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Turda (; , ; ; ) is a Municipiu in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in the southeastern part of the county, from the county seat, Cluj-Napoca, to which it is connected by the European route E81, and from nearby Câmpia Turzii.
The city consists of four neighborhoods: Turda Veche, Turda Nouă, Oprișani, and Poiana. It is traversed from west to east by the Arieș River and north to south by its tributary, Valea Racilor.
The established a town that Ptolemy in his Geography calls Patreuissa, which is probably a corruption of Patavissa or Potaissa, the latter being more common. It was conquered by the Ancient Rome, who kept the name Potaissa, between AD 101 and 106, during the rule of Trajan, together with parts of Decebalus's Dacia. "Epoca dacică" at the Turda City Hall site; accessed March 21, 2013 "Potaissa" is first recorded on a Roman milliarium discovered in 1758 in the nearby Aiton commune.Lazarovici et al. 1997, pp. 202–3 (6.2 Cluj in the Old and Ancient Epochs) The city became a municipium Septimium, and benefited from Ius Italicum, however if it reached the rank of colonia is uncertain. At its height it housed as many as 20,000 people. About 200 inscriptions were recovered from the now entirely overlapped Roman ruins, many showing vulgarisms such as Betacism or simplification of the geminates.
The legionary fortress was established as the basecamp of the Legio V Macedonica from 166 to 274, and was also named Potaissa.
From the reign of Gordian III (238–244) numerous treasures were excavated from Turda, Țaga, Viișoara, and Mărtinești, showing that in this time the defense was breaking under the Carpi people, Goths, Gepids, and Vandals.
Objects dated to post-Aurelian retreat found at the site (for example an inscribed onyx gem depicting the Good Shepherd, and silver coins of Diocletian) together with a large burial containing sarcophagi and a cremation stone box point at continuous habitation until the early fifth century. The situation changes in the next two centuries when dwellings and cemeteries superpose the Roman site, in a similar manner to Apulum and Sirmium. After conquering the place, the Huns settled down near. From this time three solidus were found from graves. Burying with coins was a Gepids tradition not typical of the Huns, meaning that they settled their vassals in Transylvania too.
After the Hungarian conquest, the kindred Kalocsa settled here. Their center was called Tordavár ("castle of Torda"), and another important estate was Tordalaka ("home of Torda") as of 1075. The name probably derives from Old Bulgarian *tvьrdъ meaning citadel, fortress.Nicolae Drăganu: Toponimie și istorie, 1928, page 149
Saxons settled in the area in the 12th century. Much of the town was destroyed during the Tatar invasion in 1241–1242, however most of its inhabitants survived by hiding in the cave system. King Stephen V ensured its quick revival by giving privileges.
On 8 January, 1288, Ladislaus IV attended the first national assembly in Torda and recruited an army of Transylvanians to repel the Cumans invasion. He pursued the Cumans back to the border. During this time the Hungarians were the absolute majority in the city. Numerous meetings were held here afterwards. The Hungarian Diet was held here in 1467, by Matthias Corvinus. Later, in the 16th century, Turda was often the residence of the Transylvanian Diet, too. After the Battle of Mohács, the city became part of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and since 1570 the Principality of Transylvania. The 1558 Diet of Turda declared free practice of both the Catholic and Lutheranism religions. In 1563 the Diet also accepted the Calvinist religion, and in 1568 it extended freedom to all religions, declaring that "It is not allowed to anybody to intimidate anybody with captivity or expelling for his religion" – a freedom unusual in medieval Europe. This Edict of Turda is the first attempt at legislating general religious freedom in Christian Europe (though its legal effectiveness was limited).
In 1609 Gabriel Báthori granted new privileges to Turda. These were confirmed later by Gabriel Bethlen. In the battle of Turda, Ahmed Pasha defeated George II Rákóczi in 1659.
According to the 2011 Romanian census, there were 47,744 people living within the city. Of this population, 84.7% were ethnic Romanians, while 8.98% were ethnic Hungarians, 6.03% ethnic Roma, and 0.4% others.
At the 2021 census, Turda had a population of 43,319, a decrease of 9.3% from the previous census; of those, 72.46% were Romanians, 5.92% Hungarians, and 4.03% Roma.
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