The city of Arad has a population of 147,992, making it the 13th largest city in Romania.It is the third largest city in the western part of the country, behind Timisoara and Oradea.
Arad is located in the plain, near the banks of the river Mures, at about 100 km east of the Tisa River. The relatively mild weather, the rich fauna and flora constitute an optimal environment for human inhabitancy.
The first traces left by human presence are about 40000 years old. A hunting expedition of a group of Homo sapiens, coming from the Zarand Mountains, may be credited for them. Only the end of the Vth millennium BC founded the first stable settlement. The villagers that occupied the northern bank of the river were farmers. During the IVth millennium BC the settlement expanded to the southern bank. These communities were part of the pre-indo-European civilisation.
Town Hall
Arad City Hall was built between 1872-1876 in Renaissance style. It has a tower built later (in 1878) with a clock.
Building Conception belongs to the architect Ferenc Pekar.
Palace of Culture
The Palace of Culture is one of the most representative buildings of Arad. It was erected between 1911-1913. The monument impresses up to now, each person, either native or foreign.
It combines a variety of styles. The front side is in Neo-classic style and has a front age supported by Corinthian big colonnades, above it being a big tower. The side wings are marked by elements of the Italian Renaissance. The castle of Hunedoara, a Gothic building, inspires the side that faces the park.Coming up the impressive stairs, the visitor first enters into a nice hall carved in Moneasa marble and then enters in the great concert hall.
The Old Theatre
For the visitors of Arad, an interesting edifice is the building of the old theatre which has existed in the
middle of the town for about 180 years. It was built in 1817 and can be considered the first permanent building for theatre in Romania. In the archives, there is a letter of the owner of the building, Iacob Hirschl, which proves that the edifice existed in May of 1817. It was built in Neo-classical style.
No one knows the inauguration date but it is sure that during November of 1817, a company of German theatre led by Cristofor Kun performed in the old theatre. The first important event after inauguration was a performance on the 27th of February in 1818, on the Thalia scene, by pupils of the teachers' training school - it was the first performance in Romanian. The fact that there was a permanent theatre determined the acting of several plays during the years that followed. Many famous companies performed at the old theatre during its early years such as: Derynné in 1818, Treuman in 1845 and Johan Strauss,
the son, with his concerto of 1847.
The years following 1848 are the most fruitful ones, especially the years of 1868, 1870 and 1871 when famous companies managed by Mihai Pascaly and Matei Milo visited Arad. These companies had as promoter our famous poet Mihai Eminescu. Due to the opening of the new theatre in 1874, the old theatre of Hirschl was closed in 1873.
The first cinema hall was housed by this building in 30 November 1907, its name being "Urania", which is one of the oldest cinema halls from Romania. On the 16th of April in 1916, the first Romanian film was seen in this hall, "The War of Independence". The film was shown for four days with four performances daily. In 1917, the hall was constructed to its present form. The "Urania" cinema hall was closed when the sound film appeared due to a lack of proper acoustics and a danger of fire. On December 1, 1933, the "Urania" cinema was reopened with a sound film with the famous Pat and Patachom. The cinema hall continued to exist up to the 80s when it was closed because of its deteriorating condition.
Now, it belongs to the patrimony; the local authority has promised to restore the building to its original form as soon as possible.
Arad Citadel
The fortified town of Arad is one of the most important historical monuments existing in the West Side of the country.
Built in the second half of the 17th century, the fortification was considered to be a very important military building. We are going to motivate the reason of its existence.
In the first half of the 18th century, the Austrian-Turkish wars were over and the Habsburgh Empire occupied Transylvania, Banat, and other counties. For security reasons, the Emperor considered it
important to have fortified buildings in the recently occupied territories.After the revolution of 1848, the casemates of the fortress were used as prisons for many participants of the revolution; one of them was Eftimie Murgu. Towards the end of the 19th century, the fortress turned into a barracks when its strategic conception became less important.
Dear sir,
ReplyDeleteThe imagine from the Arad citadel is not the Arad citadel! It's pretty, but it is not the one from Arad. And it was build on the second half of the 18th century. In the 17th century, it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire.