Gherla (; hu, Szamosújvár; german: Neuschloss) is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
in
Cluj County
Cluj County (; german: Kreis Klausenburg, hu, Kolozs megye) is a county (județ) of Romania, in Transylvania. Its seat ( ro, Oraș reședință de județ) is Cluj-Napoca (german: Klausenburg).
Name
In Hungarian, it is known as ''Kolozs megye ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
(in the historical region of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...
). It is located from
Cluj-Napoca
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status
, subdivision_name2 ...
on the river
Someșul Mic
The Someșul Mic (''Little Someș'', Hungarian: ''Kis-Szamos'') is a river in north-western Romania (Cluj County). At its confluence with the Someșul Mare in Mica, the Someș is formed. Its total length is , and its drainage basin area is . , and has a population of 20,203. Three villages are administered by the city: Băița (formerly ''Chirău'', and ''Kérő'' in Hungarian), Hășdate (''Szamoshesdát'') and Silivaș (''Vizszilvás'').
The city was formerly known as ''Armenopolis'' ( hy, Հայաքաղաք ''Hayakaghak''; german: Armenierstadt; hu, Örményváros) because it was populated by
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
.
History
A clay tablet containing a fragmentary
Old Persian cuneiform
Old Persian cuneiform is a semi-alphabetic cuneiform script that was the primary script for Old Persian. Texts written in this cuneiform have been found in Iran ( Persepolis, Susa, Hamadan, Kharg Island), Armenia, Romania ( Gherla), Turkey ( Va ...
of the
Achaemenid
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
king
Darius I
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...
was found at Gherla in 1937. It may be connected to Darius I's epigraphic activities in relation to
his Scythian campaign of 513 BC as reported by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
.
The locality was first recorded in 1291 as a village named ''Gherlahida,'' (probably derived from the
Slavic word ''grle'', meaning "
ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
"). The second name was Armenian, Հայաքաղաք ''Hayakaghak'', meaning "Armenian city"; it took the
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
and
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
official name ''Armenopolis'', as well as the German alternative name ''Armenierstadt''. Later, the name ''Szamosújvár'' was used in official
Hungarian records, meaning "the new town on the
Someș
The Someș (; hu, Szamos; german: Somesch or ''Samosch'') is a left tributary of the Tisza in Hungary and Romania. It has a length of (including its source river Someșul Mare), of which 50 km are in Hungary.[Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...]
''
comitatus
''Comitatus'' was in ancient times the Latin term for an armed escort or retinue. The term is used especially in the context of Germanic warrior culture for a warband tied to a leader by an oath of fealty and describes the relations between a lo ...
'' of
Szolnok-Doboka. It was again part of Hungary between 1940 and until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
The modern city was built in the early 18th century by
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
, successors of the
Cilician Armenian diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
, who had originally settled in
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
and
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
, and moved to Transylvania sometime after 1650. After a two years' campaign by the
Armenian-Catholic Bishop
Oxendius Vărzărescu, they converted from the
Armenian Apostolic Church
, native_name_lang = hy
, icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg
, icon_width = 100px
, icon_alt =
, image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, a ...
to the
Armenian Catholic Church
, native_name_lang = hy
, image = St Elie - St Gregory Armenian Catholic Cathedral.jpg
, imagewidth = 260px
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illumina ...
.
Gherla is the seat of the
Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Romania, as well as that of a
Greek-Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually.
The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...
diocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...
– the
Cluj-Gherla Diocese
The Romanian Greek Catholic Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla is an eparchy of the Byzantine Rite of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church. It is a suffragan of the Romanian Greek Catholic Major Archeparchy of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia.
Eparchs
* Ioan Alexi ...
(
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...
to the
Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Alba Iulia and Făgăraș-Blaj, who resided in
Blaj
Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; hu, Balázsfalva; german: Blasendorf; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,630 inhabitants.
The landmark of the city is the f ...
). In the center of the city lie the Saint
Gregory the Illuminator
Gregory the Illuminator ( Classical hy, Գրիգոր Լուսաւորիչ, reformed: Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ, ''Grigor Lusavorich'';, ''Gregorios Phoster'' or , ''Gregorios Photistes''; la, Gregorius Armeniae Illuminator, cu, Svyas ...
and the Holy Trinity Armenian Cathedral. The main Armenian-Catholic church was built in 1792. The Greek Catholic diocese was created by the
Papal Bull ''
Ad Apostolicam Sedem'' of November 26, 1853, and the first bishop was
Ioan Alexi.
A
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
fortress was built here and converted to a prison in 1785. During the
Communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
, the prison was used for political detainees (''see
Gherla prison
Gherla Prison is a penitentiary located in the Romanian city of Gherla, in Cluj County. The prison dates from 1785; it is infamous for the treatment of its political inmates, especially during the Communist regime. In Romanian slang the generic wo ...
''). Today it is a Romanian high-security prison.
The town is often visited by
Orthodox pilgrims on their way to the nearby village of
Nicula and
Nicula Monastery
Nicula Monastery is an important pilgrimage center in the north of Transylvania. It is located in Fizeșu Gherlii, Nicula village, Cluj County, in the vicinity of Gherla.
An unconfirmed tradition holds that the monastery was established in the 14t ...
.
Gherla also had a significant Jewish population which was decimated during
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
. After the war most of the remaining Jewish population left the city. The
Synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...
and the Holocaust Memorial Monument are visited by tourists from many countries.
Demographics
According to the 2011 Romanian census, there were 20,982 people living within the city, as follows:
Tab8. Populaţia stabilă după etnie – județe, municipii, orașe, comune
2011 census results, Institutul Național de Statistică
The National Institute of Statistics ( ro, Institutul Național de Statistică, INS) is a Romanian government agency which is responsible for collecting national statistics, in fields such as geography, the economy, demographics and society. The i ...
, accessed 17 February 2020.
* 15,952 (76.0%) Romanians
The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Romania ...
* 3,435 (16.4%) Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...
* 735 (3.5%) Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
* Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
* 61 (0.3%) others, including 16 Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
(Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ( ...
)
Natives
* Tamás Aján
* Laur Aștilean
* Mihai Chezan
* Cristian Coroian
* Cyrill Demian
* Gergely Pongrátz
Gergely Pongrátz ( Gherla, 18 February 1932 – Kiskunmajsa, 18 May 2005) was a famous veteran of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He was the commander of arguably the largest and perhaps the best-known group of fighters , at the Uprising's str ...
* Silviu Prigoană
Vasile-Silviu Prigoană (born December 22, 1963) is a Romanian businessman and politician.
He owns 60% of Rosal, a waste collection company which services Bucharest's Sector 3, Cluj-Napoca, Suceava, and Baia Mare.
In December 2008, he became ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Armenierstadt
{{Authority control
Populated places in Cluj County
Localities in Transylvania
Cities in Romania
Armenian communities in Romania