Sebeș (;

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 ...

: ''Mühlbach''; Hungarian: ''Szászsebes'';

Transylvanian Saxon dialect ) , speakers = 200,000 , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = Irminonic , fam5 = High German , fam6 = West Central German , fam7 = Central Franconian , fam8 = Moselle Franconian , map = Deutschsiebenbür ...

: ''Melnbach'') 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, central

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 ...

, southern

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 ...

Geography

The city lies in the

Mureș River Mureș may refer to: * Mureș County, Romania * Mureș (river) in Romania and Hungary (''Maros'') * Mureș culture, a Bronze Age culture from Romania See also * Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș C ...

valley and straddles the river

Sebeș Sebeș (; German: ''Mühlbach''; Hungarian: ''Szászsebes''; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Melnbach'') is a city in Alba County, central Romania, southern Transylvania. Geography The city lies in the Mureș River valley and straddles the r ...

. It is at the crossroads of two main highways in Romania: the A1 motorway coming from

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

and going towards Deva and the A10 motorway going towards

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 ...

and

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , ...

. Their national road counterparts passing through the city are the

DN1 DN1 ( ro, Drumul Național 1) is an important national road in Romania which links Bucharest with the northwestern part of the country and the border with Hungary via Borș. The main cities linked by DN1 are Bucharest, Ploiești, Brașov, Sibiu, ...

( E81) and the DN7 ( E68), both of which also come from Sibiu. It is situated south of the county capital Alba Iulia and it also has three villages under its administration: * Petrești (''Petersdorf''; ''Péterfalva'') – south * Lancrăm (''Langendorf''; ''Lámkerék'') – north * Răhău (''Reichau''; ''Rehó'') – east.

Climate

Sebeș 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 ...

History

It is believed that there has been an earlier rural settlement in this area, with Romanian and

Pecheneg The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პაჭ ...

population, situated east of today's city. The city itself was built by German settlers — later referred as

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 ( ...

, but actually originating from the region of

Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...

and

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

— on the territory of the Hungarian Kingdom in the second half of the 12th century and became an important city in medieval Transylvania. Its

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

were reinforced after the

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

(

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

) invasions from 1241–1242, but the city was occupied in 1438 by the

Ottoman 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) ...

. Transylvania's voivode John I Zápolya died in Sebeș in 1540. The

Transylvanian Diet The Transylvanian Diet (german: Siebenbürgischer Landtag; hu, erdélyi országgyűlés; ro, Dieta Transilvaniei) was an important legislative, administrative and judicial body of the Principality (from 1765 Grand Principality) of Transylvania ...

met in Sebeș in 1546, 1556, 1598, and 1600. The location of the meetings, the Zápolya House, is now a museum. In the oldest documents that attest the existence of Sebeș, the city is named "Malebach"(1245), "Millenbach"(1309), names that derive from the German "Malemboch", which means "the river that carries a lot of rocks", which corresponds to the geography of the city. Johannes Tröster's work "Das alt und neue Teutsche Dacia" published in 1666 in Nuremberg sets the date of the city's founding in 1150. The great Mongol invasion destroyed the city in 1242, after which the inhabitants rebuilt it. The old two-towered Romanesque basilica was rebuilt in early Gothic style. The current tower was built on the foundations of the two original towers. The fourteenth century brought with it a period of development of the city, it being listed in 1376 as the third commercial importance among the Saxon cities. A royal deed from 1387 enshrines the right of Sebeș to build fortress walls, although their construction had probably begun before the middle of the 14th century. It thus becomes, despite its small size, the first city in Transylvania to be completely surrounded by masonry fortifications. After the union with Romania in 1918, the first mayor of the city was Lionel Blaga, the brother of the Romanian poet and philosopher Lucian Blaga, who was born in the nearby village of Lancrăm.

Town council

The town's current local council has the following multi-party political composition, based on the results of the ballots cast at the

2020 Romanian local elections Local elections were held in Romania on 27 September 2020. Initially planned for June 2020, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led the Government of Romania to postpone the elections to a date no later than 31 December 2020, and extending all ...

Economy

Today Sebeș is a city with a dynamic economy, having received in the last decade important foreign investments: wood processing and leather goods manufacturing are the chief domains of the local industry. As of March 2015, the unemployment rate was under 2%, the lowest of any city in Romania at the time.

Population

According to the 1850 census, the population of Sebeș municipality at that time was 8,701 inhabitants in total, most of whom were Romanians, but there was also a fairly high percentage of Germans because it was a German town. According to the 2011 census, Sebeș has 24,165 inhabitants, of which: *

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 ...

: 22,551, representing 93.3% (in 1850: 69.4%) *

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 ...

: 1,168, representing 4.8% (in 1850: 2.7%) *

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

(

): 261, representing 1.1% (in 1850: 27.0%) *

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 ...

: 131, representing 0.5% (in 1850: 0.47%) * Others: 52, representing 0.3% From a confessional point of view, the majority of the inhabitants are Orthodox (80.1%), with a minority of Pentecostals (3.05%). For 11.58% of the population, the confessional affiliation is not known.

Natives

* Iosif Blaga (1864–1937), literary theorist, aesthetician, priest, politician and educator. * Lucian Blaga (1895–1961), philosopher, poet, playwright, poetry translator and novelist. *

Emil Bömches Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

(1879–1969), sports shooter. *

Anton Crișan Anton Crișan (17 January 1942 – 9 March 2012) was a Romanian ice hockey player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Oly ...

(1942–2012), ice hockey player. *

Carl Filtsch Carl Filtsch (28 May 1830 – 11 May 1845) was a Transylvanian pianist and composer. He was a child prodigy, and student of Frédéric Chopin.Szulc, Tad (1998). Chopin in Paris: the life and times of the romantic composer. Pg 301. Simon and Schu ...

(1830–1845), pianist and composer. * Dan Găldean (born 1974), football player. * Sava Henția (1848–1904), painter, decorator and illustrator. *

Vasile Moga Vasile Moga (; 1774 – October 17, 1845) was an Imperial Austrian ethnic Romanian bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church. A native of Sebeș, he was a parish priest for some years before being made bishop of Transylvania. The first Romanian t ...

(1774–1845), bishop of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci. *

Radu Neguț Radu Mircea Neguț (born 3 July 1981) is a Romanian former football forward.- - - Honours Pandurii Târgu Jiu *Divizia B: 2004–05 Al Ettifaq * GCC Champions League: 2006 Voința Sibiu *Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III ...

(born 1981), football player. *

Gheorghe Rășinaru Gheorghe Rășinaru (born 10 February 1915-death in 1994) was a Romanian association football, football midfielder who played for Romania national football team, Romania in the 1938 FIFA World Cup.Viorel Sima (born 1950), football player. *

Tataee Vlad Irimia (; born October 17, 1976), primarily known by his stage name Tataee (), is a Romanian record producer, rapper, record executive, and music manager. He is one of the founders of the influential Romanian hip hop trio B.U.G. Mafia, also ...

(born 1976), record producer, rapper, and music manager.

References

External links

Photos, new and old ones reflecting the Saxon influence and some landscape - BILDER

All about the city of Sebes.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebes Populated places in Alba County Localities in Transylvania Cities in Romania