Mărtiniş

Mărtiniş Homoródszentmárton
—  Commune  —
Coat of arms
Location of Mărtiniş
Coordinates: 46°14′0″N 25°23′0″E / 46.233333°N 25.383333°E / 46.233333; 25.383333Coordinates: 46°14′0″N 25°23′0″E / 46.233333°N 25.383333°E / 46.233333; 25.383333
Country	Romania
County	Harghita County
Status	Commune
Government
– Mayor	Tivadar Péter Kerekes (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania)
Area
– Total	80 km2 (30.9 sq mi)
Population (2002)
– Total	3,011
– Density	38.37/km2 (99.4/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	537175
Area code(s)	+40 266
Website	www.homorodszentmarton.ro

Mărtiniş (Hungarian: Homoródszentmárton; Hungarian pronunciation: [’homoroːdsɛnmaːrton], meaning "St. Martin of Homorod") is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania.

Component villages

The commune is composed of twelve villages:

In Romanian	In Hungarian
Aldea	Abásfalva
Bădeni	Bágy
Călugăreni	Homoródremete
Chinuşu	Kénos
Comăneşti	Homoródkeményfalva
Ghipeş	Gyepes
Locodeni	Lókod
Mărtiniş	Homoródszentmárton
Orăşeni	Városfalva
Petreni	Homoródszentpéter
Rareş	Recsenyéd
Sânpaul	Homoródszentpál

History

The villages on the Josephinische Landaufnahme, 1769-1773

The villages on the Josephinische Landaufnahme, 1769-1773

The village seems to have been inhabited already in prehistoric times as a neolithic ax and an urn was found in the ouskirts of the village some decades ago. Roman coins were also unearthed in the village and a small lake reminiscent of the place of an abandoned salt mine suggest that it was also inhabited in Roman times

The village gained its name, when King Géza II of Hungary founded settlements in the Great-Homorod Valley in the middle of the 12th century. The first settlement is thought to be destroyed by the Mongols in 1241. This is supported by the fact that all the churches of the Homorod area were built in a style which is characteristic for the era following the Mongol Invasion. The village is first recorded in a diploma from 1333 when a sacerdos de Sancto Martino was mentioned. In 1487, it is recorded as Zenthmarton, while in 1636, it appears already as Homorod-Szent-Marton. Its Romanian name derives from the Hungarian one and it had at first been Homorod-Sânmărtin and was later changed to the current official name.^[1] Its medieval church consecrated in honour of St Martin was built in the 13th century and was altered in the 15th century in late-Gothic style. As the village suffered a Tartar attack in 1613, the church was surrounded by a fortified wall strengthened by six towers. Between 1714-1719, the population was struck by plague. Although, the mediaeval church was pulled down in 1888, the gate-tower of the fortified wall was spared and it now serves as the bell tower of the new Unitarian church built in 1889.

The villages forming the commune administratively belonged to Udvarhelyszék, then, from 1876 until 1918 to Homoród district of Udvarhely County in the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1920, the village, like the rest of Transylvania, formally passed with the Treaty of Trianon from Hungarian to Romanian control. In 1940, the second Vienna Award granted the Northern Transylvania to Hungary and the villages were held by Hungary until 1944. After Soviet occupation, the Romanian administration returned and the commune became officially part of Romania in 1947. Between 1952 and 1960, the commune fell within the Magyar Autonomous Region, between 1960 and 1968 the Mureş-Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, the province was abolished, and since then, the commune has been part of Harghita County.

Demographics

The commune has an absolute Hungarian (Székely) majority. According to the 2002 census it has a population of 3,011 of which 98.8% or 2,975 are Hungarian.^[2]

Landmarks

• The Unitarian Church was built in 1889, however, the gate-tower of the 17th century fortified wall was turned into its bell tower
• The Reformed Church was built in 1804 on a plot donated by the Bíró and Ugron families,
• In the village can be found the largest mansion house of the area, the mansion of the Bíró family. Chronicles from the Middle Ages already record a mansion house on the site. There is a vaulted cellar under the building built of stone, brick and hot lime which successfully resisted the storms of history. Several rooms, including a large dining-room can be seen in the building. The Ugron family inherited the mansion in the second half of the 18th century, and it was between 1780-1790 that the building gained its current appearance in Rococo style,
• The family vault of the Bíró-family is south-east of the village in a small settlement called Bükkfalva

Notable people

• Jakab Molnár (1926–1991), writer
• Elemér Mezei (1954-), mathematician
• Viktor Román (1937–1995), sculptor
• János Szentmártoni Bodó, poet
• Berta Kelemenné Zathureczky (1855–1924), writer
• Aladár Zoltán (1929–1978), composer

Twinnings

The commune is twinned with:

• Dunavecse, Hungary
• Zsámbék, Hungary

External links

• Official website
• Unitarian Church of Homoródszentmárton
• Pictures of the village (Unitarian picture gallery)

References

1. ^ János András Vistai. "Tekintő – Erdélyi Helynévkönyv". p. 985. Transylvanian Toponym Book
2. ^ "Etnikai statisztikák" (in Hungarian). Árpád E. Varga. http://varga.adatbank.transindex.ro/?pg=3&action=etnik&id=381. Retrieved 2010-06-01.