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Bistrița (; , archaic Nösen, Siebenbürgen Village List. Retrieved January 11, 2007. Transylvanian Saxon: Bästerts, ) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of 78,877 inhabitants as of 2021 and administers six villages: Ghinda (Windau; Vinda), Sărata (Salz; Sófalva), Sigmir (Schönbirk; Szépnyír), Slătinița (Pintak; Pinták), Unirea (until 1950 Aldorf; Wallendorf; Aldorf) and Viișoara (Heidendorf; Besenyő). There is a project for the creation of a metropolitan area that will contain the municipality of Bistrița and 3 surrounding localities (Șieu-Măgheruș, Budacu de Jos, and Livezile), whose combined population would be over 91,600 inhabitants.
Bistrița became a free royal town in 1330. In 1353, King Louis I of Hungary granted the town the right to organize an annual 15-day fair on Saint Bartholomew day, as well as a seal containing the coat of arms of an ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak. The town developed markets throughout Moldavia, and its craftsmen travelled extensively. It was given the right to be surrounded by defensive walls in 1409. In 1465, the city's fortifications had 18 defensive towers and defended by the local . It was also defended by a Kirchenburg, or fortified church. In 1713 the Romanian population was expelled by the Saxons magistrates, but they returned later. The town was badly damaged by fire five times between 1836 and 1850.Leslie S. Klinger, The New Annotated Dracula, W. W. Norton, 2008 The church suffered from fire in 1857, when the tower's roof and the bells were destroyed. The roof was rebuilt after several years. Fires in the nineteenth century also destroyed much of the city's medieval citadel.
A Jewish community developed in Bistrița after the prohibition on Jewish settlement there was lifted in 1848, organizing itself in the 1860s. The synagogue, consecrated in 1893, is among Transylvania's largest and most impressive.Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A-J, pp. 152-53. NYU Press, 2001, The community was Orthodox Judaism with a strong Hasidism, but there were also Jews who adopted German and Hungarian culture. A Zionism youth organization, , was founded in Bistrița in 1901 by Nissan Kahan, who corresponded with Theodor Herzl and there was significant support for the Zionist movement in the town between the two world wars. A large yeshivah flourished under the direction of the rabbi of Bistrița, Solomon Zalman Ullmann, between 1924 and 1942. During World War I, 138 Bistrița Jews were conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army; 12 were killed in action.
The city was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. On December 1 that year, Transylvania united with Romania, and Romanian Army troops entered Bistrița on December 5. In 1925, Bistrița became the capital of Năsăud County.
After King Michael's Coup of August 1944, Romania switched sides to the Allies. By October of that year, Romanian and Soviet Union troops gained control of all of Northern Transylvania, which was reintegrated into Romania in March 1945. In 1950, Bistrița became the seat of ; in 1952, the region was dissolved and the city became the seat of Bistrița raion (part of Cluj Region) until 1968.
At the 2021 census, the city had a population of 78,877. According to the 2011 census, there were 75,076 inhabitants of Bistrița, making it the 30th largest city in Romania, with the following ethnic makeup:
Prior to World War II there was a sizable Jewish community living in the town. In 1891, 718 of the 9,100 inhabitants (8%) were Jews; in 1900 (11%) and 2,198 (16%) in 1930. In 1941 there are 2,358 (14%). In 1947, 1,300 Jews resettled in Bistrița, including survivors from the extermination camps, former residents of neighboring villages, and others liberated from the Nazi concentration camps. Given continuing discrimination and unfavorable political conditions, the Jewish population declined steadily as a result of Aliyah, the United States, and Canada. By 2002, only about 15 Jews lived in the city.
In the PlayStation 2 game Shadow Hearts, Bistrița (where it is spelled "Biztritz") was a major place and home to the role-playing character Keith Valentine.
Bistrița also serves as a midway point for C&I, a transport service, and is a changing point for people traveling between Suceava, Satu Mare, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Sighișoara, Târgu Mureș, and Brașov.
The nearest airport is Cluj-Napoca Airport, which is located from Bistrița.
World War II
In the wake of the Second Vienna Award (August 1940), the city reverted to the Kingdom of Hungary. During the war, the Hungarian authorities deported several dozen Jewish families in 1941 from Bistrița to Kamenets-Podolski in the Galician area of occupied Ukraine, where they were killed by Hungarian soldiers. The Jews of Bistrița, as elsewhere in Hungary, were subjected to restrictions, and Jewish men of military age were drafted for forced labor service. In May 1944, the Jewish population was forced into the Bistrița ghetto, set up at Stamboli Farm, about two miles from the city. The ghetto consisted of a number of barracks and pigsties. At its peak, the ghetto held close to 6,000 Jews, including those brought in from the neighboring communities in Beszterce-Naszód County. Among these were the Jews of Borgóbeszterce, Borgóprund, Galacfalva, Kisilva, Marosborgó, Ilva Mare]], Nagysajó, Naszód, Rodna]], and Romuli]]. The ghetto was liquidated with the deportation of its inhabitants to Auschwitz in two transports on June 2 and 6, 1944.
Recent events
On June 11, 2008, the tower and roof of the church caught fire when three children who went to steal copper set it on fire while playing. The main part of the church suffered only slight damage, the interior remaining intact. It is speculated that both of the tower's bells, one dating from the 15th century, the other from the 17th, may have melted in the blaze.
Climate
According to Köppen climate classification, Bistrița has a humid continental climate( Dfb) with cold, snowy winters and warm, rainy summers.
Due to its modest elevation, Bistrița has one of the coldest climates in Romania.
Demographics
In 1850, of the 5,214 inhabitants, 3,704 were Germans (71%), 1,207 Romanians (23.1%), 176 Roma (3.4%), 90 Hungarians (1.7%), and 37 (0.7%) of other ethnicities.
According to the census of 1910, the town had 13,236 inhabitants of whom 5,835 were German (44%), 4,470 Romanian (33.77%), 2,824 Hungarian (21.33%).
Main sights
Popular culture
In Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the character Jonathan Harker visits Bistrița (rendered as Bistritz, the German name for the city, in the original text) and stays at the Golden Krone Hotel (); although no such hotel existed when the novel was written, a hotel of the same name has since been built.
Transportation
The major cities directly linked by trains to this city are Bucharest via a night train, and Cluj-Napoca via several trains. Access from Bistrița to major railway lines is generally through connections in Dej, Beclean, or Reghin, although some other trains stop at the nearby railway junction of Sărățel.
Tourism
Natural reservations
Resorts
Museums and exhibitions
Notable people
Sport
Teams
International relations
Twin towns and sister cities
Bistrița is twinned with:
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External links
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