Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; hu, Balázsfalva; german: Blasendorf;

Transylvanian Saxon 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 ...

: ''Blußendref'') is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

in Alba County,

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 ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. It has a population of 20,630 inhabitants. The landmark of the city is the fact that it was the principal religious and cultural center of the

Romanian Greek-Catholic Church The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic ( la, Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Romaniae; ro, Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the ...

History

Blaj is first mentioned in 1271 as ''Villa Herbordi'', after the deed of a Count Herbod. In 1313, the domain passed to Herbod's son Blasius Cserei and the town was mentioned as ''Blasii''. Started as a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...

for the twenty families of servants of the noble's court, it was awarded town status on May 19, 1737. Blaj is the principal religious and cultural center of

Greek Catholics 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 ...

in Transylvania. At 27 October 1687 begins the history of the

Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic ( la, Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Romaniae; ro, Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the ...

, history directly connected to the history of the town Blaj. It all started at the end of the treaty through which

was entering under the protection of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, renouncing the protection of the

Turkish Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. The first public school in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

was established in Blaj in 1754. Blaj was the first place to have Romanian written with

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...

instead of Cyrillic in which it had traditionally been written. Blaj was also a center for the Romanian

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

, being the founding site of the

Transylvanian School The Transylvanian School ( ro, Școala Ardeleană) was a cultural movement which was founded after part of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Habsburg-ruled Transylvania accepted the leadership of the pope and became the Greek-Catholic Church (). The ...

that promoted the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

cultural heritage of the Romanians. Thus Blaj gained the nickname "The Little Rome", as Romania's national poet

Mihai Eminescu Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...

called it. In 1848,

Câmpia Libertății Câmpia Libertății (''The Field of Liberty'') is located in the city of Blaj, in Transylvania, Romania. It was the place where two national assemblies were held during the 1848 Revolution, the first one in May, and the second one in September. ...

in Blaj was where over 40,000 Romanians met to protest Transylvania becoming a part of Hungary, holding that the lands would be stolen from them.

Geography

Blaj lies at the confluence of the

Târnava Mare The Târnava Mare ("Great Târnava"; hu, Nagy-Küküllő; german: Große Kokel) is a river in Romania. Its total length is and its basin size is . Its source is in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, near the sources of the Mureș and Olt in H ...

and

Târnava Mică The Târnava Mică ("Small Târnava"; hu, Kis-Küküllő; german: Kleine Kokel) is a river in Romania. Its total length is , and its drainage basin area is . Its source is in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, in Harghita County. It flows to the ...

rivers, where they form the

Târnava River The Târnava (full name in ro, Râul Târnava; hu, Küküllő; german: Kokel; tr, Kokul or Kokulu) is a river in Romania. It is formed by the confluence of the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică in the town of Blaj. The Târnava flows into the ...

. It is located northeast of the county seat,

Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...

, in a renowned wine-growing region.

Climate

Blaj has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(''Cfb'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

). The city has a continental temperate climate, characteristic for the

Transylvanian Plateau The Transylvanian Plateau ( ro, Podișul Transilvaniei; hu, Erdélyi-medence) is a plateau in central Romania. The plateau lies within and takes its name from the historical region of Transylvania, and is almost entirely surrounded by the East ...

, with moderate precipitations of around 550 mm/m².

Demographics

Ethnicity

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 Roman ...

- 16,779 (83.78%) *

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 Ural ...

- 1,305 (6.51%) *

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

- 1,850 (9.23%) *

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

- 45 (0.22%)

By Religion

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchate ...

- 14,784 (71.19%) *

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 ...

- 2,732 (13.24%) *

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

- 744 (3.58%) *

Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

- 985 *

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...

- 408 *

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

- 220

Government

The city administers eight villages: Deleni-Obârșie (''Obursatanya''), Flitești, Izvoarele (until 1960 ''Ciufud''; ''Csufud''), Mănărade (''Monora''), Petrisat (''Magyarpéterfalva''), Spătac (''Szászpatak''), Tiur (''Tűr'') and Veza (''Véza'').

Education

The city has several high schools, including the Inochentie Micu Clain National College, the , and the Sfântul Vasile cel Mare Greek-Catholic Theological High School.

Attractions

The castle of the

Bethlen The House of Bethlen is the name of two Hungarian ancient noble families, ''Bethlen de Iktár'' and ''Bethlen de Bethlen''. Although they have similar coat of arms, those two families don't have proven mutual ancestry. Both can trace their noble li ...

dynasty is a popular tourist site near Blaj. Other sights worth visiting include the Metropolitan Palace, the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the "''Buna Vestire''" Monastery, the Greeks' Church, the "Liberty Field", and

Avram Iancu Avram Iancu (; hu, Janku Ábrahám; 1824 – September 10, 1872) was a Transylvanian Romanian lawyer who played an important role in the local chapter of the Austrian Empire Revolutions of 1848–1849. He was especially active in the Țara Mo ...

's oak.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Blaj is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Allschwil , neighboring_municipalities= Baselland Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; german: Kanton Basel-Landschaft ; rm, Chantun Basilea-Champagna; french: Canton de Bâle-Campagne; it, Canton Basilea Ca ...

Morlanwelz Morlanwelz (; wa, Marlanwé) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Morlanwelz had a total population of 18,595. The total area is 20.26 km2 which gives a population density of 918 inhab ...

Recanati Recanati () is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Macerata, in the Marche region of Italy. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th century, ...

Natives

Tiberiu Bărbulețiu Tiberiu Bărbulețiu (born 1 December 1963 in Blaj) is a Romanian politician. He is a member of the National Liberal Party. He was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies between 2004 and 2008, and was also a Member of the European Parliament ...

(born 1963), politician *

Silviu Bindea Silviu Bindea (24 October 1912 – 6 March 1992) was a Romania national football team, Romanian Association football, football player and Manager (association football), coach. He represented Romania at the 1934 FIFA World Cup, 1934 and 1938 FI ...

(1912–1992), footballer *

Matei Boilă Matei Zaharia Boilă (17 April 1926 – 27 August 2015) was a conservative Romanian politician, who later became a Greek Catholic priest. Boilă was influenced by the activity of his great uncle on his mother's side of the family, Iuliu Maniu, a Pr ...

(1926–2015), politician, Greek-Catholic priest *

Bogdan Cistean Bogdan Iosif Cistean (born 29 December 1986) is a Romanian former football player and current Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgesh ...

(born 1986), footballer *

Sonia Colceru Sonia Colceru (born 1 January 1934) is a Romanian volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organi ...

(born 1934), volleyball player *

Ferenc Csentery Ferenc Csentery (December 29, 1937 – November 7, 2014) was an abstract metal sculptor known for his conceptual work related to the emergence of the US Space Program in the 1960s. He was particularly known for the high degree of technical preci ...

(1937–2014), abstract metal sculptor * Doina Ivănescu (1935–1996), volleyball player *

Bogdan Jica Bogdan Cristian Jica (born 3 iulie 2000) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Liga III side ACS Mediaș. In his career, Jica also played for teams such as: Daco-Getica București or Dunărea Călărași. Honours ...

(born 2000), footballer *

Nicolae Linca Nicolae Linca (1 January 1929 – 27 June 2008) was a Romanian amateur welterweight boxer. After winning bronze medals at the 1953 and 1955 European championships, he became Romania's first Olympic champion in boxing at the 1956 Summer Olympics ...

(1929–2008), welterweight boxer *

Daniel Lupașcu Daniel Ștefan Lupașcu (born 17 August 1981) is a Romanian former football player who played as a striker for teams such as CSM Reșița, Apulum Alba Iulia, Bihor Oradea or Arieșul Turda, among others. He played briefly in the Romanian Lig ...

(born 1981), footballer *

Ioan Simu Ioan Simu (June 27, 1875–June 22, 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian Greek-Catholic priest and politician. Biography Origins, early activity and World War I Born in the village of Ciufud, in Alsó-Fehér County, part of the Tra ...

(1875–1948), Greek-Catholic priest and politician *

Ioan Suciu Ioan Suciu (December 4, 1907 – June 27, 1953) was a Romanian bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church, born into a clerical family in Blaj. He studied in Rome, Italy first at Sant'Atanasio and then at the ''Pontificium Institutum Internationale An ...

(1907–1953), bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church *

Daniel Tătar Daniel Vasile Tătar (born 21 October 1987) is a Romanian footballer under contract with CSC 1599 Șelimbăr. His first match in Liga I was played for CSU Voința Sibiu against Astra Ploiești. Honours Hermannstadt * Cupa României: Runner-up ...

(born 1987), footballer *

Samuil Vulcan Samuil Vulcan (1 August 1758 – 25 December 1839) was the Bishop (Catholic Church), Bishop of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Oradea Mare, Diocese of Oradea Mare of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 1806 to 1839. Life Vulcan was born on ...

(1758–1839), bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church

References

External links

Blaj - Sunrise of Romanians (A short documentary film about Blaj)
{{Authority control Populated places in Alba County Cities in Romania Localities in Transylvania Capitals of former Romanian counties