(pronunciation in region of western
Romania . With a population of 315,977 in
2004 (329,554 in
2000 ), it is the capital city of
Timiş County . It is frequently spelled in
English simply as Timisoara.
All of the variants of its name derive from the
Timiş River , known in
Roman Antiquity as river ''Tibisis'' or ''Tibiscus''. The evolution of the river name from antiquity (with the phonetic change "b" → "m") can be explained by the transition of Latin into Old Romanian. However, the city name in Romanian is an early borrowing from Old Hungarian and the name originally referred to a castle or fortress. The other names of the city (in German and Serbian) are later borrowings from Hungarian.
Timişoara is a multicultural city with influential minorities, primarily
Hungarians ,
Germans , and
Serbs , as well as
Italians ,
Bulgarians , and
Greeks . It was the birthplace of Johnny Weissmuller (an Olympic swimmer, best known for his role as
Tarzan ). There are numerous claims that
Gustave Eiffel , the creator of the
Eiffel Tower in
Paris , built one of Timişoara's foot bridges over the
Bega . However, this has been repeatedly disproved. (In fact, Eiffel's company - and not Eiffel himself - had built a bridge for Timişoara in the late 19th century, but that bridge has since been removed). An industrial city with extensive services, it was the first European city to be lit by
Electric street lamps in 1884. It was also, the second European and the first Romanian city with horse pulled trams in 1867.
Numerous bars and clubs have opened in the old centre, including, in summer, in the fine old Baroque Square.
The municipality of Timişoara has a population of 317,660 (Census 2002), the city has a significant Hungarian community.
Ethnic composition:
- Romanians : 271,677 (85,52%)
- Hungarians : 24,302 (7,65%)
- Germans : 7,157 (2,25%)
- Serbs : 6,311 (1,98%)
- Roma : 3,062 (0,96%)
- Bulgarians : 1,218 (0,38%)
and 3,926 other.
''Main article:
History Of Timişoara ''
In the Roman period, there was a military camp named Zambara or Zurobara in the place where Timisoara is today, or in the immediate vicinity. During the barbarian invasions, especially that of the
Avars , on the site of the ruins of Zambara, a new settlement was built - Beguey.
In
1019 Timişoara (as Dibiscos/ Bisiskos/ Tibiskos/ Tibiskon/ Timbisko/etc.) was mentioned for the first time in written documents by the
Byzantine Emperor Basil II , although not all historians agree with this identification.
In 1154 the arabian geographer Sarif al Idrisi mentions the city saying it's a "nice city offering a lot of riches".
The first mention of the fort of Timisoara (castrum regius Temesvar) is found in the decree of King Andrew II of Hungary dating from 1212.
In 1474 there is the first official mention of Timisoara as a city, in the official documents.
It was captured by the Turks in 1552 and remained under Turkish control until it was regained by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1716.
In 1718 the first beer factory in Transylvania was built. The first
Tobacco Mill in today's Romania was set up in Timişoara. Between 1728 and 1771 a canal
Bega was built to unite the city with the
Danube river. The city was also the first city in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire to have public lighting using suet candles and lamps with oil and grease. Timisoara also became the first city in Europe to have electric public lighting on the 12th of November
1884 , (four years after
New York City ). A tram tracted by horses also came into service around this period. Meanwhile, in 1869 Timişoara was the first city to have an ambulance station in the
Kingdom Of Hungary .
