During theRoman period the settlement was calledApulum (from the DacianApoulon, mentioned byPtolemy).[10][11][12] When the settlement with its Roman ruins became the seat of a dukedom in the 10th century, the population may have beenSlavic.[13] From the 9th to the 11th centuries, the settlement bore the Slavic nameBălgrad (meaning "white castle" or "white town").[7][12][14] The old Romanian name of the town wasBălgrad,[15] which originated fromSlavic.
The earliest name attested are Castrum Albense and Alba Transilvana, in 1206, and Alba Jula in 1291.[16] TheHungarian nameGyulafehérvár is a translation of the earlier Slavic form,[14] meaning "white castle of the Gyula"[17] meaning "white city of Julius".[14]Alba is the Romanian feminine form of the word forwhite, andIulia ("Julius") refers toGyula II, a mid-10th-century Hungarian warlord who wasbaptized inConstantinople.[12][14]
Under the influence of the Hungarian form, Gyulafehérvár, the town's Latin name eventually becameAlba Julia orAlba Yulia.[11][18][19] Its modern Romanian name,Alba Iulia, is the adoption of this[12][18] that started to spread in Romanian in ordinary speech in the 18th century.[20] The modern name has been officially used since the town became part of Romania.[21]
The 16th-centuryGerman name wasWeyssenburg.[12] The Saxons later renamed the town toKarlsburg (Carlsburg)[22] in honour ofCharles VI (1685–1740).[12][23] InYiddish andHebrew,Karlsburg was prevalent. InLadino,Carlosburg was used.[10]Alba Carolina was also a Medieval Latin form of its name.[10]
AmongRuthenians, the city was known asBilhorod ("white city").[5]
The city'sLatin name in the 10th century wasCivitas Alba in Ereel.[24][clarification needed] The first part of the nameAlba denotes the ruins of the Roman fortApulum, the pre-feudal white citadel.[14][25] Later in the Middle Ages, different names were used:Frank episcopus Belleggradienesis in 1071,Albae Civitatis in 1134,Belegrada in 1153,Albensis Ultrasilvanus in 1177,eccl. Micahelis in 1199,Albe Transilvane in 1200,Albe Transsilvane in 1201,castrum Albens in 1206,canonicis Albensibus in 1213,Albensis eccl. Transsylvane in 1219,B. Michaelis arch. Transsilv. in 1231,Alba... Civitas in 1242,Alba sedes eptus in 1245,Alba Jula in 1291,Feyrvar in 1572,Feyérvár in 1574,Weissenburg in 1576,Belugrad in 1579,Gyula Feyervár in 1619,Gyula Fehérvár in 1690, andKarlsburg in 1715.[24]
The modern city is located near the site of the importantDacian political, economic and social centre ofApulon, which was mentioned by the ancient Greek geographerPtolemy and believed by some archaeologists to be the Dacian fortifications on top of Piatra Craivii.[26] After Dacia became a province of theRoman Empire, the capital ofDacia Apulensis was established here, and the city was known asApulum.[27]Apulum was the largest urban centre in Roman Dacia and was the seat of theXIII GeminaLegion.Apulum is the largestcastrum located in Romania, occupying 37.5 hectares (93 acres) (750 x 500 m2).
Analysis of the necropoles of the city prior to the 11th century show that they were used by a population different from the conquering Hungarians.[28] Archaeological evidence showsBulgarian presence in the 9th century.[29]
TheGesta Hungarorum mentions a Hungarian regent named Jula or Geula—the maternal grandfather ofStephen I of Hungary and lord [regent] of Transylvania—who built the capital of his dukedom there during the 10th century.Geula was baptized in the Byzantine Empire and built around 950 in Alba Iulia the first church of Transylvania. The ruins of a church were discovered in 2011. According to Ioan Aurel Pop and other historians, here lived Hierotheos the first bishop of Transylvania,[30][31] who accompanied Geula back to Hungary after Geula had been baptized in Constantinople around 950.[32]
After Stephen I adopted Catholicism, and the establishment of theCatholic Transylvanian bishopric, recent archaeological discoveries suggest that the first cathedral was built in the 11th century or possibly before. The present Catholic cathedral was built in the 12th or 13th century. In 1442,John Hunyadi,Voivode of Transylvania, used the citadel to prepare for a major battle against theOttoman Turks. The cathedral was enlarged during his reign and he was entombed there after his death.
In 1542 — after the partition of the Kingdom of Hungary — Alba Iulia became the capital of Transylvania and some of its neighboring territories to the west (later known asPartium[33]), the autonomousPrincipality of Transylvania, and remained so until 1690. TheTreaty of Weissenburg was signed in the town in 1551. During the reign of PrinceGábor Bethlen, the city reached a high point in its cultural history with the establishment of an academy. The formerOttoman Turkish equivalent wasErdel Belgradı orBelgrad-ı Erdel ("Belgrade of Transylvania" in English) where Erdel (Erdély) was added to prevent confusion withBelgrade andArnavut Belgradı ("Albanian Belgrade" in Turkish, early name of Berat during Ottoman rule).
In 29 November 1599,Michael the Brave, Voivode ofWallachia, entered Alba Iulia following his victory in theBattle of Șelimbăr and became Voivode of Transylvania. In 1600 he gained control ofMoldavia, uniting the principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania under his rule, which lasted for a year and a half until he was murdered in 1601, by GeneralGiorgio Basta's agents.
Alba Iulia became part of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1690. The fortressAlba Carolina, designed by architect Giovanni Morando Visconti, was built between 1716 and 1735, at the behest ofEmperor Charles VI of Habsburg. The leaders of theTransylvanian peasant rebellion were executed in Alba Iulia in January 1785. Important milestones in the city's development include the creation of theBatthyaneum Library in 1780 and the arrival of the railway in the 19th century.
The Jewish community, which was the first in Transylvania, was established in the 14th century.[34] A community was officially founded by permission of PrinceGabriel Bethlen in 1623.[34] The 18th century saw an influx ofAshkenazim from Hungary and Wallachia, as well as Sephardim. From 1754 to 1868, the town rabbi was the chief rabbi of Transylvania. A synagogue was built in 1840, with a Sephardic one following in 1874. Most local Jews in the 19th century worked in viticulture and bought land for growing vines; in the 20th century, they were mainly artisans. By 1930, the 1558 Jews of Alba Iulia represented nearly 13% of the town's population.[35]
In October 1940, during theNational Legionary State, theIron Guard terrorized local Jews. The following year, theIon Antonescu regime confiscated Jewish property and sent the men to forced labor. After World War II, the community was re-established but soon dwindled as Jews emigrated.[35]
The main historical area of Alba Iulia is the Upper Town region, developed byCharles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, in honour of whom theHabsburgs renamed the city Karlsburg. The fortress, with seven bastions in a stellar shape, was constructed between 1716 and 1735 by two Swiss fortification architects. The first wasGiovanni Morandi Visconti, who built two old Italian-style bastions. The second wasNicolaus Doxat de Demoret—nicknamed "AustrianVauban". After 1720, the two architects radically transformed the medieval fortress shaped by the former Roman castrum into a seven-bastion baroque fortress, developing Menno van Coehorn's new Dutch system, of which the fortress of Alba Iulia is the best preserved example.
Inside the fortress are The Union Hall with the National Honour Gallery, The National History Museum of Unification, the Princely Palace (Voivodal Palace), the Orthodox cathedral, the Roman Catholic cathedral, the Batthyaneum Library, the Roman Catholic bishop's palace, the Apor Palace, and theUniversity of Alba Iulia. Built in the 10th and 11th centuries, the Roman Catholic cathedral is the most representative building in the medievalRomanic style in Transylvania, and is considered to be an important monument of early Transylvanian medieval architecture. The tombs of John Hunyadi andIsabella Jagiełło—Queen of Hungary are located there.
TheBatthyaneum Library is held in a former church built in Baroque style. In 1780,Ignác Batthyány, bishop of Transylvania, adapted the inside of the building for use as a library. It is famous for its series of manuscripts,incunabula and rare books—such as half of the 9th centuryCodex Aureus of Lorsch, the 15th centuryCodex Burgundus and the 13th centuryBiblia Sacra (13th century). The first astronomical observatory in Transylvania was founded here in 1792. The Apor Palace, situated on the same street as the Bathyaneum Library, belonged to Prince Apor and was built in the second half of the 17th century. At the beginning of the 18th century, it was the residence of the Austrian army leader Prince Steinville. The palace was renovated in 2007 under the supervision of the Romanian Ministry of Culture.
The Orthodox Unification Cathedral was built between 1921 and 1923, following the plans of architect D.G. Ștefănescu and built under the supervision of eng. T. Eremia. The frescoes were painted byConstantin in a traditional iconographic style. The first monarchs of the Unified Romania, King Ferdinand I andQueen Marie were crowned in the cathedral on 15 October 1922.
The National Museum of Unification in Alba Iulia is located in the "Babylon" Building. It was built between 1851 and 1853 for military purposes and became a museum in 1887. The museum exhibits over 130,000 pieces of artworks, organized chronologically. The Unification Hall, also part of the National History Museum, retains historical significance from having hosted, on 1 December 1918, the rally of the 1228 Romanian delegations from Transylvania who determined the province's union with the Kingdom of Romania. The building was used in 1895 as a military casino.
The Princely Palace (Palatul Principilor or Palatul Voievodal) was Michael the Brave's residence during the first political unification of the Romanians in 1600. Foreign chronicles pictured it as an extremely luxurious building, richly adorned with frescos and marble stairs, which later deteriorated. During the rule of PrincesGábor Bethlen andGeorge II Rákóczi the second palace was restored, but not to its previous condition. After 1716, the building was used as an Habsburg Imperial Army barracks.
According to the2021 census, there was a total population of 64,227 people living in this city. At the2011 census, there were 63,536 inhabitants; of these, 95.3% were ethnic Romanians, 3.2%Romani, 1.9%Hungarians, and 0.2%Germans (more specificallyTransylvanian Saxons).[4]
In 1850, Alba Iulia had 5,408 inhabitants, 2,530 of them being Romanians (46.78%), 1,009 Hungarians (18.67%), 748 Germans/Transylvanian Saxons (13.83%), and 1,121 (20.73%) others.[39]
In 1891, the city had 8,167 residents, of which 3,482 were Hungarians (42.63%), 3,426 Romanians (41.94%), and 867 Germans/Transylvanian Saxons (10.62%).[40] By 1910 the number of inhabitants increased to 11,616. 5,226 of them were Hungarians (45%), 5,170 Romanians (44.51%), and 792 Germans/Transylvanian Saxons (6.82%).[41] At the 1930 census, 34.7% of the population were Romanian Orthodox, 28.1%Romanian Greek Catholic, 12.9% Roman Catholic, 12.7% Jews, 7.3% Reformed Protestant, and 3.1% Lutheran.[42]
^abcdefPatrick Leigh Fermor, Between the woods and the water: on foot to Constantipole from the Hook of Holland : the middle Danube to the Iron Gates, Viking, 1986, p. 138,ISBN9780670811496, Citations: "The Dacian Apulon became the Latin Apulum, and the place was full of traces of the old Roman colony. But both of these words were silenced when the hushed and muffling spread of the Slavs stifled the old names of Eastern Europe forever. They renamed itBălgrad - the white town (one of many) - perhaps because of its pale walls and this white motif caught on. The Saxons called it Weissenburg and later Karlsburg, in honour of Emperor Charles VI, who built the great eighteenth-century fortress here. The Hungarians had already adopted the notion of whiteness, but another crept in too: the word 'Julius', after a mid-tenth-century (Hungarian?) prince who had visited Constantinople and been baptised there. In Hungarian, Gyulafehérvár, means "white city of Gyula". The Rumanians stuck to Bălgrad, then adopted the medieval Latin name of Alba Iulia."
^László Bányai,Közös sors--testvéri hagyományok: történelmi vázlat, Politikai Könyvkiadó, 1973, p. 41, Citations: "A középkori latin okiratok Alba Iulia-ja csak a XVIII. századtól terjed el a román köznyelvben" Translation: " the term 'Alba Iulia', used in medieval Latin charters, started to spread in the Romanian vulgar tongue only in the 18th century"
Makkai, László (2001). "Transylvania in the medieval Hungarian kingdom (896–1526)", In: Béla Köpeczi,Historyof Transylvania Volume I: From the Beginnings to 1606, Columbia University Press, New York, 2001,ISBN0880334797
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