Tălmaciu

Tălmaciu (German: Talmesch; Hungarian: Nagytalmács) is a town in Sibiu County, in central Romania, 20 km south of the county capital Sibiu. It lies on the east end of the Mărginimea Sibiului area.

Tălmaciu
Coat of arms
Location in Sibiu County
Tălmaciu
Location in Romania
Coordinates: 45°40′0″N 24°15′40″E
Country Romania
CountySibiu
Government
  MayorNicolae Basarabă[1] (PSD)
Population
 (2011)[2]
6,905
Time zoneEET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Vehicle reg.SB

At the 2011 census, 95.3% of inhabitants were Romanians, 3.3% Roma, 0.8% Hungarians and 0.6% Germans.

Geography

Tălmaciu is situated at the confluence of the Sadu and Cibin rivers, two km before the confluence of the Cibin with the Olt. It lies on one of the main access routes between Transylvania and Wallachia, at the north entrance of the Olt River Gorge; the European route E81 passes through it. The town administers two villages:

  • Colonia Tălmaciu (Feltrinellitelep), three km towards the north
  • Tălmăcel (Kistalmács), three km towards the west

It also administered four other villages until 2004, when they were split off to form Boița Commune.

History

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1992 9,369    
2002 9,147−2.4%
2011 6,527−28.6%
Source: Census data

The first documents referring to Tălmaciu (Tholmach) are from 1318. After the Saxon colonisation of Transylvania, Tălmaciu was the administrative center for the settlements of Tălmăcel, Boița, Turnul Roșu, Racovița, Sebeșul de Jos, and Plopi. After 1453 the administrative center was moved to Sibiu. In 1987 Tălmaciu was granted town status.

Because using the Olt pass to the south requires passing through Tălmaciu, it has witnessed numerous historical events:

De facto capital of the Romanian 1st Army's occupation zone in Transylvania (16 - 28 September 1916)

On 29 August 1916, during the Battle of Transylvania, Tălmaciu - then part of the Hungarian half of Austria-Hungary - was occupied by General Ioan Culcer's Romanian 1st Army. The most powerful unit of the 1st Army was the I Corps. It was its only army corps and as such the only unit of the 1st Army to comprise multiple divisions. The I Corps was commanded by General Ioan Popovici. In the middle of September, Culcer moved the I Corps headquarters to Tălmaciu, to direct the operations of the two divisions located there. Popovici arrived in Tălmaciu along with his staff on 16 September. Tălmaciu was evacuated by the Romanians on 28 September, towards the end of the Battle of Nagyszeben.[3] Tălmaciu also served as the air base for the 1st Army's squadron, consisting of - depending on source - 3 or 6 aircraft.[4][5]

Economy

Industrially, Tălmaciu is home to one of the most important thread manufacturers and spinners in Romania. There are also textile and lumber products manufacturers. The water flowing from the mountains is used for one of the most popular brand of bottled water in Romania: Fântâna.

References

  1. "Results of the 2016 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  2. "Populaţia stabilă pe judeţe, municipii, oraşe şi localităti componenete la RPL_2011" (in Romanian). National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  3. Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 21-23, 103-104 and 111
  4. Prit Buttar, Bloomsbury Publishing, Sep 22, 2016, Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916–17, p. 341
  5. Ronald L. Tarnstrom, Trogen Books, 1998, Balkan Battles, p. 328 (wrongly written as "Taluiaci" in this source)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.