Lupeni (;

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Schylwolfsbach'', Hungarian: ''Lupény'') is a mining

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 the

Jiu Valley The Jiu Valley ( ro, Valea Jiului ) is a region in southwestern Transylvania, Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains. The region was heavily industrialised and ...

Hunedoara County Hunedoara County () is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva. The county is part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion. Name In Hungarian, it is known as , in German as , and in Slovak ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

. It is one of the oldest and largest cities in the Jiu Valley. It is located on the banks of the West Jiu river within the

, at a height varying between (in the east) and . The distance from Lupeni to Petroșani is (DN66A), and to Deva (the capital of Hunedoara County) is . The name is derived from the

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 ...

"''lup''", meaning "wolf". Throughout the second part of the 19th century and most of the 20th century, the city's economy was based on

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

, but since the 1990s the economy has become more diverse, after many mines were closed.

History

The first records of people inhabiting this area date back to prehistorical times, as evidenced by the discoveries made at the Straja-Lupeni hill

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

, where old pottery objects were found. The city of Lupeni was first attested in 1770. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the

was sparsely populated, with the inhabitants living in small villages, and

shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' ' herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations ...

ing being the main activity. Lupeni was formed as a result of the intense migration of people coming from Valea Streiului and Țara Hațegului, who were attracted by the rich pastures and hayfields of the area. The residents of the village of Valea Lupului (Wolf Valley) are those who are believed to have founded Lupeni. After 1840, mining exploration and exploitation started to develop in the area, and major economic and social changes took place. Foreign workers, primarily Polish, Czech, Austrian, Slovak, and Hungarian miners, as well as Romanian miners from the Apuseni Mountains and Baia Mare, were brought to work in the Jiu Valley. The mining activity began south of Lupeni. Lupeni soon become a major coal producer with a mono-industrial development, with about 80% of the population living from mining and other related activities. The city become very prosperous and experienced continuous population growth. However, the industrial development of the area was severely affected by the economic crisis of the interwar period, which eventually led to the Lupeni Strike of 1929. During the communist regime, the mines were nationalized by the communist government. Lupeni was declared a city in 1941, at which time it had 12,000 inhabitants. In 1977, Lupeni was the site of the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977. After the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, in the 1990s, mining operations entered a restructuring process that had a very strong social and economic impact on the city. A large number of mines were closed, and this also affected other related activities, such as suppliers of materials, equipment and services, and agents that operated in the trade and services areas. Nevertheless, in recent years, new areas of economic development emerged, such as tourism, forestry industry, bakery industry, and commerce. The city's remaining active mine is the Lupeni Coal Mine managed by the Petroșani-based

National Hard Coal Company The National Hard Coal Company ( ro, Compania Naționala a Huilei) was set up as a commercial society by the Government of Romania in 1998. The main headquarters of the company is placed in Petroșani, the principal city in the coal mining regio ...

Population

By nationality

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 ...

: 19,465 (88.53%) *

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 ...

: 1,581 (7.19%) * Roma (Gypsy): 735 (3.34%) *

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

: 71 (0.32%)

By religion

* Orthodox: 24,815 *

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 ...

: 1,921 *Reformed: 1,562 *

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

: 688 *Greek Catholic: 501 *Baptist 200-300 *Other: 1,155

Notes

External links