Timişoara

Timişoara
	Timişoara
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Nickname(s): Little Vienna
	; Timişoara Location of Timişoara
	Coordinates: 45°45′35″N 21°13′48″E / 45.75972°N 21.23°E
Country	Romania
County	Timiş County
Status	County Capital
	Government
- Mayor	Gheorghe Ciuhandu (Christian-Democratic People's Party)
	Area
- City	129.2 km2 (49.9 sq mi)
- Metro	1,070.4 km2 (413.3 sq mi)
	Population (est. January 1, 2009)
- City	311,586
- Density	2,379/km2 (6,161.6/sq mi)
- Metro	359,132
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.primariatm.ro/

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For other uses of "Timiş", see Timiş (disambiguation).

Timişoara (Romanian pronunciation: [timiˈʃo̯ara] ( listen); Hungarian: Temesvár, German: Temeschburg, Temeswar, or Temeschwar, Bulgarian: Тимишоара, Serbian: Темишвар, Temišvar, Banat Bulgarian: Timišvár, Turkish: Tamışvar-Tamişvar or Temeşvar, Croatian: Temišvar), also known as "The City of Athletes", is a city in the Banat region of western Romania. It is the capital of Timiş County.

With 311,586 inhabitants (2009)^[1], Timişoara, the second largest Romanian city, is the main economic and cultural center in Banat in the west of the country.

It is a multicultural city with influential minorities, primarily Hungarians, Germans, and Serbs, as well as Italians, Arabs, Indians, Bulgarians, Roma people, Jews and Greeks.

The city is also called "Little Vienna", because it belonged for a very long time to the Habsburg Empire and the entire city center consists of buildings built in the Kaiser era, which is reminiscent of the old Vienna. Timişoara is an important university center with the emphasis on subjects like medicine, mechanics and electro-technology. An industrial city with extensive services, it was the first mainland European city to be lit by electric street lamps in 1884. It was also the second European and the first city in what is now Romania with horse drawn trams in 1867. There are numerous claims that Gustave Eiffel, the creator of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, built one of Timişoara's footbridges over the Bega.

The old city consists of historic city quarters with several historic squares and proms. These are: Cetate (Belváros in Hungarian, Innere Stadt in German), Iosefin (Józsefváros, Josephstadt), Elisabetin (Erzsébetváros, Elisabethstadt), Fabric (Gyárváros, Fabrikstadt). Numerous bars, clubs and restaurants have opened in the old center in the fine old baroque square.

[edit] Demographics

Timişoara has a population of 311,586 (2009)^[1]. 14,2% of the population are under 15 years of age, 4.0% are old over 75. The municipalities population dynamics and ethnic composition:

Census^[2]		Ethnic composition
Year	Population	Romanians	Germans	Hungarians	Serbs	Jews	Roma	Slovaks	Bulgarians	Ukrainians	Others
1850	20,590	807	11,715	2,346	1,770	1,867	?	?	?	?	?
1880	38,702	3,188	21,121	7,745	2,487	?	?	416	?	29	1,716
1890	45,948	5,594	24,973	11,100	2,363	?	?	332	?	27	1,559
1900	60,551	6,312	30,892	19,162	2,730	?	-	288	?	13	1,154
1920	86,850	16,047	32,097	27,189	?	8,307	-	?	?	?	3,210
1930	102,390	25,207	33,162	31,773	2,237	7,264	379	652	279	56	1,381
1941	125,052	46,466	37,611	24,891	?	?	?	?	?	?	16,084
1956	142,257	75,855	24,326	29,968	3,065	6,700	122	575	280	56	1,310
1966	174,243	109,100	25,058	31,016	4,188	2,590	120	490	475	71	1,135
1977	269,353	191,742	28,429	36,724	6,776	1,629	1,109	404	942	299	1,299
1992	334,115	274,511	13,206	31,785	7,748	549	2,668	675	1,314	756	903
2002	317,660	270,487	7,142	25,131	6,271	367	3,114	570	1,218	762	5,506

[edit] Economy

Iulius Mall with its 210 shops is one of the largest shopping centres in Romania^[3]

Timişoara has been a strong economic center since the 18th century when the Habsburg administration was installed. Due to the Austrian colonization, the ethnic and religious diversity and the innovation of laws, the economy began to develop. The technicians and craftsmen that settled in the city established guilds and helped develop the city’s economy.

During the Industrial Revolution most of the modern innovations were introduced. It was the first city with streets illuminated in the monarchy, and the first city of mainland Europe illuminated by electric light. In this period the Bega river was channelled - Bega canal. It was the first navigable canal in the recent Romanian territory. In this way the city had contact with Europe, and even with the world through the Black Sea. This led to the evolution of commercialism. In the 19th century the railway system of the Hungarian Kingdom reached Timişoara. It is the first city in today’s Romania with international routes. In this way the city had all the needs for commercialism.

In recent years, Timişoara has enjoyed a significant economic boom as the number of foreign investments, especially in high-tech sectors, has risen constantly. It is frequently considered the second most prosperous city in Romania (following Bucharest) and there have been frequent debates on whether the so-called "Timişoara Model" could be applied to other cities. In an article in late 2005, French magazine L'Expansion called Timişoara Romania's economic showcase, and referred to the increased number of foreign investments as a "second revolution".

Apart from the several local investments, many substantial investments from the European Union take place in Timişoara, particularly from Germany and Italy, as well as from the USA. Continental AG has produced tires here for several years. The company Linde produces technical gases, and a part of the wiring moulds for BMW and Audi vehicles are produced by the company Dräxlmaier Group. The US company Flextronics maintains a large workplace in the west of the city for the production of mobile telephony and government inspection department devices. The American company Procter & Gamble manufactures washing and cleaning agents in Timişoara. The Swiss company Nestlé produces waffles here.

A city bus in Timişoara, running on route 33.

One of the trams in Timişoara

[edit] Transport

Timişoara's public transport network consists of 11 tram lines, 9 trolleybus lines and 15 bus lines, and is operated by Regia Autonomă de Transport Timişoara (RATT) [1], an autonomous corporation of the City Hall. The city is served by Romania's second busiest airport, Traian Vuia International Airport, which is the hub of the Romania's second-largest airline, Carpatair. The city is connected to a series of major European and domestic destinations. Timişoara is a major railway centre and is connected to all other major Romanian cities, as well as local destinations, through the national Căile Ferate Române network.

[edit] Neighborhoods

Cetate
Freidorf
Zona Odobescu
Fratelia
Mehala I, II
Ronaţ
Fabric
Elisabetin
Iosefin
Calea Girocului
Circumvalaţiunii I, II, III, IV
Dacia
Matei Basarab
Mircea cel Batran
Bucovina
Soarelui
Tipografilor
Calea Şagului
Dâmboviţa
Complex
Steaua
Torontalului
Bucovina

Calea Aradului
Aradului vest
Calea Lipovei
Blaşcovici
Ion Ionescu de la Brad
Olimpia
Stadion
Complex studenţesc
Ciarda Roşie
Plopi
Ghiroda
Padurea Verde
Kuncz
Braytim
Lunei
Chişoda
Plăvăţ
Banat I
Noua Timisoara
Badea Cârţan
Traian
Modern

[edit] Main sights

[edit] Education

"Politehnica" University's main building, the "Lloyd Palace", situated in Victoria square

High Schools:

Colegiul Bănăţean, Jean Louis Calderon High School, Grigore Moisil High School, C.D. Loga High School, Nikolaus Lenau High School, Bartók Béla High School, Colegiul Naţional Ana Aslan High School, Ion Vidu High School, William Shakespeare High School and Carmen Silva High School are some of the leading high schools in Timişoara.

Universities:

[edit] Sport

Football:

FC Politehnica Timişoara - historic 2 cups
FC Timişoara
UM Timişoara
CFR Timişoara
Chinezul Timişoara - historic 6 titles
Ripensia Timişoara - historic 4 titles

Basketball:

Elba Timişoara

Handball:

Politehnica-Izometal Timişoara

[edit] Sister cities

[edit] Famous natives

Mircea Baniciu (1949- ), Romanian rock singer
Iolanda Balaş (1936- ), Romanian athlete, Olympic champion
Ana Blandiana (1942- ), Romanian poet
Felix Bodrossy (1920-1983), Hungarian cinema cameraman and director
J. Edward Bromberg (Joseph Bromberger), (1903-1951) US actor
Mircea Ciugudean (1940- ) founder and first dean of Electronics and Telecommunications at The "Politehnica" University of Timişoara
Ioan Mihai Cochinescu (1951- ), Romanian writer and musicologist
Cosmin Contra (1975- ) Romanian football player
Virgil Cosma ( ) Romanian musicologist
Nicu Covaci (1947- ), Romanian rock musician and painter, founder of Phoenix rock band
Robert Dornhelm (1947- ), US-Austrian cinema director
Ezra Fleischer (1928-2006), Israeli Hebrew poet and literary historian
André François (1915-2005), Hungarian-French illustrator and cartoonist
Peter George Oliver Freund (1936), US physicist
Michael Harish (1936- ), Israeli politician, minister of trade and industry
Arnold Hauser (1892-1978), British-Hungarian historian and sociologist of arts
Ioan Holender (1935- ), Romanian-Austrian bariton and manager, director of the Opera of Vienna
Hugo Jan Huss (1934-2006), Romanian-American conductor
Ion Ivanovici (1845-1902), Romanian conductor and composer, author of the waltz "The Waves of the Danube"
Zita Johann (1904-1993), Hungarian actress, best known for her role in the Hollywood film, The Mummy.
Károly Kerényi (1897-1973), Hungarian-Swiss philologist and historian of religion
György Klapka (1820-1892), Hungarian general, hero of the 1848 Revolution
Frederic Klein, Romanian entomologist
Hermann Kövess (1854-1924) Final Commander-in-Chief of Austria-Hungary's army
Károly Kós (1883-1977), Hungarian-Romanian architect, author and politician
Pelbartus Ladislaus of Temesvár (1430-1504), Hungarian Catholic philosopher and preacher
Eva Lonn (1956- ), Canadian Cardiologist and researcher
George Lusztig (1946- ), American mathematician
Margarete Matzenauer, (1881 - 1963) US opera singer, mezzosoprano and dramatic soprano
József Méliusz (Nelovankovic) (1909-1995), Hungarian writer
Alexandru Moisuc (*1942), Romanian agroscientist
Miss Platnum (1980- ) Singer
Reuven Ramaty (1937-2001), Israeli-US astrophysicist
Sandra Romain (1978- ) Adult film actress
Cornel Trăilescu (1926- ), Romanian composer and conductor
Ferenc Illy (1892-1956), Hungarian-Italian inventor of illycaffè
Timotei Ursu (1939- ), Romanian cinema and TV programs director and author
Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984), US Olympic swimmer, best known for his role as Tarzan
Myriam Yardeni (1932-) Israeli historian
Edina Gallovits (1984-) Hungarian-Romanian professional tennis player
János Székely (1983-) Hungaarian-Romanian footballer

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Timişoara

[edit] Gallery

The Bega Canal	The Unirii (Losonczi/Dóm) Square	The Orthodox Cathedral	The Orthodox Cathedral (other view)
The Victory (Lloyd) Square	King Carol I Street	The Baroque Palace, Art Museum	The Catholic Cathedral
The Dóm Square	The Dóm Square (summer)	The Catholic Cathedral (other view)	The Dóm Square and the Statue
The Serbian Church	Pub in Dóm Square	Lenau School in Dóm Square	The BT Cafe
The Libertatii (Jenő-herceg) Square	The Floral Clock	The Park near the Floral Clock	Catholic Church
The National Bank of Romania	The National Bank of Romania (at night)	Iulius Mall at Christmas	The Traian (Kossuth) Square
The Millennium Cathedral	The Millennium Cathedral (other view)	The Roses Park	The Court of Law
Cardinal Points	Dan Paltinisanu Stadium	The Timisoara county Hospital	Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy
The Bega Canal	Alpinet Park	Orthodox Cathedral