Cristuru Secuiesc (; , ) is a town in

Harghita County Harghita County (, and , ) is a county () in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea Ciuc. Demographics 2002 census In 2002, Harghita County had a population of 326,222 and a population density of ...

, Romania. It lies in the

Székely Land The Székely Land or Szeklerland (, , Old Hungarian script, Székely runes: 𐲥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗𐳌𐳞𐳖𐳇; and sometimes ; ; ) is a historic and ethnographic area in present-day Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hung ...

, an ethno-cultural region in eastern

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

. The town administers two villages: Betești (''Betfalva''), part of Mugeni until 2004, and Filiaș (''Fiatfalva'').

Location

Cristuru Secuiesc lies on the

Transylvanian Plateau The Transylvanian Plateau (; ) is a plateau in central Romania. Description The plateau lies within and takes its name from the historical region of Transylvania, and is almost entirely surrounded by the Eastern Carpathians, Eastern, Southern ...

, in the area where the river Goagiu flows into the Târnava Mare. It is located in the southwestern part of the county, on the border with

Mureș County Mureș County (, , ) is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș. The county was established in 1968, after the administrative reor ...

. The town is crossed by

national road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

; Odorheiu Secuiesc is to the east, while the county seat, Miercurea Ciuc, is in that direction.

History

The town was part of the

area of the historical

province. It belonged to Udvarhelyszék until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when it fell within the Udvarhely County of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. In the aftermath of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Hungarian–Romanian War The Hungarian–Romanian War (; ) was fought between Hungary and Kingdom of Romania, Romania from 13 November 1918 to 3 August 1919. The conflict had a complex background, with often contradictory motivations for the parties involved. After the ...

of 1918–1919, it passed under Romanian administration; after the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

of 1920, like the rest of Transylvania, it became part of the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

. During the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, the town fell within Odorhei County. From 1933 to 1940, the town was renamed after I. G. Duca, the

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania (), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania (), is the head of the Government of Romania, Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled ''President of the Council of Ministers'' (), when ...

who was assassinated in December 1933 for his efforts to suppress the fascist

Iron Guard The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...

movement. In 1940, the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of Maramureș and part of Cri ...

granted

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania (, ) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946), Kingdom ...

to Hungary and the town was held by Hungary until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and the town became officially part of Romania in March 1945. Between 1952 and 1960, Cristuru Secuiesc fell within the

Magyar Autonomous Region The Magyar Autonomous Region (1952–1960) (; ) and Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region (1960–1968) were autonomous Regions of the People's Republic of Romania, regions in the Romanian People's Republic (later the Socialist Republic of Romania). H ...

, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, the region was abolished, and since then, the town has been part of Harghita County.

Demographics

As of the Romanian census of 2002, the town had a population of 9,672, of whom 9,201 (95.13%) were ethnic

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, 2.47 ethnic Roma, 2.27% ethnic

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

, and 0.12% others.2002 Census
/ref> At the 2011 census, there were 9,491 inhabitants. At the 2021 census, Cristuru Secuiesc had a population of 8,797. ''Demographic movements according to census data:'' Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:300 height:240 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:12000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:2000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:500 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1956 text:1956 bar:1966 text:1966 bar:1977 text:1977 bar:1992 text:1992 bar:2002 text:2002 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1956 from:0 till: 5194 bar:1966 from:0 till: 5942 bar:1977 from:0 till: 7197 bar:1992 from:0 till: 10611 bar:2002 from:0 till: 9672 PlotData= bar:1956 at: 5194 fontsize:S text: 5.194 shift:(-7,5) bar:1966 at: 5942 fontsize:S text: 5.942 shift:(-13,5) bar:1977 at: 7197 fontsize:S text: 7.197 shift:(-13,5) bar:1992 at: 10611 fontsize:S text: 10.611 shift:(-13,5) bar:2002 at: 9672 fontsize:S text: 9.672 shift:(-13,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text: Census data. Graphics made by Wikipedia In terms of religion, 46.02% of its inhabitants are Reformed, 35.99% are Unitarian, 14.27% are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 2.33% are Romanian Orthodox.

Natives

* Ajtony Árpád (1944 – 2013), writer * Alexandru Gergely (1951 – 2018), footballer and manager

Sights

The Unitarian Gimnazium (secondary school) was established in the 18th century. The Catholic church has medieval murals.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Cristuru Secuiesc is twinned with: *

Ajka Ajka () is a city in Hungary with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the hills of Bakony. History Around 1000 BCE, the area was inhabited by Celts. By the second century CE, the territory was conquered by the Roman Empire, Romans. The Hu ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(1992) * Csurgó, Hungary * Derecske, Hungary * Dévaványa,

(1994) * Dunakeszi, Hungary * Kalocsa, Hungary *

Karcag Karcag () is a large town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary. Geography Karcag covers an area of and has a population of 20,632 people (2011). Transport Karcag has its own railway station, bu ...

(1990) * Kúnszentmiklós, Hungary *

Lánycsók Lánycsók () is a village in Baranya County, Hungary. Until the end of World War II, the majority of the inhabitants was Danube Swabian, also called locally as ''Stifolder'', because their ancestors arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries from F ...

, Hungary * Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia * Pesterzsébet – 20th district of Budapest, Hungary * Senta, Serbia

Gallery

File:Cristuru Secuiesc Catholic Church.jpg, Catholic parish church File:Cristuru Secuiesc Orthodox Church.jpg, Romanian Orthodox church File:Cristuru Secuiesc Szabadság Square.jpg, Liberty Square File:Târnava Mare near Cristuru Secuiesc.jpg, Târnava Mare River bank

References

External links

Town Website

Molnár István Museaum
{{Authority control Towns in Romania Populated places in Harghita County Localities in Transylvania Székely communities