- Şcheii Braşovului
Şcheii Braşovului ( _hu. Bolgárszeg, _de. Belgerei "or more recently" Obere Vorstadt; traditional Romanian name: "Bulgărimea", colloquially "Şchei") is the old ethnically Bulgarian and Romanian neighborhood of
Braşov , a city inTransylvania , Romania. Thisvillage -like section of the town is mostly made up of small houses built along narrow roads with gardens and small fields on the sides of the mountains. Until the 17th century, the inhabitants of Şchei were forbidden from owning property inside the city walls. The people living in the Şchei could only enter the town at certain times and had to pay atoll at the gate for the privilege of selling their produce inside the town. It was in Şchei that Braşov'sfirst Romanian School was established, next to the Romanian Orthodoxchurch of St. Nicholas.Researchers maintain the
Şchei were ethnic Bulgarians who later adopted the Romanian language and ethnic identity. [Ion Muşlea, "Şcheii de la Cergău şi folclorul lor", Cluj 1928.] [cite book |chapterurl=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/lm/lm_1.htm |url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/lm/index.html |title=Дако-ромънитѣ и тѣхната славянска писменость. Часть II |chapter=Брашов и брашовските българите („шкеи”, bolgárszeg) |language=Bulgarian |last=Милетич |first=Любомир |year=1896 |location=София |publisher=Сборникъ за Народни Умотворения, Наука и Книжнина ] The neighbourhood's name has been recorded through the ages as follows: "Bolgarszek" (1611), "Scheu Braşovului", "oraşul Schei lângă Cetatea Braşovolui" (1700), "Bolgarsek, Şchei de lângă Braşov" (1701), "Şchiiaii Braşovului" (1708), "Bolgaria Braşovului" (1723), "Şchei lângă cetate Braşovului unde-i zic Bolgara, Şchiai" (1724), "obştea din Bolgarseghi" (1773), "sărăcimea obştii Bolgarsegului" (1774), "Bolgarsec, Biserica Bolgarseghiului" (1813), "Bolgarsechi" (1816), "Bolgarsăchiu" (1817) etc. [Coriolan Suciu, "Dicţionar istoric al localităţilor din Transilvania", vol. I, Bucureşti 1967, pp. 102.]According to Radu Tempea's "Istoria besérecei Şchéilor Braşovului" manuscript of 1899, the Bulgarians arrived in Braşov in the late 14th century, more exactly 1392. Their arrival is linked to the reconstruction of the
Black Church , which had been destroyed by theTatars in the 13th century, the reconstruction beginning 1385. [Heinz Heltmann, Gustav Servatius, "Reiseführer Siebenbürgen", Thaur bei Innsbruck 1993, pp. 365.]By the beginning of the 19th century, the Bulgarian population of Şcheii Braşovului had been gradually Romanianized. A 1829 statistic on the population of Bolgárszeg, which stated the neighbourhood had a population of 5,829, did include "Bulgari" ("Bulgarians") in the list along with "Valachi" ("
Romanians "), but noted no people of that ethnicity. [Милетич, p. 19.]Gallery
References
External links
* [http://www.brasovtravelguide.ro/en/brasov/sightseeing/schei.php Şchei district of Brasov]
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