I love Transylvania

That's it I need to say it, I really need to say it. It's almost to big not to say it, but I'll try to contain my excitement. I love Transylvania.

There is so much variation in the land and in the cultures that lived there, and still live there. I do like finding out about the people and learning what the histories of each group was like. Of course each culture has their own take on history int eh region but that's what makes it all the more interesting.

In many ways
the Romans put Transylvania on the map.
Then the Countess of Transylvania.
The Hungarian Crown.
The Romanian Crown.
The Turks.
Vlad Dracula.
The Germans.
The Italians
The Russians

I could go on but I won't.. or at least not this blog.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I am a young transylvanian woman, aged 22, and I would like to say that you're so wrong if you think that romans, ungarians, turks, germans put, in many ways, Transylvania on the map. They have killed our spirit, a big part of our culture and our own identity. If you want to talk more about Transylvania with a woman who really knows how Transylvania is, contact me on my e-mail address: shtrupy_shtrups@yahoo.com
Great comment. I hope that you'll help me with more! =)
Unknown said…
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Blogger alex.tomaselli said...

Please do not forget the italian contibution to the Transilvanian history. As someone said, "Italians made modern Romania". This reffers mainly to the infrastructure but also to arts and medicine and includes, of course, Transylvania. Italians (that I consider now apart from the antique Romans from Italian peninsula) came in T. all along the Middle and Modern Age. They were assimilated by the Saxons and Suebi (Schwaben), but also lived in italian communities. Italians had a consistent contibution in building the Transilvanian railways, tunnels, roads, houses and great palaces and in architecture, painting and other arts.

April 20, 2009 6:38 AM

Please do not forget the italian contibution to the Transilvanian history. As someone said, "Italians made modern Romania". This reffers mainly to the infrastructure but also to arts and medicine and includes, of course, Transylvania. Italians (that I consider now apart from the antique Romans from Italian peninsula) came in T. all along the Middle and Modern Age. They were assimilated by the Saxon and Suebi (Schwaben), but also lived in italian communities. Italians had a consistent contibution in building the Transilvanian railways, tunnels, roads, houses and great palaces and in architecture, painting and other arts.
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Unknown said…
To Anonymous: They have killed our spirit, a big part of our culture and our own identity. Whose spirit? You didn't tell us. Romans can not be part of this, because they came many century before the name "Transilvania" has been invented. The language (Romanian) and the name (Romanians) of the biggest ethnic group in the zone are a Roman heritage.
Concerning "ungarians": I would prefere the use of the term "magyars". When we go back to years 700-800, "hungarians" could mean inhabitants of Pannonia (that used to be a Hunnic possession, hence the name), i.e. daco-romans, as magyars did not arrive yet in the zone. When they came later, they used for the first time the name "Transylvania", "the land after the woods". One has to explain how they killed the spirit... of what?
Concerning "Germans": Germanic populations in T. have many branches and they interracted in different ways and periods with the country's history: the Goths (not really germanic), Teutons, Saxons, Flemish, Luxembourgers, Suabi, Austrians a.o. As I now, they build the urban T. All the big and most of the small cities were created by Germanic communities. Is this bad?
Unknown said…
It is true that, after a good cohabitaion for several centuries, magyars began an oppressive and discriminatory rule, with the complicity of the related Szekely, Saxons and later Austrians. That's why I think they lost the moral right to rule in this country from now on. However, their administration played an enormous positive role in the evolution of the Romanian culture as they preserved the use of Latin, a language avoided by the church in other Romanian countries from the XIVth century. Therefore, Romanian scholars from T. were the first to rediscover and affirm the Latin origin of Romanians.
Thanks for all the good points