Brașov (UK: /bræˈʃɒv/, US: /brɑːˈʃɔːv, -ɔːf/, Romanian: [braˈʃov] ; German: Kronstadt, also Brasau; Hungarian: Brassó [ˈbrɒʃːoː]; Latin: Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: Kruhnen) is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County.
According to the 2021 census, with 237,589 inhabitants, Brașov is the 6th most populous city in Romania. The metropolitan area was home to 371,802 residents.
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, also known as the Cucuteni culture or Trypillia culture is a Neolithic–Chalcolithic archaeological culture (c. 5050 to 2950 BC) of Southeast Europe. It extended from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper regions, centered on modern-day Moldova and covering substantial parts of western Ukraine and northeastern Romania, encompassing an area of 350,000 km (140,000 sq mi), with a diameter of 500 km (300 mi; roughly from Kyiv in the northeast to Brașov in the southwest).
The majority of Cucuteni–Trypillia settlements were of small size, high density (spaced 3 to 4 kilometres apart), concentrated mainly in the Siret, Prut and Dniester river valleys. During its middle phase (c. 4100 to 3500 BC), populations belonging to the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture built some of the largest settlements in Eurasia, some of which contained as many as three thousand structures and were possibly inhabited by 20,000 to 46,000 people. The 'mega-sites' of the culture, which have been claimed to be early forms of cities, were the largest settlements in Eurasia, and possibly the world, dating to the 5th millennium BC. The population of the culture at its peak may have reached or exceeded one million people. The culture was wealthy and influential in Eneolithic Europe and the late Trypillia culture has been described by scholar Asko Parpola as thriving and populous during the Copper Age. It has been proposed that it was initially egalitarian and that the rise of inequality contributed to its downfall.
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a mainly continental climate, and an area of 238,397 km (92,046 sq mi) with a population of 19 million people. Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Europe's second-longest river, the Danube, empties into the Danube Delta in the southeast of the country. The Carpathian Mountains cross Romania from the north to the southwest and include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of 2,544 m (8,346 ft). Bucharest is the country's capital, largest urban area, and financial centre. Other major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Constanța and Brașov.
Settlement in the territory of modern Romania began in the Lower Paleolithic, later becoming the Dacian Kingdom before Roman conquest and Romanisation. The modern Romanian state was formed in 1859 with the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, becoming the Kingdom of Romania in 1881 under Carol I of Romania. Romania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, formalised by the Treaty of Berlin. After World War I, Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Bessarabia joined the Old Kingdom, forming Greater Romania, which reached its largest territorial extent. In 1940, under Axis pressure, Romania lost territories to Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. Following the 1944 Romanian coup d'état, Romania switched sides to join the Allies. After World War II, it regained Northern Transylvania through the Paris Peace Treaties. Under Soviet occupation, King Michael I was forced to abdicate, and Romania became a socialist republic and Warsaw Pact member. After the uniquely violent Romanian revolution in December 1989, Romania began a transition to liberal democracy and a market economy.
Transylvania (Romanian: Transilvania [transilˈvani.a] or Ardeal; Hungarian: Erdély [ˈɛrdeːj]; German: Siebenbürgen [ˌziːbm̩ˈbʏrɡn̩] or Transsilvanien; Transylvanian Saxon: Siweberjen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border are the Carpathian Mountains and to the west the Apuseni Mountains. Broader definitions of Transylvania also include the western and northwestern Romanian regions of Crișana and Maramureș, and occasionally Banat. Historical Transylvania also includes small parts of neighbouring Western Moldavia and even a small part of south-western neighbouring Bukovina to its north east (represented by Suceava County).
Transylvania is known for the scenery of its Carpathian landscape and its rich history, coupled with its multi-cultural character. It also contains Romania's second-largest city, Cluj-Napoca, and other very well preserved medieval iconic cities and towns such as Brașov, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș, Bistrița, Alba Iulia, Mediaș, and Sighișoara. It is also the home of some of Romania's UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Villages with fortified churches, the Historic Centre of Sighișoara, the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains and the Roșia Montană Mining Cultural Landscape.
The St. Michael's Church (Romanian: Biserica Sfântul Mihail, Hungarian: Szent Mihály-templom, German: Michaelskirche) is a Gothic-style Roman Catholic church in Cluj-Napoca. It is the second largest church (after the Biserica Neagră of Brașov) in the geographical region of Transylvania, Romania. The nave is 50 meters long and 24 meters wide, the apse is 20×10 m. The tower with its height of 76 meter (80 meter including the cross) is the highest one in Transylvania.
Brașov County (Romanian pronunciation: [braˈʃov] ) is a county (județ) of Transylvania, Romania. Its capital city is Brașov. The county incorporates within its boundaries most of the Medieval "lands" (țări) Burzenland and Făgăraș.
The Brașov metropolitan area is a metropolitan area in Brașov County, Romania, that includes the municipality of Brașov and 12 other nearby communities. It was constituted in 2007 with the aim of creating business opportunities, building and administering of living spaces and recreational areas, to attract more consistent investment, and to coordinate better environment and infrastructure projects. As of 2021, the metropolitan area has a population of 371,802, of whom 237,589 live in Brașov. The total area is 1,368.5 km.
As defined by Eurostat, the Brașov functional urban area has a population of 398,953 residents (as of 2015).
The Black Church (Romanian: Biserica Neagră, German: Die Schwarze Kirche, Hungarian: Fekete templom), stands in the city of Brașov in south-eastern Transylvania, Romania. It was built by the local Transylvanian Saxon (German) community of the city during medieval times and represents the main Gothic-style monument in the country, as well as being the largest and one of the most important houses of worship in the region which belong to the Lutheran, i.e., Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania.
Author Judit Petki contends that, contrary to a widely held view, the Black Church received its dark appearance not as a result of the fire which affected much of the city in 1689, but only in recent times due to pollution. The current popular name is apparently a 19th-century creation.
"Deșteaptă-te, române!" (Romanian: [deʃˈte̯aptəte roˈmɨne] ; lit. 'Awaken Thee, Romanian!') is the national anthem of Romania. It originated from a poem written during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848.
The lyrics were composed by Andrei Mureșanu and published during the 1848 revolution, initially with the name "Un răsunet" ('An Echo'), as a lyrical response to Vasile Alecsandri's poem "Către Români" ('To Romanians'), later known as "Deșteptarea României" ('The Awakening of Romania'), from which Mureșanu took inspiration for many of the themes and motifs of his own lyrics, a fact that is reflected in the overall similarity between the two poems. The original text was written in the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet. It was first sung in late June in the same year in the city of Brașov, on the streets of the Șcheii Brașovului neighborhood and it became immediately the revolutionary anthem.
Orban, also known as Urban (Hungarian: Orbán; died 1453), was an iron founder and engineer from Brassó, Transylvania, in the Kingdom of Hungary (today Brașov, Romania), who cast large-calibre artillery, Basilic, for the siege of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453.
Orban was Hungarian, according to most modern authors, while some scholars also mention his potential German ancestry. Alternative theories suggest he had Wallachian roots. Laonikos Chalkokondyles used the term Dacian to describe him.