Transylvania
Transylvania – multicultural region
• The name of the region comes from the Latin Trans Silva ( the land beyond the forests)
• The main form of relief is the plateau, surrounded by the Carpathian mountains with hills, depressions and crossed by numberless rivers.
• The population in the area is over 3 million inhabitants who live in cities, towns or villages, each having its own specific architecture.
Transylvania – multicultural region
Ethnic Transylvania is a mosaic of Romanians, Hungarians, Saxons, Serbs, Gypsies and Jews - each of these populations manifested their cultural identities in the structure of villages, architecture in towns and the way of life.
Transylvania- short history • First there were the Dacians who reached a high level of material and spiritual
culture
• Conquered by the Roman Empire in 107
• The Magyar tribes first entered the region in the 8th century when they settled the Pannonian plain.
• In the 12th and 13th centuries, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called (then and now) Saxons, with the purpose of securing the borders.
• The Hungarian Kingdom, the Ottoman and Austrian Empires occupied this land one after the other.
• In 1918 that Transylvania joins Romania, which reunites for the first time in what Romanians consider its natural borders.
Ethnic Transylvania
Hungarians, Saxons, Romanians, Swabs, Jews, Roma, etc.
The Szekely population
The Szekely writing
The Szekely gates
Traditional Szekely gate
Traditional Szekely gate
Traditional Szekely gate
Traditional Szekely
Kurtoskalacs
Szekely dishes
The Saxon land
Fortified churches
Biertan - Fortified Church
Biertan - Fortified Church
Biertan Church Tower
Prejmer Fortified church
Harman Fortified Church
Brasov
The Bran Castle
The Bran Castle
SIGHISOARAcitadel
SIGHISOARA
THE MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL
SIBIU
SIBIU
SIBIU
SIBIU- the Capital of Culture
Around Cluj • Rimetea UNESCO Heritage
Turda - Salt mine
Apuseni mountains
• Rural civilisation • Picturesque landscapes• Natural protected areas • Caves and conserved areas