Topliţa

:"There is also a commune named Topliţa in Hunedoara County; see Topliţa, Hunedoara."Infobox Settlement
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = ROU
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
map_caption = Location of Topliţa

|official_name=Topliţa
Maroshévíz
image_shield=

---

subdivision_type1=County
subdivision_name1=Harghita County
subdivision_type2=Status
subdivision_name2=Autolink|Municipality
settlement_type=Municipality|
leader_title=Mayor
leader_name=Niculae Baciu
|leader_party=Independent|area_total_km2=
population_as_of=2002
population_total=15880|latd=46|latm=55|lats=25|latNS=N|longd=25|longm=20|longs=45|longEW=E|
website=http://www.toplita.ro/
website=http://www.toplita.info/

Topliţa ( _hu. Maroshévíz, _de. Töplitz) is a municipality in Harghita County, Romania. The name is of Slavic origin, meaning "hot water spring".

Demographics

The town has an ethnically mixed population. According to the 2002 census the municipality has a population of 15,880, of which 11,291 (71.1%) are Romanians, 4,039 (25.4%) are Székely Hungarians and 486 (3.1%) are Roma.

Geography

Topliţa is located in Transylvania on the upper Mureş region, more precisely in the northern corner of Harghita County. It is situated on a 650 m altitude above sea level, on the Giurgiului plain betveen the mountains of Giurgiului, Gurghiului and Călimani. Nearest towns are: Borsec (26 km), Gheorgheni (38 km) and Reghin (69 km).

History

The settlement was founded in 1567 by Petrichevitch Horváth Kozma on land owned by Bánffy Pál. He gave the land to three Moldavian peasant families and named the place "Taplócza".

The settlement has had multiple name changes: "Taplócza", "Toplicza", "Gyergyó-Toplicza", from February 3, 1861 "Oláh-Toplicza", then from January 1, 1907 "Maroshévíz", until 1918 when it received the official name "Topliţa Română", although the Maroshévíz name can be found on documents along with Topliţa Românã.

The region was Simon Bán's property until 1228, then passed on to the Bánffy family, who managed to keep their enormous properties until 1945.

In 1658, Gyergyó-Topliţa was entirely destroyed by Moldavian units led by Pintea. After 1660, the Bánffys brought 391 Romanian peasant families from Deda onto these lands.Around 1710, rafting started on the Mures river. Due to this profitable enterprise, Maroshévíz and its inhabitants started growing and evolving on both material and spiritual planes.The first European census, ordered by Joseph II, took place in Maroshévíz on Nov. 20th 1785. Census results showed there were 227 farms, 23 free and 231 thrall families who belonged to 22 lairds. Baron Bornemissza János owned most of these families (52), Baron Kemény Simon (30), and Count Teleki Mihály (18).

In 1868, eight "parraediums" belonged to Topliţa , these were: Călimănel, Mermezeu, Ciobotani, Mănăstirea, Vâgani, Moglăneşti, Plopiş and Măgheruş; at the time Valea was already part of the settlement.

During World War I, Topliţa and its periphery witnessed cruel fighting. The Romanian monument in Secu is the tomb of 771 Romanian soldiers, and in the Hungarian Heroes Cemetery on Zencani 450 soldiers were buried.In 1952, Topliţa was declared a town and in 2002 it was declared a municipality (municipiu).

Buildings in Topliţa

*1658 Mănăstirea Doamnei
*1847 Sf. Ilie monastery
*Sept. 22 1867-Aug. 21 1869 a Roman Catholic church in the vicinity of an old wooden church
*1867-1903 Orthodox Church
*1870 Roman Catholic Denominational School
*1895 Calvinistic Church
*1896 Hungarian State School, founded in the Valea section
*1903-1907 Urmánczy castle, today the town's Ethnographic Museum
*1928-1929 Greek Catholic Church in the Cornişa section, built to replace the 1777 wooden church which was moved to the nearby Gălăuţaş village.

The "lions of Topliţa"

The Bradul pleasure resort is situated at 677 m above sea level. Here can be found a bogie with mineral water at a temperature of 27 deg C. In addition, the Urmánczy bogie, which was bought by the Urmánczys from the Lázár family (from Lăzarea) around 1870, is located at an altitude of 654 m above sea level, and its water (also mineral) has a temperature of 26 deg C.

Notable persons born in Topliţa

*Dr. Miron Cristea (1868-1939) was Romania's first patriarch, and Romania's Prime Minister between 1938 and 1939.

External links

* [http://www.toplita.ro Tourist information site]
* [http://www.toplita.info Unofficial Homepage]