Sânnicolau Mare

Sânnicolau Mare (formerly spelled Sînnicolau Mare, Romanian pronunciation: [sɨnnikoˌla.u ˈmare]) is a town in Timiș County, Romania and the westernmost of the country. Located in the Banat region, along the borders with Serbia and Hungary, it has a population of just under 12,000.

Sânnicolau Mare
Town
Serbian church
Coat of arms
Location in Timiș County
Sânnicolau Mare
Location in Romania
Coordinates: 46°4′20″N 20°37′46″E
Country Romania
CountyTimiș
Government
 • MayorDănuț Groza[1] (PNL)
Area
136.77 km2 (52.81 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[2]
12,312
 • Density90/km2 (230/sq mi)
Time zoneEET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Vehicle reg.TM
Websitewww.sannicolau-mare.ro

Name

In German, it is known as Groß Sankt Nikolaus, in Hungarian as Nagyszentmiklós, in Banat Bulgarian as Smikluš, and in Serbian as Сент Николаш / Sent Nikolaš. It is translated as "Great St. Nicholas" in English.

History
Kingdom of Hungary, cancelled at NAGY SZ-MIKLOS in 1895
See also: Morisena (castra)

Near Sânnicolau Mare there are the remains of Morisena, an ancient town, seat of Roman legions and of medieval dukes of Banat. Since 1000, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), the city (and the Banat) was part of the Banat of Temeswar, Habsburg monarchy,[3] until 1778. After it was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary, while between 1849-1860 it became part of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar. After the Austro-Hungarian compromise of 1867 in was part of the Transleithanian part of Austria-Hungary. In the late 18th century, the Habsburg dynasty of Austria recruited German farmers and artisans to resettle areas along the Danube that had been depopulated during the Ottoman reign and the plague. They were allowed to keep their own religion, language and culture, and many German villages were founded in the Banat.

The descendants of the ethnic Germans became known as Danube Swabians (Donauschwaben) and spoke a distinct form of German that became different from what evolved in the principal states. This is one reason for the high proportion of ethnic Germans in the town before World War II. After the war, many left the area to escape Soviet dominance; others were expelled because of anti-German sentiment throughout eastern Europe.

The town was a district center in Torontál County during Habsburg rule. The town served as the county seat between 1807 and 1820 due to a great fire in Nagy-Becskerek, the county seat. Occupied by Serbian troops in 1918 during World War I, the town became part of Romania in 1920 during the realignment after the war.

Sânnicolau Mare is known for the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós, a treasure of 23 gold objects discovered here in 1799 (it was then called Nagy Szent Miklos / Groß-Sankt-Niklaus in the Habsburg Monarchy). The pieces are on display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the National Museum of History, Sofia. The town is the birthplace of Béla Bartók, the great 20th-century Hungarian composer, and of Károly Szénassy, the great Hungarian-Yugoslavian violinist. The town is 64 kilometers away from Timișoara, the biggest city in the region.

Demographics
Historical population of Sânnicolau Mare[4]
Year Population Romanians Hungarians Germans Serbs Bulgarians
1880 10,836 31.3% 10.8% 41.2% 11.4% N.D.
1890 12,311 31.3% 12.2% 43.5% 10.3% N.D.
1900 12,639 33.1% 15.3% 41.1% 9.8% N.D.
1910 12,357 32.6% 17.5% 39% 9.2% N.D.
1920 10,900 36.1% 10.6% 40.1% N.D% N.D.
1930 10,676 40% 11.6% 35.2% 7.5% 0.3%
1941 10,640 42.1% 10.1% 35% N.D N.D
1956 9,956 54.6% 12.4% 24.4% 6.5% 0.8%
1966 11,428 59.4% 10.9% 21.8% 6.4% 1%
1977 12,811 62.2% 10.9% 19% 4.7% 1.6%
1992 13,083 73.4% 10.6% 5.9% 4.6% 3.1%
2002[5] 12,914 76.8% 9.4% 3.2% 3.6% 3.6%
2011 12,312 73.7% 7.2% 2.1% 3.0% 3.0%

At the 2011 census, the town counted 12,312 inhabitants: 73.7% Romanians, 7.2% Hungarians, 3.1% Roma, 3.0% Serbs, 3.0% Bulgarians, 2.1% Germans, 0.3% other and for 7.5% no ethnic information was available.[6]

  • Nákó Castle
  • Nákó Castle
  • Nákó Castle

See also

References
  1. "Results of the 2016 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  2. "Populaţia stabilă pe judeţe, municipii, oraşe şi localităti componenete la RPL_2011" (in Romanian). National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  3. Handbook of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia Cancellations on the Postage Stamp Issues 1850-1864, by Edwin MUELLER, 1961.
  4. Erdély etnikai és felekezeti statisztikája
  5. Recensamant 2001
  6. Tab8. Populaţia stabilă după etnie – judeţe, municipii, oraşe, comune, 2011 census results, Institutul Național de Statistică, accessed 11 March 2020.
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