Sebeş
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Sebeş (German: Mühlbach, Hungarian: Szászsebes) is a city in Alba County, central Romania, southern Transylvania.
Ethimology
The name comes from the Hungarian word sebes meaning fast and refers to the river that flows through the city. The German name Mühlbach means "mill river" and refers to the hydraulic mills that were built along the river.Geography
The city lies on the Mureş River valley and it straddles the Sebeş river. It is at the crossroads of two main highways in Romania: E68 European route - DN1 coming from Sibiu and going towards Deva and E81 European route - DN7 coming from Sibiu and going towards Alba-Iulia and Cluj Napoca.It is situated at 15 km south of the county capital Alba Iulia and it also has under its administration the following villages:
- Petreşti - 3.5 km south
- Lancrăm – 2 km north
- Rahău - 6 km east.
History
Originally a Dacian settlement, Sebeş was incorporated into the Roman Empire. After being conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary, Sebeş was settled by the Transylvanian Saxons in the 12th century and became an important city in medieval Transylvania. Its city walls were reinforced after the Tatar invasions, but the city was occupied in 1438 by the Ottoman Empire. John I Zápolya died in Sebeş in 1540. The Transylvanian Diet met in Sebeş in 1546, 1556, 1598 and 1600. The location of the meetings, the Zápolya House, is now a museum. After the union with Romania in 1918, the first mayor of the city was Lionel Blaga, the brother of the Romanian poet and philosopher Lucian Blaga, who was born in the nearby village of Lancrăm.Economy
Today Sebeş is a city with a dynamic economy, having received in the last decade important foreign investments: wood processing and leather goods manufacturing are the chief domains of the local industry.Population
The ethnic composition is as follows:
- Romanians - 25,580 - 92.41 % (in 1910: 35%)
- Romas - 1,406 - 5.08 % (in 1910: n.a.)
- Germans - 425 - 1.54 % (in 1910: 61%)
- Hungarians - 218 - 0.79 % (in 1910: 4%)
- Other - 51 - 0.18 %
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