Székelyudvarhely
Hungarian pronunciation: [’seːkɛjudvɒrhɛj]
Hungarian pronunciation: [’seːkɛjudvɒrhɛj]
Odorheiu Secuiesc
(Romanian pronunciation: [odorˌheju sekuˈjesk]
(Romanian pronunciation: [odorˌheju sekuˈjesk]
Odorhellen (German)
It is the second largest city in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. In its short form, it is also known as Odorhei in Romanian and Udvarhely in Hungarian. The Hungarian name of the town "Udvarhely" means "courtyard place."
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| City Center at night |
Demographics
The city has a population of 34,257. Among those for whom data are available, 95.8% are ethnic Hungarians, making it the urban settlement with the third-highest proportion of Hungarians in Romania. The city is also home to communities of ethnic Romanians(2.6%) and Roma (1.5%).
Short History
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| City Center in 1945 |
The town, as the former seat of the Udvarhely comitatus, is one of the historical centers of Székely Land. The first known reference to the city was in a papal register of duties in 1334 when it was mentioned by its Hungarian name, a sacerdos de Oduorhel. Since 1615, when Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, reaffirmed the rights of the town, the place has been referred to as Székelyudvarhely.
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| City Hall in 1989 |
Udvarhely was the location of the first assembly of Székelys in 1357. A fortress was built in the town in 1451. It was rebuilt and strengthened by John II Sigismund Zápolya in 1565, in order to control the Székelys.
Wallachian Prince Michael the Brave allied with the Szekelys and Habsburgs destroyed the fortress in 1599 during his campaign in Transylvania.
It was repeatedly rebuilt and destroyed again during history. The ruins of the structure are nowadays known as "The Székely-Attacked Fortress".
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| Székely honour cavalry |
The town was historically part of the Szeklerland region of Transylvania. It was the seat of Udvarhelyszék District until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when it fell within the Udvarhely County in the Kingdom of Hungary.
After the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, it became part of Romania and fell within Odorhei County during the interwar period. In 1940, the Second Vienna Award granted Northern Transylvania to Hungary, which then held the town until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and it became officially part of Romania in 1947. Between 1952 and 1960, the town fell within the Magyar Autonomous Region, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureş-Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, the province was abolished, and since then, the town has been part of Harghita County.
Source: Wikipedia
