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| Odorheiu Secuiesc Székelyudvarhely |
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country |  Romania |
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| County | Harghita County | ||
| Status | Municipality | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Bunta Levente (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) | ||
| Population (2002) | |||
| - Total | 36,926 | ||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||
| Website: http://www.udvph.ro/ | |||
Odorheiu Secuiesc (Hungarian: Székelyudvarhely, German: Oderhellen) is the second-largest city in Harghita County, Romania. In its short form, it is also known as Odorhei in Romanian and Udvarhely in Hungarian.
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Demographics
The city has a population of 36,948, of which 95.7% or 35,359 people are Székely Hungarians, making it the city with the second-highest proportion of Hungarians in Romania (based on the census of 2002).
History
The town, as the former seat of the Udvarhely comitatus, is one of the historical centres of the Székely Land. The first known reference to the city was in a papal register of duties in 1333. Udvarhely was the location of the first national assembly of Székelys in 1357.
A fortress was built in the town in 1492. It was rebuilt and strengthened by John II Sigismund Zápolya in 1565, in order to control the Székelys. The latter, allied to the Wallachian Prince (and Habsburg partner) Michael the Brave during his campaign in Transylvania, destroyed the fortress in 1599. It was repeatedly rebuilt and destroyed again during history. The ruins of the structure are nowadays known as "The Székely-attacked fortress".
Odorheiu Secuiesc and the surrounding villages were hit by significant flooding in August 2005.
A statue park of historical persons important for the Székelys was unveiled in Odorheiu Secuiesc on May 22, 2004. This has created controversy, as one of the sculptures (The Wandering Szekler) was interpreted in the Romanian press as being that of writer and poet Albert Wass.
Etymology
The local population uses the Hungarian name of the town (Udvarhely), which roughly means "Court settlement" in English. The oldest surviving written record about the town is from 1333, when, in medieval Hungarian writing style, the town was called "Uduorhel". Since 1615, when the Prince of Transylvania reaffirmed the rights of the town, the place has been referred to as Székelyudvarhely.
Natives
- Peter Eötvös (b. 1944), Hungarian composer and conductor.
- László Rajk (1909–1949), Hungarian Communist politician, victim of Mátyás Rákosi's show trials.
Twin cities
Békéscsaba (1990.01.15.)- Barcs (1991.01.23.)
Subotica (1994.10.05.)- Várkerület (district of Budapest) (1995.07.26.)
- Buda Highlands (district of Budapest)
- Vác (1997.04.24.)
Dunajská Streda (1997.09.24.)- Soroksár (district of Budapest) (1997.09.24)
- Tatabánya (1999.09.30.)
- Törökbálint (2000.03.28.)
- Tihany (2000.03.28)
- Cegléd (2001.06.01.)
- Hajdúdorog
References
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