Timişoara

Timişoara (pronunciation in Romanian: Timisoara.ogg; Hungarian: Temesvár, German: Temeschburg, Temeschwar, or Temeswar, Serbian: Temišvar or Темишвар, Banat Bulgarian: Timišvár) is a city in the Banat region of western Romania. With a population of 315,977 in 2004 (329,554 in 2000), it is the capital city of Timiş County. It is frequently spelled in English simply as Timisoara.

Name

All of the variants of its name derive from the Timiş River, known in Roman Antiquity as river Tibisis or Tibiscus. The evolution of the river name from antiquity (with the phonetic change "b" → "m") can be explained by the transition of Latin into Old Romanian. However, the city name in Romanian is an early borrowing from Old Hungarian and the name originally referred to a castle or fortress. The other names of the city (in German and Serbian) are later borrowings from Hungarian.

Culture

Timişoara is a multicultural city with influential minorities, primarily Hungarians, Germans, and Serbs, as well as Italians, Bulgarians, and Greeks. It was the birthplace of Johnny Weissmuller (an Olympic swimmer, best known for his role as Tarzan). There are numerous claims that Gustave Eiffel, the creator of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, built one of Timişoara's footbridges over the Bega. However, this has been repeatedly disproved. (In fact, Eiffel's company – and not Eiffel himself – had built a bridge for Timişoara in the late 19th century, but that bridge has since been removed). An industrial city with extensive services, it was the first European city to be lit by electric street lamps in 1884. It was also, the second European and the first city in what is now Romania with horse pulled trams in 1867.

Numerous bars and clubs have opened in the old centre, including, in summer, in the fine old Baroque Square.

Population

The municipality of Timişoara has a population of 317,660 (Census 2002). Ethnic composition:

Romanians: 271,677 (85,52%)
Hungarians: 24,302 (7,65%)
Germans: 7,157 (2,25%)
Serbs: 6,311 (1,98%)
Roma: 3,062 (0,96%)
Bulgarians: 1,218 (0,38%)

and 3,926 others.

History

In the Roman period, there was a military camp named Zambara or Zurobara in the place where Timişoara is today or in the immediate vicinity. During the time of the invasions of the nomad tribes of the Central-Asian plains, especially that of the Avars, on the site of the ruins of Zambara, a new settlement was built – Beguey.

In 1019 Timişoara (as Dibiscos/ Bisiskos/ Tibiskos/ Tibiskon/ Timbisko/etc.) was mentioned for the first time in written documents by the Byzantine Emperor Basil II, although not all historians agree with this identification.

In 1154 the Arabian geographer Sarif al Idrisi mentions the city saying it's a "nice city offering a lot of riches".

The first mention of the fort of Timişoara (castrum regius Temesvar) is found in the decree of King Andrew II of Hungary dating from 1212.

Timişoara was first mentioned in the official documents as a city in 1474. It was captured by the Ottomans in 1552 and remained under Ottoman control until it was captured by Habsburg officer Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1716.

The demographic conditions of the region changed dramatically during the 167 year of Ottoman rule. In 1582 the city of Temeswar in spite of the bloody siege still has a Hungarian majority (the chief judge was István Herczegh - Preyer, Johann N.: Monographie der konigliche n Freistadt Temesvar - 1853). Later, the largest ethnic group in the city were Muslim Turks, and other smaller groups were Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies Dr. Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjige 1-3, Novi Sad, 1990

After the city was captured by the Habsburg Empire, the Turkish population fled and we know about 600-700 inhabitants out of which 446 were Serbs, 144 Jewish, and 35 Armenians According to captain Graf Paolo Wallis - Neumann, Victor: Istoria evreilor din Banat. Buc. 1999

According to the 1720 data, the largest ethnic group in the city were Serbs, and other smaller groups were Romanians and Jews, there were no Hungarians and Germans in the city at that time.Dr. Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjige 1-3, Novi Sad, 1990 Later, many Germans settled in the city, and they became the largest ethnic group.

The "Armenische Stadt" as a separate quarter existed until the great plague from 1738.

In 1718 the first beer factory in Transylvania was built. The first tobacco mill in today's Romania was set up in Timişoara. Between 1728 and 1771 a canal Bega was built to unite the city with the Danube river. The city was also the first city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to have public lighting using suet candles and lamps with oil and grease. Timişoara also became the first city in Europe to have electric public lighting on the 12th of November 1884, (four years after New York City). A tram tracted by horses also came into service around this period. Meanwhile, in 1869 Timişoara was the first city to have an ambulance station in the Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1910 the town had 72,555 inhabitants: 31,644 (43,6%) Germans, 28,552 (39,3%) Hungarians, 7,566 (10,4%) Romanians and 3,482 (4,8%) Serbs.Atlas and Gazetteer of Historic Hungary 1914, Talma Kiadó

The city was ethnically mixed before it became part of Romania following the break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, with largest part of population composed of ethnic Germans. The population also consisted of Hungarians, Romanians and Serbs.

During the Ceauşescu era, mostly during the great great drought of the 50's in the Moldova provence, many Romanians were re-settled from Transylvania. At the same time, many ethnic Germans left because of Communist persecution, most going to Germany. Timişoara's population has more than tripled over the last 50 years (it was slightly more than 90,000 at 1930 census), but the Magyars' percentage has decreased from 30% to 7%, the Germans from 30% to 2% and the Jews from 8% to almost 0%.

On December 16 1989 townspeople supported Hungarian pastor László Tőkés against efforts to deport him by the Securitate, or secret police. On the 17th a popular uprising began in Timişoara against the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu. This was the beginning of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which ended the Communist regime a week later.

In recent years, Timişoara has enjoyed a significant economic boom as the number of foreign investments, especially in high-tech sectors, has risen constantly. It is frequently considered the second most prosperous city in Romania (following Bucharest) and there have been frequent debates on whether the so-called "Timişoara Model" could be applied to other cities. In an article in late 2005, French magazine L'Expansion called Timişoara "Romania's economic showcase", and referred to the increased number of foreign investments as a "second revolution".

Transport

Timişoara public transport network consists of 11 tram lines, 9 trolleybus lines and 15 bus lines, and is operated by Regia Autonomă de Transport Timişoara (RATT), an autonomous corporation of the City Hall. The city is served by Romania's second-largest airport, Traian Vuia International Airport, which is the hub of the Romania's second-largest airline, Carpatair. The city is connected to a series of major European and domestic destinations. Timişoara is a major railway centre and is connected to all other major Romanian cities, as well as local destinations, through the national Căile Ferate Române network.

Landmarks

Timişoara Orthodox Cathedral
Timişoara State Theater
Timişoara Roman Catholic Church (The Dome)
Huniade Castle
Mehala Cathedral

Education

Sister cities

Famous natives

References

External links

CyberTim Timişoara's Homepage
City Website (many obsolete info) (in Romanian)
Timişoara online map
"Traian Vuia" Int'l Airport (in Romanian, English, Italian)
Images from Timisoara city; includes the cathedral and the Bega channel

Banat | Municipalities in Romania | Timiş County | Timişoara

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