they are left to age for three years or more.

The exclusivist Mysterium wine collection contains blends of two or three wines, obtained from the varieties Rhein Riesling with Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer with Sauvignon Blanc, Fetească Regală with Muscat Ottonel and with Sauvignon Blanc; the Owner’s Choice selection contains the best wines from the best production, selected and recommended by the owners thus: the Ana collection (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay) and the Maria collection (Fetească Albă, Pinot Gris). We must note that the wines from the Ana and Maria collections were awarded gold medals in the Vinvest 2012, AWC Wienna 2012, Vinvest 2014, Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2015 competitions, as well as silver and bronze medals at many other national, regional and international competitions.

The sparkling wine category contains the Mărgăritar brands, medium dry and medium dry Rosé, and Spumant Jidvei, the options being Extra Brut, Extra Dry and Rosé. The brandy category contains the Vinars Jidvei VSOP brands,

distilled from noble wines and aged in wooden barrels for five years, and Vatra Jidvei VS, aged in barrels for three years. Beginning with 2015, Jidvei offers to those who wish to make homemade wine the possibility of buying mash from the company, from the Sauvignon Blanc, Fetească Regală and Muscat Ottonel varieties. *

The Apold Gorgandin vineyard estate, spread across the eastern parts of the Sibiu County, is one of the best in Transylvania. The Sebeș-Apold vineyard is located in the middle of the vineyard estate. In this area, the grapevine culture has a long history, given the richness of the soil and the adequate weather, as well as the special varieties adapted to the existing microclimate. Throughout the centuries, the Germanic people who settled here after their expulsion in 1734, at the time of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI’s reign, contributed to the development of winemaking.

After a period of degradation and suspension of activity, the Apoldu de Sus vineyard farm was reopened in 2007.

From the beginning of its activity, large areas of grapevines were planted, with cuttings brought from Italy, from the “Vitis Rauscedo” Agricultural Society whose representatives provided the planting of the Riesling Italian, Traminer Aromatico, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Ottonel varieties. The plantation has a surface of 62 acres, on a land at approximate altitude of 450-485 meters above sea level, with a southern inclination and a good exposure to the sun and a reddish-brown forest soil.

The special wine varieties made available on the market are: Gorgandin Sauvignon Blanc, Gorgandin Traminer Aromatico, Rose de Apold – Madmoazela, Gorgandin Pinot Gris, Gorgandin Muscat Ottonel, Italian Gorgandin Riesling. * Castel Vinum is the young winemaker of the wines in the Villa Vinea winery. They originate from the vineyards in the Târnava Mică River area that benefit from a favorable specific microclimate, with clay soils rich in minerals and a humidity level that is adequate for winegrowing. The plantations are on a slope with southern exposure, receiving sunlight on long periods of time, as well as west and north-west currents that contribute to the stabilization of the humidity in the soil and in the grapes, thus facilitating the fixation of the sugar content, the acidity and the specific aromas of the different vine varieties.

Castel Vinum has a short history. The merits of the establishment of this company of fine wines go to Heiner Oberrauch, the owner of the Salewa Company from Târgu Mureș, born in the Italian Tirol. He confessed that the

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THE ART OF WINE DOSAR tradition of vine cultivation and winemaking has been in his family for six generation. After expanding his business to Romania in 2001, he began buying lands, and in 2006 he had the idea of populating a lot on the Târnava Valley with several noble grapevine varieties that were very well adapted to the area which, in the investor’s opinion, had microclimate features that were similar to Tuscany. For four years, he planted a surface of 32 acres with Fetească Albă, Fetească Regală și Fetească Neagră, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling de Rhin, Gewurztraminer, Muscat Ottonel, Pinot Noir and Merlot varieties. To these classic and traditional varieties he added the Kerner variety, brought from Germany, and the Austrian Zweigelt. Moreover, in 2010 he began the construction of a wine cellar with a storage capacity of 5.000 hectoliters. Part of his investment in the vineyard, in the wine production line and in the wine cellar, amounting to 3 million Euros, came from projects supported by European funds.

The new wine varieties adapted to the conditions in the Târnava region very well, so that shortly after the production had been resumed, Villa Vinea put on the market several brands that gained rapid recognition and received awards.

The first wine production from 2011, within a competition held in Bucharest, received 24 gold medals for the white wine varieties. This achievement was aided by the experience and skills of the Italian oenologist Celestino Lucin, who, in 2009, was considered to be the best in Europe. The brands put on the market by Villa Vinea, some of which having been awarded gold medals in the Premium and Selection categories: Fetească Regală, Rhine Riesling, Kerner, Rosé Zweigelt, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Fetească Neagră, Diamant (obtained by blending Fetească Albă and Fetească Regală), Contessa (a blend of the Goldmuskateller and Kerner varieties), Rubin (a blend of Fetească Neagră, Merlot and Zweigelt).

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* The Boieru de la Ciumbrud vineyard estates inherited the tradition of noble wines from Transylvania. To this day, the fame of the Ciumbrud wines has not faded, supported by the numerous awards obtained at home and abroad, beginning with the gold medal received from Napoleon III in 1867 at the Paris International Wine Contest. The fame of the Ciumbrud wine is accompanied by the legend according to which, after a taste, the Prince of the first Romanian Union, Michael the Brave, had his heart set on it.

The Boieru vineyard estates put on the market white wines, as well and Rosé and red, in wide selection, among which there was a special promotion called Vinul Centenarului [The Wine of the Centennial] – a medium dry white wine.

For the wider appetites of the revellers at weddings, baptisms and holy celebrations, the Ciumbrud dry, medium dry and medium sweet white wine, the medium dry and medium sweet Rosé and the medium sweet and medium dry red wine can also be purchased in 2 liter or 5 liter bottles, so that there would be no need for more trips to the wine cellar, since it can become more narrow, crooked and hampered from one hour to the next. In the days of old, this wine could be purchased directly “in the gut”, namely that the client could have as much as he can drink for a fixed price, as long as he paid his bill before his knees gave out.

However, turning to the conventional 750ml bottle, the wine cellar has several sensational offers that must not be overlooked by any lover of wine and rural poetry. First, the red wines: the Fior brand, a Fetească Neagră and Pinot Noir blend which no unmarried girl should ever touch, since it deeply affects the pious spirit and the inclination towards silence; the Mentor seems to be addressed to the scholars whose minds are not quite on the same level of their ambition, which is also a Fetească Neagră and Pinot Noir blend; an honest Fetească Neagră that softens the bones after a long day’s work and a domestic dinner. It inspires involuntarily romantic discussions, good jokes and conjugal hints. For a deep sleep with no dreams, a second bottle is recommended.

The white wines: the Cardinal brand (a Pinot Gris from 2009), Cardinal (Sauvignonn Blanc), Fior (Chardonnay and Traminer blend), Fior (Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc blend), Muhlbach (intimately connected to Sebeș), Riesling Rhin, Pinot Gris. The Rosé wines: Fior (Fetească Neagră and Pinot Noir Rose blend), Roza de Ciumbrud, Pinot Noir Rose and Sărbătoarea Rozelor.

The Boieru vineyard estates organize events for business trips and extended stays, offering comfortable spaces of the Casa Domeniile Vinului guesthouse and wine tastings of classical, premium, VIP and wine cellar wines. It is advisable that the more serious discussions be postponed for the following day, not before the theme is marked in the agenda.

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* The La Salina winery is one of the newest wineries in the Cluj County; it has been active for seven years, born from the passion and initiative of Simion Mureșan and Claudiu Sugar, who developed a project of 3 million Euros that regenerated the wine-growing area on the Durgău hills, where winegrowing goes back 2000 years, when the castra and garrison of the Legio V Macedonica were located here. The grapevine plantations named “Dealurile Transylvaniei” [The Hills of Transylvania], as well as the winery, are located near the Turda Salt Mine, which also gave its name. During the Roman occupation, the town of Turda bore the Latin name Potaissa, and the winemakers from “Dealurile Transilvaniei” named their collections using the ending of the town name, ISSA. Throughout the seven years since the vineyard was established, the works underwent systematically, from clearing the field and preparing it for plantation, to building the wine cellar and the wine-growing base thus: in 2011, the old, damaged vine was cleared, the unusable support systems were removed and the field was prepared for replanting; in 2012 they brought cuttings from the French nurseries Mercier and Herbinger; in 2013 the support system was installed the first cutting of the vine was carried out; in 2014, 9 more acres were cultivated with the Tschida variery brought from Austria and the first wine was made of the varieties planted in 2012; in 2015, the La Salina winery was officially opened. The brands that were put on the market by the La Salina winery are: ISSA Chardonnay Barrique from 2016, ISSA Pinot Noir from 2016, ISSA Rhein Riesling from 2017, ISSA Sauvignon Blanc from 2017, ISSA Pinot Noir Rose from 2017, ISSA Chardonnay from 2017. * The fortress of Transylvanian winemaking, as it likes to consider itself, the Fort Silvan 47 wine house, owned by the Szoboszlai family, has a vineyard located in the Șimleu region, on the slopes of Camăr village, at the foot of the Măgura Șimleului, near the forest. The area is cultivated by classic varieties – Fetească Regală, Riesling Italian, Muscat Ottonel, Traminer, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Fetească Neagră –, but also a Cadarcă, a variety characteristic to the Miniș vineyard, spread across 33,5 acres, an entirely new vineyard, planted in two rows, 27,5 acres in 2012 and 6 acres in 2015.

Given the geographic position that indicates a colder climate, the specific terrain of the region makes the grapes prone to a slow ripening and maturing, which allows for the minerals and aromas to be accumulated on a longer period of time, thus gaining a higher level of acidity and a richer mineral complex.

The brands offered by the Fort Silvan 47 winery are: Merlot, medium sweet Traminer, Rose, Muscat Ottonel, Traminer, Fetească Regală, Misteriosa Rosé, Riesling, Fetească Neagră and a Fetească Regală and Traminer blend. For groups, the Fort Silvan 47 guesthouse organizes hikes and carriage rides through the vineyard and through the forest, hunting trips, fishing trips, bike rides, bacon grilling outings in the vineyard, traditional cauldron foods and more. * The Silvania vineyard on the Silvania Hills claims a tradition that goes back to the time of the Dacians, who are known to have lived in this area even after the Roman conquest. The name of the town of Zalau, according to some etymologists, come from “zilai”, which in the ThracianDacian language meant “wine”. Therefore, since the time of the Dacians, there has been a great wine-growing area here. The Silvania vineyard and wine cellar are located in the region surrounding Măgura Șimleului.

The winery is unique in Romania due to the depth and length of its tunnels. It was dug 60 meters beneath the rock and it ramifies its tunnels for three and a half kilometers. Two centuries ago, the tunnels stored the wines and goods of the Jewish population in the area and its development and the expansion of the wine production transformed the storage areas into a genuine network of underground passageways. The properties of the tunnels are the 12 degree Celsius temperature and the constant humidity that generates a noble mold. During the communist period, from 1947, Silvania began producing sparkling wine using the Champenoise method, the bottle fermentation. At that time, 4 million bottles of Silvania sparkling wine were being exported annually to Germany, Poland, The Soviet Union and France.

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The specific microclimate favors the sparkling wine varieties, which ferment naturally in the tunnels for three years, after which they slowly maturate with the help of certain yeasts, by regularly changing the position and inclination of the bottles in accordance with the remouge procedure. The Silvania sparkling wine received gold medals at the National Wine Contest in 1987, 1993 and 1995. The wine selections put on the market by Silvania consist of: a Riesling Italian and Fetească Regală blend, Traminer, Muscat Ottonel, Red Pinot Noir, Fetească Regală, Pinot Noir Rose, Premium class sparkling wines – Sweet, Medium Dry, Dry and Brut Natur –, Premium Lux class sparkling wines – Sweet, Medium Dry, Dry and Brut Natur.

and the blending (namely putting them together, their “coupling”, an almost nuptial ritual from which something new must result). Clarus, a brut sparkling wine, from 2014, made using the bottle fermentation method on the white Mustoasa de Măderat variety has a long tradition in Miniș.

From the premium class, the Balla Geza winery offers five brands: Feteasca Neagră & Cabernet Franc Stonewine from 2013, Cabernet Franc Stonewine from 2015, Fetească Neagră Stonewine from 2015, Cadarcă Stinewine from 2015, Furmint Stonewine from 2016. The Wine Princess guesthouse offers its visitors wine tastings and, on order, traditional food.

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The Aramic vineyard from the Silagiu village (Szilas or Nagyszilas in Hungarian), in the Timiș County, spreads across an area of hills located between the Timiș and Bârzava rivers, at an altitude of little over 300 meters; it is extremely productive in the area of the Buziaș, Silagiu and Bacova villages. The domains of the Aramic winery established in 2015 and administered by Cosmin Crăciunescu cover 48 acres. The vineyard is part of the Banat wine-growing region of Buziaș. The Silagiu piedmont has a very good exposure to the sunlight, since the slopes are inclined southwards and westwards, thus benefitting from light and heat throughout the day. The slopes are on top of calcareous rock, which favors the grapevine plantations and they contain a great variety of soil types, from reddish-brown forest soil to soil that contains a high level of iron oxides, perfect for red wines.

The village is attested to the beginning of the 15th century, and, between 1840-1850, German and Hungarian colonists settled in the area, exploiting the soil and climactic conditions of the region in order to practice winemaking. At the end of the 19th century, they brought and planted noble vine varieties that had never existed before: Italian Riesling, Creata, Muscat Ottonel, Muscat Hamburg, red and white Schiller, Razachel, Silvaner. In 1919, the vineyards from the Silagiu region spread across 579 acres and the quality of the wines was valued throughout the Buziaș area.

The Aramic winery put on the market the following varieties of wine: Muscat Ottonel medium dry, Muscat Ottonel medium sweet, Muscat Ottonel dry, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Alb de Silagi, Roșu de Silagi, Pinot Noir, Fetească Neagră, Fetească Albă, Chardonnay, Piatra Soarelui Sauvignon Blanc, Piatra Soarelui Colonada which is a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Fetească Albă. The Muscat Ottonel medium dry of 2015 won the Gold Medal at the Vinofest 2016, held in Vârșeț.

The Balla Geza winery belongs to the same winemaking commercial enterprise Wine Princess, created in 1999 in Păuliș, not far from Arad, by Balla Geza – winemaking specialist, oenologist PhD and expert taster, professor at the Sapientia University of Târgu Mureș –, with the ambition to rehabilitate the famous Miniș vineyard, earned its reputation on a national and international level in short period of just two decades of activity/production/promotion. The Miniș-Măderat vineyard, with a surface of 120 acres spread across 40 kilometers at the foot of the Zadului Mountains between the villages of Barațca, Șiria-Mocrea and Șilindia, 26 kilometers from Arad, benefits from natural conditions regarding the soil and the climate with Mediterranean influences that are favorable to the red wine varieties – Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Feteasca Neagră and Cadarcă. Cadarca is a variety that is traditionally cultivated in the Miniș-Măderat vineyard. It also produces white wine, the Mustoasă de Măderat varieties that are apecific to the vineyard, Italian Riesling, Traminer, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Fetească Regală.

The winery’s top wines are these three: Cadarrisima, a 2015 production from the Cadarcă variety, harvested after the desiccation of the grapes and the appearance of the “noble rot”, which is possible only during the best years. It maturates for a year in the barrel and 6 months in the bottle.

Cuvée Aradinum, made in 2009 by blending the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Cadarcă varieties, from the grapes that had been selected and harvested after the overmaturation. The three varieties are processed separately using the method of fermenting the marc for 18-21 days, followed by the maturation in small oak barrels for 2 years

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* The Nachbil winery from Beltiug, spread across 23 ha on the Sătmarului Hills, which can be seen from the road that connects Zalău and Satu Mare, is one of the few wineries in Romania that, starting with 2010, adopted ecological winemaking, ensuring the quality of the grapes and the wine through the natural conditions specific to the region and the traditional methods of winemaking. The clay soil rich in minerals and the moderate-warm climate is favorable to the white and red wine varieties: Riesling, Traminer, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Blaufränkisch, Pinot Noir and Syrah.

The area has a long history of grapevine cultivation which, according do some legends, may have been practiced from the beginning of the 2nd millennium, at the time of the Hungarian King Ladislaus I, who fought the Pechenegs in the Beltiug region, where he supposedly also discovered the wine. The colonization of Satu Mare by the Swabians from Oberschwaben, Germany, in 1730, as a result of the endeavors of Count Károlyi Sándor contributed to the improvement of the grapevine cultivation and exploitation methods. As a form of encouragement for the practice of winemaking, the Swabians were exempted from the tithe for two years.

The vine varieties cultivated by the Swabians were Furmint, Bacator, Riesling and Chasselas. The 300 year old winery was built at that time. Today, alongside it, there is a new winery where the grapes are processed, after having been chosen and selected in accordance with the quality criteria, and the wine is produced using the traditional methods.

In order to invest the wine with an exceptional quality and rich mineralized “earthy” bouquet, the grapes are harvested before maturity and the fermentation of the pressed grapes is made through a reduced sinking of the grapes.

The Nachbil winery put ecological wines on the market: Fetească Neagră, Grünspitz (made of a grape variety that only exists in the Beltiug region, obtained by grafting, and it is therefore the only place in the world where such wine is made), Grand Pa, a blend of the Riesling Italian, Fetească Regală and Baras varieties (an extremely old grapevine variety with yet unclear origins that is only cultivated in very few places in Romania), Versil, Blaufränkisch and Syrah. * The Dobra winery from the Satu Mare County, under the administration of the Dobra Wine-Kallos enterprise, was rehabilitated and modernized starting with 2010 by Kallos Francisc’s family. In 2010, 150 acres of vine were planted on the hills in Dobra, and in 2012 and 2013, 140 more acres were added, so that the current area of the vineyard reaches 290 acres, cultivated with the Fetească Neagră, Riesling Italian, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cadarcă, Mustoasa de Maderat, Tamâioasă Românească,

Muscat Ottonel varieties. The modern technologies and the traditional methods of harvesting, grape selection and winemaking raised the quality standards of the wine. The fermentation and decantation of the mush are made through natural methods. “Our philosophy is very simple. We want to obtain high quality wines in Dobra, in accordance with tradition, but by using modern technologies”, as the producer Kallos Francisc explains.

The microclimate conditions, similar to those in the winegrowing regions of France and Italy, as well as the methods grapevine maintenance make the difference between the Dobra wines and the rest. Here, the vines are dug nine times throughout the year, in order to vent and affine the soil, thus allowing for a better and constant mineralization of the vine. * The history of the Rătești winery is also connected to a Germanic people, namely the Swabians who settled in the Rătești Hills (Satu Mare) region sometime at the beginning of the 1700s. not much is known about the wine-growing practice in these areas, besides the fact that, during the Feudal period, the peasants had obligations to the church which they paid in wine, from which one can deduce that there had been a profitable activity in this field. The church never imposed tithes and taxes to unprofitable fields. The immense number of cellars dug in the hill from Rătești, as well as in the hills of the neighboring villages of Beltiug, Ardud, Homorodul de Jos, Hurezu and Dobra provide a solid argument for the idea that wine was produced actively and that it held the high standard of the local economy. It is well known that at a wine exposition that took place in London in 1874, a wine made only here, named Bacator, caused quite a stir among the participants, who, as they tasted it, became more and more at a loss for superlatives, despite the fact that they became more and more convinced of its good taste.

Let us see what the Rătești winery has to offer today, since it most likely did not set aside a bottle of the famous dessert wine Bacator for us. First, the red wines: Dealul Pivnițelor (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir blend), Merlot, Fetească Neagră, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and a 5 liter Roșu de Rătești (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir and Fetească Neagră blend), perfect to put in the trunk when you set off to a weekend in the mountains with your partner. It has the gift of inhibiting the anxiety when you are preparing to propose.

The white wine selection contains: Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer, Fetească Regală, Funka Sauvignon Blanc, Dealul Pivnițelor (Fetească Regală, Traminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Ottonel), Riesling and a 5 liter Alb de Rătești (Traminer, Muscat Ottonel, Sauvignon Blanc, Fetească Regală and Riesling blend). It must be drunk with the inlaws during the obligatory family celebrations. The Rosé selection contains a single item, Rosé medium dry from 2016.

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253

The Gold Road

By Vianu MUREȘAN

In any shape it may appear, gold provokes, it raises interest, and sometimes it may even lead to obsession and make you its slave. You can’t even tell what draws you to it, because, in truth, it’s good for nothing, it’s not vital. Perhaps it’s about its beauty or the fact that you can make something beautiful out of it, you can polish objects or make jewels. It can mask ugliness or mere banality, because it’s clean, it shines, it’s got light inside. Beautifying and falsifying are equally in its powers.

Gold has its own personality, and this is why it’s fascinating and domineering. It is diurnal, franc, without hidings and shadows, it is consistent and impressive. It imposes respect and a certain distance. It cannot be a vassal, it cannot be shadowed, and it does not have the lucrative deceitfulness of gray eminences. Gold is charismatic; it radiates and shines by its mere presence, without effort, rhetoric or theatrics.

It makes you appreciate it, want it, and fear it all the same.

If you get too close, you risk getting burnt, but if you keep your distance, you can rely on it.

We now have an “ideological” obsession for gold. It is the substance left from a Paradise we were driven out of, and with which we want to polish our fleeting lives. We want to coat the world in a golden powder to remind us of that happiness, and to make the sadness of being cast away bearable. It’s why we speak of a Golden Age, a golden crown, a golden cup, a gold medal, a golden boot, gold rings, or gold teeth.

From king to chav, and from sport champion to fiancé, they all have a connection to gold. Someone proudly wears on his head a noble crown setting him apart from the rest of the world, a world that, from that moment on, bows to him in obedience, someone else grins stupidly through uneven lips to let his gold teeth sparkle. Someone triumphantly raises in the air the golden boot that makes him the best football player of the year, and another one, the gold ring on his finger placed there by his new wife. Each of them associates gold with a performance or an important even in their lives. Gold has become the measure of human qualities, performances, and events.

Gold’s domineering force, in direct proportion with the will to have it and the energy invested in having it, is both physical and psychic. It would be more appropriate to call it magic. Thus, something close to erotic passion fuels our relationship with gold. The association of gold with the object of love, and its transformation into a metaphor for all that is precious in life have become commonplaces: for a parent, his child is golden, for someone who is in love, the beloved is made of gold, there’s a gold stone that can make one immortal for the philosopher and the alchemist: the sovereign, through his golden crown, part of the royal attire, acts like the Sun God, master of the universe.

The common man, the poor, to whom life hasn’t offered anything that could be appreciated through its relation to gold, is left, nevertheless, with the fairy tales: golden birds (Der Goldene Vogel, the Brothers Grimm), girls with golden hair (Calin Gruia), the golden cockerel (Pushkin), the gold key (Tolstoy), golden apples, the golden bough (mistletoe), Prince Charming with golden hair (Petre Ispirescu), the golden garden and many others. There’s almost no fairy

tale, legend, myth or epic where gold is not present under its many faces, with its insidious way of taking over our sensibility. If the gold in nuggets, in coins or bullions, in jewelry or decorations is limited, hidden in the mountains, shown in museums, deposited in banks or ostentatiously exposed in jewelry and accessories, the fairy tale gold can belong to any one of us; it is unlimited. This is, probably, the real gold, that it to say, the equivalent of gold in spiritual life.

Since its discovery thousands of years before our time, gold has become not only the most precious asset or material for ornaments, but also the highest symbol of goodness, beauty, power, happiness, love, hope, optimism, intelligence, justice, perfection. Mysterious and hypnotic, gold seems to have gathered together all the properties, all the qualities and virtues tied to the sense of nobility and the cult of human greatness. Science is no stranger to it, either, since it named one the most beautiful mathematical discoveries, the irrational number, “the golden section”. Gold is sought after because it remains, beyond its many metamorphoses, an instrument of power and a source of domination, even in the form of accessories. Cleopatra’s dress, embroidered in gold, is an instrument of power as well.

Traditional technologies for obtaining gold It is clear that the symbolic importance of gold, on the one hand, and its economic value, on the other hand, contributed

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to the continuous improvement of the methods used to extract it and of the processing technologies. No matter how poetic and picturesque were the sheep or goat skins used for a long time and in many places by gold prospectors, they couldn’t guarantee a quantity as large as the prospector’s gold rush. The sheepskin could catch fine particulate gold dispersed in river water. Sometimes, for maximum efficiency, the skin would be burnt, which melted the gold, making it easier to work with. It was a method somewhat similar to fishing, limited to taking out of the waters the little gold which could be found in some rivers. The grinder and mortar, used as primitive technologies for the extraction of gold from rocks, were not only difficult, but they also required a huge human workforce, all with unspectacular results.

In order to extract gold from sands or rocks, especially in the places where mining already existed, new technologies were needed. The invention of the stamp mill (stampf in German) was an extraordinary progress; the technology behind it was quite simple and it was easy to use on riverbanks. In the areas from the Apuseni Mountains rich in gold, such installations started working when mining was taken up again after the Roman retreat, when it was briefly interrupted. The German peoples colonized in Ardeal by the kings of Hungary starting with the 13th century will then contribute to the development of mining, particularly to the extraction of gold in the mines from Apuseni.

The stamp mill facilitates crushing, grinding and selecting the gold from the rock by using water force. Usually, stamps were placed on riverbanks, in places bought or inherited by a single individual or a family, and sometimes they were placed near waterfalls, to maximize the water drop. The

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ore is poured into the basins at the base of the stamp and then crushed by the “arrows” launched rhythmically by the hydraulic wheel through a horizontal spindle. The non-linear arranged pinions in the spindle touch, when the spindle rotates, the arrows, causing them to fall and forcefully strike the ore, crushing it with the stones in their top ends, provided with iron rings. The ore is then conducted by the continuously flowing water into a large basin. Since it is heavier, the gold deposits at the bottom, from where it is later removed and cleaned. The remaining gold particles left in the tailings deposited in the basin are then recovered through by washing the material on a wooden board at an angle, covered in a thick woolen cloth. The golden sand thus leaves behind golden grains, while the ore residues are washed by the water. Again, the thick woolen blankets seem to resemble the ingenuous archaic sheepskin.

As they depended on the water, the stamp mills had to stop their activity in dry periods and in wintertime, when rivers froze over. The best working period was between mid-March and November, depending, of course, on each winter. In the second half of the 19th century, Californian stamp mills (img) were introduced in the mining in Apuseni, at Rosia Montana as well. Their metal arrows were much more resistant, more efficient and more reliable than the wood ones used by prior technology, which made their use frequent in gold mining all over the world. A few decades ago, after World War II, they were still functional. Their main advantage was the fact that, being run by electrical or steam engines, they could be active all throughout the year, unrelated to winter weather and river flow.

Gold sources Romania’s richest gold areas were Maramures and the Apuseni Mountains, the so-called “Golden Polygon”. In Maramures, native gold deposits could be found as gold filaments or strands in the mines at Baita, Sasar, Valea-Rosie, Dealul Crucii and Suior. The filaments in Baia-Mare region were 1,000-2,000 m long, running up to a few hundred meters deep, with an average concentration of 2.2 g Au/ ton of ore, up to 4.5 g Au/ton. The area of the Metaliferi Mountains, between the rivers Aries and Mures, where the Gold Polygon of the Apuseni Mountains is located, had gold deposits at Baia de Aries, Zlatna, Sacaramb, and Caraci.

Around the Gold Polygon there were simple strands and networks of strands. Native gold could be found in sulphideimpregnated nests, as well as sheet-like, plates, wires or crystals 3-4 mm long, associated with pyrite, blend, and galena or other minerals such as quartz or calcite. The gold strands in this area run up to 500 m deep and 800-1,000 m long. The gold concentration was variable, ranging from 1.0 g Au/ton ore up to 5.0 g Au/ton ore.

In Transylvania, the Roman rule meant intense gold mining.

After the Roman retreat, for almost 1,000 years there was a decline in gold exploitation. The beginning of the 14th century is also the new start of systematic exploitation in Apuseni and Maramures. It is estimated that during the Middle Ages, gold exploitation in Ardeal resulted in approx. 450 kg/year; after the 1500s, production doubled and sometimes surpassed a ton/year. At the beginning of the 17th century, gold production in the mines from Maramures and Apuseni meant 20% of the world production. In the Habsburg period gold extraction increased greatly. After World War II, production began to drop steadily, from 7 tons in 1947, to 6 tons in 1960, 5 tons in 2000 and 2.5 tons in 2005. Since the beginning of the gold exploitation to date the amount of gold extracted in Romania is estimated at approx. 2,200 tons.

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The Gold Museum The Gold Museum in Brad began with a collection of gold rocks gathered by a German geologist about 1896 from the mines in Apuseni, and since then around 1,300 pieces of both native and world gold found a place in the showcases of the museum, which now hosts the largest collection in Europe.

The specific element of the museum is that the gold pieces are natural, none have been processed or altered, thus being jewels of nature, the result of the mysterious production “technology” of the mountains’ deep, unrelated to human aesthetic rules. Gold processed and cast in decorative shapes is, in fact, subjected to the vanities and ambitions of the one who uses it to display power, wealth or sacerdotal distinction.

We need to differentiate between the “wild”, “raw” gold we see at the museum in Brad and the “civilized” gold we may see in the different museums around the world, as helmets, bracelets, jewelry, utensils, in commercial use. “Civilized” gold is, in symbolism and utility, man’s servant, whereas “wild” gold inherits the innocence of a nature untouched by man’s interests.

The collection in Brad highlights gold in its mineral formations in the form of pulses, pure or concocted with other minerals – in combinations with tellurium (a rare silver semi-metal, discovered in 1782 in the mines in Zlatna), with

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sylvanite and nagyagite-, as lamellae, filaments, dendrites, granules, phytomorphs, zoomorphs or forms that mimic artifacts (a cannon, a Dacian flag). 800 of the museum’s pieces come from other countries. The Romanian pieces are brought from Rosia Montana, Baita, Baia-Mare, Brad, Cavnic, and Baia Sprie.

The pieces originating from the Gold Polygon stand apart because of their shape and size, and are the most spectacular from the entire collection: the Dacian flag, the pentagonal crystal, which is unique in the world, the lamellar gold called “Pana lui Eminescu”, the gold lamellae called “Feriga”, the mini-lamellae called “Soparla”, the lamellar gold with crystal deposits.

The historical image of Transylvania has always been associated with gold, which is one the many valuable resources of this space, together with its mineral waters, the salt, the forests, the wines and vineyards, the impressive mountains, the gentle slopes grazed by centuries old fairs, villages, and hamlets. The galleries in Rosia Montana no longer have gold now, but they possess something equally valuable – gold’s memory and mythology in this space.

When gold runs out or is taken from the place where it was formed and sat for thousands of years, the empty space needs to be filled with intelligence and creativity, so as not to become deserted.

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The Salt Road Some of the largest salt resources in Europe have been found in Transylvania, and they have been exploited since ancient times, in the Roman era. Underground salt layers are widespread and they measure 400-500 metres, at varying depths. The former mines are located in places where salt was closest to the surface and therefore easier to identify and exploit. Recent measurements show that the salt works in Turda, for instance, are situated on a 1,200-metre-thick mushroom-shaped salt layer.

History The first records related to the salt trade date from 892 a.d., in a document chronicling how the King of the Franks pressed the Bulgarian Khan, which then ruled the Transylvanian territories, not to allow the sale of salt in Moravia. Since the 11th century, after Transylvania becomes part of the Hungarian Kingdom, the salt mines became the property of kings, masters of the conquered territories, and salt trade soon became the second source of revenue in the royal treasury. The kingdom’s largest salt works were in Transylvania - Turda, Dej, Sic, Cojocna, Ocna Sibiului, and Maramureş - at Coştiui and Rona.

In the 11th-13th centuries, royal salt storehouses were supplied from the mines of Transylvania. Their administra-

tors were usually Muslims or Jews. Some of the salt in these storehouses was given to the Church, which also had the right to sell it. A 13th century document, the Berg agreement between the King and the Church in 1233, shows the amount of salt ceded by the King to the 29 dioceses, namely 143,000 pieces of salt. They were roughly standardised, weighed about 8-10 kg each, were cut out of larger blocks and shaped in the salt works.

In order to increase both the efficiency of the salt trade and profits, salt depots were set up in 1397 and managed from the capital – a system remaining until the installation of the Habsburg in Transylvania, at the end of the 17th century.

Such depots were built in Turda and Ocna Sibiului (each of them supplied by five salt mines), Dej and Cojocna (each supplied by three salt mines), Sic (supplied by two salt mines), and another depot in Maramureş. In the 18th century,

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the salt depots were reorganised into salt offices. They were centralised, subordinated to a bureau with authority over all the Transylvanian salt works, led by a ‘director rei salinarie’, a ‘perceptor salis ’ and a supervisor.

The methods of exploitation practiced in Transylvania were different from those of the Romans, who preferred quarry-type works. The Romans cut the salt from the surface downward, in descending layers, digging quadrilateral pits down to about 15 meters. In the Middle Ages, salt mines had the shape of a bell, cone or arch. First, they made a perpendicular shaft for the miners to descend through to the salt level, after which the quarry work actually began.

After each excavated layer, the descent to the next would be wider in a circular area, so that the top remained a rounded wall in the arch. The large blocks of salt were cut with wood wedges and chisels, hammered, and then further carved with pickaxes and shaped to standard sizes – approximate cubes of about 8-10 kilograms each to be transported on land and 3-5 kg pieces to be transported on ships or barges.

According to the surviving documents dating back to 1515, about 2,537,916 cubes of salt were produced in Transylvanian quarries, and in 1533 about 1,430,525 cubes. Around 1530, the total salt production in Transylvania was estimated at 1.7 million pieces, or 11,000 tonnes.

Salt cutters were led by a master, which was responsible for mine work and represented them in relations with the authorities. There is documented evidence that in the sixteenth century there were about 40 to 70 salt cutters for each storehouse, indicating around 300 workers at the mines in Transylvania. They were paid according to the amount of salt cut: about 20 dinars per 100 pieces of salt in the first half of the 16th century in Transylvania. Remuneration was however different from mine to mine. For the major holidays - Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, All Saints’ Day - salt cutters received an extra 100 loaves of bread, a barrel of wine and an ox. Workers in Turda, for instance, received „incentives” almost every Sunday or holiday, consisting of a barrel of wine, an ox or sheep. Besides, salt cutters were described by the chroniclers of the time as sullen, inveterate and unbridled drinkers.

After being excavated, salt was deposited on the surface or, later, in warehouses, pending transportation to various destinations in the kingdom. The largest transports were made on the rivers Someş (from the Dej salt mines) and Mureş (from the Durgău-Turda mines) to the Tisa confluence and further on the Danube. A boat about 10 meters long and 5 meters wide could carry about 60 tonnes of salt. There were about two series of transports each year by boats, beginning in the spring, after Easter, when waters would rise. The Turda-Lipova route, by boat, took about a week.

Proceeds from the salt trade were the second source of revenue for the kingdom’s treasury, after taxes. During the reign of King Bella III, between 1172-1196, the royal treasury earned 16,000 silver marks annually from the salt sale; this accounted for 7% of the total treasury budget. In the days Sigismund of Luxemburg, the income would be about 100,000 florins annually. Under Matthias Corvinus (14581490) , 13% of the central budget was secured by salt trade.

For a better understanding of the importance of salt both as a resource in the kingdom and in the life of the Transylvanian communities, we should add that the Church received significant quantities of salt from the royal warehouses, the noble families were provided with the necessary salt for household needs throughout the entire year, the Transylvanian Saxons and the inhabitants of the salt areas were allowed to extract salt for one week each year without paying it, the border guards on the southern border of the kingdom and many royal dignitaries received a portion of their income in salt. According to old records, in 1504 the soldiers received salt valued at 20,588 florins (18% of their total pay), and in 1511 the quantity of salt given to them was valued at 21,484 florins (15% of their total pay).

So as far as we know, salt was not only food and commodity but also „currency” in the Middle Ages.

The Salt Mines today Some of the former salt mines have collapsed after they were abandoned. Others, on the other hand, were rehabilitated and introduced into the touristic circuit. The Durgău-

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Turda salt works has been exploited ever since the Romans had a fort at Potaissa . After Romans withdrew from Dacia, in 274 A.D., it is not clear whether or how salt exploitation was continued. The oldest preserved document to mention the Turda Salt mine was issued by the Hungarian Chancellery in 1075 and refers to the customs of the Turda salt works. In an official document from 1271 there is an extremely valuable information: the salt works of Turda were gifted to the head of the Transylvanian Episcopate, which back then had its headquarters in Alba Iulia. Throughout the medieval period, until the administrative takeover by the Habsburgs, four underground mines operated: Katalin, Horizont (Nagydörgö, Durgăul Mare), Felsö-Akna (Ocna de Sus), Karoline (Carolina), and Joseph.

Under Austrian rule, the economy and administration of Transylvania were reorganized and the exploitation of salt, a reliable and important source of profit, was highly dynamic. As a result, in the 17th-19th centuries, another 5 underground mines were opened in Turda: Terezia, Anton, Cojocneană (Kolozser), Rudolf and Ghizela. The Terezia, Anton and Cojocneană mines, opened in 1690, were bellshaped, while the other two were trapeze-shaped, which meant a modernization of salt exploitation. The Franz Josef access gallery was excavated between 1853 and 1870, in order to facilitate the transport of salt to the surface, and was 780 metres long. At the end of the 19th century it was extended by another 317 meters. Today, 850 meters of the Franz Josef gallery are accessible for tourists.

In 1932, saltworks in the Turda mines were permanently stopped due to lack of efficiency and obsolete equipment.

In the Second World War, the mine served as refuge for the population during bombings. Since the 1950s, the locals have used half of the Franz Josef gallery as cheese storage space . In 1992 they were reopened, but for health and tourist destinations.

In 2008, the salt mine went through a major modernization project within the PHARE 2005 CES large regional / local infrastructure programme, amounting to 6 million euros. It was reopened in January 2010. The Turda galleries were spectacularly rehabilitated and have become, shortly after the official opening, one of the main tourist attractions in Europe. A panorama lift, a mini-golf course, two mini-bowling tracks, a sports field, a 180-seats amphitheatre, a carousel and a children’s playground were

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built in the Rudolf Mine. The underground lake in the Terezia mine, 112-metre-deep, can be enjoyed in a boat ride.

The Ghizela mine has been transformed to serve the needs of spa treatments. The medieval mining instruments, the crivac and the salt mill here are unique in Europe. You can also see the Altar, carved into a salt wall, and the Staircase of the Rich. In 2015, the Turda mine was included on the Ministry of Culture’s list of historical monuments in Cluj county.

Today’s resort of Ocna Sibiului lies on a massive salt layer over a kilometre deep; it was one of Transylvania’s salt works to be almost continuously operated since the Roman period until 1931 - when the last active gallery, St. Ignat, was closed. In the Antiquity, salt from Dacia reached the farthest corners of the Roman Empire. Centuries later in 1780, Johann Fichtel recorded activity in four different mines of various ages and sizes: Ocna Mare, with a depth of 124 m and a base perimeter of 200 m, Ocna Mică, with a depth of 110 m and a basin of 169 m, Ocna Sf. Nepomuk, with a depth of 34 m and a base perimeter of 36 m. Back then, Ocna Sf. Iosif barely began its activity.

The centuries-long exploitation and extension of excavations have led to land collapses and salt lakes in the area: Horea, Cloşca, Crişan, Panzelor-Inului (Iosif Mine), Bottomless Lake (Francisc Mine), Avram Iancu (Ocna Mare, the deepest anthropogenic lake in Romania with a depth of 132.5 m), Ocnița (Ocna Mică), Sf. Ion (Sf. Ion Mine), Poporului, Dulce, Brâncoveanu, Mâțelor, Vrăjitoarelor, Sf. Ignat, Trestiilor, Austel. The so-called Bottomless Lake (Romanian: Lacul fără fund), 34.5 meters deep, is like a funnel filled with brine and was formed in 1775 when the Francisc mine crashed; today it is a natural reservation.

The salt lakes of Ocna Sibiului have certain particular properties – their stratification, salinity, temperature – due to the conditions that generated them. On their surface there is a layer of fresh water; the deeper the water the saltier it gets, but this saline concentration traps a lot of heat that keeps a constantly warm temperature in the lake. There is a permanent thermal spa here, with both a treatment area and a recreational one. The natural aerosol-rich air, the temperature well above the average in this part of the country due to accumulations in the salty lakes, the renovation works of the swimming pool made the resort attractive again for balneotherapy tourism enthusiasts.

The Ocna Dejului salt mine is one of the most active and exploited salt mines in Transylva-

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nia throughout the medieval period. Activities in the galleries here and in Turda were facilitated by the transport infrastructure in the region, on the nearby Someș river. The Roman fort in Gherla controlled the salt mines in Dej, Sic, Cojocna and Pata during the Roman period.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the salt mines of Dej had the usual bell, conical or arch shape. In 1780 there were two ogive mines of salt we have data about: the Iosif mine, with a depth of 63 metres and a base perimeter of 129 metres; the Ștefan mine, with a depth of 42 metres and 67 metres of basal perimeter. Over the years, the following mines have also been active here: Mare, Ciciri, Ferdinand (renamed 23 August), May 1st, and, since 1979, the Transilvania mine.

The latter is the only one active today. Some of the former galleries collapsed and salty lakes have formed, such as the Toroc-Cabdic Lake in the northern sector, and Iosif, Ștefan, the Mina Mare in the southern sector.

The Praid salt mine, in Harghita county, is part of the Dealul Sării complex, together with Ocna de Jos and Ocna de Sus. The underground salt layer has been recently measured at 2.6-2.8 kilometers thick, the biggest in Romania. Volker Wollmann, in a monographic work on mining in Transylvania, associates the strategic and economic importance of salt mines with the construction of Roman forts. The Praid mine, for instance, was defended by the Praetoria Augusta fort in Inlănceni. Although known ever since Roman times, and there are notes about certain mining activities here from 1200, it was only after the establishment of the Austrian administration that the massive mining operations at the Praid mine began. The first gallery was opened in 1762, bell-shaped, and was named Iosif (Jozsef). Two branched galleries followed, Carol and Ferdinand. Along with the underground exploitation, there were also surface quarries from which salt was extracted.

In 1787, the salt at Praid becomes the property of the Austrian state. A second underground gallery was excavated in 1864, not far from the Iosif mine. It was named the Parallel (Párhuzamos) salt works, trapezoidal in shape. Due to the expansion of the works, it grew into one of the largest un-

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derground excavations in the country – any Gothic cathedral in Romania could fit inside. In 1898, work started on a research gallery on the north-eastern side of Dealul Sării, called Elisabeta, from which several lateral branches were opened in order to study the deposits. The gallery named after Gheorghe Doja was opened after the Second World War, in 1947-1949, to transport salt to the surface. The last gallery, called Telegdy (after Telegdy Károly, a former director of the mine) was opened in 1991 and commissioned in 1994; the so-called „Canadian” exploitation method was applied here, on square pillars with a 14-metre front.

The Praid mine has been available for tourists for four decades and is also visited for its health benefits. Speleo-therapy and climato-therapy consist of inhalation the salty air, with great results in case of respiratory diseases (asthmatic, bronchial and allergic). The average duration of the treatment is two and a half weeks and is organised the sanatorium situated on the so-called horizon „50”, at a depth of 120 metres, under constant medical supervision. The renowned treatment programmes and their efficiency in the salt mine air have made the numbers of European tourists attracted here to steadily increase, averaging around 200,000 per year.

Besides the economic and commercial aspects, besides being a basic ingredient in food and treatment in various ways (baths, aerosols, inhalations, scrubs, purges etc.), salt is culturally linked to the history of Transylvania, it has entered into folklore, music, folk literature, and has been used in many types of rituals, magical practices, enchantments and traditional medicine. Daily life in Transylvanian villages and cities would be hard to conceive without salt, because it was the main food preservation medium, both solid and liquid – such as brine. The preservation of meat and slană , the true culinary brand of Transylvania; cheeses – the archetypal food for a people so much linked to the pastoral life; pickles and so many others – these would be unthinkable without salt. It has become the cultural expression of „good” that accompanies us in our transition through life.

That “good”, with significance beyond matter and taste, is „salt-in-food* „.

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The Drinking Waters of Transylvania

By Vianu MUREȘAN

So are the waters as the soil through which they flow.

Pliny the Elder

Expansion of city life and pollution have taken their toll on water, and drinking water primarily. It is also water that we carry in our bodies: 75% when we are children, 55-60% in our adulthood, and about 50% in our old age. So we depend on water, though decreasingly, as we pass through life. The water contents in the various organs of our body – brain, lungs, heart, kidneys – ranges between 65% and 85%. The blood running through our veins contains water in a proportion of 83%, the muscles – 80%, the skin – 65%, the hair is 70% water, and even the bones are made of 20% water. The water stock in the human body is renewed at a daily rate of 15% in children, and 6% in grownups, which means that, every five and a half weeks, our body changes.

But what does the water do in our body? With its universal solvent capacity, water carries the nutrients to all the calls, keeps the kidneys working, washes toxins away, regulates body temperature, hydrates the skin, and maintains the moisture of the eyes. Our digestive system needs 10-15 litres of water to function. In other words, we are water, and, more importantly, we are the water we drink so that the vital processes in the body tissues could be kept going.

Water never comes to a standstill in our body, it keeps working. Metaphorically speaking, we are like a water spring that “busies itself” for a while in our body. Failing this „live water”, we wouldn’t be alive. Water is mysterious as it is miraculous. Maybe ancient philosopher Thales of Miletus wasn’t just being poetic when saying that „water is at the groundwork of all beings”. He was simply stating a scientific truth which, at the time, he did not have the means to prove.

How have urbanisation and pollution changed Man’s relation with water? First, city-dwellers no longer drink well water, they drink tap water, which comes through a pipe. And if tap water is not good to drink, what does Man do? He either buys a water filter, which is not that cheap, and therefore not within everybody’s means, or he buys drinking water.

And this is how city dwellers drink bottled water from the store, the only reliable source, knowing that tap water is not always the best, and that the consumer anyway has no means to test it.

What is the “Natural mineral Water”?

Mineral waters in Transylvania have been known since Roman times, from the evidence the Romans left behind.

The concept of spring water that appears on the labels of some of the brands became a commercial name after WW II, and is strictly regulated in the EU. The ordinary consumer will readily perceive the difference between tap water and mineral water. Mineral water is carbonated, i.e. it contains a certain amount of carbon dioxide, which lends the water an astringent and salty taste that gives a cooling feeling. Traditionally, mineral water was known for its therapeutic properties, and advertising made it popular for this feature. Many of the Transylvanian mineral brands have gained notoriety for their healing properties. Like in the case of other products, the legend became part of the brand, and an intrinsic quality thereof.

At the beginnings of its history, mineral water was shrouded in magic, and seen both as nourishment, cure, and holy sacrament coming from Nature’s own hands. About 200 years ago, when drinking mineral water became a fashion throughout Europe, the medical science was short of the necessary knowledge and techniques to cure all ailments, which left ample room to traditional healing procedures, which explains why the discovery of the beneficial effects of mineral water turned it into panacea.

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The definition of mineral water was adjusted after the establishment of the Common Market and the European Single Market. A Council Directive dated 15 July 1980 governs the criteria by which water can be called naturally mineral or simply drinking water for human consumption, on the entire territory of the EU. This Directive, No. 777/1980, was transposed into Romanian legislation under Government Resolution 1020/2005.

Appendix 1 to the Directive sets forth that natural mineral water means microbiologically safe water coming from underground water or from an underground aquifer, and which is tapped at the source or through drilling wells.

Natural mineral water differs from the common drinking water through the following features: a) its own nature, meaning the mineral composition, oligo-elements and other constituents; b) the purity of the underground source. Such water must be evaluated by means of approved scientific methods, by the relevant authorities, with respect to its hydrological, physical, chemical, microbiological, pharmacological, physiological, and chemical properties.

The extraction area must be carefully protected, free of any contamination, with extraction directly from the source, without interference in the water’s composition, so that the water maintains its properties after bottling. The mineral contents is not necessarily determined by the concentration of carbon dioxide, but by the minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium) with which it is enriched by the rocks from which it originates. As for the mineral water’s healing powers of which so much fuss was made in the past, Directive 2009/54/ CE forbids mineral water brands to be advertised as featuring preventive or curing properties.

To be extracted and marketed, mineral water needs recognition under both national and international regulations that lay down very strict procedures. The first to be obtained is the certification of the source, the spring or the drilling well where it originates. Water extraction must comply with standard technologies ensuring the quality of water. The captured water must then be verified and tested for a period of at least one year, to detect any fluctuations of its chemical values and the consistency of its composition with the accepted protocols. The data so obtained will reveal the profile of the geological structure embedding the water. Based on the information regarding the water parameters during the test period, the relevant authority decides the permitted output and the chemical composition to be maintained all along the operation of the source.

There are also inspection rules for the pipes transporting the water, the storage reservoirs, the sanitation conditions, the bottling and labelling of the water for market purposes.

To make sure that its properties are not altered or tampered with, the water must not come in contact with the air around, and the materials used along the entire production chain, from extraction to bottling, must be chemically inert, so that the mineral water in the bottle reaching the consumer should have the same properties as the water at the source.

No mineral water brand may be marketed unless acknowledged by publication in the relevant official gazettes of national and European relevance, indicating the trade name, the extraction source, and the place of bottling.

The Mineral Waters of Transylvania Among the many natural resources with which Transylvania’s soil is blessed, the drinking waters are one of them.

Underground waters have, in places, come out through

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outlets carved through the soil or through rock, sparkling with their pure, crystal-clear, mineral-rich and refreshing burble, inviting travellers to dink them.

Borsec ranks by far the highest in demand, the most popular in Romania, and one of the most famous Romanian brands in the world, with a history of over 200 years. The Borsec brand is the property of the biggest Romanian company in the beverage industry, which is also the top bottling company in Romania. Borsec’s springs are located in the intra-Carpathian depression situated in the Harghita County, in the heart of the Eastern Romanian Carpathians.

Though we do not know for sure whether the Romans were the first to use the Borsec water, they were however the first to leave testimonies behind. Their passage through the Borsec area is certified by the coins bearing the effigy of Constantine, dating back to the 4th century AD, and found in 1857 at the archaeological site of Tulgheș. An 1863 chronicle by Meyr Ignacz recounts the legend of a shepherd from Săliștea Sibiului, who, while driving his flock to the

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plains of Moldavia, came across the mineral water spring in Borsec, from which he drank water and was cured of his ailment. The fact is alleged to have happened sometime at the beginning of the 16th century. The legend does not specify what ailment the shepherd was suffering from, but the story is sure to have increased the fame of the springs.

The then prince of Transylvania himself, Sigismund Bathory, is said he was having that water regularly on his table both as a drink and as a cure. At the time, the Borsec water was carried to the court in Alba Iulia in oak barrels, to preserve its temperature, freshness, and healing properties. Before the 18th century was over, the Borsec Springs had acquired European fame, the region became a spa, with wooden lodges and public baths, where sick people from within the country and from outside its borders came to seek health.

1803 was a turning point in the history of Borsec as a brand.

While in Borsec for a cure, an Austrian from Vienna, Valentin Gunther, recovered from a chronic illness and, thrilled by the miraculous properties of the Borsec water, decided to put it in receptacles and carry it all over the world. The intrepid Gunther took a lease on the ground around the Borsec springs and set up a business with Anton Zimmethausen, a member of the Vienna City Council, and a mining engineer and glass maker named Eisner. It was Eisner who opened a bottle-making workshop to provide the water business with the requisite bottling material locally. Since 1806, the Borsec water sold in Austro-Hungary came in glass bottles filled at the source. During the first year since the inception of the business, more than 3 million litres of Borsec water were produced. At the 1873 International Fair in Vienna, Borsec Water was medalled by Emperor Franz Josef and was crowned The Queen of Mineral Waters.

After WW I, the business was reorganised as The Borsec Natural Spring Water company, and managed by the Chrisssoveloni Bank until 1943. The company was transferred to state property in 1948. Between 1952 and 1989, three new extraction and bottling lines were installed, and the production site was connected by rail to Toplița for further shipment. In communist times, Borsec water was highest in demand at home and abroad, in countries like Israel, Germany, Belgium, France, Sweden, USA, etc., where 6 to 10 million bottles were exported annually. Each country received the water in personalised bottles.

In 1998, the Borsec mineral water facility was turned private, becoming the property of Romaqua Group Borsec. Since then, the company has invested more than 220 million euro in state of the art know-how and equipment for top quality of its production. It operates with over 2,000 workers, 70% of the labour force in Borsec being Romaqua Group employees. The Group’s philosophy is to exploit the mineral water springs without exhausting the sources or harming the environment, in brief without jeopardising the need for clean, high quality water of the coming generations. The

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company’s production sites consist of 17 lines that include PET bottles manufacturing and bottling facilities totalling an annual capacity of over 1 billion litres.

The qualities of Borsec water have been rewarded with diplomas and medals won in many international exhibitions and show-rooms, such as : the Medal of Merrit at the Vienna International Fair in 1873, The Honorary Diploma at the Trieste Exhibition of 1876, The Honorary Diploma at the Paris World Exhibition, 1878, the Gold Medal at the Poznan International Fair, 2004, Gold Medal for the best carbonated bottled water at Berkeley Springs, USA, 2004, the Grand Gold Label for quality at Monde Selection, Brussels, 2005.

The geographical area from Toplița to Scaunul Rotund Borsec has been included in Nature 2000, as a site of European importance for its outstanding natural riches: spruce forests, fossil flowers, rare species of plants, a varied fauna that populates it (brown bears, capercailzies, Carpathian stags, deer, wolves, bob cats, vipers, tritons, all kinds of molluscs and fish). The mineral water springs are part of the natural heritage of this 5,666 ha (approximately 14,000 acres) natural reserve. Romaqua Group Borsec became the custodian of the site under the custody agreement with Romania’s Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Stânceni is a new mineral water brand, managed by Romaqua Group since 2006. The Stânceni springs are in the Eastern Carpathians, in the protected area of the Călimani Mountains Natural Reserve. Stânceni is a carbonated oligomineral water, with a low contents of mineral salts, and with hypotonic properties that make it easily assimilated into the body. Its properties were recognised at the Mineral Water Challenge – International Mineral Water Awards hosted by Portugal in 2015, where it won the gold medal for a score of 97 out of a maximum of 100 points. There it came in competition with 175 water brands all over the world.

Perla Harghitei is a brand that has its source in the village of Sâncrăieni, Harghita County, in an area known as Ciucul Inferior, one of the richest in Transylvania, with more than 80 sources of mineral water in Sâncrăieni alone. The Sâncrăieni source became operational in 1952. Its main bottling facility, which brings the company the highest revenues, was built in 1974. Perla Harghitei was established in 1990 as an entirely state-owned company, which in 1995 became private.

The waters under the brand name of Perla Harghitei are microbiologically pure, with a balanced contents of minerals, tapped and bottled without human interference in its biochemical properties. The bottling line is drastically supervised, and in the process, several quality tests are run to measure the levels of carbon dioxide, the Ph., mineral contents, microbiological features, etc. In 2005, prior to Romania’s accession to the EU, Perla Harghitei was recognised as a ”natural mineral water” by a German institute, in compliance with the European Single Market Standards. The properties of the Harghita mineral water were also recognised in the USA, where in 1999 it was awarded the gold medal at the Berkley Springs International Water

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Tasting, Virginia. The Perla Harghitei Company merged, in 2009, with Kreiten, to form Harghita S.A., and its products, among which the Tiva Harghita mineral water brand, are now part of the Perla Harghitei portfolio. The products marketed

by Perla Harghitei fall into three categories, distinguished by their contents of carbon dioxide: carbonated, which has a CO2 contents of minimum 3.500 mg/l; partly decarbonated, with a CO2 contents of maximum 1.300 mg/l; and non-carbonated or still water.

Tușnad is a brand of mineral water that won recognition as early as the 16th century, when the first written reference to it is known. The Tușnad region used to be known in old times as the Whispering Fields, due to the burbling sound made by the springs. Like in other stories related to mineral water, Tușnad draws is fame from the legend of a healing miracle. It is the story of a shepherd whose feet, ailing from the sores of barefoot walking, got cured of all wounds in three days, after walking in the swamp around the Tușnad springs. The news of this wonder spread, and many suffering people in the area or from afar came to find a cure for their afflictions in the miraculous waters.

Tușnad is lying in a unique setting in Transylvania, with some of the most popular touristic attractions like the Sfânta Ana Lake, the Mohos oligotrophic swamp, now a natural monument the flora of which features rare species like the rusty rosemary and an insectivorous plant called Roua Cerului (Sky Dew); the swamps Valea de Mijloc, Benes, Stânca Șoimilor (Falcons’ Rock), Băile Tușnad (Tușnad Baths).

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Tușnad springs yielded an annual production of 50.000 bottles, some of which was sold in many countries of Europe. The administrator of the Tușnad springs is Apemin Tușnad, established in 1999 after the split-up of Perla Harghitei.

Since the take-over, Apemin Tușnad has invested over 10 million euro to modernise and upgrade the tapping and bottling facility. The output of 40,000 litres per hour places Apemin Tușnad among the top Romanian mineral water producers. It operates two Sig Simonazzi filling lines, each having a capacity of 12,000 bph.

Apemin Tușnad delivers to the market several brands: the Tușnad naturally carbonated mineral water with a minimum of 2.500 mg/l, the natural mineral carbonated water with a maximum CO2 contents of 2.200 mg/l, the pure spring water under the brand name Izvorul Zânelor, and the microbiologically pure drinking water Izvorul Ascuns.

Zizin is a microbiologically pure oligomineral water straight from the source, with a balanced contents of minerals. It comes from an aquifer in the contact area between the Ciucaș Mountain Range and the Brașov Depression, which is part of the Ciucaș Nature 2000 site. The oldest records about the Zizin waters date back to 1773, when a Dr. Lucas Wagner made them known for their therapeutic properties. Another reference to the Zizin waters can be found in Synopsia

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fontanae Austriae, a book published by V. F. Tauche in Vienna. In 1818, the water was tested chemically for the first time by Belteky. An 1873 chronicle titled The Description of the Szekler Country, by Balázs Orbán, speaks about three mineral water springs at Zizin, all of them described as having healing powers, and named: Ferdinand Spring, Francisc Spring, and Ludovic Spring.

The water from the Ferdinand spring was recommended for drinking at feasts and distinguished dinners, the water from the Francisc spring was praised for its healing properties. Ferdinand water was considered equal in quality to other famous springs of the time, such as Luhacovice, St. Nectaire, Vals, Vic-sur-Cère, Selters, Ems, Gleichenberg and Niederselters. In his 1891 book The Description of Waters and Spas in Transylvania, author Hankó Vilmos placed the water of the Ludovic spring on a par with those of Marienbad, Franzensbad and Pyrmont, due to the iron contents of its formula. A forth spring, named Bela, was discovered shortly before WW I. In 1927, under a decree of the Ministry of Health, the town of Zizin was recognised as a small watering place, open to locals and visitors who wanted to take drinking and bathing cures.

The first bottling station at Zizin was commissioned in 1936, for the Ferdinand spring. During WW II, the Zizin facility expanded its production by enhancing the bottling speed.

According to the company’s statistic records, in October 1940 the bottling station produced 59.316 one litre and 0.33 litre bottles. One of the turning points in its history was the development in 1970 of the bottling factory.

The Zizin water is managed by Apemin Zizin. In the early 1990s, the Zizin mineral water was among the few water brands complying with the certification standards under the relevant legislation. The Zizin hydro mineral reservoir was managed by the National Mineral Water Company since its beginnings. In 1991, the management was transferred to the then established joint stock company Apemin Zizin S.A., which was licenced to exploit and market the water captured in that area. In the autumn of 1997, Apemin Zizin S.A. was turned to private hands, and started undergoing a thorough technological upgrading and modernisation.

Perla Apusenilor is a brand of mineral water with a balanced contents of minerals, and pure microbiological composition.

Its source is at Chimindia, Hunedoara County, and is the property of MINEXFOR S.A., based in Deva. Although knowledge about the springs goes a long way back, with a history dating since the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when the water used to travel to Vienna in barrels, the old facility was rather rudimentary. Perla Apusenilor comes to the market in varieties distinguished by the CO2 contents: Carbogazificată Forte (highly carbonated) with a CO2 contents of minimum 3.000mg/l, Carbogazificată (carbonated) with a minimum CO2 of 2.500mg/l, Partially Decarbonated (Decarbogazificată parțial) with a CO2 of maximum 1.200mg/l.

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Traditions

By Vianu MUREŞAN

We might ask ourselves, modern people residing in a loan-bought house or paying rent all our life, driving a leased car and spending hundreds or maybe thousands of euros/pounds/dollars (depending on the country of residence) monthly for regular household needs: how did they cope in the olden days?

The bee1, a brilliant institution Many peasants did not have a salary and women wouldn’t even be part of the payed workforce until the second half of the 20th century. Still, they did own a home, which they would build without needing a bank loan, they had a quiverful of children they would feed and dress, and if conditions allowed it, they would send their young ones to school as well. What did they have that we don’t, what did they know that we don’t? First of all, a secure property – land, and a social structure providing both security and support: the village community. What was this village

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social structure good for? The right answer – everything.

The community substituted bank, insurance company, even police, justice system and, more often than not, hospital.

From birth to grave, the villager relied on his peers – and supported them in turn if he could and knew how. The strength of the community, based on goodwill and mutual trust, was the peasant’s most important resource. He was never alone, never caught off-guard, never fired, the bank never sent him bailiffs, never took his half-paid home, never dragged him in courts for not paying his debts. The village community was a perpetuum mobile maintained by the energy of shared needs and duties. This is therefore the secret of the millennial endurance of the village habitus/habitat, actually the best organisation of human life throughout our civilisation.

Bee (old English): a community social gathering in order to perform some task, engage in a contest etc.: a building bee; a quilting bee; a harvesting bee.

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The village way to organise domestic life saw an institution working to everyone’s advantage with no collateral loss and, amazingly, without using outside resources. This was the bee - voluntary community work, tailored on precise tasks for every specific need: building a home or household, harvesting, wedding preparations etc. When a new family came into the community or when a family had lost their house by some calamity and needed a new household, part of the community would come together according to kinship and neighbourhood, would pool the effort and resources from their own households or from the community chest and, in two or three months, the house would be up. Yes, you read this well, those of you who earn a good salary and live hoping that, come retirement, you will have payed off the bank loan for your apartment. Yes, in two or three months that jobless person would have his new home. A home made of stone, clay, wood, cob, straw, egg, lime plaster, water – all from community resources. Sometimes bigger or smaller, better or thriftier – but always habitable and sometimes passed on from one generation to the next.

Many cob or wooden houses endured through generations – some of these buildings now moved into village museums, examples of their vernacular style. The house would be done by the bee in two months, meaning the work of 7-8 people (always changing) for a few hours on certain days, helped by craftsmen in the community. The same went for field works and crops. Wheat harvesting, for instance, had to be done in just a few days, lest the grain would scatter or the rains would come. In a couple of days of bee, a family’s fields would be harvested. The bee then moved to the next family whose crop was ripe. Fields wouldn’t be seeded at the same time, wouldn’t mature at the same time, wouldn’t have the same light – so the different ripening periods allowed each family to benefit from bees. Harvesting bees were common – potatoes, corn, sunflower – as were threshing, hay mowing or gathering. Events such as weddings were also prepared by the community. Men carried the food and set up the barns, women helped the bride to finish her dowry and her gown, prepared the food and the drinks. Flour, milk, cream, eggs, oil, poultry, potatoes and other produce donated by villagers and relatives. The whole community was involved in the wedding preparations – and the whole community also attended the party.

Why was the bee an institution? Because although it had no written rules, it was so deeply rooted in community conscience and morals that it would always work, somewhat inherently. A custom passed from generation to generation, it was part of that community’s ethics. Why was it brilliant?

Because it took care of people’s needs through work and selfobtained resources; in other words, it worked as a system, as a self-sustained economy. No need for “cash injections” or bank loans. There is not a more intelligent economic concept than that by which a society can both preserve itself and reproduce by securing all elements necessary for its existence from the resources it has – both material and ethical. Solidarity is, in this case, an actual mode of action, determined by a need and an immediate purpose and in no way something ideological.

The community was a perfect institution, it assisted people all through their lives in a non-invasive way, usefully intervening when needed, integrating members and helping them live by its spirit. Man wasn’t abandoned, left in the lurch, humiliatingly kicked out the door or fired. The community never went bankrupt, it neverendingly reproduced itself from 2

the resources and energy generated by its own spirit. It had a net profit, because it had no debts owed to outside entities and, furthermore, it was made without someone being at a loss. All goods circulated in that mutual aid system were jointly offered, gifted, made from the resources and by the work of the community members.

This is how life went on for hundreds and hundreds of years.

The Merry Cemetery of Săpânța The cemetery is where “tradition” is sacredly maintained.

Everyone attends at least one of the festival’s editions. It is held almost every day and is attended by one, two or more – as chance has it. Some old, some young, maybe even a baby arrived there much too early. But no one goes alone. The village accompanies the departed as if it were a wedding, as if they would go to their marriage. Just separated from his wife, with whom he has shared in life both the bitter peels and the delicious cake, as he gave himself at their marriage, time has now come for the man to give himself to another, to death – “bride of the world”, as the poem goes2. This is how things are. God didn’t want for a man to be alone, not even in the afterlife. Alas, if he’s going to get married, the deceased should be a bit giddy, in his heart – even if not showing it. Maybe he’s a bit shy, he doesn’t know how to show his soul, as he was instructed that it’s a shame to start laughing in public like a tosspot3. Whether young or old, whether passed away a maiden or burdened by time, the woman goes to the Heavenly Groom to get the holy kiss. But to Him the road is not so easy. They placed a rosary in her hand, for prayer. Her heart burns with joy, for yonder the Son of God awaits. Bards can’t be seen, but the lament of their instruments can be heard among the graves – sometimes sad, other times, joyful; sometimes for crying, other times for dancing. Bards are there unseen, hidden behind the strikingly painted crosses, sheltered in the shade because blistering sunlight isn’t good for them, and sing from time immemorial, God forbid someone goes to his final resting place without song.

Part of one of one of the most famous Romanian folk poems – a pastoral ballad, The Little Ewe, in which death is presented as a metaphor: “A princess – my bride / Is the whole world’s pride.”

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Old word for inebriated.

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However unprepared for this “festival” you’d pretend to be, however dignified and driven towards much more serious things, you will eventually have to swallow your pride and go. Go to the cemetery, maybe see how things are there.

What grandparents, parents, neighbours, village drunks who had knifed each other at the tavern over some ewes, luckless miners trapped underground by crumbling rocks – how all of them are, how they are hanging on, how they pass the time. How’s the old priest who for fifty years had baptised all babies in three villages, how’s the midwife who cut their cords, what about Mary the cook, who prepared the food for weddings and baptisms in the village until well after the age of 70 and couldn’t stand because of rheumatism. How is the teacher who opened the village school and who would stop by his unlettered parishioners and write missives to their army-drafted sons, writings always ending with warm hugs from mother dearest, but also concealed epistles from the lover feverishly waiting for the rooster crow, when her beloved might come…

Over there, in the cemetery, rests the erstwhile village.

People celebrate and make merry. In the beginning they cried and cried, but then they said their goodbyes and each one eventually went back to their world. People don’t fear God’s judgement. God is good, He forgives man’s mistakes, and without sin is only the One born of the Blessed Virgin, Lord Jesus Christ. To Him they went, where there is no sorrow, nor wounded heart. Before going they went through confession and communion, they left messages on their crosses with their good deeds or their faults. Everyone knows weaknesses and failings. May God forgive us!

Witty carpenter Stan Ioan Pătraș, from Săpânța, had the idea to craft cheerful crosses in the cemetery and this has grown into a brand. This was in 1934, when he wanted to warm the heart of a young widow who had ordered a crossed for her departed husband. The carpenter then carved the cross wood, shaped it like a small shrine, with scenes from the man’s life – along with a cheerful message for the wife, written in first person. People liked the idea and wanted more of it – and so the merry cemetery started. Epitaphs in verse or prose are public statements of the departed – of course some fictional,

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since they were posthumously written by some unknown poet or even by the cross crafter. Still, the idea is exceptional – to sum up one’s life in a somewhat gibberish epitaph, without the heaviness and dramatism usually associated with death.

Texts are most diverse in style and wording. Some narrate the context of death and relate the deceased with his or her family, the person’s character and defining treats, even if those might be of a drunkard reveller. For example: “This is where I end my game / And Pop Toader is my name / I loved so much the clarinet / But so did I the drinks, you bet / All along my time around / This I always had in mind / Food to eat and drinks all day / And the clarinet to play”.

These epitaphs depict a profession, a trade, family status, health, the accident or context of death, number of years lived.

It’s like the departed introduce themselves on Judgement Day, and, before God, they recite their biography, in brief.

In a naïve and playful way, the Merry Cemetery in Săpânța is a draft made by the dead for Judgement Day, their way of confessing to posterity and to God. And their cheerfulness is not ostentatious, readily displayed, but is the normal easiness the soul might have upon its meeting with God.

The Girls’ Fair of Mount Găina The Girls’ Fair of Mount Găina (Alba county), in the Apuseni mountains4, is the biggest open-air folk fair in Țara Moților5, usually held at the end of July, around the feast of St. Elijah.

Its first documentary mention was in 1816. Today it is focused on a parade of folk costumes, traditional music and dances – but the fair is very different now from what it was half a century ago or further in its history.

In the past, the celebration was a ritual for open-air matchmakings and weddings in a meadow on Mount Găina.

To understand the origins of this, one must know Țara Moților. In the scattered villages of the Apuseni mountains, the notion of ‘neighbour’ may be vague, because in some settlements there is quite a long walk from one house to another. It gets tiring. Neighbours are closest when they can communicate which each other by loudly shouting from their fences, but in the old days a bucium6 would be used to transmit major events – trouble, death, birth, fire, wolves or other animals of pray descended into the village etc. In

Massif in the Carpathian Mountains, on the Transylvanian plateau, western Romania.

Țara Moților – The Land of the Moți (German: Motzen, Hungarian: mócok), ethno-geographical region of Romania in the Apuseni Mountains (see above), on the upper basin of the Arieș and Crișul Alb rivers. The ethnological origins of the moți are contested; some say they are descendants of the Slavs, Alans, Celts or Gepids. Over a dozen theories exist.

They live in scattered villages at altitudes up to about 1,400 m, higher than any other permanent settlements in Romania.

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A type of alphorn, a tube instrument made from tree bark or wood used by mountain dwellers and shepherds for transmitting signals. The word is derived from Latin bucinum, originally meaning “curved horn”, an instrument used by the Romans (Wikipedia).

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those days, boys and girls would hardly look at each other in public, let alone touch. Don’t forget population was smaller, houses fewer, dwellers rarer. A celebration was needed, a fair somewhere, something everyone would agree upon so that people would gather – and therefore girls ready to be wed would meet single men.

It’s there, on top of the mountain, at altitude of nearly 1.500 meters, where the young girls went, along with their parents and small horses carrying their dowry, to meet boys from surrounding villages, eager to ask for their hand in marriage. The mountain road, anything but easy, could be a canon for future brides – but also a time of reflection. If the mountain ascent is hard, how would that of the marriage be? The mountain top you’ll eventually reach – but not so easily someone’s soul. On the other hand, young men making the climb to find their destined one knew only too well that you’d sooner get a bird mid-air than a woman’s thought. Back then, love at first sight wasn’t a way to select your ‘partner’ – or, in those days’ correct terms, your future husband or wife. Romantic literature hadn’t contaminated young hearts with its emphatic, melancholic spirit, and the myth of ‘soulmate’ hadn’t yet troubled the integrity of their mind. It was important that youngsters ‘like each other’, but then negotiations would start between families. The girl’s parents wanted to find out as much as possible – who is the fellow, from what village, what about his parents, does he have a good household, cattle, pasture, hayfield, forest, is he hardworking or is he‘friends with the bottle’, might he be a thug or have a wicked tongue, does he visit other men’s women at night. In turn, the boy’s parents were curious about the girl, if her parents are honourable, if her kin isn’t of ill-repute, if she knows to milk the cows, if she kneads the dough and knows about baking it in the stove, if she has any hidden affliction, if she had taken care of her womanhood and is clean, how big her dowry is, if she is cheerful, gentle and forgiving… and many such things.

Meetings between parents actually meant complicated investigations about the family they were marrying into – and if at the end they were satisfied and the children liked each other, they would be wed at once by the priest taking part in these fairs. Food and drink would come out of the bags, a meal would be neatly set up with only ‘eco’ foods,

consisting mainly of cheeses (you couldn’t bring something too sophisticated on a mountain top), people would eat, drink and dance. The deal was done and, after the frugal picnic party, parents would warmly kiss their daughter goodbye, since they would part and she would follow the young man at his house. From which she would come, sometimes child in hand, to visit her parents and younger siblings, on religious feast days. If her new village was too far, she would only come when field work was over or when cattle would descend from hills, in late autumn – and then only accompanied by husband or father-in-law. In winter, if snow wasn’t too high, she would come carolling with her family and in-laws on the second or third day of Christmas.

Today, girls and boys don’t negotiate on Mount Găina anymore, because they can go on Facebook daily, as opposed to the fair which is only held once a year, and parents don’t haggle because their terms are outdated. They do not understand the context of talks about feelings, marriage, family future. Young people go to Mount Găina to take part in folk costumes parades, to dance and have fun and, to use a beloved term nowadays, to ‘socialise’.

The Young Men of Brașov ‘Junii Brașovului’ 7, as they are called in Romanian, appear in all their horseback splendour on the streets of Brașov only once a year, on the Sunday of St. Thomas. They are seven companies of riders, organised according to rank and status, dressed in folk costumes or uniforms, each company lead by a vătaf – a flag-bearer boastfully carrying their banner joined by two guardsmen. Each company with its own history, garb and flag, representing only that group and that group alone.

It's difficult to say how old the Young Men's ritual is; we are however certain that by 1924 all companies had been already established. According to some ethnologists, the parade of the juni is a pre-Christian custom combining agrarian and manhood initiation ceremonies. If we closely watch the archetypal elements of the procession, it is not far-fetched to see in the Young Men distant heirs of the Danubian Knights 8 , maybe the Cabeirs 9 or the

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In an approximate pronunciation, ‘zhoonee brashovueluei’. June is an old word for ‘junior’ or ‘young man’. Literal translation, ‘the young men of Brașov’, one of the most important and historical Transylvanian cities, in central Romania. The city is also called Kronstadt in German and Brassó in Hungarian.

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Little is known about the Danubian Knights. Somewhere between religion and legend, they are called so because they are only documented as representations in a series of unexplained sculptures dated first century B.C. Some historians believe that the Danubian Knights may have had to do with pre-Christian pagan customs or beliefs.

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In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri or Cabiri were a group of enigmatic chthonic deities. They were worshiped in a mystery cult closely associated with that of Hephaestus, centered in the north Aegean islands of Lemnos and possibly Samothrace — at the Samothrace temple complex — and at Thebes. In their distant origins, the Cabeiri and the Samothracian gods may include pre-Greek or non-Greek elements, such as Thracian, Tyrrhenian, Pelasgian, Phrygian or Hittite (Wikipedia).

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Thracian Knight10 , cults that were widespread in the Dacian region after the Roman conquest and before the massive spread of Christianity in the 2nd-4th centuries A.D. The two Danubian warrior knights symbolised the forces of Good and Order, defeating in battle and and subduing the forces of evil, darkness and chaos. Regardless of its descendance, the man-horse association is a military archetype, indicating a battle situation, a victory moment.

The Parade of the Young Men of Brașov appears to be, symbolically, the celebration after a heroic victory. In time, the ritual was assimilated into the Christian ways, as the beginning of the pagan new year – Spring – was integrated into the symbolism of the Holy Resurrection, which is traditionally perceived also as the rebirth of nature, the resurrection of plant life. At the parade held in the centre of Brașov, in the Sunday of St. Thomas, every company ceremoniously introduces itself to the gathered people and greets them with a loud 'Christ is risen!'11.

The 'first among equals' are Junii tineri12,purportedly the oldest of the companies and the which had founded the order. Only unmarried men may be a part of it – thus supporting the hypothesis of a coming-of-age ritual. The company is lead by a vătaf13, an armaș mare and an armaș 10 11

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mic14, instantly noticeable by their positioning ahead of the group and identified by their hats, decorated with coloured ribbons (read for the vătaf, yellow for the armaș mare and blue for the armaș mic). The Junior Young Men's Flag was made in 1977 from red and blue silk, depicting the 'Andrei Șaguna' National College15 on one side and a Young Man on horseback, on the other. The second company is that of the Old Young Men, established in 1877 and formed only of married men. Their outfits are almost the same to those of the Junior Young Men, but they don't wear ribbons on their hats. They are responsible with organising The Young Men’s wake16, a tradition celebrated on Palm Sunday17 at the Holy Trinity Church (on Tocile) in Brașov. The third company is the Junii Curcani, established in 1879, their members only married men living in the Pe Coastă18 neighbourhood of Brașov, their name borrowed from famous Romanian troops19 of the Romanian War of Independence (1877). Their flag, designed in 1977, displays the effigy of Michael the Brave20 on one side and a curcan soldier on the other. The fourth company, the Junii Dorobanți21, is only established in 1924, as a branch of the Junii Curcani. A dorobanț fighter is represented on their 1977 banner, after a description by famous Romanian poet Vasile Alecsandri. The fifth company, Junii Brașovecheni, was established in 1922 by young men in the old part of Brașov22. The sixth, Junii Roșiori23, was founded in 1908 and gathers married men in the northwestern part of the Șchei neighbourhood. They wear vividly embroidered shirts, wide waist belts, and a roșior woollen red hat. Their flag displays the image of Michael the Brave on one side and a roșior fighter on the other. Last but not least, the company of Junii Albiori24, founded in 1860 in the bigger context of Romanian identity movements, was formed by butcher and merchant guilds in the Șchei neighbourhood.

Their flag dates from 1977 and shows the portrait of poet Andrei Mureșanu, on one side, and a June albior on the other.

The ritual goes like this: the seven companies troop up – Junii Tineri first, then Bătrâni, Curcani, Dorobanți, Brașovecheni, Roșiori and Albiori. They then start their parade from the Prund neighbourhood, each company headed by a fanfare and lead by the vătaf and the two armași. The first stop of the Young Men is at the shrine for Captain Ilie Birt25, where they sing ‘Christ is Risen’26. They then descend the Mureșenilor Street to Revolution Boulevard, then up on

See Danubian Knights, above.

The Paschal Greeting, also known as the Easter Acclamation, is an Easter custom among Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and Anglican Christians. In place of “hello” or its equivalent, one is to greet another person with “Christ is Risen!” or “The Lord is Risen!”, and the response is “Truly, He is Risen,” “Indeed, He is Risen,” or “He is Risen Indeed” (Wikipedia).

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Literally, The Junior Young Men.

Vătaf (pronunced ver-tough) – in the Romanian Middle Ages, his tasks were similar to a chief’s of staff. He would be employed by a ruler (the voivod) or by an important nobleman (a boyar).

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Pronounced ahr-mash mahreh, ahr-mash mick – senior and respectively junior men-at-arms; in Romanian courts and noble households they would ensure order was respected.

One of the oldest, most respected and most famous public high-schools in Transylvania and in Romania.

Parastas in Romanian, it is a custom of remembrance and a religious service. The Juni thus celebrate their ancestors.

Florii in Romanian, after Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and gardens and also the word that derived into floare – flower. The Florii are a time of great joy and mark Jesus Christ’s triumphant entry in Jerusalem shortly before his Passion.

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Literally, On the hillside.

Junii curcani - literal translation, the Young Turkeys. Back in the 19th century, army uniforms weren’t as standardised as today. Many soldiers would therefore carry their own region’s traditions or customs in battle. Wearing a turkey feather in the hat was one of these traditions.

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Michael the Brave (Romanian, Mihai Viteazul), 1558-1601, the first ruler to unite all three Romanian provinces (Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia) into a single state.

Also a troop name from the War of Independence.

Their name is a portmanteau of Brașov and vechi, meaning old.

Roșiori, also a famous company in the War of Independence, so called because of their red tunics (roșu means red, in Romanian).

Their name means „the white ones”, due to their garments being mostly white.

18th century local hero. A somewhat legendary personality, fighting both the Turks (he headed a company of Juni) and the Saxon city authorities. Old stories describe him as a bit of an outlaw as well – but an ambitious one at that; as legend has it, he would even want to turn his neighbourhood, Șchei, into a republic, and actually pleaded for it (with no success) with the Emperor in Vienna.

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Traditional Eastern Orthodox anthem.

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Nicolae Bălcescu Street, passing through the Gate of Șchei and on to Solomon’s Rocks (Pietrele lui Solomon). The Young Men dismount there and join into a ring dance on their song Hora Junilor, they play `throwing the mace`, invite girls to sârba, brâul, breaza, bătuta and other Romanian folk dances.

After this moment ends, the companies of Juni round up in the same coming order and return to Union Square where, again, they sing ‘Christ is Risen’.

The Merry Funeral The Funeral of the Fărșang 27 is an ancient ritual in Szeklerland and has been mentioned in documents since the 14th century. It’s not held in a specific place – but in a particular timeframe, the week before Easter Lent. It is one of the most beautiful and most complex folk rituals in Transylvania. The Fărșang party is organised in the last Saturday before Lent and is attended by people in the villages of Ocna de Jos, Bârzava, Ciceu, Armășeni, Sândominic, Sâncrăieni, Sânsimion, Cioboteni, Ditrău, Remetea, Lăzarea, Plăieşii de Jos, Vlăhiţa – but also some city residents.

Simply put, it’s a spring ritual, it marks the ‘burial’ of Winter and the beginning of the astronomical year, the coming of Spring. It is actually a complex public spectacle, in which every player assumes a role in sacrificing a mythical character. In one case of the Fărșand, it was symbolically represented by a huge, dressed, straw puppet: the ilyes.

Other celebrations see a bull-like character which would be ‘sacrificed’ at sundown, an interesting resemblance with the Mithraic cult in Iran.

The revellers of these rituals are masked or disguised as priests, doctors, mourners, drunks, convicts, beggars, highsociety gentlemen, grooms, devils, Death. The procession, led by musicians, roams the streets singing; revellers rattle and jangle all kinds of percussive instruments, snap their whips, create a huge uproar with the mythical task of banishing evil spirits, cold weather and wickedness – altogether marking the rebirth of nature and renewal of life. The deafening sounds are meant to act like a talisman of sorts. At crossroads, the procession stops and performs a burying ritual, with a priest and vicars present. It is actually a mock-burial, held jokingly, to ‘prank’ the deceased.

The community ridicules mourning, grieves the representation of Winter or Evil, as if its loss were tragic.

The personification of Winter and the parting from it, although wished for, is a source of sorrow. Dramatizing this false sadness is an element of high ritualic subtlety. It’s like the ‘deceased’ could be deceived with fake cries grieving, so that the road to the Great Beyond be a peaceful one – although, behind the mourning and grief, people muster the joy of riddance from Evil/Death the ‘departed’ symbolizes.

Ilyes/the puppet represents the evil that must be driven away, destroyed, burned. In this so-called mourning, the character is being derided, mocked by the grieving men and women.

The `deceased` has its man parts exposed, to be ridiculed by women who embrace him and call him ‘lover’, just to make fun of his impotence. The jeering and sexual humiliation of the character is a form of ‘magic’ by the grievers, who now make fun of the symbol of manly power and pride.

This parody mockery is meant to reverse the relation of the community with death. The deceased is mourned as a matter of principle, the grief is real because the usually loss is perceived as dramatic – not so for the Fărșang: a fake loss generating just an apparent suffering, a mask for joy.

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The procession is in fact a carnival. Having a funeral and a carnival in a joint ritual confers the Fărșang an extraordinary depth, and the dramatic technique for this is parody: the funeral routine is there precisely to obtain the specific effect of a carnival – the fun, the joy, the shared exuberance. The funeral-carnival puts together, in its oxymoronic tension, the duality of death and life, of Evil and Good – coincidentia oppsitorum28. Yes, someone has died – but it’s a good thing.

Because one died, one must be mourned and buried – but we grieve and mourn… happy of the riddance. The joyful mourn, the controversial burial are elements of the ‘reverse order’ the Fărșang ritual requires.

The straw puppet is in fact an allegory of Evil, and its destruction follows the steps of a substitution-type magic ritual. Destroying the straw construct means destroying the Evil it substitutes. It’s a funeral concluded with a party, it marks death and resurrection. The old year, with all its evils, is buried along with the Fărșang. After the destruction of Evil and the burying of death, joy and partying follow. After the traditional wake, people set up tables laden with cheeses, sausages, boiled potatoes, pickles, bread and lard, paprika and red onions, cured ham, pies, donuts, Szekler bread, pălincă and mulled wine. And in the evening, everyone takes part in the Fărșang Ball, the last celebration before Easter Lent.

Fărșang (pronounced fer-shang) is a Romanian variant of the Saxon Fashing, itself coming for the German Fastshank, ‘the last party / the last drink’ before Easter Lent.

Coincidence of opposites (Lat.).

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Romanian golf, in search of lost time

By Ligia VORO

It’s fascinating to watch the golfers shivering with impatience when the first blades of grass are sprouting on Transylvanian golf courses that are their homes from spring till late autumn.

A sport recovered after 1989, the golf is gaining, step by step, ground in the heart of sports enthusiasts in our country.

Golf events notifications In May

May 12 CAV/Golfstore Transilvania Golf Club May 12 Paul Tomița Golf Cup 2019 Paul Tomița Golf Club May 18 Transavia Golf Cup 11th edition Theodora Golf Club May 19 Alba Mall Golf Cup Paul Tomița Golf Club

June

June 1st Cupa Sponsor (Sponsor Cup) SunGarden Golf Club June 8 Cupa Prieteniei Lamacos (Lamacos Friendship Cup) Theodora Golf Club June 15 Visa Golf Cup 2nd edition Theodora Golf Club June 16 Callaway Monthly Medal Championship, 3rd stage SunGarden Golf Club June 22 Compexit Golf Trophy SunGarden Golf Club June 29-30 Zacaria Golf Cup Theodora Golf Club

July

July 6 Cupa Sponsor (Sponsor Cup) SunGarden Golf Club July 13 Ladies, Gentlemen and Golf by

Romanian golf was born in the interwar period and was reborn after 50 years of socialism and communism, when it was forbidden. I might say, profanely, that the golf is that vertical, spiritual axis, through which, man, in a perfect symbiosis with nature, connects the earth with the sky. Nevertheless, speaking from the sports point of view, golf is in Romania too a mature lesson of communication, etiquette, life style, behavior, strategy.

The history of Romanian golf is related to the name of Paul Tomița, originally from Pianu de Jos, Alba County, who dreamed to become a golf player and succeeded to participate to 6 world championships between 1968 and 1973.

His dream started growing up in 1929, when he was only 15 years old and he left for Bucharest to engage as a ball boy and as a pupil of French teacher B. Lammaison, who was teaching golf at the diplomatic “Country Club”. He was awarded the title of golf professor by London Professional Golfers' Association in 1937. Until 1975, when he retired, Paul Tomița was a full-time golf professor at Country Club, and upon retiring he went back home to Pianu de Jos. “King Michael, the members of the Cantacuzino, Ghica, Brâncoveanu, Știrbei, Bibescu great families, other great personalities of the time, such as the ambassadors and diplomats who were attending the Country Club inherited from Paul Tomița the game’s technique and mastery, but also their sympathy toward this extraordinary man”, one can read on the Golf Club Paul Tomița site in a

historical presentation dedicated to the great player considered in a British publication in 1968 - The most remarkable character of the World Cup. A complex and difficult sport, which is nevertheless absorbing you the moment you get to know its secrets, golf in Romania tries to recuperate its lost time and to get closer to its potential practitioners.

Five courses, from 9 to 18 cups

Golf cannot exist without an adequate infrastructure, which is able to challenge the golfers, to the extent that they wish to come again and again. Presently, most of the golf courses are in Transylvania, where there are five courses, and other three at the level of the entire Romania.

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interactive holes layout, of 33 total par and a total of 2,211 meters. The golf games are subject to the rules of the USGA. SunGarden has a driving range and an academy of golf. sungardenresort.ro

Daniela Sima Theodora Golf Club July 14 Callaway Monthly Medal Championship, 4th stage SunGarden Golf Club

August GOLF CLUB PAUL TOMIȚA –Alba County GOLF CLUB PAUL TOMIȚA was inaugurated in 1995 and it is the first private course in Romania, located in Pianu de Jos. It has 70 hectares of land out of which 50 are for playing golf. It was also the first course in Romania with 18 cups. In its first phase (1995-2002) the course had 9 holes and starting with 2002 there are 18 holes… over small and curled hills, with old oak trees spread all over the course, 6,061 meters long for the gentlemen, 5,165 meters – ladies.

The course also has a driving range. golfclubpaultomita.ro

August 17, 2019 President’s Golf Cup, 2nd edition Theodora Golf Club August 24 Callaway Monthly Medal Championship, 5th stage SunGarden Golf Club

TRANSILVANIA GOLF CLUB – Cluj County TRANSILVANIA GOLF CLUB is situated in Sanpaul commune at 30 kilometers distance from the city of Cluj-Napoca. It has a spectacular landscape rich in hills, valleys and forests. Out of the 18 projected cups only the first 9 have been opened (TGC front nine). If we take into consideration the 6 cups that TRANSILVANIA GOLF CLUB has for the academy of golf, then we can say that it is the third course in Romania after the number of cups (total 15), according to golfinromania.com.

The club has a driving range, an academy of golf of 6 cups, a golf shop - Golfstore. www.transilvaniagolf.ro

August 31 Elis Golf Cup Theodora Golf Club September September 7 Smithfield Golf Cup, 2nd edition Theodora Golf Club September 14 Callaway Monthly Medal Championship,6th stage SunGarden Golf Club September 21 Broni Golf Cup 2nd edition Theodora Golf Club September 21 Euro Park Golf Scramble Transilvania Golf Club

KINGS LAND COUNTRY CLUB – Bihor County Situated in the locality of Ineu, 15 km distance from Oradea, the golf course has 9 cups with par 22. The course architecture and design were achieved by golf professor Gabriel Toader in 2009-2010.

The course has a driving range. kingslandineu.com SUN GARDEN GOLF & SPA RESORT – Cluj County SunGarden Golf course is situated in Poiana Cerbului, inside the famous Baciu forest, close to the municipality of Cluj-Napoca, and it is one of the best kept courses in Romania (according to golfinromania.com). The golf course has nine

October

October 4-5 Transilvania Golf Open - 6th Edition Transilvania Golf Club October 5 Electrogrup Golf Cup, 2nd edition Theodora Golf Club

THEODORA GOLF CLUB – Alba County Inaugurated in October 2017, in the locality of Teleac, Ciugud commune, Alba county, Theodora Golf Club is a golf course that owns the longest trail in Europe – par 6 – 735 m. The golf course is 56 hectares long, with 18 holes layout and a total length of 6,518 m. The golf course counts 4 holes layout of 3 par, 10 holes layout par 4, 3 holes layout par 5, and one-hole layout par 6.

The 5 hectares unique lake, with an island and 2 greens, where the golf enthusiasts have the opportunity of exercising their skills, complete the picture of this unique practice customized.

The club has facilities such as indoor simulator, driving range, covered, with integrated audio system, and 20 available places for all the year round.

Source of information: the sites of the golf clubs and golfinromania.com Photo source: Laurențiu Coman (personal archive) & Transilvania Business.

October 12 Callaway Monthly Medal Open Championship, final stage SunGarden Golf Club October 26 Cupa Vinului, 2nd edition Theodora Golf Club

November

November 2 Cupa Membrilor (Members’ Cup), 2nd edition Theodora Golf Club November 16 Closing Season Cup SunGarden Golf Club According to am.golf (event notifications up to April 18, 2019)

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The Hunting Museum in Ibănești, a symbol of Transylvania’s fauna

By Alex TOTH Photo: Alex TOTH, Ştefan BRUMAR We arrived at Prince Dimitrie Sturdza’s holiday residence in Brădeţelu, a village belonging to the Mureş County commune of Ibăneşti, at exactly the time we were waited for, 14.00 sharp. After the usual formalities that have lasted very little, the automatic gates of the residence have opened for us with a precision worthy of the Swiss watch mechanisms.

We are invited to enter an annex placed between the holiday residence and the tennis court, to visit the Hunting Museum (Muzeul Vânătorii). Divided into several compartments, depending on the hunted animals and their area of origin, the Museum contains hundreds of trophies collected over two decades and a half by the Swiss cosmetics brand “Déesse”.

The first true hunting, along with Ion Țiriac Prince Dimitrie Sturdza travels back in time and recalls the first real hunt he participated in. It has happened shortly after the 1989 change of regime. In the story of his Highness, the businessman Ion Ţiriac intervenes naturally, his passion for hunting having long ago exceeded Romania’s borders.

“Mr. Ţiriac invited me in 1990 or 1991 to Oradea, where a hunting was organized. I landed with my plane in Oradea and I visited him the evening before the hunting and I said, “Look, Ion, I’m coming to the hunting, but I don’t even have a gun and I’m not dressed as for hunting. “It doesn’t matter, you come as you are”, he replied. I went there, the hunting master was a very well-dressed gentleman, after English style, a genuine gentleman. He looked at me and placed me in a corner where no animal was passing. Ţiriac asked him to find a place for me where I can see an animal as well.

I changed the place and I was lucky to shoot a huge boar, right in the heart, which stopped after about 30 meters of running. I asked that master how it was done correctly, and he responded that the boar had to be shot through his ear so that it would be stopped. At the next chase, a wild

boar stopped in my area and I aimed as the master told me for its ear”, his Highness recalls what happened over two decades and a half ago.

Visitors of good faith, expected at the Museum Before leaving the Hunting Museum, we are informed that it can be visited by anyone in good faith. “The museum can be visited by all people in good faith, who understand what hunting means to gentlemen. Numerous students from the Forestry High School have come and I have explained them what it is all about. Those in bad faith should stay at home”, Prince Dimitrie Sturdza concludes.

The most beautiful place in the world, in Ibănești The interior of the stylish holiday residence in Ibăneşti is also arranged in hunting style by Prince Dimitrie Sturdza, who is delighted both by the householders on the Gurghiu Valley (Valea Gurghiului), between Reghin and Lăpuşna, as well as by the landscapes that surpass by their beauty numerous places His Highness saw on the continents he has visited over the years.

In the living room, in a place of honor, there is a bear's trophy, one of the largest specimens ever hunted in Romania, which received 620 points from specialists in the field. Another piece of resistance is a moose trophy won in New Zealand five years ago, a world record at that time, currently ranked among the top four in the world.

The guests of His Highness can also admire the trophy of

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a deer from Romania, with an almost symmetrical antlers weighing 12 kilograms. In the same room there is the biggest moose trophy ever hunted in Europe, as well as numerous trophies of roebucks and stags.

“If you come from Reghin up to Lăpuşna, I think you won’t see any house un-plastered and without flowers at the window. These are places with hardworking people, who care for their homes, and the landscapes are of rare beauty.

I’ve been around the world and here I like the most. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, but I’m always coming back here. This mountain, Seaca, which is here, I think it has very, very positive energy. I’m resting sensationally well, I’ll be 80 next year, but I feel like 49. I still intend to hunt as much as I can. People in Transylvania are very civilized, much more civilized than in the south. There is another thing: here all get along, Romanians, Hungarians and other nationalities. I see this when I go hunting to Sovata for example: half of the trackers are Romanians, half Hungarians, and there is no ugly word among them. In addition, there are also Germans here”, Prince Dimitrie Sturdza observes.

Gurghiu Valley, attractive for hunting and fishing The rich fauna on Gurghiu Valley / Gurghiu Mountains, meaning wild boars, deer, bears and lynxes, has turned the area into one of the hunters’ favorite trails. The members of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s family, the USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev, the former Yugoslav President Iosif Broz Tito,

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and the Bulgarian one, Teodor Jivkov, were present at the hunting parties.

After the Revolution, the celebrities who participated in the hunting parties include Ion Țiriac and Prince Dimitrie Sturdza. Fishing, especially trout, is another attraction of the Gurghiu Valley.

For those interested in more information about hunting and fishing in the mountain area, a hunting museum is housed inside Bornemisza Castle. Visitors can admire dioramas with game specific to the Gurghiu Valley, birds and fish characteristic of mountain waters.

Gurghiu Valley is also famous for its local traditions and customs capitalized in the events that are organized over the year - Gurghiu Valley Festival - Valley of the Kings, from Ibănești, Fair of the young girls in Gurghiu, Sprinkling water on the wives in Hodac.

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Adventure Tourism and Ecotourism in Pădurea Craiului Mountains

By Traian DAN

Via ferrata, rafting, cyclo-tourism, speleo-tourism, visiting wooden churches, hiking and Transylvanian brunches are just some of the activities tourists can enjoy in Pădurea Craiului Mountains, Bihor County.

Pădurea Craiului mountains are an eco-destination easily accessible either by car, bicycle or train. The trails in this area have been marked especially for cyclo-tourism. The terrain is excellent for hiking on trailblazed routes, designed for people of all ages. The railroad operator provides bicycle racks in the train wagons; this allows for a civilised journey for cyclo-tourism fans and is a big plus.

The region has a rich cultural heritage, thanks to its centuries-old wooden churches which still keep the hallmark of master crafters, both through the construction techniques and through the naive paintings inside.

These are Orthodox, Catholic and Reformed stone churches that have a specific style of architecture - Byzantine, Gothic and Baroque.

Pottery, carpentry and weaving are crafting traditions which have been maintained to this day. In addition, culinary treats are plenty.

The whole region lays in a protected area in which the natural and cultural heritage is preserved. Tourists receive information about the flora, fauna and natural attractions by travelling on thematic routes that have been carefully prepared. It is the region with the largest number of tourist operators and local adventure activity planners in Bihor County.

Via Ferrata Adventure tourism can be enjoyed in the Pădurea Craiului eco-destination, in the Crișul Repede River Canyon, in the

towns of Vadu Crișului, Aușeu, Șuncuiuș, Bratca and in the Roșia area.

In these regions, Romanian and foreign tourists can practice activities such as Via ferrata, on five safe routes of various difficulty levels. Two of these trails are in Vadu Crișului: Peretele Zânelor has a medium difficulty level; Casa Zmeului has a high difficulty level and is recommended for experienced tourists.

Other three routes are in Șuncuiuș. The Hodoabei Valley is recommended for beginners. The Casio Montana route, inaugurated last year, has a medium difficulty level. And Montana Piticot is a route set up for children who want to give Via ferrata a go.

Rafting The waterway of the Crișul Repede River - from the village of Bulz to Vadu Crișului village - is a perfect destination for rafting aficionados, especially in Spring. The course has an easy to medium difficulty level, and is accessible even for families with children or for tourists less initiated in water sports. Specialised firms and well-trained monitors ensure the safety of the ones who dare take on this adventure.

They offer all the necessary equipment. A standard trip on the waters of Crișul Repede River takes approximately four hours, includes visiting one of the caves located near the waterway - Unguru Mare or Vadu Crișului - and a stop at the Vadu Crișului waterfall. A rafting trip on the Crișul Repede River costs 110-120 lei/person.

Speleo-tourism An activity for those who love exploring underground galleries, speleo-tourism can be successfully practiced in the caves in Pădurea Craiului. Those interested should make an appointment at least ten days in advance.

The Vântului Cave is the longest cave in Romania (50 km). It can be visited only by tourists accompanied by guides who are specialized in speleo-tourism and only with caving equipment: a hard hat with a light source, overalls and rubber boots. The caving route is one kilometre long and can be navigated in two to three hours. Tourists pass through the active zone towards the dry area of the cave and cross a gallery rich in karst formations. In some places, chains are used for crossings and safe metal stairs are used for climbing. The main attractions are: the ”torpedo”, the

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meanders, aragonite crystals, dripstones and stalagmites.

Such a journey costs between 80 and 200 lei/person.

The Gălășeni Cave hosts the biggest bat colony in Romania.

This is a sport route. Along it, one can admire various concretions: dripstones and stalagmites, columns, bulbous stalactites and different karstic formations. The Gălășeni Cave lies in the village with the same name, in the Măgești township. The bat colony residing in its galleries, which are 2,495 meters long, numbers no less than 16 species! The ”Silver haystack” and ”the Crystal Gallery” transform each visit here in a true adventure through the underground.

The Osoi Cave is often compared to The Urșilor Cave, due to its beauty. It lies in the Vârgiorog township and, beyond its small entrance way, the daredevils will enjoy its vast spaces adorned with many dripstones that resemble candles. The length of the speleo-tourist route is 1,300 meters and the duration of the trip is three to four hours.

The Unguru Mare Cave, in the Șuncuiuș township, Bihor County, is situated in the eco-destination of Pădurea Craiului – included in the Natura 2000 list of protected areas – Crișul Repede Canyon. The Ungurului Cave, also known as the Bolhac Cave, was formed in 240 million-year-old limestone sediments, on the bottom of a sea which once covered the better part of today’s Pădurea Craiului Mountains.

The morphology of the galleries in the Unguru Mare Cave reveals the way in which the subterranean waters dissolved the limestone. Thus, in the deep end of the tourist section, one notices that the cave ceiling has domes and circular or elliptical fragments belonging to primary karstic tubes.

Both these elements point to the fact that the waters of the subterranean river completely flooded the gallery and the limestone was dissolved by its complete submergence. The mineral analysis shows that the gelatinous material which coats the sand and rock fragments, all along the subterranean passage, is a new type of mineral called crisite, from the Latin name for the Crișul Repede river.

Wooden Churches and Transylvanian brunches Ten wooden churches can be found in Pădurea Craiului.

By appointment only, the priests themselves guide the tourist groups.

The wooden churches in the north-west of Romania, and especially those in Bihor, are living testaments of exceptional value. On one hand, they attest the continuity of Christian Orthodox way of life in these remote parts of the Romanian land. On the other hand, they are a testimony for cultural

traditions of the rural world, traditions which circumscribe the church. Visiting these wooden churches in Bihor is an incursion into rural living, a passage through the small but comfortable space wood offers.

Traditional brunches are organized almost monthly in the wooden church in Bratca township, in the Crișului Valley.

The locals put on the table local dishes, made from in-season produce grown in their own gardens and from animals bred and raised on their own farms. While some tourists choose to go for a carriage ride on the nearby hilltops, others take the bicycle.

In the Măgești trout farm in the village of Gălășeni, tourists can enjoy eating a fresh trout with a side dish of polenta and relaxing in nature, on the shore of a lake, or visiting either the cave in Gălășeni or the wooden church in Josani village.

Cyclo-tourism Cyclo-tourism can be practices in Pădurea Craiului on ten trails passing through scenic areas and cultural heritage attractions. The length of the trails varies between ten and fifteen km. Most of them are either circuit trails or end at a train station on the Oradea – Cluj-Napoca route. The ”Interregional Călători” train operator has special bike racks in their trains, thus providing a civilised and carefree trip for cyclists and passengers alike.

Hiking/trekking Mountain hiking or trekking is available all year round, regardless of the season. Hikes are organised in perfectly safe areas that do not pose any danger for the participants.

They may take one day, may be extended to a whole weekend or even longer, depending on the location and route.

Boarding houses Tourists who wish to spend a weekend or more than two days here have many lodging choices. The region has over 15 accommodation options: from boarding houses to hostels, cabins, camping areas or tent sites. They all serve traditional Romanian dishes, on demand. Here are just some of these places: Gradia Boarding House, Corimen Boarding House, Bucătarului House, Brătcuței Inn, Roua Munților, Axon Boarding House, Tradiţional House in Roșia, Roșia Boarding House, Gornicului House, Carpathia or Apuseni Wilde in Remeți.

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MAURER IMOBILIARE The road from a simple real estate developer to a national brand Maurer Imobiliare, the company currently present on the real estate markets in the cities of Sibiu, Braşov, Constanţa, Târgu Mureş and Cluj-Napoca, has built the dreams of over 6,500 families, who are calling „home” the apartments from the projects developed by the company during the thirteen years of presence on the Romanian market.

Impressive in itself is the very story of the founder, Simon Maurer, known to the public from appearances in the media as a developer who personally undertakes and vouches for both the seriousness of the projects and the quality of the works. A person with vision and determination, a man who had the courage to invest in Romania when nobody considered it appropriate, building the first 350 apartments before the financial crisis and 2,000 during it.

More than just a house, „home” for thousands of Romanians Maurer Imobiliare is driving all its plans, forecasts and efforts to create communities, where the feeling of „home” is embraced by all who are part of their family. Buildings built harmoniously, safely and in compliance with all legal provisions are not a mission accomplished for them. What happens beyond these constructions offers them the satisfaction that they have managed to put their mark, in a positive way, on the harmonious life of the families who give life to these buildings.

Maurer Real Estate and the work behind a renowned brand The story of the Maurer Imobiliare brand begins in 2006, with the purchase of the land on which the first real estate project of this developer was to be built. Since 2006 to date, the Maurer Imobiliare brand has seen a continuous development and directly proportional to the number of families who, with the help of this developer, have seen their dream, of having their own home, come true.

The figures behind this brand, which ref lect the results of the work of a full team of driven, motivated and professional people, translate in: over 6,500 apartments sold as part of 7 real estate project, in 5 cities around the country. „The results are visible and are, indeed, encouraging, but what cannot be seen, and is huge, is the work behind building the construction of this brand and its sustainability on top positions. We wanted to write history from the beginning, and to do this we carefully analyse the steps we take to make our business become a valuable brand”, says Cristina Ţîrea, Marketing & Sales Coordinator at company Maurer Imobiliare.

Before the creation of a renowned brand stands a quality product Company Maurer Imobiliare has understood that, just as important as a good business plan, is the systematic planning and management of the brand. A priority for the entrepreneur has been to focus his attention on investing in the best possible product because this is the basis that the brand is built on. They have also acknowledged that the brand is far more than just a logo and, consequently, the investments in the product were supplemented by significant investment in specialized skills, able to give value to the Maurer Imobiliare brand. „For us the trivial expression whereby a good product sells itself is completely devoid of truth and content. The elaboration of a brand strategy has been a priority for us and we pay special attention to the relationship between the product, the internal and external environment, behaviours and communication”, say the company’s marketing representatives.

Simon Maurer, the founder of Maurer Imobiliare, talks about the début in his business, his plans to make Maurer Imobiliare a national brand, the development of a luxury apartment segment, but also about the development plans on the markets of major cities in Romania.

Tell us about the début of your activity as an entrepreneur and what made you take this road?

12 years ago, when I was covered in debt, as a result of a not very inspired investment, I didn’t think I would become what I am today. These debts were hanging heavily on my conscience and were making me believe I would have to go back to Germany. The thought that I could leave again from the country that I had just returned to, was weighing me down heavily, and this was for me the stimulus to carry on. I felt I was on to something big in the „country of all possibilities” - Romania and I set off, with confidence and ambition, on a road promising a lot from the very beginning.

Why did you choose precisely real estate?

The passion for real estate came from the age of my adolescence, with the first house built, our own home in Germany.

This field took a hold on me, and I could see myself every day becoming more and more interested in constructions and how people are building in Germany. I started to document myself more and more, and I was pleased to walk this road of initiation in the field of constructions.

Was it difficult to enter the market? Did you face obstacles? What motivated you to continue?

No, it wasn’t difficult to enter the real estate market in Brașov.

12 years ago, on the local market of this profile, we would not be talking about competition, we were not in competition with other developers. There was only demand, and I was ready to satisfy it at the highest possible level. So I bought in Braşov, during the full real estate boom, a virgin land and I was preparing to begin the construction of a residential neighbourhood.

In relation to what was on the market at that time, what did you bring new in this field?

I knew how to perfectly adjust our offer to the needs of our customers and their financial possibilities. The decision to build new apartments, reducing their size so as to be in line with the method of compartment separation adopted in Germany helped me to sell them at half of their price, very close to, or even equal to the production prices of that time. What’s interesting is that, besides having demand for them, even higher than the offer was, I was able to make profit too.

Now, when the market is increasingly competitive, what makes the difference and what is in your advantage?

Indeed, there are currently many important real estate developers on this market and competition is therefore fierce.

However, we are focused on providing customers, beyond simple dwellings, with a feel of belonging to the communities we create in our neighbourhoods, and therefore, to put our mark on their lives. We are focusing our entire attention on people, and we want to create from our real estate projects true „cities within cities”, with all the conditions of a Western habitat.

What are the biggest challenges now in your on-going projects?

I always seek to go beyond my limits. I want to become better and better in what I do, to be permanently anchored in everything that is new in terms of constructions, and to implement as many innovative ideas as possible, that may bring added value to the real estate projects that I am developing.

The newest project, the 21-floor building that will become a symbol of the city of Cluj-Napoca, represents, both for me, as well as for the architects and engineers who I work with on this project, a great challenge. It will bring together many innovative construction procedures with high-quality materials and premium finishes, being part of the luxury apartment category, with the help of which we have managed thus to diversify our product portfolio.

What new plans do you have for the coming years? Are you planning on reorienting to other fields, what would these be?

We have gone through various stages that have determined us to grow continuously and to improve our values constantly.

We are currently present in the cities of Sibiu (Avantgarden3), Braşov (Avantgarden3, Maurer Residence, Maurer Villas), Constanţa (Maurer Residence), Târgu Mureş (Maurer Residence) and Cluj-Napoca, and we want to add on the map of our national expansion other major cities of the country too, such as Bucharest, Iași or Timișoara.

We are always looking for innovations to be integrated into our real estate developments. We are currently focusing our attention to new construction techniques, that would help us improve the delivery term and we are looking for some new technologies to make our customers’ living experience easier and more enjoyable. We are preparing to launch an innovative concept for apartment construction and compartment separation, a system that will revolutionize the real estate market not only locally, but also nationally and even internationally, I may say. It will be a Maurer Imobiliare exclusivity, it directly targets the functional and design aspects of dwellings, this project being developed on the technical side together with prestigious German firms.