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Reghin
Municipality
Location of Reghin
Country	Romania
County	Mureş County
Status	Municipality
Government
• Mayor	Nagy András (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania)
Area
• Total	56.09 km (21.66 sq mi)
Population
• Total	36,173
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Website	http://www.primariareghin.ro/

Reghin (German: (Sächsisch) Regen; Hungarian: Szászrégen or Régen) is a city and municipality in Mureş county in Romania, on the Mureş River in Transylvania. It is the place of origin for the Sasregen Hasidic Jewish dynasty. It has a population of approximately 35,700 in 2004.

Location

Reghin lies 29km north-northeast of Târgu Mureş, extending on both shores of the Mureş River, at the confluence with the Gurghiu River. It was created by the 1926 union of the German-inhabited and the Hungarian-inhabited city, and later joined with the two smaller communities Apalina (Hungarian: Abafája; German: Bendorf) and Iernuţeni (Hungarian: Radnótfája; German: Etschdorf), added in 1956.

History

Reghin was first mentioned in 1228 in a charter of Hungarian King Andrew II as Regun - however, evidence of its strategic location and defence system suggests that the town might have been considerably older, possibly founded during by Ladislaus I.

Despite of the devastations of the city during the Mongol invasion (1241) and during the Tatar and Cuman incursions (1285), the town developed rapidly: already in the second half of the 13th century the city is the residence and power centre of the families Tomaj and Kacsik, to whom the nearby lands were awarded by the Hungarian Crown. Reghin became a minor ecclesial centre in 1330, with the building of the Gothic church (Roman Catholic at the time, it now serves the Protestant community) in the German part of the city; it is still the largest church in the area, and hosts the oldest Medieval Latin inscription of any church in Transylvania. The Hungarian part of the city has an even older church, initially built in the Romanesque style.

In the beginning of the 15th century the settlement gained city rights, and, from 1427, the right to hold fairs. In the 16th and 17th century Reghin was devastated by Habsburg and Ottoman troops on several occasions. It burned to the ground in 1848. In 1910, the population of the city included 7,310 inhabitants, of which 2,994 Germans (Transylvanian Saxons), 2,947 Hungarians, and 1,311 Romanians.

In 1920 Reghin, was assigned to Romania by the Treaty of Trianon, together with the rest of Transylvania. During the 20th century, the city has completely lost its former Transylvanian Saxon character - as many Germans left for Western Germany during the latter stages of Communist Romania - and ethnic Romanians were settled in their place. Almost 30% of the inhabitants until 1939 were Jews. In May 1944, the Jews were gathered in the ghetto of Reghin and on June 4, 1944 were deported to Auschwitz. The data of the 1992 census showed a population of 24,601 Romanians, 12,471 Hungarian, 1,790 Roma, and 346 Germans.

Demographics

Ethnic groups (2002 census):

• Romanians = 23,611 (65.35%)
• Hungarians = 10,396 (28.77%)
• Roma = 1,831 (5.06%)
• Germans = 237 (0.65%)
• others.

Landmarks

The traditionally German city:

• the Protestant (Lutheran) church, built in 1330 in honour of Saint Mary. Burnt down in 1708 and in 1848, after which it had been rebuilt.
• the Roman Catholic church, which was consecrated in 1781. A Calvinist church was built in 1890.
• the Greek-Catholic church, built between 1811 and 1813, nowadays Romanian Orthodox.

The traditionally Hungarian city:

• the Protestant (Calvinist) church, 13th century, in 1910 completely rebuilt.
• the Greek-Catholic church, built in 1744, nowadays Romanian Orthodox.

New landmarks:

• a Romanian Orthodox Cathedral was built in the city in the 1990s.
• the renowned zoological and folklore collections.

People

• Sergiu Ionut Nistor (1987–present), The last sheepherder
• Josef Haltrich (1822–1886), ethnographer, historian.
• Ferenc Kós (b. 1828), writer
• Rudolf Wagner-Régeny (1903–1969), composer
• Georg Maurer (19071971), writer
• Jutta Pallos-Schönauer (b.1925), Painter
• Petru Maior (1756–1821), Writer and Educator

Images

• The city centre of Reghin
• The central park of the city

v t e Mureș County, Romania
Cities	Târgu Mureș (county seat) Reghin Sighișoara Târnăveni
Towns	Iernut Luduș Miercurea Nirajului Sângeorgiu de Pădure Sărmașu Sovata Ungheni
Communes	Acățari Adămuș Albești Aluniș Apold Ațintiș Băgaciu Bahnea Băla Bălăușeri Band Batoș Beica de Jos Bereni Bichiș Bogata Brâncovenești Breaza Ceuașu de Câmpie Chețani Chibed Chiheru de Jos Coroisânmărtin Corunca Cozma Crăciunești Crăiești Cristești Cucerdea Cuci Daneș Deda Eremitu Ernei Fântânele Fărăgău Gălești Gănești Gheorghe Doja Ghindari Glodeni Gornești Grebenișu de Câmpie Gurghiu Hodac Hodoșa Ibănești Iclănzel Ideciu de Jos Livezeni Lunca Lunca Bradului Mădăraș Măgherani Mica Miheșu de Câmpie Nadeș Neaua Ogra Pănet Papiu Ilarian Păsăreni Petelea Pogăceaua Râciu Răstolița Rușii-Munți Sâncraiu de Mureș Sângeorgiu de Mureș Sânger Sânpaul Sânpetru de Câmpie Sântana de Mureș Sărăteni Saschiz Șăulia Șincai Solovăstru Stânceni Suplac Suseni Tăureni Valea Largă Vânători Vărgata Vătava Vețca Viișoara Voivodeni Zagăr Zau de Câmpie

• Municipalities of Romania
• Mureş County