Beclean

Beclean ( pronunciation ^?^/^I ; also Beclean pe Someș , German and Hungarian Bethlen ) is a town in the Bistrița-Năsăud district in Romania . In addition to the actual city of Beclean, it also includes the villages of Coldău , Figa and Rusu de Jos .

location

Beclean is located in northern Transylvania on the river Someșul Mare ( Great Somesch ). The district capital Bistrița is about 25 km to the east.

history

Castelul Bethlen

The place was first mentioned in a document in 1235. To ward off Tatar incursions, a castle was built, which initially consisted of earth walls and later of stone walls. In 1438 the castle became the ancestral seat of the Hungarian aristocratic Bethlen family , who among others came from the Transylvanian prince Gábor Bethlen . During the Kuruc Wars at the beginning of the 18th century, Beclean was conquered by Habsburg troops and the castle was razed to prevent further uprisings .

After Bethlen / Beclean had belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary since its inception , it became part of Romania after the First World War . From 1940 to 1944 the place came temporarily back to Hungary as a result of the Second Vienna Arbitration . In 1968 Beclean was promoted to town.

population

Beclean was initially shaped by its predominantly Hungarian population. In the course of the increasing settlement of Transylvania by Romanians , there was a Romanian majority in the place in the 19th century at the latest. At the official census in 1850, about 60 percent of the population were Romanians, 20 percent Hungarians, the rest of the population were Jews , Gypsies and Germans . After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 there was a pronounced Magyarization pressure in Transylvania , which was reflected in Beclean in the census of 1910 in a relative Hungarian majority of the population. After the Second World War, the proportion of Romanians increased continuously. In the 2002 census, 8,700 of the 10,878 inhabitants at that time identified themselves as Romanians, 1814 as Hungarians, 328 as Gypsies, 19 as Germans, 8 as Ukrainians, 3 as Italians, 1 as Turkish; 5 others stated another nationality. In 2002 there were 9,330 residents in the city itself, and 1,548 in the three cadastral communities.

traffic

Beclean is located on Drum național 17 , which leads from Dej to Suceava . On the outskirts of the city branches off the national road 17C , which connects Transylvania with the Maramureș .

The city is also an important rail hub. From the Dej – Bistrița railway line branches off here to Rodna , which fulfills an important function in the connection between Transylvania on the one hand and Maramureș and Bukovina on the other.

Attractions

Church in Beclean

a total of three castles belonging to the Bethlen family
Remains of the castle
Hungarian Reformed Church from the 15th century
Romanian Orthodox Church from 1800–1808

Personalities

Béla Székely (1892–1955), publicist and psychologist
Radu Afrim (* 1968), theater director

literature

Heinz Heltmann, Gustav Servatius (Hrsg.): Travel Guide Siebenbürgen. Kraft, Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-8083-2019-2 .

Web links

Commons : Beclean - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ 2011 census in Romania ( MS Excel ; 1.3 MB)
↑ Heinz Heltmann, Gustav Servatius (Ed.): Travel Guide Siebenbürgen. Kraft, Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-8083-2019-2 .
^ Censuses in Transylvania 1850-2002 (ung.)
↑ www.kia.hu (PDF; 677 kB)
↑ Information on Radu Afrim from regizorcautpiesa.ro accessed on February 15, 2015 (Romanian)

[1] 2011 census in Romania ( MS Excel ; 1.3 MB)

[rhbsb-2] Heinz Heltmann, Gustav Servatius (Ed.): Travel Guide Siebenbürgen. Kraft, Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-8083-2019-2 .

[3] Censuses in Transylvania 1850-2002 (ung.)

[4] www.kia.hu (PDF; 677 kB)

[5] Information on Radu Afrim from regizorcautpiesa.ro accessed on February 15, 2015 (Romanian)