50 Fun Facts About Transylvania

The name Transylvania comes from medieval Latin and means what?

Transylvania means 'beyond the forest': the earliest reference, a Medieval Latin document of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1075, calls the region ultra silvam.

The German name for Transylvania, Siebenbürgen, refers to what?

Siebenbürgen, 'seven fortresses', is traditionally traced to seven Saxon fortified towns such as Kronstadt, Schässburg and Bistritz; the Latin name was Septem Castra, and seven red towers mark Transylvania's coat of arms.

What is the Hungarian name for Transylvania?

Erdély is the Hungarian name for Transylvania, first recorded in the Gesta Hungarorum around 1200; the Romanian form Ardeal derives from it.

Which mountain range forms Transylvania's natural border to the east and south?

The Carpathians wall Transylvania in, with the Eastern Carpathians on the east and the Southern Carpathians on the south, while the Apuseni Mountains close it off to the west.

The mountains ringing Transylvania hold Europe's largest populations of which large animal?

Brown bears: Romania's mountains hold several thousand of them, the largest brown bear population in Europe outside Russia, along with big numbers of wolves and lynx.

Which city, Romania's second largest, is Transylvania's biggest?

Cluj-Napoca, Kolozsvár in Hungarian and Klausenburg in German, is Transylvania's largest city and Romania's second most populous after Bucharest.

Why did the communist authorities add 'Napoca' to Cluj's name in 1974?

To emphasise the city's pre-Roman roots: Napoca was the Dacian settlement's name, kept by the Romans for their municipium, and Ceaușescu's regime revived it in 1974 to assert Daco-Roman continuity.

Which king of Hungary, patron of the Renaissance and founder of the Black Army, was born in Cluj in 1443?

Matthias Corvinus, born in 1443, ruled Hungary from 1458 to 1490; the name Corvinus comes from the Latin for raven, the bird on his family crest.

In 2015, Transylvania's largest city held which continental title?

The city was European Youth Capital in 2015, the first Romanian city to hold the title, and the Untold festival launched there that same summer.

Which Transylvanian city was European Capital of Culture in 2007, sharing the title with Luxembourg City?

Sibiu, Hermannstadt in German, shared the 2007 European Capital of Culture title with Luxembourg; the old Saxon town is famous for houses whose roof windows look like eyes.

Brașov's Black Church is claimed to be the largest Gothic church in which region?

The Black Church is billed as the largest Gothic church in Southeastern Europe; it took its name after the great fire of 1689 blackened its walls.

Between 1950 and 1960 the city of Brașov was renamed in honour of whom?

Brașov was called Orașul Stalin, 'Stalin City', from 1950 to 1960; its older names include the Latin Corona and the Saxon Kronstadt.

Brașov's Strada Sforii, or Rope Street, holds what distinction?

Rope Street is the narrowest in Romania and one of the narrowest streets in Europe, only about 1.1 to 1.3 metres wide along its 80-metre length.

Bran Castle was built by Saxons in 1377 under a privilege from which king?

Louis I of Hungary granted the Saxons of Brașov the privilege to build Bran Castle in 1377, guarding the pass between Transylvania and Wallachia.

Bran Castle houses a museum devoted largely to the art and furniture of which royal?

The town of Brașov gave the castle to Queen Marie of Romania in 1920, and the museum shows her art and furniture; in 2006 it was returned to her grandson Dominic von Habsburg.

Did Vlad the Impaler ever live at Bran Castle, according to most historians?

No, he never lived there: historians find no record of Vlad the Impaler at Bran, and its Dracula link rests on tourism marketing rather than documents.

While exiled in Sighișoara, Vlad the Impaler's father did what, breaking a royal monopoly?

Vlad II minted his own coins at Sighișoara, a prerogative of the Hungarian kings, and issued the first document listing the town's Romanian name; his son was probably born there around 1431.

Vlad the Impaler's father was inducted in 1431 into which knightly society?

The Order of the Dragon, founded by King Sigismund, admitted Vlad II in 1431, earning him the byname Dracul, 'the Dragon'; Dracula means 'son of Dracul'.

Which Irish author wrote the 1897 novel that fixed Transylvania's association with vampires?

Bram Stoker, born in Dublin, published Dracula in 1897 without ever visiting Transylvania, relying on travel books and library research.

Sighișoara's 64-metre medieval landmark is what kind of structure?

The Clock Tower, 64 metres tall with figurines that mark the hours, guards the main gate of Sighișoara's citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999.

Corvin Castle, one of the largest castles in Europe, stands in which Transylvanian town?

Corvin Castle stands in Hunedoara; the Gothic-Renaissance fortress was largely built in the 15th century over an older fort, and legend says Vlad the Impaler was held prisoner there.

The Transylvanian Saxons began settling under which mid-12th-century Hungarian king?

Géza II, who reigned from 1141 to 1162, invited the first settlers; despite the name, most came from the Rhineland, Flanders, the Moselle and Luxembourg rather than Saxony.

Which Romanian president, elected in 2014, is a Transylvanian Saxon?

Klaus Iohannis, a Transylvanian Saxon, rose through the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania and served fourteen years as a city mayor before winning the presidency in 2014.

The Székelys, a Hungarian-speaking people of eastern Transylvania, traditionally claim descent from whom?

The Székelys traditionally claim descent from Attila's Huns, a legend recorded in medieval Hungarian chronicles; in the Middle Ages they guarded the kingdom's eastern frontier as free border warriors.

On Transylvania's coat of arms, which two heavenly bodies represent the Székelys?

The Sun and the Moon stand for the Székelys on the arms, beside the black eagle of the Hungarian nobility; together the symbols represent Transylvania's privileged nations.

The first known recipe for kürtőskalács, the Székely 'chimney cake', appears in a 1784 cookbook by whom?

Countess Mária Mikes of Zabola wrote down the first known kürtőskalács recipe in her 1784 manuscript cookbook; the cake is baked on a spit and is a street-food staple in Hungary and Romania.

The 1568 Edict of Torda is celebrated as Christian Europe's first legal guarantee of what?

The Edict of Torda, issued under John Sigismund in 1568, guaranteed freedom of religion for Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists and Unitarians, while the Orthodox were merely tolerated.

Which Transylvanian prince also became King of Poland?

Stephen Báthory, ruler of Transylvania from 1571, was elected King of Poland in 1576 and reigned there until his death in 1586.

For most of the 16th and 17th centuries, Transylvania was a vassal principality of which power?

The Ottomans held Transylvania as a tribute-paying vassal from the 1540s until the Habsburgs took control after 1687, a possession confirmed by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.

Which Wallachian voivode briefly united Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania under his rule in 1600?

Michael the Brave ruled all three principalities for only a few months in 1600; he lost Transylvania that September and was murdered in August 1601 on the orders of General Giorgio Basta.

Which 1867 event ended Transylvania's separate status and folded it back into Hungary?

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 created the Dual Monarchy and merged Transylvania into Hungary, where it stayed until the end of World War I.

On 1 December 1918, Romanian delegates proclaimed the union of Transylvania with Romania in which city?

The date is now Romania's national holiday, Great Union Day.

Which 1920 peace settlement formally transferred Transylvania from Hungary to Romania?

The Treaty of Trianon, signed on 4 June 1920, stripped Hungary of about two-thirds of its territory, including Transylvania, which went to Romania.

What happened to Northern Transylvania under the Second Vienna Award of August 1940?

It was returned to Hungary: the German-Italian arbitration of 30 August 1940 gave Northern Transylvania to Hungary, and Romania recovered it after World War II under the 1947 Treaty of Paris.

Which river crosses Transylvania from east to west before joining the Tisza at Szeged?

The Mureș, Maros in Hungarian, flows nearly 800 km west past Târgu Mureș, Deva and Arad before meeting the Tisza at Szeged in Hungary.

Roman Dacia was created in AD 106 after which emperor's wars against King Decebalus?

Trajan's two wars against Decebalus, in 101-102 and 105-106, ended with the king's suicide and the creation of the province; Trajan's Column in Rome records the campaigns.

Sarmizegetusa Regia, in the Orăștie Mountains, was the capital of which ancient people?

Sarmizegetusa Regia was the Dacians' capital and religious centre, destroyed by the Romans in AD 106; the later Roman provincial capital was built about 40 km away.

Transylvania's seven UNESCO fortified-church villages were chosen from roughly how many surviving ones?

Over 150 fortified churches survive in Transylvania, most built by the Saxons between the 13th and 16th centuries; UNESCO listed seven villages, six Saxon and one Székely, Dârjiu.

The Turda Salt Mine produced table salt continuously from the Middle Ages until which year?

Salt was mined at Turda from the Middle Ages until 1932, when extraction stopped; the mine reopened as a tourist attraction in 1992 and was fully redeveloped in 2010.

Ceaușescu built the Transfăgărășan road in 1970–74 as a response to what?

Ceaușescu ordered the road after the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, as a military route across the Făgăraș Mountains; it reaches 2,042 metres, second only to the Transalpina among Romania's paved roads.

Which British TV programme declared the Transfăgărășan 'the best road in the world' in 2009?

Top Gear's 2009 Romania special, with Clarkson, Hammond and May, crowned the Transfăgărășan the best road in the world, a title the show had earlier given Italy's Stelvio Pass.

Roșia Montană in the Apuseni Mountains, a UNESCO site since 2021, is famous for centuries of mining what?

Gold has been mined at Roșia Montană since Roman times, when it was Alburnus Maior; a Canadian company's plan for a new cyanide-based gold mine sparked huge protests in 2013.

Retezat, in southwestern Transylvania, holds what distinction among Romania's national parks?

Retezat is the oldest, founded in 1935 as Romania's first national park; it holds dozens of glacial lakes, including Bucura, the country's largest.

What natural feature makes Scărișoara Cave in the Apuseni Mountains remarkable?

Scărișoara holds one of Europe's largest underground glaciers, an ice block of some 75,000 cubic metres that has persisted for thousands of years beneath the Apuseni Mountains.

Which university in Transylvania's largest city has four faculties of theology?

Babeș-Bolyai University's four theology faculties are Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic and Reformed; the university also teaches in three lines, Romanian, Hungarian and German.

Which commander, once Voivode of Transylvania, led the 1456 defence of Belgrade that moved the Pope to order church bells rung daily at noon?

John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania from 1441 and regent of Hungary from 1446, broke the Ottoman siege of Belgrade in July 1456 and died of plague weeks later.

Which king brought Transylvania into the Kingdom of Hungary by defeating his uncle Gyula?

Stephen I, Hungary's first crowned king, defeated his uncle Gyula around 1003 and annexed Transylvania; the region was then governed by a royally appointed voivode until 1526.

Which Transylvanian lake formed in 1837 when a landslide dammed a valley, drowning a forest?

Lake Roșu, the Red Lake, formed in 1837 when a landslide blocked a stream in the Hășmaș Mountains of Harghita County; dead tree trunks poke above its surface.

Which emperor ordered the first official Habsburg census to include Transylvania, in 1784?

Joseph II, sole Habsburg ruler from 1780 to 1790, ordered the census of 1784-87, the first to cover Hungary and Transylvania; it recorded no breakdown by ethnicity.

Under Romania's post-1968 county system, how many counties make up broader Transylvania?

Broader Transylvania, including the Banat, Crișana and Maramureș, spans 16 of Romania's 41 counties, from Timiș and Arad in the west to Harghita and Covasna in the east.