Székelyudvarhely

Gymnasium
Bethlenianum

SZÉKELYUDVARHELY (Odorheiu Secuiesc, Rumania today) is the Székely center, west of the Mountains of Hargita (Hung. Hargitai havasok). Archeological excavations unearthed artifacts dating back to the ancient Dacian and Roman cultures, however, the first written document mentions the town in 1301, during the reign of the Hungarian king of the House of Árpád, telling about the castle here as the residence of certain Székely nobles. In 1485, the renaissance Hungarian king Matthias (1458-1490) gave the town the privilege of a free royal town with the right to hold fairs. It received its present name, Székelyudvarhely, in 1613, from Hungarian Prince of Transylvania Gábor Bethlen. The town has been going through numerous devastating periods, such as wars with the Ottoman (Turkish) troops, Tartars, Habsburgs. For instance, Basta, the sadistic Habsburg commander set entire Székelyudvarhely on fire in 1602. The town actively participated in the Hungarian Liberation Fight of 1848, therefore, after it fell, it was ordered to pay military ransom to the Austrian court.
Székelyudvarhely has a permanent and very active theatrical company.
The Reformed (i.e., Presbyterian) College was founded by count János Bethlen, in 1672. The college, originally called Gymnasium Bethlenianum, was a superior educational institution, which raised students, such as Balázs Orbán, the ethnographer of the Székely-land, Elek Benedek, the author, Miklós Barabás and others. The college building shown here was built in 1768, but when the college moved to a new unit in 1921, this building became a boarding school.