You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Romanian. (August 2012)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Romanian article.
Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Romanian Wikipedia article at [[:ro:Bistrița]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template{{Translated|ro|Bistrița}} to thetalk page.
Bistrița (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈbistrit͡sa]ⓘ; German:Bistritz, archaicNösen,[3]Transylvanian Saxon:Bästerts,Hungarian:Beszterce) is the capital city ofBistrița-Năsăud County, in northernTransylvania, Romania. It is situated on theBistrița River. The city has a population of 78,877 inhabitants as of 2021[4] and administers six villages:Ghinda (Windau;Vinda),Sărata (Salz;Sófalva),Sigmir (Schönbirk;Szépnyír),Slătinița (Pintak;Pinták),Unirea (until 1950Aldorf;Wallendorf;Aldorf) andViișoara (Heidendorf;Besenyő). There is a project for the creation of a metropolitan area that will contain the municipality of Bistrița and 3 surrounding localities (Șieu-Măgheruș,Budacu de Jos, andLivezile), whose combined population would be over 91,600 inhabitants.[5]
The earliest sign of settlement in the area ofBistrița is inNeolithic remains. TheTurkicPechenegs settled the area in 12th century following attacks of theCumans.Transylvanian Saxons settled the area in 1206 and called the regionNösnerland.[citation needed] A large part of settlers were fugitives, convicts, and poor people looking for lands and opportunities.[6] The destruction ofMarkt Nosa ("Market Nösen") under theMongols of central Europe is described in a document from 1241. The city was then calledByzturch.[7] Situated on severaltrade routes,Bistrița became a flourishingmedieval trading post.
Bistrița became afree royal town in 1330. In 1353,King Louis I of Hungary granted the town the right to organize an annual 15-dayfair onSaint Bartholomew day, as well as aseal containing thecoat of arms of anostrich with a horseshoe in its beak. The town developed markets throughoutMoldavia, and its craftsmen travelled extensively. It was given the right to be surrounded by defensive walls in 1409. In 1465, the city's fortifications had 18 defensive towers andbastions defended by the localguilds. It was also defended by aKirchenburg, or fortified church. In 1713 the Romanian population was expelled by theSaxon magistrates, but they returned later. The town was badly damaged by fire five times between 1836 and 1850.[8] The church suffered from fire in 1857, when the tower's roof and the bells were destroyed. The roof was rebuilt after several years. Fires in the nineteenth century also destroyed much of the city's medieval citadel.
A Jewish community developed inBistrița after the prohibition on Jewish settlement there was lifted in 1848,[9] organizing itself in the 1860s. The synagogue, consecrated in 1893, is among Transylvania's largest and most impressive.[10] The community wasOrthodox with a strongHasidic section, but there were also Jews who adopted German and Hungarian culture. AZionist youth organization,Ivriyah, was founded inBistrița in 1901 by Nissan Kahan, who corresponded withTheodor Herzl and there was significant support for the Zionist movement in the town between the two world wars.[9] A largeyeshivah flourished under the direction of the rabbi ofBistrița, Solomon Zalman Ullmann, between 1924 and 1942.[9][10] DuringWorld War I, 138Bistrița Jews were conscripted into theAustro-Hungarian Army; 12 were killed in action.[10]
AfterKing Michael's Coup of August 1944, Romania switched sides to theAllies. By October of that year, Romanian andSoviet troops gained control of all ofNorthern Transylvania, which was reintegrated into Romania in March 1945. In 1950, Bistrița became the seat ofRodna Region [ro]; in 1952, the region was dissolved and the city became the seat of Bistrițaraion (part ofCluj Region) until 1968.
On June 11, 2008, the tower and roof of the church caught fire when three children who went to steal copper set it on fire while playing.[13] The main part of the church suffered only slight damage, the interior remaining intact. It is speculated that both of the tower's bells, one dating from the 15th century, the other from the 17th, may have melted in the blaze.
According to Köppen climate classification, Bistrița has ahumid continental climate(Dfb) with cold, snowy winters and warm, rainy summers.Due to its modest elevation,Bistrița has one of the coldest climates in Romania.
Climate data for Bistrița (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1961–present)
In 1850, of the 5,214 inhabitants, 3,704 were Germans (71%), 1,207 Romanians (23.1%), 176 Roma (3.4%), 90 Hungarians (1.7%), and 37 (0.7%) of other ethnicities.[17]According to the census of 1910, the town had 13,236 inhabitants of whom 5,835 were German (44%), 4,470 Romanian (33.77%), 2,824 Hungarian (21.33%).[18]
At the2021 census, the city had a population of 78,877.[19] According to the2011 census, there were 75,076 inhabitants ofBistrița,[20] making it the 30th largest city in Romania, with the following ethnic makeup:
Prior toWorld War II there was a sizable Jewish community living in the town. In 1891, 718 of the 9,100 inhabitants (8%) were Jews; in 1900 (11%) and 2,198 (16%) in 1930.[21] In 1941 there are 2,358 (14%).[21] In 1947, 1,300 Jews resettled inBistrița, including survivors from the extermination camps, former residents of neighboring villages, and others liberated from theNazi concentration camps.[21] Given continuing discrimination and unfavorable political conditions, the Jewish population declined steadily as a result ofemigration to Israel, the United States, and Canada. By 2002, only about 15 Jews lived in the city.[9]
The renovated Evangelical Church, whose roof was heavily damaged in a fire in 2008Roman Catholic ChurchBistrița Fortress
The main attraction ofBistrița's central square is theLutheran church, which was built by theTransylvanian Saxons and originally constructed in the 14th century inGothic style. Between 1559 and 1563 it was altered byPetrus Italus and givenRenaissance features. It was significantly renovated after the 2008 fire which damaged the tower.
The Minorite Monastery, situated in the eastern side of the old town, close to the location of the former defensive walls, is one of the oldest buildings inBistrița. Built between 1270 and 1280, the building has undergone several repairs and alterations, the first one being recorded in 1494. After 1541, when the Minorite order left the town, it served as a barn and wine cellar. In 1724, the Catholic Church returned toBistrița and the church was reopened. In 1895, theRomanian Greek Catholic Church purchased the building for 35,000 florins. The church was turned into an Orthodox church in 1948, when the communist government dissolved the Romanian Greek Catholic Church and transferred its properties to theRomanian Orthodox Church, and was decorated inNeo-Byzantine style in 1978–1980.
TheBistrița-Năsăud County Museum, located in a formerbarracks, containsThracian,Celtic, and German artifacts.
InBram Stoker's novelDracula, the characterJonathan Harker visitsBistrița (rendered asBistritz, the German name for the city, in the original text) and stays at the Golden Krone Hotel (Romanian:Coroana de Aur); although no such hotel existed when the novel was written, a hotel of the same name has since been built.
In thePlayStation 2 gameShadow Hearts,Bistrița (where it is spelled "Biztritz") was a major place and home to the role-playing character Keith Valentine.
The major cities directly linked by trains to this city areBucharest via a night train, andCluj-Napoca via several trains. Access fromBistrița to major railway lines is generally through connections inDej,Beclean, orReghin, although some other trains stop at the nearby railway junction ofSărățel.
^abcShmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder (eds.),The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A-J, pp. 152-53. NYU Press, 2001,ISBN978-081-4793-76-3
^The total surface of the property covers 16.5 hectares (41 acres) and consists of a dendrological park (with approx. 150 indigenous and exotic species)Arcalia CentreArchived September 7, 2015, at theWayback Machine,Babeș-Bolyai University, retrieved on August 18, 2015
.jpg)
_a_magyar_csapatok_bevonul%25C3%25A1sa_idej%25C3%25A9n._A_felv%25C3%25A9tel_1940._szeptember_8-%25C3%25A1n_k%25C3%25A9sz%25C3%25BClt._Fortepan_3977.jpg)
