Lupeni (Harghita)

Lupeni [ luˈpenʲ ] (outdated Farcașfalău or Farcașlaca ; Hungarian Farkaslaka or Farkasfalva ) is a municipality in Harghita County , in the Transylvania region in Romania .

Geographical location

Location of Lupeni Municipality in Harghita County

The municipality of Lupeni is located in the east of northern Transylvania , west of the Harghita Mountains - a part of the Eastern Carpathians - in the historical region of Szeklerland . In the southern half of the Harghita district in the valley of the Feernic brook , a right tributary of the Târnava Mare (Great Kokel) and the Drum național 13A , the place Lupeni is twelve kilometers northwest of the town of Odorheiu Secuiesc (Oderhellen) and about 65 kilometers west of the district capital Miercurea Ciuc (Szeklerburg) away.

history

Lupeni, which is mostly inhabited by Szeklern people, was first mentioned in documents in 1332 or 1566, according to various sources. East of the incorporated village of Păuleni (Székelypálfalva) on the 770 m high Dealul Cetății (Hungarian Várhegy ), a 95 m × 60 m oval earth castle with a ditch up to eight meters deep , points to a settlement of the municipality in the Latène period .

In the incorporated village of Firtușu (Firtosváralja) on the plateau called Firtoș (Hungarian Firtoshegy ) by the locals , the remains of a medieval fortified monastery can be seen, probably with building material partly from the Roman fort Praetoria Augusta from the neighboring community Atid . Furthermore, urns from the Hallstatt period and a number of archaeological finds in Firtușu are assigned to different ages. A stone ax from the Neolithic Age and a medieval weapon were found in the community center. The latter is in a Vienna museum.

According to the register of historical monuments of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Ministerul Culturii și Patrimoniului Național) , settlement of the Hallstatt and Bronze Age is assigned to the area of the incorporated village of Bisericani (Székelyszentlélek) .

At the time of the Kingdom of Hungary Lupeni belonged to the Udvarhely chair district in the Udvarhely County ( Romanian Comitatul Odorhei ), then to the historical Odorhei district and from 1950 to the present Harghita district.

population

The population of the municipality of Lupeni developed as follows:

census		Ethnic composition
year	population	Romanians	Hungary	German	other
1850	3,762	11	3,701	-	50
1930	4,804	9	4,702	6th	87
1941	5,072	2	5,039	2	29
2002	4,434	30th	4,402	-	2
2011	4,473	17th	4.231	2	223

Since 1850 the Lupeni municipality has had the highest number of inhabitants and that of the Magyars in 1941. The highest number of Roma (138) was registered in 2011, that of Romanians (39) in 1977 and that of Romanian Germans in 1930.

Attractions

In Lupeni the memorial house of the Szekler writer Áron Tamási and a wooden house with his oven at house no. 513 built in the 19th century are a listed building. The monument to Áron Tamási, which was made by the Hungarian sculptors Jenő and Tibor Szervátiusz , is also under monument protection .
In the incorporated village of Bisericani, the catholic church built in the 13th century and renovated in the 18th century is a listed building.
A medieval chapel in the incorporated village of Firtușu is a listed building. The Unitarian Church was built around 1823.
In the incorporated village of Păltiniș (Hungarian Kecsed ) the reformed church and its bell tower, built in 1795, are under monument protection.
In the incorporated village of Satu Mic ( Kecsetkisfalud in Hungarian ) the reformed church built in 1620, renovated in the 19th century and its wooden bell tower built in the 18th century, are under monument protection.