Located south of the Igniș Mountains andGutin Mountains, Baia Mare is situated approximately 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest ofBucharest, 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the border withHungary, and 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the border withUkraine. According to the2021 Romanian census, Baia Mare had a population of 108,759 inhabitants, making it one of the largest cities in northern Romania.
The municipality administers four villages: Blidari (Kőbánya),Firiza (Felsőfernezely),Valea Borcutului (Borpatak), andValea Neagră (Feketepatak).[3]
Simon Hollósy, a young Hungarian painter, taught new Western European techniques in his Baia Mare studio, influencing many artists of the region.
Baia Mare was designated as the Romanian Youth Capital between 2 May 2018 and 1 May 2019. It is also considered the greenest municipality in Romania, offering about 133 square metres of green space per inhabitant.[4][5][6][7][8]
The city's development on the middle course ofSăsar River, in the middle of aplateau with a warm Mediterranean-like climate, has facilitated living conditions since thePalaeolithic.
During theBronze Age the region was inhabited byThracian tribes. Later, it was included in theDacian Kingdom formed by the KingBurebista when the mining exploration began, as the area is rich ingold andsilver.
Baia Mare is first mentioned in written documents released byCharles I of Hungary in 1328 under the name ofRivulus Dominarum (English:Ladies' River). In 1347 the town was identified in documents byLouis I of Hungary as an importantmedieval town with a prosperousmining industry. Its rules of organisation were characteristic of the "free towns" of that time. In 1411 the town and its surrounding areas, including the mines, were transferred into the property of theHunyadi family bySigismund, King of Hungary (later also Holy Roman Emperor), who recognisedJanos Hunyadi's contribution to stop theTurkish invasion of Europe.
The town went into a period of prosperity, during which the St. Stephen Cathedral was built. Today the cathedral tower is one of the best-known of the town's historic landmarks (seeStephen's Tower). The firstschool, namedSchola Rivulina, was opened in Baia Mare in 1547 by theReformed Church following theProtestant Reformation.
Baia Mare/Nagybánya town centre in 1890Simon Hollosy - Nagybánya/Baia Mare painting schoolThe town centre
In 1703Pintea Viteazul and his band managed to free the town for a short period of time from theGerman Imperial rule, under which it belonged the royal treasury. Since then Pintea is considered an important figure in the town's history, representing the idea of freedom. The Budești Church has Pintea's chain mail shirt and a helmet, reportedly worn by him in his battles. The Museum of Baia Mare displays his weapons and their harness.
In 1748 the city'smining industry made a leap forward when theAustrian authorities created the headquarters of "Superior Mining".
In the late nineteenth century,Simon Hollósy,István Réti,János Thorma,Béla Iványi-Grünwald, andKároly Ferenczy were among numerous young Hungarians who left the area to study the arts inMunich, as Hungary lacked an academy of art in those times.[9] Simon Hollósy, the young Hungarian painter, was teaching in his studio new western European techniques.
Some of those young painters decided to settle down together in Baia Mare, then called Nagybánya, to work on art. They persuaded Hollósy to join them and founded theNagybánya artists' colony, working on naturalism andplein air painting. The artists' colony became known later on for influencing the development of twentieth-century Hungarian and Romanian art.[9] Works by each of these important painters is held by theHungarian National Gallery in Budapest, which in 2009 opened the exhibit,Munich in Hungarian, Hungarian Artists in Munich 1850-1914, 2 Oct 2009 - Jan 2010. In addition, in 1966 the museum held a major exhibition of their work:The Art of Nagybánya. Centennial Exhibition in Celebration of the Artists' Colony in Nagybánya.[10]
FollowingWorld War I, theAustro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved, and in 1920, Baia Mare officially became part of theKingdom of Romania. It became part of Hungary again in 1940 by theSecond Vienna Award, until the end ofWorld War II. Near the end of that period, the city hosted theBaia Mare ghetto. After the war, the city was returned to Romania. Shortly after World War II in postwar development, the town of Baia Mare started to grow both in population and inhabited area. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a newtown centre was developed withmodern architecture buildings and structures.
On 30 January 2000,[11] Baia Mare was the site of what has been consideredEurope's worst ecological disaster sinceChernobyl, which took place at gold mining company Aurul, a joint-venture of the Australian company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government.[12] The tailing dam at the gold processing plant broke and 100,000 m3 (3,531,467 cu ft) 70 tons of toxiccyanide andheavy metal-laced waste water escaped into the RiverTisza and into Hungary, making its way into the Danube and affecting Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, and Bulgaria.[12] More than 1,400 tons of fish, numerous eagles, storks and otters died.[12] Scientists fear the release may have led to the ultimate extinction of at least five fish species.[13] Despite the accident's happening in Romania, much of the adverse effects were suffered in Hungary. The accident prompted Hungary to ban the use of cyanide in gold processing and it has urged the rest of Europe to do the same.[14]
Since 2013, localRomanian (Romani) businessmanDaniel Boldor has been operating out of the CUPROM mine and refinery outside of Baia Mare, selling what he claims are under-extractedore concentrate shipments to international metal traders in China, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States.[15][16] Based on claims that the material was, in fact, worthlessmining sludge, thepublic prosecutor's office inConstanța filed an indictment against Boldor in June 2018 on charges of money laundering, customs fraud, document forgery, the collection and transport of hazardous waste, and tax evasion.[15]
In 2011, the local administration built a 1.8m-tall wall between the road Strada Horea and an area of social housing that houses 1000 Roma people into one-room apartments, some without water or electricity.[17] According to the mayor, this wall was designed to "prevent traffic accidents",[18] while pro-democracy organizations say it amounts to a "roma wall" and "institutionalized racism".[18]
In 2011, the national anti-discrimination council fined mayorCătălin Cherecheș for the building of the wall and ordered it to be pulled down.[19]
The wall nevertheless proved popular with the majority population and the mayor was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2012.[17]
The coat of arms of Baia Mare was granted to the city by theGovernment in the late 1990s, early 2000s, some years after the communist symbols established in 1968 were de facto out of use starting1989.
The miner refers to the main local economical activity. The church tower refers to the local cultural/ecclesiastical tradition. The crest shows the city's status as acounty seat.
The city is situated in the vicinity of theGutâi and Igniș mountains. Altitudes reach 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) in some peaks. The area is famous for its outstanding landscapes, and the mountains are easily accessible from the city, notable routes being: Igniș (1,307 m), Mogoșa (1,246 m), Gutâi (1,443 m), Creasta Cocoșului (1,450 m), Piatra Șoimului (839 m), Pleștioara (803 m), Dealul Bulat (683 m), Murgău (633 m), Dealul Crucii (500 m), etc.
The city is situated in the Baia Mare valley and is encircled on all sides by hills and mountains, which makes the climate in the city milder than the rest of the surrounding area. Proof of this is that the outskirts of Baia Mare are the only areas where one can find chestnut trees that usually needMediterranean climate to grow. This is the northernmost reach of thechestnut tree. However, abrupt temperature changes take place and, during winters, the temperatures may occasionally drop below -20 degrees Celsius.
The summers are mild, cooler than in the rest of the country. The precipitations in this area are quite high, due to the mountains in the north and east which do not allow the air masses to pass beyond the region's limits, the average rainfall being almost 1,000 mm/year. The city of Baia Mare is the most populous of northern Romanian cities (Satu Mare,Suceava, andBotoșani), with a population of approximately 109,000. It also has a high level of culture and education, being home to theatres, schools, museums and art galleries.
Not far from the city there are a few very important natural reservations, among them Creasta Cocoșului, Cheile Tătărului, Lacul Albastru etc. Because of its privileged location in theEastern Carpathian Mountains it is considered one of the most picturesque cities inRomania.
At the2021 census, Baia Mare had a population of 108,759. At the2011 census, the city had a population of 123,738, a decrease from the figure recorded at the 2002 census.[20]
In 1912, out of the total population of 12,877 people, 9,992 were Hungarians (including Jews), 2,677 Romanians, and 175 Germans (i.e.,Zipser Germans).
In 1920, of the 12,780 inhabitants, 5,005 were Romanians, 4,652 Hungarians, 1,792 Jews, 1,232 Germans, and 99 of other ethnicities.[22] Many inhabitants declared themselves as Hungarian-speakers during previous censuses, despite not being ethnic Hungarians
Before theSecond World War, Baia Mare had a community of more than 1,000Jews. In 1944, most of the Jews were deported by the Hungarian occupation authorities to Nazi concentration and extermination camps. Most of the few survivors emigrated from the area. As of 2011[update], 32 Jews lived in the city. Along withRădăuți,Gura Humorului and others, Baia Mare had a Jewishshtetl, or settlement. Thesynagogue dates from 1885.
Sphalerite ore sample from the Herja Mine, Baia Mare, Carnegie Museum of Natural History specimen CM27810.
The economic activity of Baia Mare has been based on the mining activities located in the surrounding areas. However, after the 1989 Revolution and industrial changes, such mining declined considerably.[23] They have been replaced with several activities which have improved the city's economy in recent years. Baia Mare has become one of the most economically evolved cities in the region.[24] As a result, several supermarkets have been built in the city as well as one of the biggest shopping malls in over 100 km (62 mi) radius. The largest sofa manufacturing plant in Eastern Europe,[25]Italsofa, is located near the Baia Mare city highway ring.
Aramis Invest is the largest furniture manufacturer and exporter in Romania.[26][27] In 2014, it was the largest supplier on the local market of the Swedish companyIKEA.[28]
In Baia Mare there is one library (with a few branches), 6 museums, one planetarium and observatory, 2 theaters, 2 cultural centers, one art school and one popular university.
Planetarium and astronomical observatory Baia Mare — starting from 20 March 2015, modern planetarium equipment was put into use — the Zeiss Skymaster ZKP4 star projector — digitally assisted opto-mechanical projector, using LED technology, with clarity of the star field, an improvement over the old ZKP1 projector.[30][31]
Arts centre Baia Mare — Art Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art Museum Baia Mare
Museum of Mineralogy Baia Mare - the museum houses a regional mineralogical collection[32][33][34] many of the exhibits being considered world-unique and heritage values.[35]
Puppet Theater Baia Mare was founded on 1 June 1956, under the patronage of the Baia Mare Dramatic Theatre.
County Museum of History and Archaeology Baia Mare
Municipal Theatre Baia Mare — the first theatre troupe (semi-professional) was established in 1796, under the direction of János Nagy. On 30 December 1952, a State Theatre (later named "Dramatic", and currently "Municipal") was established, initially based in the "Popular" cinema hall.
"Petre Dulfu" County Library is a public library with seven branches and is named after the philologistPetre Dulfu.
Stephen's Tower — Over 40 metres (130 ft) high and built in aneo-Gothic style, it is a symbol of the city.
.jpg)
.jpg)
