Alțâna

Alțâna
Alzen
Alcina

Basic data

State :

Romania

Historical region :

Transylvania

Circle :

Sibiu

Coordinates :

45 ° 56 ' N , 24 ° 28' E Coordinates: 45 ° 55 '41 " N , 24 ° 27' 44" E

Time zone :

EET ( UTC +2)

Height :

448 m

Area :

83.32 km²

Residents :

1,562 (October 20, 2011)

Population density :

19 inhabitants per km²

Postal code :

557005

Telephone code :

(+40) 02 69

License plate :

SB

Structure and administration (as of 2016)

Community type :

local community

Structure :

Alțâna, Beneşti , Ghijasa de Sus

Mayor :

Ioan Bucşă ( PSD )

Postal address :

Str. Principală, no. 94
loc. Alțâna, jud. Sibiu, RO-557005

Alțâna , old spelling Alțîna [ alˈtsɨna ] ( German Alzen , Hungarian Alcina ), is a municipality in the Sibiu district in the Transylvania region in Romania .

Geographical location

Alțâna is four kilometers north of Nocrich (Leschkirch) and southwest of Agnita ( Agnetheln ) in the Harbachtal . Alzen is the seat of the municipal administration for this village as well as for Beneşti ( Bägendorf ) and Ghijasa de Sus ( Obergesäß ).

history

The place was documented for the first time in 1291, two members of the count family Gerendi are mentioned in a purchase contract. In 1532 Alzen was the largest municipality in the Leschkircher Stuhl .

In Alzen there was a small Jewish population group, but no community. According to witnesses, the last Jewish family emigrated in 1970. There was also a Jewish cemetery in the western part of the village , but it has been overbuilt for a long time.

Spelling of the place name

It is controversial whether the official name of the place in Romanian is "Alțina" (an intensifying Romanization of the Hungarian variant), or "Alțâna" , as it is e.g. B. the website of the district administration and the sign at the train station of the village suggest.

Lost village

In the vicinity of the village, in the direction of Nocrich, excavations were carried out during the late 1980s, where the village of Underten was once located. Remains of houses and tools were found and evidence of a former hall church was found .

population

Already in 1786 the place had 1,326 inhabitants, by 1910 it had grown to 2,113; Even then, the relative majority of the villagers were Romanians . In 1940 there was a census of Romanian Germans , at that time there were 1,012. After the Second World War , the population increased again slightly, but less quickly than in the new industrial locations of Romania. In 1966 2,141 people were counted, in 1990 - shortly after the revolution - there were 2,815; in summer 2004 the village had 1,109 inhabitants. After the second major wave of Romanian Germans emigrated at the beginning of the 1990s, there were still 90 members of the Protestant community in 1995 who are looked after from Cisnădioara (Michelsberg) . In 2005 the evangelical congregation had 74 members and together with Hosman (wood quantity) , Marpod and Nocrich forms the parish of Alzen.

Attractions

The Alzener Kirchenburg - a sacred building - is located on a hill in the west of the village and is enclosed by a double, almost circular wall ring. In the 13th century it was a basilica without a tower , in 1509 it was probably converted into a hall church, the flat-roofed central nave was given a barrel vault . The bell-shaped baptismal font of the fortified church, cast from bell bronze, was one of a total of eight baptismal fonts made by the Hermannstadt master Leonhardus in 1404. The baptismal font was stolen in July 1999 and has not been found. The other baptismal fonts are located today in Daia (Denndorf) , Brădeni (Henndorf) , Hermannstadt , Șeica Mică (small rascals) , Mediaș (Mediasch) , Șaeș (Schaas) and Sighișoara (Schäßburg) . The current tower was built in 1856, before that there was a bell tower with a battlement .
The Harbachtalbahn , a narrow-gauge railway from Hermannstadt to Agnetheln called Wusch by the Transylvanian Saxons , ran through Alzen from Hermannstadt to Agnetheln.