Marosvásárhely

Old
City Hall

Palace of
Culture

MAROSVÁSÁRHELY shows signs of human habitat dating back to the early Stone Age. Finds from the era of the Dacians and the Roman Empire are not rare in the area.
The ancient Székely town of Marosvásárhely (Tirgu Mures, Rumania today) was first mentioned in the old documents as Novum forum Siculorum, i.e., Hung. Székelyvásárhely (Engl. Székely Market). In 1316, Marosvásárhely was a well-known place for its animal and wheat fairs. The town became a local economic and political center for the Hungarians and the Székelys in Transylvania by the 14th century, and, in 1439, the first diet (session of parliaments) was held here (later two other diets followed, in 1552, and in 1558). In 1448, Hungarian János Hunyadi, the mighty defender of Hungary against the Ottoman (Turkish) invasion, the military commander the pope called the Savior of Christianity, visited Székelyvásárhely. In 1482, Hungarian king Matthias Hunyadi (1458-1490), the renaissance king, son of János Hunyadi, gave Székelyvásárhely the title town and, at the same time, relieved it to pay duty to the king.
By the middle of the 16th century, Székelyvásárhely was not only an economic center but also one of the cultural capitals in Transylvania. Hungarian historian Sebestyén Borsós (1520-1584) wrote here his chronicle about the 15th century; theoretician János Baranyai Décsi (1560-1601) became a teacher and educator here, and at the end of the 16th century, school principal Péter Laskai Csókás completed here the Hungarian section of the Calepinus, a ten-language dictionary.
Gábor Bethlen (1613-1629), the finest Hungarian governor of Transylvania, gave Székelyvásárhely the title of free royal town and, in 1616, he gave the town its present name, i.e., Marosvásárhely. Numerous Hungarian governors of Transylvania were elected in Marosvásárhely.
In 1658, Turkish troops occupied the town and took away 3,000 inhabitants to Turkey as slaves. Two years later, Tartar herds took their turn to devastate Marosvásárhely. During the Rákóczi Liberation Fight of 1704-1711, the town suffered a lot, only to be followed by black pox epidemics which made the devastation complete.
During the Hungarian Liberation Fight of 1848, serious fightings took place around Marosvásárhely, too. Marosvásárhely has always been and still is one of the cultural and ethnic centers of the Székelys in Transylvania.

The old City Hall was built by Hungarian architects Marcell Komor and Dezső Jakab, between 1907-1908, in a mixed secessionist and eclectic style. The roof tiles are made of painted and glazed ceramics.
The Palace of Culture was built in the same time with the old City Hall. In the staircase, stained glass windows depict figures of Lajos Kossuth, Sándor Petőfi and Mór Jókai. In the 800-seat theater hall is on the ground floor, and it was the home of the Székely State Theater until 1972. On the first floor is the Tükörterem (Engl. Mirror hall) with its walls decorated with frescos and large mirrors. The hall has 12 stained glass windows depicting scenes and figures from Székely ballads; these majestic windows are masterpieces made by Hungarian artists Sándor Nagy and Aladár Kőrősfői-Kirsch. On the second floor is the Concert hall, and on the third floor, we can walk through paintings by Miklós Barabás, Károly Lotz, Károly Ferenczy.
Here are six examples of the stained glass windows with Székley legends:

Gábor Bethlen , Hungarian Prince of Transylvania with his scholars and scientists (by Géza Dósa).
Kata Kádár , figure of a Székely ballad.
Sára Salamon , a figure of a Székely ballad.
Ilona Budai , a figure of a Székely ballad.
The Palace of Culture in Marosvásárhely, Transylvania
One of the national costumes worn by the Hungarians in Transylvania

The two Bolyai's

The two Bolyais, father Farkas Bolyai (1775-1856) and son János Bolyai (1802-1860) were both students at the Reformed (i.e., Presbyterian) College of Marosvásárhely. The father studied mathematics at the University of Göttingen, Germany and became a friend of K. F. Gauss. The mathematician Farkas Bólyai compiled a study which revolutionized the principles of the Euclidean geometry. Later his son, János, completed this thesis. János Bolyai continued his studies at the military engineering in Vienna and became one of the most prominent Hungarian mathematicians of his time. The two Bolyais, great Hungarian sons of Marosvásárhely, were not only scientists but they also had talents in philology, literature, music, paintings, and forestry.

Székely martyrs

The Squre of the Székely Martyrs. This monument stands on the Square of the Székely Martyrs in Marosvásárhely commemorating the death of Székely János Török and his company, who were executed on this spot, on March 10, 1854, for their participation in a plot (known as the Makk-plot) to overthrow the Habsburg rule in Transylvania.