Arad (Romania)

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Arad
Coat of arms of Arad (Romania)
Arad (Romania) (Romania)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Basic data
State : RomaniaRomania Romania
Historical region : Screeching area
Circle : Arad
Coordinates : 46 ° 11 ′  N , 21 ° 19 ′  E Coordinates: 46 ° 11 ′ 0 ″  N , 21 ° 19 ′ 0 ″  E
Time zone : EET ( UTC +2)
Height : 116.5  m
Area : 46.18  km²
Residents : 159,074 (October 20, 2011)
Population density : 3,445 inhabitants per km²
Postal code : 310xxx
Telephone code : (+40) 02 57
License plate : AR
Structure and administration (as of 2016)
Community type : Municipality
Structure : 17 boroughs
Mayor : Gheorghe Falcă ( PNL )
Postal address : Blvd. Revoluției, No. 75
loc. Arad, jud. Arad, RO-310130
Website :
Others
City Festival : August
Arad (red square) - Romania - Neighboring towns: Timișoara , Szeged (Hungary) , Békéscsaba (Hungary)
Location of Arad in the Arad district

Arad ( pronunciation ? / I ) is the capital of the Arad County in Romania . The municipality of Arad is located in the south of the Kreisch area (north of the Marosch ) and in the north of the Banat (south of the Marosch: VI. District Aradul Nou and XIII. District Sânnicolau Mic ). The seat of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Arad is located in the industrial center and important transport hub, which is important for the west of the country . Audio file / audio sample

Since Arad belonged to Hungary until 1920 , it is counted as part of Transylvania within Romania . According to Hungarian and German tradition, the city, located in the historical border area between the Hungarian and Romanian languages , does not belong to Transylvania . The river Marosch ( Romanian Mureș ) demarcated the southern Banat from the Hungarian heartland before 1920 .

Geographical location

Arad is located in the far west of the country at the intersection of the national roads Drum național 7 , the Drum național 7E with the Drum național 79 , 20 kilometers from the Hungarian border and is a traffic junction and transit point between Hungary and Romania. The next larger cities are Timișoara (40 km), Oradea (110 km), Belgrade (200 km) and Budapest (270 km). Arad is located 17 kilometers from the Curtici border crossing , 116 meters above sea level and has an area of ​​46.18 square kilometers. In 2002 Arad had 172,827 inhabitants.

Arad is located on the eastern edge of the Great Hungarian Plain , on the western edge of the Transylvanian Ore Mountains , mainly on the right bank of the Mureș River (German Marosch or Mieresch , Hungarian Maros ) and consists of the actual city and four suburbs that are incorporated today. On the left bank of the river is the district of Aradul Nou (New Arad) , founded in the 17th century during the Turkish wars , which for a long time was mainly inhabited by Germans, is connected to Arad by bridges and was incorporated into Arad in 1948. The other three incorporated places are Micălaca , Mureșel and Sânnicolau Mic .

climate

The climate is temperate - continental with transitional character . The mean summer temperature is 21 ° C, the mean winter temperature is −1 ° C. The recorded temperature extremes in Arad were 41.5 ° C on August 19, 1946 and −30 ° C on February 5, 1954

history

Géza II.
Johann Zápolya
Mihai Viteazul , in 1601, portrait by Egidius Sadeler the Elder

Antiquity

The region around today's city was populated with short interruptions since the Neolithic . During the first half of the 1st millennium BC The Dacians founded their first settlements on both banks of the Maros. In the 6th century BC A small Scythian community settled next to them . End of the 4th century BC BC Celts populated both banks of the Marosch. Both Celts and Scythians were assimilated by the Dacians.

The large Dacian settlement, which was located on today's southern edge of the city, was destroyed by the Roman army during the first Dacian war (101-102 AD) . During the second Dacian War (105-106 AD) Trajan also conquered the regions north of the Marosch and incorporated them into the province of Dacia . In the area of ​​today's New Arad district, the Roman army built a fortress, the Aradul Nou castle , in which units of the Legio IIII Flavia Felix were housed. Emperor Hadrian (117-138) left the Arad area to the free Dacians and Sarmatians . Between the 2nd and 4th centuries there were several Dacian and Sarmatian settlements in what is now the city, which maintained close trade relations with the Romans . During the crisis that hit the Roman Empire around the middle of the 3rd century, provincial residents moved to the Barbaricum . Here they founded the pottery colonies of Arad-Ceala , Horia and Vladimirescu -Pădurea vrabiilor.

After the Romans withdrew from the province of Dacia (271), various migrant peoples, Goths , Huns , Gepids , Avars , moved through the area. The earliest traces of the Slavic presence on the lower Marosch date from the 6th century .

middle Ages

The expansion of the Magyars began in the 10th century . An important way of their advance was along the Marosch. This historical stage is archaeologically documented by the grave of a Hungarian knight in Arad-Ceala. In order to protect themselves from the Hungarian danger, the population from the Arad area built an earth fortress at Vladimirescu hill. This was subordinate to the Voivoden Glad and was destroyed by the Hungarian knights in the first half of the 10th century. Later the fortress was rebuilt by order of the voivod Ahtum and finally destroyed by the Hungarian knights in 1028.

At the beginning of the 11th century, the Hungarian kingdom gained control of the area. The first written mention of the Orod settlement comes from a document issued between 1078 and 1081. King Géza II called German town planners, farmers and miners looking for land to Hungary. King Andreas II brought the Order of Teutonic Knights into the country to ward off the Cumans . When he tried to build an independent state, he was expelled.

After the first Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1241, stone castles, Falkenstein Castle , Șiria Fortress and Dezna Fortress (in the vicinity of Arad) were built in the second half of the 13th century .

In 1331 Arad was mentioned in the Hungarian illustrated chronicle by Markus von Kált .

Modern times

From the 15th century, Arad appears in the documents as a civitas or oppidum . In 1514, the city's serf population sided with the rebels led by György Dózsa . After the suppression of the uprising, the nobles' cruel revenge followed. A new uprising broke out in 1526, and this was also bloodily suppressed. After the Battle of Mohács , the nobles who were loyal to the Habsburg castle elected Archduke Ferdinand von Habsburg (1526–1564) as ruler of the Hungarian kingdom. The Hungarian-Turkish-minded raised Johann Zápolya , the voivod of Transylvania (1526–1540), to the throne. During the armed conflicts, the provincial capital of Ofen fell (1541) and Hungary fell apart. While Buda fell under Turkish rule (Paschalik Ofen) (1541), Transylvania and the neighboring Partium (Banat, Kreischgebiet) were proclaimed an autonomous principality .

Ottoman Empire

In 1552 an Ottoman army conquered the Arad castle and caused great damage. The area of ​​the former Arad county was divided into three sanjaks , with that of Arad comprising the city and another 113 villages. In the period from 1553 to 1555, the Turks built a rectangular brick fortress on the northern bank of the Marosch, near today's Trajan Bridge , the Turkish fortress Arad .

Transylvanian troops recaptured the lower course of the Marosch in 1595 and were able to reintegrate Arad into the Principality of Transylvania. After the Battle of Schellenberg (1599), Arad came under the rule of Mihai Viteazul . After his death (1601) the prince of Transylvania, Gábor Bethlen , Arad returned to the Turks and received the castle of Ineu in return .

Stephan Bocskai (1605–1606) opened a new era. In his opinion, a peaceful equilibrium between the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire was vital for Hungary. The Principality of Transylvania should continue to exist as a refuge of Hungarian statehood under the protection of the Sultan. Under the princes of the following period, the principality was only a willless satellite of the Turkish Empire. In 1683 the Ottomans dared to attack Vienna again. The intervention of a German-Polish relief army led to the Turkish defeat.

Habsburg Monarchy

The Timisoara Banat 1791

After the Battle of Mohács (1687) , the Habsburg Monarchy began a large-scale offensive to the east. Arad was liberated from Turkish rule in 1687. The counties of Arad and Zaránd were spun off from Transylvania and incorporated into Hungary. The Marosch became a border river. In 1689 Prince Eugene of Savoy worked out plans to rebuild the former Turkish fortress. The construction work of the Arad fortress was directed by Johann Georg Haruckern between 1763 and 1783. The imperial army was followed by German craftsmen and traders who settled near the fortress. The peace of Karlowitz (1699) established the border between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire along the Marosch. General Starhemberg laid down the plans for the construction of the Marosch military border. Arad became the center of the Austrian military border . In August 1699, the first border troops were recruited from the ranks of the Serbs and sent to Arad. Franz Sigismund Graf Lamberg founded the first Arad city council on October 6, 1702. The rebuilding of the Arad county began in 1715.

After the Peace of Passarowitz (1718), the Banat also came under Habsburg rule. As a result of the impopulation patent , Germans from Franconia were also settled in Neu-Arad . The city's population consisted of Romanians , Serbs , Germans and Hungarians . From an administrative point of view, the counties of Arad and Zărand were attached to Hungary. In 1732 Arad County was donated to Count Rinaldo di Modena . In 1740 the donation was canceled and the county was declared a state domain .

City map of Arad, 1897

The new fortress made Arad a garrison town and, along with Timisoara, the most important military base in the south-eastern part of Austria-Hungary .

The Toleration of Emperor Joseph II. (1781) picked up the rural serfdom. The serf ordinance frightened the landlords, but they did not dare to prevent its execution, as the peasant uprising of Horia, Cloşca and Crişan (1782–1784) terrified them. Baron Günther , commander of the Württemberg Legion in Arad, finally brutally suppressed the uprising near Hellburg .

The French Revolution of 1789 ushered in the bourgeois age. The restoration of the old constitution (January 28, 1790) awakened Arad to new political activity. The city bought itself out of its feudal services. In 1834, in the presence of Emperor Franz I of Austria, it received the title of a free royal city .

The main garrison of the fortress was the 33rd Infantry Regiment , a unit that took part in all important military events in the empire. Franciscan monks lived in the wing of the building next to the Catholic church, which was located in the center of the fortress . Until 1918 the fortress was one of the largest military prisons in the empire.

Revolution of 1848/49

Execution of the Martyrs of Arad , painting by János Thorma (1870–1937)
50th anniversary of the martyrs of Arad on October 6, 1899 in Arad

Hungary had achieved the recognition of statehood at the Pressburg Reichstag in 1790. A modern, parliamentary industrial state developed from the agrarian-style Hungary. Pioneering personalities were István Széchenyi and Lajos Kossuth , who strove for revolutionary upheaval.

The February Revolution of the Parisians in 1848 also influenced the other European states. Prince Metternich abdicated. Emperor Ferdinand V , King of Hungary and Bohemia (1835-1848), joined favor of his nephew I. Franz Joseph back. The Austrian Prime Minister Felix Fürst Schwarzenberg issued a state constitution on March 4, 1849, which degraded the Kingdom of Hungary to a crown land . The Hungarians responded on April 14, 1849 with the “Declaration of Independence” and the “Deposition of the House of Habsburg-Lothringen ”.

Arad played an important role during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848/49 . Defended by the Austrian general Johann Nepomuk Berger von der Pleisse until July 1849 , the city was taken by the Hungarian insurgents, who made it their headquarters in the later course of the revolt . From here, Lajos Kossuth announced his proclamation on August 11, 1849, in which he handed over the supreme military and civil power to Arthur Görgey . On July 30, 1849, the revolutionary government of Hungary elected Arad as the seat of government of the Hungarian Republic .

To suppress the revolution, the Austrians advanced from the west against the rebellious Hungarians. Tsar Nicholas I came to the aid of the beleaguered Austrian emperor from the east. Lajos Kossuth abdicated and fled to Turkey. The general of the Honveds , General Artúr Görgey , who was President of the State for one day, put down his arms in front of the Russian troops on August 13, 1849 in Világos (Hellburg) . As a result, Austrian troops used the fortress as a prison for 500 officers of the Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Among the 219 death row inmates also 13 leaders and generals were uprising of 1848-49 , the order of the Austrian general Julius Haynau on 6 October 1849 (now a national memorial in Hungary) executed were. These went down in history as the martyrs of Arad . The obelisk erected in 1881 commemorates these events.

After the revolution of 1848/49, the Austrians attempted a Greater Austrian solution . The imperial patent of November 18, 1849 brought about the reorganization of the monarchy. Hungary was placed under military administration and divided into five provinces: Hungary proper , Transylvania , the Voivodeship of Serbia and the Temesian Banat , Croatia-Slovenia and the Banat military border . After the defeat of the Habsburgs in the Sardinian War in the Battle of Magenta and the Battle of Solferino (1859), Hungary regained its legal status from 1848 in 1861. The battle of Königgrätz in 1866 initiated the small German unification , which resulted in the exclusion of Austria from the German Confederation .

Language map of Hungary after the 1880 census:
“Ó. Arad ”designates the city,
“ Arad ”(without serifs ) the county

After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise , Hungary became a sovereign kingdom that formed a real union with Cisleithania . The foreign, war and finance ministries were common to both parties. The army unit was retained. In order to meet the Hungarians' claim to sovereignty, a small army, the Honvéds , was set up in 1868 . The Hungarian people were satisfied with the agreements. The nationalities in Hungary demanded the free use of their mother tongue and territorial self-government. The Hungarians, however, practiced the Magyarization of place names and surnames and tried to melt down the nationalities living with them by teaching them in the Hungarian language, which in turn led to the national awakening of the ethnic groups living with them. After the national awakening, the Danube Swabians began to unite in professional, cultural, economic and social organizations. The teachers 'association (1868) and the southern Hungarian agricultural farmers' association (1891) were established. On December 30, 1906, the Hungarian People's Party was founded.

Between the wars and the Second World War

Arad coat of arms in the interwar period

The First World War broke out both social and national tensions within the Danube monarchy. The National Romanian Council was founded on October 30, 1918, and on November 2 it moved its central seat from Budapest to Arad. The leaders of the council were the Arad politicians Ștefan Cicio Pop , Vasile Goldiş , Ioan Suciu and Ioan Flueraş . National councils also established the other nationalities of the monarchy. On November 13, a delegation from the Hungarian government, led by Oskar Jaszi , came to Arad to negotiate with representatives of the Romanians. Despite the numerous compromises that the Hungarian delegation was ready to make, the position of the Romanians remained categorical: the total separation of Transylvania from Hungary and the union with Romania . The National Romanian Central Council, based in Arad, set about organizing the plebiscitary Grand National Assembly of Karlsburg ( Romanian Marea Adunare Națională de la Alba Iulia ). This took place on December 1, 1918 and proclaimed the unification of Transylvania with Romania.

At the end of December 1918, French troops occupied Arad. The Romanian army made its triumphant entry on May 16, 1919. On July 10, 1919, the administration of the city was taken over by the Romanian state. A new administrative law in 1919 declared all district capitals, including Arad, to be municipalities .

Arad was incorporated into the Romanian state association through the Paris suburb agreements ( Saint-Germain , Trianon , Neuilly ). The economic, social and political changes influenced the population growth and the population structure. As a result, the ethnic composition changed fundamentally in favor of the Romanians through assimilation and immigration from other parts of the country. Arad continued to develop into an industrial center in the west of the country.

The Second Vienna Arbitration Award of August 30, 1940 granted the Germans in Romania, Northern Serbia and Croatia the status of a public corporation with school autonomy. The Germans from Romania did their military service in the Romanian army until Romania joined the three-power pact on May 19, 1943 . Then the ethnic Germans were drafted into the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS .

The Second World War had serious consequences for the German national community in Romania. Decree No. 830 of November 20, 1940 declared the German ethnic group in Romania to be a legal entity under public law. The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi) in Berlin was given a free hand to make the German ethnic group the political will-bearer of the Reich. With immediate effect, the chairmen of the German ethnic group were no longer elected, but appointed by VoMi. The thirty year old Andreas Schmidt was appointed leader of the ethnic group .

After the royal coup d'état on August 23, 1944 , Arad was caught in the crossfire of the Romanian-Soviet and German-Hungarian troops. On September 22nd, 1944, the horthystic army withdrew from the city and destroyed the Maroschbrücken, the train station and the switchboard. At the end of October and beginning of November 1944, the Luftwaffe bombed the station area. The refugee treks from the Banat and the Arad region started moving. The privileges of the Germans were revoked (October 8, 1944) and their land was expropriated (March 23, 1945). Arad became the most important refugee center in western Romania. In January 1945 the Germans were deported from Romania to the Soviet Union .

post war period

After the end of the war, the 1st Cavalry Division of the Romanian Army returned to Arad (July 13, 1945). Soviet troops were housed in the fortress. The presence of the Red Army enabled the communists to take control of the city on November 29, 1944. By falsifying the election results, they managed to win the 1946 election. With the abdication of the king and the proclamation of the People's Republic (December 30, 1947), democracy was finally abolished and the communists were able to take full power. The measures to introduce the Soviet model followed: nationalization of the most important means of production (June 11, 1948), introduction of the planned economy (July 1, 1948), reorganization of the school system according to the Soviet model (August 3, 1948). At the same time the political, economic and cultural elite were eliminated. The revolt of the textile factory workers, which culminated with the assassination of the factory party secretary on April 25, 1947, resulted in severe reprisals that made any further resistance impossible.

After the withdrawal of the Soviet troops (1958) there was a policy of relative détente , which in 1964 enabled political prisoners to be released as part of an amnesty . Ceauşescu's takeover (1965) opened the way to national communism . After a brief and relative liberalization, the regime developed in the direction of the dictatorship of the Ceaușescu clan.

1989 revolution

The beginnings of the December events of 1989 were quickly noticed in Arad. On December 20, numerous Araders gathered in front of the town hall as a sign of solidarity with the protesters from Timișoara . On December 21, Arad was the second Romanian city to overthrow the communist leadership.

population

Demographic development

Southeastern Europe at the time of the Romans (1st century AD)

The autochthonous population of the Marosch-Kreisch area is the ethnic group of the Romanians , regardless of whether they are Latinized Dacians or Makedo Romanians who have settled here . They lived mainly in the mountains, while the Slavs populated the valleys.

The original homeland of the Slavs are western Ukraine and the Pripet swamps . From here they spread south and west. The Avar invasion of the Danube region in the 6th century also triggered the Slavs' conquest of land.

The migration of the Asiatic cavalry people of the Magyars split the Slavs of Pannonia into two parts, the South Slavs and the West Slavs . Further Slavic immigration to the Marosch-Kreisch area took place during the time of King Sigismund (1387–1437) and Emperor Leopold I (1640–1705) with his settlement patents and the establishment of the Marosch military border .

After the Ottomans were expelled , the largely deserted country, whose population had been decimated by war, epidemics and deportation, was settled with Germans . These made a decisive contribution to the economic development of the Arad area by damming the rivers and making the neglected fields arable. Mainly craftsmen and merchants settled in the cities. In the country south of the Marosch farmers were settled on camera estates , north of the Marosch on private property. Arad was settled with Germans during the Carolinian period (1722–1726). The population of the city of Arad rose rapidly in the period that followed.

The Turkish conscription from 1579, which was ordered by Sultan Murad III. was carried out, noted a population of 297 families for Arad and the surrounding area. After the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), Arad became the center of the Austrian border zone. A large-scale settlement policy led to a spectacular demographic development of the city in the 19th century. In 1804 Arad had 8,476 inhabitants, in 1850 there were 22,398 inhabitants, in 1900 the number rose to 56,260 inhabitants. In 1930 the population of the city increased to 77,181 through the incorporation of neighboring villages and targeted immigration from other parts of the country. In the 1970s, as a result of industrial development, the influx from other parts of the country and the abortion ban (four-child policy) of the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, the population rose to 171,193. In 1990 Arad's population peaked at 190,114. Since 1990, the population has been steadily falling due to the decline in the birth rate and migration to the rural surroundings, but also abroad. In 2002 the population was 172,827.

Population development:

Ethnic composition

In 1880 45,199 people with the following ethnic composition lived in what is now the city area:

In 2002 , of the 172,827 residents:

  • 142,968 Romanians (84.6%)
  • 22,492 Hungary (10.9%)
  • 3,004 Roma (1.74%)
  • 2,247 Germans (1.31%)
  • 605 Serbs (0.36%)
  • 450 Slovaks (0.27%)
  • 251 Bulgarians (0.15%)
  • 157 Jews (0.10%)
  • 114 Ukrainians (0.07%)

Religions

Beginnings of Christianization

The Slav apostles Cyril and Method of Saloniki
John Calvin

The Christianization of the Danube region took place in four phases. After the first Christianization with Roman rule in Dacia from 106 AD, the migration of peoples brought Arian Christianity to the Tisza and Carpathian region. The Slav apostles Cyril and Method did missionary work from the east in south-east Europe. The fourth Christianization began with the foundation of the Csanád diocese (1030). Bishop Gerhard (980-1046) and his German and Italian Benedictines brought Christian life to the Pannonian basin . Abbeys , monasteries and priests came into being.

The provost of Arad, founded by King Béla II (1131–1141) for secular clergy, stood in what is now the Drăgășani district. Their prerogatives included the trial by fire , jurisdiction over their serf peasants, and notarial law . Their salt privilege was often the guideline for further awards of the king's salt rights.

With the division of Christianity into a Latin and a Greek church as a result of the split in the church in 1054 , the Patriarch of Constantinople became the head of all Orthodox churches. The majority of the Romanians , Serbs , Bulgarians , Greeks and Russians profess the Greek Orthodox Church.

The pre-Reformation Hussite doctrine found enthusiastic representatives in the Arad district with the landlords Giskra , Pan Pongrac and the aristocratic Jakich family . Martin Luther's Reformation first spread to the German cities of Hungary in southeastern Europe. Margrave Georg von Brandenburg with his possessions and Johann Kederessy advocated Lutheran teaching in the Arad district. In the eastern parts of Hungary, Calvinism , headed by Lippa Peter Petrovich's captain , gained the upper hand over Lutheranism. Calvinism was seen as a "Hungarian religion". The internal counter-reformation of the Catholic Church from 1547 to 1648, which went hand in hand with the Council of Trent (1545–1563), did not begin in southeastern Europe until after the Turks were expelled.

Roman Catholic Church

Catholic Cathedral , 2006

After the defeat of Mohács in 1526, the Turks chased away the Catholic bishops, destroyed the cathedral school, the seminary and the episcopal archive and left the architectural works of art to decay. Around the middle of the 17th century even the most important villages in the district no longer had a parish.

After the Turkish expulsion and the peace treaties of Karlowitz (1699) and Passarowitz (1718), the settlement and rebuilding of the country and the church began. Catholic settlers were called into the country to strengthen the Catholic element in partly Protestant Hungary.

The Roman Catholic Church began its activities in Arad at the end of the 17th century, when Franciscan Minorites and the Imperial Habsburg army settled in the old Arad fortress, where the first Catholic church was built.

The first parish was founded in 1702 by Father Kamill Höfflich , a Minorite Father of the Cologne Province and military chaplain of the Liechtenstein Regiment . A first wooden church was followed by a stone church in 1710 and the baroque monastery and town church in 1751. The current monumental building of the Catholic cathedral was built between 1902 and 1914 in the neo-renaissance style .

Today there are Catholic parishes in the districts of Grădişte, Șega, Neuarad and Gai.

In the course of time there was the Minorite monastery (1702) as well as the Franciscan monasteries “Ad BMV Reginam Angelorum et S. Franciscum stigmatisatum” (1705) and “St. Josephum ”in the new fortress (1781).

The Hungarian and German minorities are predominantly Catholic.

Orthodox Church

Orthodox Cathedral, 2010

The Orthodox Church is said to have put down its first roots in what is now the city area as early as the 15th century. The Greek Orthodox Church, which was under the Serbian hierarchy until the 19th century, relocated its bishopric from Ineu to Arad on August 20, 1690 with the approval of King Leopold I (1657–1705) .

In the first half of the 18th century, two Orthodox communities existed in Arad : a Serbian Church of Peter and Paul in the “Serbian City” and a Romanian John the Baptist on the site of today's Moise Nicoară Lyceum. In 1756, the monastery from what is now the Gai district was transformed into the summer residence of the bishops.

The growth of the Orthodox community prompted Bishop Pavel Avacumovici to build a new church in 1791, which was built over the old St. John the Baptist Church. It was bombed during the revolution of 1848/49 and later demolished on the orders of the Austrian authorities. A new cathedral was built between 1861 and 1870 on the east side of the "Great Market".

In 1865 the Orthodox Romanian Metropolis of Transylvania was brought back to life. The diocese of Arad was attached to it, which freed itself from Serbian guardianship.

After the change of state as a result of the Trianon Peace Treaty , the Romanian government supported the building of Orthodox churches in the newly won parts of the country. The Romanian constitution of March 28, 1923 divided the religious communities into three ranks:

  • the Greek Orthodox Romanian Church
  • the Greek Catholic Romanian Church and
  • all other, non-Romanian churches.

According to Article 72, all Romanian metropolitans and bishops received one seat in the Senate, the other churches only one seat each. The Romanians thus had 18 episcopal senators , the 1.5 million Catholics only one.

The construction of an Orthodox cathedral, which was planned as early as 1934, was only started in 1994 and a representative church building in the Byzantine style was built on Piața Podgoriei in the city center with donations from all over the world and from our own funds .

Orthodox churches were also established in the city districts:

  • Micălaca District II: an Orthodox church in the 18th century and a new one in 1845
  • III. Șega District: 1933
  • IV. Aradul Nou district : an Orthodox church in the 17th century and a new one in 1937
  • VI. District: Grădiște: 1940
  • VII Gai district: 1936
  • VIII. Bujac district: 1976
  • XIII. District Sânnicolau Mic : an Orthodox church in the early 18th century and a new 1804

The city is the seat of a Romanian Orthodox bishop and a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary .

Greek Catholic Church

Greek Catholic Church, Arad, 2011

The Union efforts of Cardinal Leopold Graf von Kollonitsch led to the founding of the Greek Catholic (Uniate) Church . The Ukrainians of the Carpathian Ukraine joined the Roman Church in 1649. At the Synod of Brest-Litovsk in 1596, the Russians united with Rome. The Romanians signed the declaration of union prepared by Bishop Theophilus in Alba Iulia in 1697, which was also followed by his successor Athanasius (1700). In 1721 the united diocese of Făgăraş was established , which was followed by the diocese of Oradea . The Uniate were allowed to keep their church language , the Eastern Church liturgy , communion in both forms and marriage before ordination.

The Greek Catholic Church has been represented in Arad since 1770 and has had its own church since 1776. A new one was built in the period 1912 to 1923. In the interwar period, the construction of a church began in the Șega district. After the dissolution of the Greek Catholic Church by the communist regime (1948), its church buildings were taken over by the Orthodox. The Greek Catholic parish was revived in 1991.

reformed Church

The Reformed Church has existed in Arad since the 16th century. The church building used today was completed in 1852. There are reformed parishes in the districts of Gai and Grădişte.

Protestant church

Evangelical (“red”) Church, 2005

A Protestant congregation has existed in Arad since the first half of the 19th century. Its growth and the associated financial resources made it possible to build the Red Church, which was completed in 1906 . The Red Church was built in a neo-Gothic style . It is equipped with a richly decorated portal, a 30 m high tower and a late Gothic altar. It owes the name “Red Church” to its exterior facing made of red brick.

Free Churches

Free churches began their work in Arad in the first half of the 19th century. In 1879 the Baptists founded a church in Micălaca. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Adventist and Pentecostal churches were founded.

Judaism

The Jewish community became an active component of the city's religious life in the first half of the 18th century. She settled in the eastern part of the former "Serbian City". The building complex, which was inaugurated in 1834 and in the middle of which is the synagogue, is also an expression of the community's prosperity . Rabbi Aaron Chorin , an early proponent of Reform Judaism, played a significant role in the city's Jewish life .

Educational institutions

Karl Robert of Anjou, 1360
Johann Ignaz Felbiger (from the General German Library , Volume 19, 1773)

Beginnings

In the course of the Christianization of the Marosch-Kreisch area, the church endeavored in addition to its missionary work to educate and educate young people. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the cities with their city and Latin schools got involved in the upbringing and education of young people. Bishop Gerhard established a seminary in Morisena (Csanád) between 1030 and 1037. The chapter school in Arad was founded in the 12th century. King Karl Robert von Anjou founded a monastery school (Minorites) in Lippa in 1325 . The modern age brought a profound structural change. Humanism established the ideal of a humanity based on antiquity. During the heyday of humanism in Western Europe, Arad and its surroundings belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Christian education became impossible, and there was a Muslim school only in the shadow of the few mosques. The time of absolutism is characterized by a concentration of power in the hands of the sovereigns.

18th century

The school system was initially in confessional instead schools.

Empress Maria Theresa laid the foundation for a modern school system. The first German-speaking primary school in the “German City” was built in 1703 by the Minorite Father Kamill Höfflich , followed by the Franciscan Franz Preißler in 1705 in the fortress and the “Serbian City”. The lessons were held in German. In the next few years two Orthodox schools and one Catholic school with Hungarian as the language of instruction were founded. The schools received financial support from the faith communities and the city ​​council . The first lyceum was established in 1733 by the poor school sisters Notre Dame . A Latin school was started in 1745. In 1774 the school system was reorganized.

In the spirit of enlightened absolutism, Maria Theresa commissioned the abbot Johann Ignaz von Felbiger (1724–1788) with the elaboration of the “General School Regulations for the German Normal, Secondary and Trivial Schools” for the German schools of the hereditary countries of December 6, 1774 Habsburg Monarchy. It found its practical application in the "Ratio Educationis" approved on August 12, 1776 in Hungary. The new school regulations recognized three types of school: trivial , secondary and normal schools . The trivial schools were simple country schools; In addition to the subjects of the trivial schools, Latin, essay, geometry, physics, geography and history were also taught in the district-town secondary schools; the normal schools were training centers for teachers.

19th century

In the 19th century, the German school system in the city and in Arad County became part of the Hungarian assimilation policy . The Austro-Hungarian Compromise (1867) brought about a change in school policy with the School Act of 1868. The Hungarian language became a school and compulsory subject (1879) in all minority schools. The “Appony School Act” (1907) was the last step in the implementation of the Hungarian language in schools. The mother tongue lessons only started in the 3rd school year with three lessons per week. In the period from 1867 to 1918, the state school was an instrument to melt down the minorities living in Hungary.

The establishment of the “Preparandia” in 1812 was of decisive importance for the cultural and political emancipation of the Romanians. Here teachers for Romanian schools were trained. The School Act of 1868 allowed religious communities, public associations and the state to establish schools. In 1873 there were four more Romanian schools in Arad in addition to the “Preparandia” in the districts of Centru, Micălaca, Pârneava and Șega. There were eleven Hungarian schools in the school year 1884/1885. A Serbian school had been in operation since 1792 and a Jewish one since 1832. The Budapest government made Hungarian a compulsory subject in all schools in 1883.

20th century

Adam Müller Guttenbrunn Lyceum, 2011

Interwar period

After the First World War, the first Romanian high schools were established: "Colegiul Național Moise Nicoara" and "Colegiul Național Elena Ghiba Birta".

The establishment of the state schools was based on the School Act of June 30, 1924. With the Constantin Anghelescu government (1922–1926, 1933–1937), a school policy that was hostile to minorities began. In April 1937 the elementary school upper level (5th, 6th and 7th grade) was romanised; In 1938 a number of German directors were replaced by Romanians. In January 1938, Minister of Education Petrovici decided that the Romanian language and the so-called “national subjects” could only be taught by Romanians at all state schools. In order to be able to take better care of the German-speaking state schools, the school commissioner of the German ethnic group, Franz Herbs , set up an office (school office) headed by Karl Waldner as part of the “Banat German Cultural Association”. In addition to the state schools, the Catholic and Protestant church schools were built. They were based on the Particular School Act of 1926. With Decree No. 830 of November 20, 1940, the German ethnic group in Romania was declared a legal entity under public law. Decree No. 977 of November 7, 1941 made the German ethnic group responsible for German-speaking schools. From the report of the ethnic group leader Andreas Schmidt to the head of the Reich Chancellery Hans Heinrich Lammers it emerges that in 1942 the ethnic group looked after a total of 152 kindergartens, 478 elementary, 12 middle and 9 high schools as well as 4 teacher training institutions with a total of 67,293 pupils and 1,707 teachers and directed. The German schools in Arad during the interwar period were:

  • 1920 German community school, later relocated to Neuarad
  • 1936–1942 Catholic girls' high school
  • 1940–1944 Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn-Gymnasium Arad
  • 1942–1944 German Girls' High School in Arad
  • 1941–1944 German-language trading course in Arad
  • 1942–1944 German Commercial School Arad
  • 1941–1944 German vocational school in Arad
  • 1936–1944 German kindergarten in Arad
  • 1941–1944 German language courses at the Goethe Institute, Arad

Socialist era

After the coup on August 23, 1944, a fundamental change began. The church schools were nationalized in the autumn of 1944 by the law of August 3, 1948. The education system was subjected to central political control. The ideological basis for this was the principles of Marxism-Leninism . Josef Schneider was one of the people who, within the scope of the given possibilities, supported the establishment of German schools in Arad.

After the Second World War, as a result of the school reform of 1948, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was founded, which was moved to Timișoara in 1956 .

21st century

Aurel Vlaicu University, 2010
Vasile Goldiș University, 2011

School inspectorate

  • Inspectoratul Școlar al Județului Arad

Universities

Lyceums

  • Colegiul National "Elena Ghiba Birta"
  • Colegiul Naional "Moise Nicoară"
  • Colegiul Național "Vasile Goldiș"
  • Liceul Teoretic "Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn" ( Theoretical Lyceum Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn )
  • Liceul cu program Sportiv (Sportlyceum)
  • Liceul de Artă "Sabin Drăgoi" (Art Lyceum)
  • Liceul Pedagogic "D. Țichindeal "(Pedagogical Lyceum)
  • Liceul Teologic Baptist (Theological Lyceum of the Baptist Congregation)
  • Liceul Teologic Penticostal (Theological Lyceum of the Pentecostal Movement)
  • Seminarul Teologic Liceal Ortodox (Theological Seminary of the Orthodox Congregation)

Technical schools

  • Centrul Școlar Special (special school for the visually impaired)
  • Colegiul Tehnic "Aurel Vlaicu"
  • Colegiul Economic (School of Economics and Administration)
  • Colegiul Tehnic de Construcții și Protectia Mediului (Technical School for Construction)
  • Grupul Școlar Industrial "Iuliu Maniu"
  • Grupul Școlar Industrial Transporturi Căi Ferate (School of Transport)
  • Grupul Școlar Industrial "Henri Coandă"
  • Grupul Școlar Industrial "Csiki Gergely"
  • Grupul Școlar de Industrie Ușoară (Technical School for Light Industry)
  • Grupul Școlar Forestier (Forest Industry School)
  • Grupul Școlar de Industrie Alimentară (Technical School for the Food Industry)
  • Școala Postliceală Sanitară (School of Healthcare)

Culture and fine arts

Ioan Slavici Theater, 2006

Theater

Theater performances were first mentioned in writing in Arad in 1787. At that time the German stepped ensemble of Philipp Berat on in Arad. A "theater alley" was noted as early as 1785, which suggests that there were theater performances earlier.

In October 1794 Koloman Wolf from Neuburg was mentioned as theater director. Afterwards Wolfgang Stephani , who comes from Sibiu , performed with an acting group of "4 Acteurs and 4 Actricen". A poster from 1812 announced the play "Cinderella" by Christian Kunz's playgroup in Arad . The first theater was built by Jacob Hirschl in 1817 . Numerous German , Hungarian and Romanian ensembles performed on its stage .

The permanent season of the German theater in the city began with the construction of the “Komödienhaus”. The directors Kunz and Kollmann (1820–1833) delighted the audience with comedies, musical plays, drama and tragedy. The first opera was performed in Arad in 1824. In the operatic repertoire, the Italian masters came first. From 1833 to 1838 Eduard August Miller directed the Arad theater stage. Ignaz Huber and Eduard Kreibig took over the management of the theater from 1839 to 1842. The prompter's booklet from 1842 shows performances by Hamlet , the Magic Flute and Lumpazivagabundus . In 1842 Ignaz Huber was replaced by the director Philipp Nötzl, who had previously worked in Timisoara and Pest . The number of actors rose to 25 people.

The first performance in Romanian took place in 1846. It was the play Two Forgetfuls by August von Kotzebue , which Ioan Popovici translated into Romanian.

The revolutionary years of 1848/1849 brought profound changes in Arad theater life. The "Friends of the Hungarian Theater" leased the theater and thus secured the Hungarians the winter season. When the director Karl Friesen applied for permission to play in September 1850, the city administration referred him to the ballroom of the Hotel “Weißes Kreuz” . Now the Hungarians leased the hotel's ballroom, including all hotel rooms. Despite the handicaps, the German theater managed to secure the summer season from 1850 to 1873. After that, the German theater performances became less frequent, in order to put an end entirely to the ban on playing by the municipal administrative committee in 1877. One of the last German plays to be played in Arad was The Perjury Farmer by Ludwig Anzengruber .

The new theater building was completed in 1874 and rebuilt after the fire of 1883. The annexation of Arad to Romania lifted the gambling ban. Romanian, German and Hungarian theater groups took turns in the Arad theater building. When the Romanian government banned guest performances by foreign actors and singers in 1932, Gustav Ongyert founded the German State Theater in Romania , which played in the German settlement areas and their cities. The first down-to-earth German theater was thus founded, which also performed works by local poets and composers. After the two German state theaters were re-established in Timisoara and Hermannstadt in the early 1950s, their ensembles also played more or less regularly in Arad.

In 1948, today's State Theater was founded.

Musical life

Philharmonic foyer

In 1833 the conservatory was founded. At the time, it was the sixth institution of its kind in Europe. Until its dissolution in 1948, the Conservatory trained a large number of instrumentalists . The quality of the Philharmonic Orchestra motivated great composers and instrumentalists to give concerts in Arad : Franz Liszt (1846), Johann Strauss (son) (1847), Pablo de Sarasate (1877), Henryk Wieniawski (1877), George Enescu (1922 and in the following years), Béla Bartók (1924).

Arad has had a philharmonic orchestra since 1883. After the Second World War (1948), today's State Philharmonic was founded in Arad. It consists of a symphonic orchestra , a professional choir and several instrumental chamber ensembles . The Arad State Philharmonic organizes activities and concerts in the areas of symphonic , choral, vocal- symphonic music, chamber music and music education, as well as sound experiments. The facility also has a music library, one of the largest of its kind in the country. The symphonic orchestra of the State Philharmonic has its venue in the large concert hall of the Arad Kulturpalast . The hall with its 640 seats has extraordinary, natural acoustics . Many music formations make sound recordings here .

literature

Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn (1852-1923)
Ioan Slavici (Romanian postage stamp 1973)
Aleea George Coșbuc in Arad

While the German press in Arad was able to show some successes at the end of the 19th century, the beginnings of literature were insignificant. Three poets and writers shaped the aesthetic literature of the Arad county. It was Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn , who came from the Banat farming and craft milieu , the descendant of the urban bourgeoisie Johann Eugen Probst and the journeyman carpenter Nikolaus Schmidt , in whose work the spirit of the working class also has its say.

Literature in Romanian was only written in Arad after the "Preparandia" was founded. The first reading circle was founded in 1857, which two years later published the Muguri (Buds) almanac under the editorship of Mircea V. Stănescu. In 1862 the Asociația Naționala din Arad pentru Cultură si Conversarea Poporului Român (Arad National Association for Culture and Conversation of the Romanian People) was founded. The association organized numerous conferences in the following years , among which those with literary topics were particularly appreciated.

Numerous literary journals appeared between 1871 and 1918: Gura Satului (1871), Lumina (1871), Biserica si școala (1877), Tribuna Poporului (1896), Tribuna (1904), Românul (1911). Arad writers such as Ioan Slavici , Moise Nicoară, Mircea V. Stănescu and other first-rate Romanian authors published here: Vasile Alecsandri , Alexandru Macedonski , Grigore Alexandrescu , George Coșbuc , Ion Luca Caragiale , Mihail Sadoveanu , Lucian Blaga and others. a. Among the authors who belong to the city's national minorities are the Hungarian dramaturge Csiky Gergely and the German writer Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn. The "Biblioteca Semănătorul" published over 180 volumes in the period from 1916 to 1927.

The literary press of the interwar period was represented by the following magazines: Solidaritatea (1922), Tribuna Aradului (1928), Voința Poporului (1923), Tribuna Noua (1924), Salonul Literar (1925), Hotarul (1983), Bravo! and Innoirea (1937). Among the Arad writers of this period are: Alexandru T. Stamatiad, Mircea Micu, Gheorghe Achiței, D. Rachici, D. Ureche and R. Mureșanu.

In 1949 the Arad branch of the Romanian Writers' Union was founded. Mention should be made of the two daily newspapers Flacăra Roşie (1949–1989) and Voros Lobogo (1951–1989), who regularly published literary texts. In the period from 1968 to 1989 several literary anthologies were published, in which most of the Arad writers were represented. The most famous Arad writers of the post-war period included: Ștefan Augustin Doinaș, Gheorghe Schwartz, Florin Bănescu, Romulus Bucur, Viorel Gheorghiță, Vasile Dan, Dorel Sibii, Horia Ungureanu .

Press

The press began in Arad with the Arad customer journal . The first edition of the Wochenblatt appeared in 1837. The increasingly strict censorship regulations forced the publisher to discontinue publication on September 15, 1848. Heinrich Goldschneider , who published the Arader Anzeiger from 1850 , recognized the need for a German-language newspaper . This newspaper, which was initially edited in German and Hungarian, appeared only in German from 1853 and was published under the name Arader Zeitung from 1860 . The Arader Tageblatt (1874), a political newspaper, was unable to hold its own for long in the competition with the other German-language newspapers. After the bankruptcy of the Arader Zeitung , Albert Ungerleitner founded the Neue Arader Zeitung . All German-language papers published after 1867 were written in German, but kept in the Hungarian-national spirit. In 1920 Nikolaus Bitto founded the Arader Zeitung in Neu-Arad , which soon moved to Arad.

In 1840 the first Hungarian newspaper came out under the title Aradi Hirdeto . The first daily newspaper Alfold appeared in 1861, followed by Aradi Közlöny , which came out between 1885 and 1940.

The Romanian language press arose in the ecclesiastical environment. The first magazine was Speranța , published between 1869 and 1872. The longest-lived and most valued Romanian publication was Biserica si școala (The Church and the School), which appeared between 1877 and 1948. 28 newspaper titles had appeared by 1918 and 108 in the interwar period.

Numerous literary journals appeared between 1871 and 1918: Gura Satului (1871), Lumina (1871), Biserica si școala (1877), Tribuna Poporului (1896), Tribuna (1904), Românul (1911). The literary press of the interwar period was represented by the following magazines: Solidaritatea (1922), Tribuna Aradului (1928), Voința Poporului (1923), Tribuna Noua (1924), Salonul Literar (1925), Hotarul (1983), Bravo! and Innoirea (1937).

In the socialist era, two daily newspapers were published in Arad, Flacăra Roşie and Vörös Lobogo .

Fine arts

Béla II in the illustrated chronicle
Statue of Saint Nepomuk, 1729

The fine arts developed in Arad only after the onset of Habsburg rule. The city's first visual artists appeared in the second half of the 18th century . The Osztermayer family of painters and the church painter Stefan Tenetchi , who created the iconostases of the most important Orthodox churches in the Banat, are well known.

In the 19th century, Austrian and Hungarian painters settled in Arad. They were representatives of academism , such as B. J. Geltz, D. Jägermann, Emeric and Adalbert Vizkeleti, E. Szamossy, P. Bohm . The great Hungarian painters Mihály von Munkácsy and L. Paál began their careers in Arad .

In the interwar period, C. Wolf, I. Stern, C. Kiss, and F. Balla continued to paint in an academic style. Other painters such as I. Toader, C. Minisan, Al. However, Pataki and V. Anyos broke with this style. The sculptors R. Ladea, Gh. Groza and M. Olinescu , the founders of the group “Pro Arte” (1936), introduced an innovation .

The visual artists from the socialist era include Francisc Baraniay, Lia and Ioan Cott, Ioan Tolan, Ladislau Babocsic, L. Josan Kocsis, I. Kett Groza, A. Strasnei Popa, Z. Eisele Sücs .

Buildings

The oldest monument in the city is the statue of St. Nepomuk (1729) ( picture ). With the expulsion of the Turks, the Baroque found its way into the Marosch-Kreisch area. The most important buildings of the Baroque period in Arad are: the Roman Catholic town church built in 1751 , the religious house of the Minorites , the Floriani chapel , the old town hall (18th century) with ossuary and cemetery , the salt store on the site of the later town hall. The town houses of the Edelspacher , Bohusch and Gaspari families .

Architecture and the fine arts are the visible expression of the worldview of a certain time. The sacred buildings of the Arad district in the 11th to 13th centuries were built in the Romanesque style . Unfortunately only ruins remained from this time. The basilica of the Orod provost , consecrated to St. Martin, was divided into a central nave and two side aisles. The monastery was founded by King Béla II in 1135. The church was completed by Queen Jolanthe , the second wife of King Andrew II of Hungary. No buildings from the Gothic and Renaissance periods have survived in Arad. The fortifications of Arad and the mosques were built by the Ottomans (1550–1698).

In the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the most important sacred buildings in Arad were renovated or rebuilt in various historicizing styles: the Roman Catholic City and Minorite Church, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the Greek Orthodox Serbian Church, the Reformed Church , the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Synagogue.

But Arad also has a number of beautiful, representative secular buildings that shape the cityscape, such as the new town hall , the county house , the district court, the new theater , the House of the Golden ABC , the White Cross and the Palace of Culture . Next to the town hall are the buildings built in 1821 and 1870 and decorated with Corinthian columns, the county house and the district court . The Rathausplatz is framed by the Eisenbahnpalais , the National Bank and the Sparkasse, all of them in the classical style. The Boulevard der Revolution, a wide, long avenue, lined with green spaces and buildings of different ages and styles, leads from the town hall to the theater.

Museums

Kulturpalast, 2011
Entrance to the Natural History Museum, 2011

The first museum was founded in 1893 and was dedicated to the revolution of 1848/49. The exhibition was on the second floor of the old theater .

When the Kulturpalast was completed in 1913 , the exhibition moved into the new building together with the city ​​library and the Philharmonie . A collection of archaeological and historical finds and an art collection were added to the existing collection . In the interwar period, the museum was expanded to include an ethnographic collection and the exhibition rooms dedicated to the Arad politicians Vasile Goldiș and Ștefan Cicio Pop .

After the communists came to power, the museum was restructured in line with the new ideology . In the years 1954–1955, the Department of Ancient History , the Museum of the Revolution of 1848 ( Muzeul Revolutiei de la 1848 in Romanian ) and the art gallery were reopened, and in 1956 the ethnographic exhibition.

After the revolution of 1989 , the concept of the museum was realigned. In 1992 the Department of Natural Sciences was re-established , a year later the Department of Interwar History and in 2004 the permanent exhibition Arad - Decembrie 1989 .

In the rear part of the Palace of Culture is the Department of Natural Sciences ( Romanian Secția Științele Naturii ). The exhibition contains information on space travel ( Romanian cosmology ) in three rooms with various images and models of spacecraft. In the geological part, some minerals are shown, in the fauna area, preparations from mostly native animals and a collection of butterflies. One room shows the replica of a stalactite cave. With the exception of the natural sciences, the museums in Arad are not accessible to disabled people in wheelchairs or prams. The history area is currently (2011) being renovated.

The Arad Museum Complex includes the museums:

  • Museum of Archeology and History
  • Museum of Natural Sciences
  • Art museum
  • Lipova City Museum
  • Memorial Museum of Ioan Slavici and Emil Montia Gediria
  • Miniș Viticulture and Wine Museum
  • Adam Müller Guttenbrunn Memorial Museum Zăbrani
  • Săvârșin Ethnographic Museum

Cultural associations

Seventy cultural associations operated in Arad in the interwar period:

  • Concordia (1910)
  • Banat German Singers Association (1922)
  • German Catholic Youth Association (1926)
  • Banat German Women's Association (1926)
  • Banat German Cultural Association (1926)
  • Asociațiunea Națională din Arad pentru Cultură si Conversarea Poporului Român , which merged with ASTRA in 1924
  • Ateneul Popular (1931)

sport and freetime

Francisc Neumann Stadium, 2010

Arad is the cradle of Romanian football . The first official soccer game took place here in 1899. Several sports clubs were subsequently founded, which also had football departments. The best known is UTA Arad , which has had its own stadium since 1946. This was built by the industrialist Francisc Neumann, who also set up the soccer team. In 1995, the ACU Arad football club was founded through the merger of Motorul Arad and Universitatea Arad . Club sponsor of FC ACU Arad is the Universitatea de Vest Vasile Goldiș . The Arad sports clubs also achieved excellent results in the disciplines of table tennis , basketball , rowing , shooting and gymnastics .

The most popular leisure facility in the Arad is the “Neptun” outdoor pool , which was set up in 1970 on the left bank of the Marosch. The "Neptune" outdoor pool is one of the largest outdoor pools in Romania and offers various leisure activities. The outdoor pool area has several sports fields and swimming pools. Numerous restaurants, bars and a discos complete the offer.

Politics and administration

Flag of Arad Municipality

Until 1747 the administration of the city of Arad was led by two mayors, one Serbian and one German. The administrative seat was the old town hall , built in 1704 at today's Piața Avram Iancu number 6. From 1747 to 1869 mostly Germans held the office of mayor. In the Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarians followed in turn in the town hall. With Ioan Robu, the first Romanian mayor was elected in Arad in 1919.

Since the completion of the new town hall, the so-called administrative palace ( Romanian Palatul Administrativ ), the administrative seat of the city is at today's Bulevardul Revoluției number 75. Since 2004 Gheorghe Falcă has held the office of mayor of Arad.

In the local elections on June 1, 2008, Gheorghe Falcă from the Partidul Democrat Liberal was able to assert himself for the second time as Mayor of Arad with 66.67 percent of the vote. The Arad Local Council (Consiliul Local Arad) has 23 seats and is composed as follows:

badges and flags

The coat of arms of the municipality of Arad shows a castle, a saber-armed arm and the inscription "Via, Veritas, Vita" (The way, the truth, the life) on a blue shield. Above it appears the “castle crown” as a symbol of municipal law. The lower part shows the coat of arms of the Orthodox Archdiocese on a red background and illustrates its important role in the city's history through additional symbolism.

The yellow flag of Arad shows a horizontal wavy blue stripe, which symbolizes the river Marosch, as well as the city coat of arms in the middle.

economy

Trade and craft

The beginning of the Habsburg rule (1687) gave the city an immense impetus. The German colonists , traders and craftsmen , and the Serbs , soldiers of the border garrison and their families, made a decisive contribution to this.

During the Theresian period (1740–1780) the city developed rapidly. The number of craftsmen rose from 90 in 1746 to 299 in 1774. These joined together in guilds and received privileges from the authorities. The first officially registered guild was that of the German furriers in 1702. Up to 1845 there were 44 guilds in the city, which united 65 crafts. The artisans mainly processed raw materials from the city's agricultural sector. This was still predominant in the 18th century.

The construction of the new fortress on the south bank of the Marosch, in today's Aradul Nou district , had a profound effect on the development of the city. The fortress was designed in the Vauban Tenaille style by military engineers under the direction of Ferdinand Philipp Graf Harsch von Almedingen . It took 20 years to build (1763–1783).

As early as the 18th century, the Araders tried to acquire the status of a royal free city . They only managed to buy the privileges in 1826, and in August 1834 Emperor Franz Joseph I personally handed the certificate to the mayor of Arad. The purchased status opened up new opportunities for economic development. The number of traders rose to 686 by 1870. In the second half of the 19th century, the town experienced a significant economic boom after it was connected to the railway network in 1858 with the opening of the Szolnok – Arad railway.

In the inter-war period, commercial activity took off. With 4001 trading companies in 1937, Arad was the fourth largest trading center in Romania.

Expo Arad International

The "Expo Arad International", the second largest Romanian exhibition center in terms of area, is twenty kilometers from the Hungarian border and has 3,000 m² of covered and 12,000 m² of free exhibition space. The Pan-European Transport Corridor IV , which runs from Budapest to Bucharest, connects the “Expo Arad” with a free trade zone and the international airport of Arad .

The "Arad Chamber of Commerce and Industry", founded in 1888, has been organizing trade fairs and exhibitions since the 1990s and has created the "Expo Arad International" as an independent department for this purpose. Expo Arad International organizes numerous events every year on topics such as construction, agriculture and transport. The Expo Arad sees itself as a “Euroregional center for trade fairs and exhibitions” in the Hungarian-Romanian border region.

The largest trade fair at Expo Arad is the exhibition for the agricultural and food industry “Agromalim”, which attracts over 6,700 visitors to the Expo Arad site every year. The only pure trade fair, i.e. only accessible to legitimate trade visitors, is the “Ar-Medica” exhibition for medical, pharmaceutical and laboratory products, which has been held annually by Expo Arad since 1994.

Industry

Beginnings

The industry developed a little more slowly. Around 1825 there was only a machine factory, and from 1836 Anton Dangl started producing organs in the only factory of this type in southeast Europe.

It was not until the second half of the 19th century that industry began to develop. The spirit factory of the Neumann brothers was opened in 1851. The statistics for the years 1869–1870 record the following occupational structure of the population for Arad: 5,074 entrepreneurs, 6,839 civil servants, 11,913 workers and 2,645 farmers.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, industrial production multiplied. The Hendl machine factory was founded in 1872 . A brick and cement factory followed shortly thereafter . The Lengyel brothers opened their furniture factory in 1891 . The next year, the Austrian industrialist Johann Weitzer took as Weitzer Lajos Tr. established vehicle factory to start production. Cars were built in Arad from 1909, and from 1912 at the Marta automobile factory ( M agyar A utomobil R észvény T ársaság A rad), a subsidiary of Austro-Daimler . The Neumann brothers founded a textile factory in 1909 . At the beginning of the 20th century, Arad was an industrial city with 25 factories and 7 banks .

Interwar period

The period between the two world wars opened up unusual opportunities for development for the city and the Arad district. From the 38 large enterprises existing in 1919 with a production value of 968 million lei and 4,659 workers, the number rose in 1940 to 142 large enterprises with a production value of 2,513 million lei and 16,000 workers. The structure of the Arad economy remained almost the same as in the pre-war period. Large industrial companies continued to be the machine factory “Weitzer” (in 1920 it merged with the automobile factory Marta , and the Astra automobile and wagon factory was created ), the hardware factory “Grundmann” (1924), the Arad knitwear and hosiery factory FITA (later “Tricoul Roşu "), The textile industry " Teba "(1925), the textile factory (ITA) and the Neumann brothers ' mill, and the Lengyel brothers' furniture factory . The “Zwack” liqueur factory also continued its operations. However, new factories were also established: the sugar factory (1926), the “Polycrom” paint and varnish factory (1930), the Arad technical works (1935), which produced light bulbs, and the IRON radio and household appliances factory. The number of businesses increased from 58 in 1919 to 110 in 1937. As a result of the economic crisis of 1929-1933, numerous small businesses closed and much of the city's total production was concentrated in 22 businesses.

post war period

From 1951 onwards, the five-year plan was implemented . In a first stage, the old companies were commased and modernized. Later new ones were established, such as the lathe factory Strungul (1949), the doll factory Arădeanca (1959), the watch factory Victoria (1961) and Chemical Combine (1971). The massive investments of the fifties flowed in the direction of the mechanical engineering industry, the goals were subsequently multiplied somewhat, but the giant plants of heavy industry continued to devour most of the money. However, labor productivity remained low and the quality of products was below international standards.

In 2001, the first switchgear was installed in the city, which connected Romania to the European power grid for the first time. Important local companies are Interom Distribution Company SRL and LEONI Wiring Systems Arad SRL

Construction

Kovácspalais, 2011
Town hall (around 1910)

The systematisation plans drawn up in 1828 established the city center around today's Avram-Iancu-Platz . The floods of 1844 and the bombing raids during the revolution of 1848/49 caused considerable damage. The vacant land created as a result of the demolition was taken up by new, handsome buildings. When the station went into operation (1858), the city's main artery was defined on the south-north axis. A number of representative buildings were erected along this at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, which still shape the cityscape of Arad: the theater (1874), the town hall (1876), the financial palace (1885), the Cenad -Palast (1887), the Neumannpalais (1902), the Kovácspalais (1906), the seat of the national bank (1912), the Kulturpalast (1913) u. a. The buildings erected or renovated around the turn of the century were built in the Secession style.

In the interwar period , the structure of the Arad economy remained the same as in the pre-war period. Large-scale industry was still represented by the Weitzer factory (merged with the Marta automobile factory in 1920 ), the Neumann brothers ' textile factory and mill, and the Lengyel brothers' furniture factory. The famous Zwack liqueur factory also continued to operate. New factories were also set up: the sugar factory (1926), the Polycrom lacquer and paint factory (1930), the Arad technical works (1935), which produced light bulbs, and the IRON radio and home appliance factory . The number of businesses rose from 58 in 1919 to 110 in 1937. As a result of the economic crisis of 1929–1933, numerous small businesses closed and much of the city's total production was concentrated in 22 businesses.

In order to solve the strongly growing demand for housing , the large block districts Micălaca , Aurel Vlaicu and Alfa were built during the socialist era . Massive buildings such as the Hotel Astoria , the apartment block with the Dacia cinema , the Ziridava department store appeared in the city ​​center .

Arad is a modern city with an active cultural life. The center of the city is a wide boulevard from the 19th century with representative commercial and residential buildings, a theater, an Orthodox and a Catholic cathedral, a concert hall and the town hall in the neo-renaissance style. The already mentioned fortress is impressive in its strictly symmetrical construction and its size, but it is a restricted military area and can therefore only be viewed from the air or from higher points or on an annual “Open Day”.

Significant structures

Sacred buildings

  • Minorite Church (Arad) (1751)
  • Bishopric of the Orthodox Church of Arad (1706)
  • Romanian Greek Orthodox Cathedral of John the Baptist (1791)
  • Greek Orthodox Serbian Peter and Paul Church (1698–1702)
  • Red Church (1906)
  • Synagogue (1828–1834)

Secular buildings

Monuments

Town Hall Square, 2010

Services

In the 1890s, the city's drinking water and sewerage network was built. The street lighting with oil lamps was introduced in 1828 with those gas lamps after 1860 and the electric current 1895th

In the period from 1931 to 1934 the quality of the drinking water improved and the pipeline network could be expanded. The city's sewer system was improved with English assistance. In 1937 one of the first automatic telephone exchanges from Romania was put into operation in Arad .

traffic

Railway station, 2010

Shipping

For a long time the waterway was the main artery of the city. In 1776 people were still working as ship tugs on the Marosch. Thomas Gruber, Director of Shipping, and the engineer Nozdroviczky examined the Maroschlauf and drafted the first regulatory plan. In the 19th century, 33 river loop stitches were made, 29 of them in the period from 1815 to 1854 and two more each in the years 1862–1864 and 1871–1872. The first steamship, the "Ebersdorf", sailed on November 16, 1851 in Arad.

Postal services

To the extent that Hungary became free from Turkish occupation, it enjoyed a well-developed postal system. As early as 1701, the mail route led from Ofen via Arad to Sibiu. The postal order of 1722 provided for fixed post days. So every Sunday and Thursday the mail went from Ofen to Arad and every Wednesday and Saturday from Arad to Ofen. The landing stage was the White Cross . The concession was acquired by the grocer "Zum Eichhörnchen", Josef Schweffer. The incamber of the post took place on July 1, 1722. The first post office of the city of Arad was housed in the building of the post coach station in 1703.

Rail transport

In railway junction Arad coming from Hungary meets railway Szolnok-Arad to the railway Arad-Alba Iulia . Further branches lead to Oradea , Timișoara and Nădlac .

On October 25, 1858, the first train from the direction of Curtici arrived in Arad station . On December 22, 1868 the line to Deva was opened, two years later the line Arad – Timișoara . It was part of the historic route of the Orient Express , which went to Varna until 1889 and was shipped there. The current station building was built in 1898.

The Arad – Körösvölgyi Vasút (AKV) founded in 1875, which opened the Arad – Pâncota line in 1877 , and the Arad – Csanádi Vasút (ACsV) founded in 1881/1882 played a significant role in the expansion of the railway network . Both companies merged in 1885 to form Aradi és Csanádi Egyesält Vasutak (ACsEV, German: Arader and Csanáder united railways ).

With German capital, the local railway Arad – Podgoria - also known as the "Railway of the Wine Route" - was founded in 1905 . In the years 1911 to 1913 this meter-gauge railway was electrified. After closure of the eastern route branches of the remaining Streckenast in the wine community is Ghioroc today in the tram Arad integrated and the will transport companies de Compania Transport Public Arad (CTP Arad) as Regional tramway operated.

Air traffic

Arad was one of the first centers of Romanian air traffic. Starting in 1933, various air lines were planned. The air lines Arad - Bucharest , Arad - Timisoara and Arad - Cluj went into operation on July 20, 1935. In 1938 the Budapest – Arad – Bucharest route was opened. The Arad Airport is located four kilometers west of the city center and offers flights to Bucharest, Verona , Barcelona and Valencia to.

Trams and buses

T4D tram, 2008

The industrial development led to the expansion of the urban area. This led to the opening of the Arad tram in 1869 , which was initially a horse-drawn tram and has only operated electrically since 1944. At the beginning of the 20th century, the omnibus traffic followed, which at times completely replaced the tram. In the interwar period, the local transport network was further expanded and equipped with new trams and buses.

In Arad's tram operation, there are many trams that come from German companies, such as Essen, Bochum / Gelsenkirchen, Ulm, Stuttgart, Ludwigshafen, Würzburg and Halle (Saale), including M trams .

The city is located on European routes 68 and 671 . From the central bus station, buses run to many larger cities in Romania as well as to Italy, Spain and Germany.

City structure

The built-up urban area of ​​Arad in 1752 included the inner city, today the 1st district of Cetate , and the Serbian city, today the Xth district of Drăgășani . In 1880 the Elisabethstadt, today XII. Pârneava district, see . In the years 1920 to 1930 the settlements Șega (III. District), Poltura (V district), Grădişte (VI. District) and Gai (VII. District) were urbanized. In 1930 the villages Micălaca (II. District) and Bujac (VIII. District) and in 1943 Siegmundhausen were incorporated. After 1945 Aradul Nou (New Arad) came as the IV. District and Sânnicolau Mic (Little Sanctuary) as the XIII. District to it.

Today Arad comprises a total of seventeen districts:

  • I. District: Centru
  • District II: Micălaca
  • III. District: Șega
  • District IV: Aradul Nou
  • 5th district: Poltura
  • VI. District: Grădiște
  • VII. District: Gai
  • District VIII: Bujac
  • IX. District: Subcetate
  • Xth district: Drăgășani
  • XI. District: Alfa
  • XII. District: Pârneava
  • XIII. District: Sânnicolau Mic
  • District XIV: Cadaș
  • XV. District: Aurel Vlaicu
  • XVI. District: Confecții
  • XVII. District: Cartierul Funcționarilor

Twin cities

Born in Arad

See also

literature

  • Elke Hoffmann, Peter-Dietmar Leber , Walter Wolf : The Banat and the Banat Swabians. Volume 5: Cities and Villages. Mediengruppe Universal Grafische Betriebe München GmbH, Munich 2011, ISBN 3-922979-63-7 .
  • Johanna Niculescu: Arader monograph. Bucharest 1979.
  • Sandor Márki: Aradvármegye es Arad szabad királyi város története (= history of the county and the royal free city of Arad ). Vol. 1-2, Arad 1892-1895.
  • Karl Waldner, Anton Peter Petri : Contributions to the history of the city and the Arad district. Homburg / Bexbach 1993.

Web links

Commons : Arad (Romania)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2011 census in Romania ( MS Excel ; 1.3 MB)
  2. ↑ Mayoral elections 2016 in Romania ( MS Excel ; 256 kB)
  3. ↑ Municipiul Arad în cifre. Website of the city of Arad (Romanian)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Karl Waldner, Anton Peter Petri : Contributions to the history of the city and the Arad district. Homburg / Bexbach 1993
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Short monograph of the city of Arad on www.virtualarad.net
  6. ^ A b c Karl F. Waldner: Our school. Bexbach-Höchen 1987.
  7. ↑ Arad. Scurtă istorie. Website of the city of Arad (Romanian)
  8. ↑ Judita Bodo: Arad- (revolutia) -revolta anticeausista decembrie-1989 on YouTube
  9. ↑ Lista tabelelor disponibile. National Statistical Institute
  10. ↑ a b Varga E. Árpád: Arad megye településeinek etnikai (anyanyelvi / nemzetiségi) adatai. 1880–2002 (censuses in the formerly Hungarian parts of Romania 1880–2002 ). A Kulturális innovációs alapítvány Könyvtára (KIA), accessed on October 11, 2009 (PDF; 784 kB)
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Georg Schmidt: Our Arad. In: Semlaker Heimatbrief. 24th episode, December 2005, pp. 59-104, Heimatortsgemeinschaft (HOG) Semlak (PDF; 6.0 MB), accessed on August 4, 2011
  12. ↑ Appendix 4: The Ethnic Groups Act ( Memento of September 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Center against Expulsions Foundation
  13. ↑ Appendix 5: The National School Act ( Memento of March 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Center against Expulsions Foundation
  14. ^ Website of the "Aurel Vlaicu" University of Arad
  15. ↑ website Complexul muzeal Arad
  16. ↑ Arad. The city on the banks of the Marosch ( memento from March 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). In: Romania & Bucharest: Travel, Leisure, Enjoyment
  17. ↑ Balthasar Waitz : A city and its mayors. In: General German newspaper for Romania . February 24, 2012
  18. ↑ Alegeri Locale 2008 turul 1 Arad ( memento of October 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). In: Alegeri.TV
  19. ↑ a b Arad. In: Online encyclopedia on the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe from the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
  20. ↑ a b c Expo Arad International. m + a international trade fair media
  21. ↑ Balthasar Waitz: Modernization of the old Banat iron road. 250 million euros for the rehabilitation of the Curtici – Arad railway line. In: General German newspaper for Romania. March 1, 2012