Csíkmindszent

CSÍKMINDSZENT (Misentea, Rumania today), south-east from Csíkszereda, is of one the oldest villages in the area; it was founded in 1100-1200 during the reign of the Hungarian kings. A revenue list of the pope, dated 1332, calls Csíkmindszent Omnes Sancti, and refers to it as a village with church and congregation. In 1567, the village is mentioned as Mindzenta, which changed to Mindszent by 1576. A census in 1614 reckoned with 111 families, but after numerous Tartar and Turkish raids, as well as devastating black pox epidemics, the population was still under the number of the 1614 census, even after 140 years !
Data suggest that Csíkmindszent already had a church in the 13th century, but the present church is from the 15th century, and is a historic monument with an importance for entire Europe. The gothic apse is still the original; the walls around the church and one of its bells are from 1505. Large sections of the church perished in a fire in 1661, so the present tower and the aisle were built between 1799-1815.
Csíkmindszent is an important place because a carved stone plate, dating 1188, was unearthed here with one of the earliest written proofs of the presence of the Székelys in the area.