Şimleu Silvaniei

Şimleu Silvaniei Szilágysomlyó
—  Town  —
Şimleu Mountains and Şimleu Silvaniei
Şimleu Silvaniei
Coordinates: 47°13′0″N 22°48′0″E
Country	Romania
County	Sălaj County
Status	Town
Government
• Mayor	Cătălin Septimiu Ţurcaş (Democratic Party)
Population (2002)
• Total	16,066
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	simleusilvaniei.ro

Şimleu Silvaniei (Romanian pronunciation: [ʃimˌle.u silˈvani.ej]; Hungarian: Szilágysomlyó, German: Schomlenmarkt) is a town in Sălaj County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 16,066 people (2002 census). Is located near an ancient Dacian fortress Dacidava.

Three villages are administered by the town: Bic (Bükk), Cehei (Somlyócsehi) and Pusta (Csehipuszta).

History

Ancient times

See also: Dacians and Dacia

Before the Roman conquest of Dacia, Şimleu was a political, social and administrative Dacian center, of high importance. Not less than seven Dacian fortresses, some with associated settlements, were arranged in an arc shape around the hills of Şimleu. They had a strategic role in the supervising the trade along the salt road coming from areas around Napoca, Potaissa and modern Dej, and heading to Pannonia.

Middle Ages

Main articles: Transylvania in the Early Middle Ages, Romania in the Early Middle Ages, and Origin of the Romanians

In 1258 it was mentioned as Wathasomlyowa. The name means "Wata's mountain"; the name Wata is of Old Turkish origin, while somlyowa is an archaic Hungarian word for mountain(side).

The town belonged to the Báthory family, whose ancestral castle stood here. The castle was built by Miklós, Voivod of Transylvania in the early 13th century and was first mentioned in 1319. After the Báthory family built a mansion in the town in 1592, the castle became deserted and today lies in ruins.

The Catholic Church was built in 1534 by Transylvania's voivode Báthory István and his wife Telegdy Katalin with the occasion of their son's birth. Holy Trinity Statue was built in 1772. Reformed Church was rebuilt between 1729 and 1736. The synagogue was built in 1876.

The mansion was occupied by Giorgio Basta from Zsigmond Báthory in 1600. In 1703 it was occupied by Kurucs.

The Greek Catholic Vicariate of Şimleu Silvaniei was formed in 1910 and in 1817 the vicariate opened its own school. George Tatu (1810-1824), Georgiu Abraham (1824-1828), Isidor Alpini (1828-1835), Alexandru Sterca-Şuluţiu (1836-1850), Demetriu Coroianu (1850-1873), Alimpiu Barboloviciu (1873-1914), Alexandru Ghetie (1914-1922), Emil Bran (1926-1932), Petru Cupcea (1932-1940), Cornel Darabant (1940-1945), Gheorghe Ţurcaş (2004-2009) served as vicars of Şimleu Silvaniei. The old Greek Catholic church was destroyed by a storm in 1866. Notre Dame Church was built between 1871 to 1873..

In 1919, Simion Barnutiu National College, the first Romanian language high school in Sălaj County was founded here, and today the town is home to three high schools.

In 1940, Şimleu Silvaniei, along with the rest of Northern Transylvania, was given to Hungary through the Second Vienna Award imposed by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

Since 1997, inside Bic Monastery, there is the wooden church from Stâna; built in 1778 it has a rectangular plan with nave and pronave..

Septimiu Ţurcaş was elected in 2004 and 2008 as mayor of Şimleu Silvaniei.

Population

According to the last census from 2002 there were 16,066 people living within the city.

Of this population, 65.68% are ethnic Romanians, while 24.95% are ethnic Hungarians, 8.86 ethnic Roma and 0.51% others.

Sights to see

• Castle ruins
• Báthory mansion (16th century)
• Roman Catholic church (1532)
• Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum

Famous residents

See also Category: People from Şimleu Silvaniei

• Liviu Antal
• Andrew Cardinal Báthory
• Kristóf Báthory
• Sophia Báthory
• Stefan Batory
• György Bölöni
• Elly Berkovits Gross
• Iuliu Maniu
• Joe Pasternak
• Dr. Ioan Puşcaş
• Alexandru Sterca-Şuluţiu
• Alimpiu Barboloviciu

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Romania

Twin towns — Sister cities

Şimleu Silvaniei is twinned with:

Nyírbátor, Hungary Szarvas, Hungary

Gallery

• 

  Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum

• 
• 

  Şimleu Silvaniei Fort

• 

  ASTRA in Şimleu, 1908

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

References

• Wanner, Robert (2010) (PDF). Forts, fields and towns: Communities in Northwest Transylvania from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Archived from the original on 2012-01-15. http://www.webcitation.org/64io968ie. Retrieved 2012-01-15. 

Further reading

• Wanner, Robert (2010) (PDF). Forts, fields and towns: Communities in Northwest Transylvania from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Archived from the original on 2012-01-15. http://www.webcitation.org/64io968ie. Retrieved 2012-01-15. 

Note

This article is based on a translation of the equivalent article from the Hungarian Wikipedia on 18 March 2007.