Country Romania Status Municipality Area 36.3 km² Local time Monday 2:35 PM | County Cluj Time zone EET (UTC+2) Population 20,203 (20 Oct 2011) | |
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Weather 13°C, Wind NW at 11 km/h, 46% Humidity | ||
Gherla ([ˈɡerla]; Hungarian: Szamosújvár; German: Neuschloss) is a city in Cluj County, Romania (in the historical region of Transylvania). It is located 45 km from Cluj-Napoca on the Someșul Mic River, and has a population of 20,203. Three villages are administered by the city: Băița (formerly Chirău, and Kérő in Hungarian), Hășdate (Szamoshesdát) and Silivaș (Vizszilvás).
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Map of Gherla 405300, Romania
The city was formerly known as Armenopolis (Armenian: Հայաքաղաք Hayakaghak; German: Armenierstadt; Hungarian: Örményváros) because it was populated by Armenians.
History
A clay tablet containing a fragmentary Old Persian cuneiform of the Achaemenid king Darius I was found in 1937 at Gherla, which may be related to Darius I's epigraphic activities as reported by Herodotus in relation to his Scythian campaign of 513 BC.
The locality was first recorded in 1291, as a village named Gherlahida (probably derived from the Slavic word grle, meaning "ford"). The second name was Armenian, Հայաքաղաք Hayakaghak, meaning "Armenian city"; it gave the Medieval Latin and Greek official name Armenopolis, as well as the German alternative name Armenierstadt. Later, the name of Szamosújvár was used in official Hungarian records, meaning "the new town on the Someș". Before 1918, Gherla was part of the Kingdom of Hungary comitatus of Szolnok-Doboka. It was again part of Hungary between 1940-1944.
The modern city was built in the early 18th century by Armenians, successors of the Cilician Armenian diaspora, who had originally settled in Crimea and Moldavia, and moved to Transylvania sometime after 1650. After a two years' campaign by the Armenian-Catholic Bishop Oxendius Vărzărescu, they converted from the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Armenian Catholic Church.
Gherla is the seat of the Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Romania as well as that of a Greek-Catholic diocese – the Cluj-Gherla Diocese (suffragan to the Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Alba Iulia and Făgăraș-Blaj, who resided in Blaj). In the center of the city lie the Saint Gregory the Illuminator and the Holy Trinity Armenian Cathedral. The main Armenian-Catholic church was built in 1792. The Greek Catholic diocese was created through the Papal Bull Ad Apostolicam Sedem of November 26, 1853, and the first bishop was Ioan Alexi.
A Habsburg fortress was built here, and in 1785 converted to a prison which, during the Communist regime, was used for political detainees (see Gherla prison). Today it is a Romanian high-security prison.
The town is often visited by Orthodox pilgrims on their way to the nearby village of Nicula and Nicula Monastery.
Population
According to the 2011 Romanian census, there were 20,203 people living within the city, as follows: