Alba Iulia

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Alba Iulia

County

Alba County

Status

County capital

Mayor

Mircea Hava, Democratic Party, since 2000

Area

103.65 km²

Population (2002)

66,369

Density

640 inh/km²

Geographical coordinates

46°4′1″N, 23°34′12″E

Web site

http://www.apulum.ro/

Alba Iulia (Hungarian: Gyulafehérvár, German: Karlsburg/Weißenburg, Latin: Apulum, former Turkish: Erdel Belgradı) is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,369, located on the Mureş River. The city is historically important for both Hungarians and Romanians.

1 History
2 Sights
3 Sister cities
4 External links

[edit] History

The city was an important Dacian political, economic and social centre named Apulon, mentioned by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy. After the southern part of Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire, the capital of the Dacia Apulensis district was established here, and the city was known as Apulum. Apulum was one of the largest centers in Roman Dacia and the seat of the XIII Gemina Legion.

In the 9th century, the city was mentioned under the name of Bălgrad ("White Citadel"), the Hungarian Gestas mention a ruler named Geula/Gyula/Jula that had discovered the city and made it the capital of his dukedom during 10th century. Following the establishment of the Catholic Transylvanian episcopacy after Stephen I of Hungary adopted Catholicism, the first cathedral was built in the 11th century. The present (Catholic) cathedral was built in the 12th or 13th centuries. In 1442, John Hunyadi, Voivod of Transylvania, used the citadel to make his preparations for a major battle against the Ottoman Turks. The cathedral was enlarged during his reign and served as his place of entombment after his death.

As Gyulafehérvár, Alba Iulia became the capital of the Principality of Transylvania in 1541, a status it was to retain until 1690. The Treaty of Weissenburg was signed in the town in 1551. It was during the reign of Prince Gabriel Bethlen that the city reached a high point in its cultural history, with the establishment of an academy. Further important milestones in the city's development include the creation of the Batthyanaeum Library in the 18th century, and the arrival of the railway in the 19th century.

The Union Museum

In November 1599, Michael the Brave, Voivode of Wallachia, entered Alba Iulia following his victory in the Battle of Şelimbăr and became governor of Transylvania. In 1600 Michael gained control of Moldavia, thereby uniting the three principalities under his rule until his murder in 1601 by Giorgio Basta's agents. Michael's achievement has historic significance for the Romanians, representing the first unification of the three Romanian-populated principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania.

In 1918, tens of thousands of Romanians (the exact number is disputed between Romanian and Hungarian historians) and representatives of the Transylvanian Saxons and other minorities of Transylvania, gathered in Alba Iulia on December 1, now commemorated as the National Day in the post-communist Romania, to hear the proclamation of the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania. In 1922, Ferdinand of Romania was symbolically crowned King of Romania in Alba Iulia in an act which mirrored the achievement of Michael the Brave.

György Jakubinyi was appointed archbishop of the archdiocese of Alba Iulia by Pope John Paul II on April 8, 1994.

1 Decembrie University of Alba Iulia.

[edit] Sights

Batthyaneum library

Romanian Orthodox Cathedral

The main historical area of Alba Iulia is the upper city, developed extensively by Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire. The Habsburgs renamed the city Karlsburg in honor of Charles. The upper city's fortress with seven bastions, in a stelar shape, was constructed between 1716–1735 by Giovanni Morando Visconti, using the Vauban system—the largest of this kind in South-eastern Europe. Inside the fortress is the Gothic Catholic cathedral (the most representative building for the Medieval Gothic style in Transylvania), and the Batthyaneum, a library of rare manuscripts founded in 1794. The tomb of John Hunyadi is located in the cathedral, as is that of the Polish-born Isabella Jagiełło, Queen of Hungary.