Transylvania and the Cities Within It Part 11 of 17

As always comments are welcomed, see today's earlier blog to discuss what series comes next. On to the city of the Day.

Miercurea Ciuc or Csíkszereda, is one of the younger cities in Transylvania. It was for a time part of the Kingdom of Hungary and between the war years of 1940-1944. It is one of the few larger cities where the Hungarian population is the majority, with nearly 81% being Hungarian. During the years of 1927-1938 it used the Romanian version of it name.

Now, It uses both languages in public signage and in many other aspects of public life. On a side note I went on to the official website and it is in both Hungarian and Romanian.

The group of Hungarians who live in the city are the Székely Hungarians. From what I've learned this group are ethnically Hungarian, but who lived in Transylvania for centuries.

There are hundreds of shops and churches to see, many built in Renaissance style.

I don't speak Hungarian, but to see this city I intend to. It is supposed to be a wonderland in winter, so I'm hoping to see it then.

If anyone can provide more info about this city this would be most helpful.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Rebecca!

Csíkszereda is a kind of industrial city, and not the most beautiful city in the Székelyföld (the Székely land.) It's famous for being the main city, though, and for two other interesting things. 1) In the winter, it's the coldest spot in Romania and one of the coldest in this part of Europe, and 2) It produces a beer called "Ciuc" (pronounced like "chook," which is popular across Transylvania.

That said, this is a beautiful part of Transylvania, and a bit more like what one imagines than much of the rest of Transylvania. For one, there are lots of trees and forested land. The landscape has a lot of hill and mountains and gorgeous cliffs and rivers and traditional looking villages. It was rather ignored during Communist times, so a lot of relatively old things survived and they didn't build a lot of ugly tower blocks and whatnot.

John
Thanks John, you're always a great help to me!