Sângeorgiu de Pădure
Erdőszentgyörgy
Town
Landscape near the town
Landscape near the town
Coat of arms of Sângeorgiu de Pădure
Coat of arms
Location in Mureș County
Location in Mureș County
Sângeorgiu de Pădure is located in Romania
Sângeorgiu de Pădure
Sângeorgiu de Pădure
Location in Romania
Coordinates: 46°25′49″N 24°50′30″E / 46.43028°N 24.84167°E / 46.43028; 24.84167
CountryRomania
CountyMureș
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2024) Attila-Zoltán Csibi[1] (UDMR)
Area
71.42 km2 (27.58 sq mi)
Elevation
350 m (1,150 ft)
Population
 (2021-12-01)[2]
4,875
 • Density68/km2 (180/sq mi)
Time zoneEET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Postal code
547535
Area code+40 265
Vehicle reg.MS
Websitesgpadure.ro

Sângeorgiu de Pădure (English (lit.): Saint George on the Heath, Hungarian: Erdőszentgyörgy [ˈɛrdøːsɛɲɟørɟ]; German: Sankt Georgen auf der Heide) is a town in Mureș County, Transylvania, Romania.

Bezid (Bözöd), Bezidu Nou (Bözödújfalu), and Loțu (Lóc) villages are administratively part of the town.

History

The church of the flooded Bezidu Nou (Bözödújfalu) village
As Erdő Szent Györgÿ on Josephine Land survey, 18th century

The first written record of the town is preserved in a papal tithe applotment list from 1333 in which mention is made of a priest, "de Sancto Georgio,"[3] who paid a sum of 6 dinars to the neighboring diocese. In 1347, a man named Erdő, count of the Székelys, and the sons of Erdő of Erdőszentgyörgy were mentioned.[3] In 1442, Anna Herepei, wife of Erdő of Erdewzenthgergh is written about.[3] The village was the estate of Francis I Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania.[3] The Rédey castle was built in 1647. In 1788, Péter Bodor was born here.[3] In 1818–1809, the Rédey castle was rebuilt.[3] In 1913, the official Hungarian name of the village was Erdőszentgyörgy.[3]

Its Romanian name was originally Erdeo-Sângeorgiu; in 1919 the name changed to Sîngeorgiul de Pădure, which later was changed by Romanian authorities to the current official name.[3]

In the mid-1780s, as part of the Josephine administrative reform, Marosszék was integrated into Küküllő County, however, the szék-system was restored in 1790. After the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1849, the village formed part of the Kibéd military sub-division of the Marosvásárhely division in the Udvarhely military district.[4]: 1, figure 3  Between 1861 and 1876, the former Marosszék was restored.[4]: 2 [5] As a result of the administrative reform in 1876, the village fell within Nyárádszereda district of Maros-Torda County in the Kingdom of Hungary.[6]

After the Hungarian–Romanian War of 1918–19 and the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, Sângeorgiu de Pădure became part of Romania and fell within the Mureș County during the interwar period. In 1940, the Second Vienna Award granted Northern Transylvania to Hungary and it was held by Hungary until 1944. Administered by the Soviet authorities after 12 November 1944, the village, together with the rest of Northern Transylvania, came under Romanian administration on 13 March 1945.[7][8] Between 1952 and 1960, the commune fell within the Magyar Autonomous Region, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region.[4]: figure 4  In 1968, the region was abolished,[9] and since then, the settlement has been part of Mureș County. It became a town in 2004.[3]

The grave of Claudia Rhédey, grandmother of Mary of Teck, is placed in the crypt of the Reformed church,[10] which was renovated in 1936[3] from a donation on behalf of Queen Mary of Teck (great-granddaughter of count Rhédey and grandmother of Queen Elisabeth II) and the British royal family.[10]

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
18503,354—    
18803,882+15.7%
19004,277+10.2%
19104,528+5.9%
19304,829+6.6%
19566,360+31.7%
19775,714−10.2%
19925,715+0.0%
20025,492−3.9%
20115,055−8.0%
20214,875−3.6%
Source: Census data

Sângeorgiu de Pădure has an absolute Székely Hungarian majority.[11] In 1900, the village had, in order of population size, 4,131 Hungarian (91,23%) and 352 Romanian (7.77%) inhabitants.[12] In 1930, the census indicated 2,954 Hungarians (61.17%), 1,194 Romanians (24.73%), 334 Jews (6.92%), and 334 Gypsies (6.92%).

The 2002 Census counted 5,492 inhabitants, Calvinism being professed by 54.71% of the total population, while 19.61% of the respondents belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church, 10.34% of the respondents identified themselves as Unitarian, 8.55% as Roman Catholic, and 1.07% as Baptist.[11]

According to the 2011 census, the town had a population of 5,055, of which 3,816 (75,48%) were Hungarians, while 904 were Romanians (17.88%), and 4.74% Roma. In 2002, 2,121 households were registered in the town along with 1,912 residential buildings.[13]

At the 2021 census, Sângeorgiu de Pădure had a population of 4,875; of those, 74.38% were Hungarians, 14.99% Romanians, and 2.81% Roma.[14]

Politics

The Bezid (Bözöd) artificial lake

The local Town Council has 15 members:[15]

Party Number of councillors
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania 9
Social Liberal Union 5
Hungarian Civic Party 1

Landmarks

The Reformed church
  • The Rhédey Castle was built in 1759 on the site of a former 16th-century castle. The castle was rebuilt in 1808. This is where Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde grew up.
  • The reformed church was built in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The synode of the Unitarian church was held here in 1621 whern the Unitarians officially distanced themselves from the Sabbatarians as 'Judaizers'.[16] It has belonged to the Reformed church since 1640. The church tower was added during the era of the Reformation. The patrons of the church were the Rhédey and Wesselényi families. It was rebuilt and restored in 1760. During a plague, the crypt below the church was closed by a wall by order of Gabriel Bethlen, prince of Transylvania. The crypt of the Rhédey family is also in this church. The Rhédey Mausoleum, now in ruins, stands on top of a hill north of the village. This is where the remains of countess Claudia Rhédey, wife of Duke Alexander of Württemberg were removed in 1841 and moved into the Reformed church.
  • The Orthodox church was built in 1838 in the place of a former wooden church.
  • The town has a synagogue, too.
  • The mansion house of the Zeyk family is from the 16th century. Lieutenant General János Kiss was born in this house.[17]

Notable people

Twinnings

The town is twinned with:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Results of the 2020 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  2. ↑ "Populaţia rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (XLS). National Institute of Statistics.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 János András Vistai. "Tekintő – Erdélyi Helynévkönyv" (PDF). Transylvanian Toponym Book. p. 961.
  4. 1 2 3 Tibor Elekes. "Marosvásárhely közigazgatási szerepe a XIV. századtól napjainkig" (PDF) (in Hungarian).
  5. ↑ Gazeteer of Hungary, 1873 Archived 2008-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Hungarian Administrative Reform Act 1876
  7. ↑ Sălăgean, Marcela (2002). The Soviet Administration in Northern Transylvania (November 1944 March 1945). Boulder, CO: East European Monographs. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-88033-496-9.
  8. ↑ Zoltán Mihály Nagy. "Power Changes and Self-administration in Northern Transylvania 12 November 1944–13 March 1945". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
  9. ↑ James F. Brown (2001). The grooves of change: Eastern Europe at the turn of the millennium. Duke University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8223-2637-3.
  10. 1 2 Website of Mureș County Council Archived on the Wayback Machine
  11. 1 2 Website of the Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center
  12. ↑ "Censuses in Mureș County, 1850 - 2002" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  13. ↑ Miscellaneous information on the commune
  14. ↑ "Populația rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (in Romanian). INSSE. 31 May 2023.
  15. ↑ Local election results 2012 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved on March 26, 2013
  16. ↑ Keul, István (2009). Early modern religious communities in East-Central Europe: ethnic diversity, denominational plurality, and corporative politics in the principality of Transylvania (1526–1691). Leiden: Brill. p. 174. ISBN 978-90-04-17652-2.
  17. ↑ Kiss, Sándor (1979). Emlékeim Kiss Sándor altábornagyról ('My memories of Lieutenant General János Kiss') (in Hungarian). Budapest: Zrinyi Katonai Kiadó. p. 30.
  18. 1 2 Ágnes Kenyeres (ed.). "Magyar Életrajzi Lexicon (Lexicon of Hungarian Biographies)" (in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Primăria Sângeorgiu de Pădure – Localități înfrățite" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2020-03-12.
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