Commune of Ghimeș-Făget, Bacău

Ghimeș-Făget
—  Commune  —
The Ghimeș Pass
Location of Ghimeș-Făget in Bacău County
Ghimeș-Făget Position of Făget in Romania
Coordinates: 46°36′12″N 26°05′13″E
Country	Romania
Counties of Romania	Bacău
Villages	List Făget Bolovăniș Făgetu de Sus Ghimeș Răchitiș Tărhăuși
Government
• Mayor	Vilmos Gabrea (Alianța pentru Bacău)
Area
• Total	184.85 km2 (71.37 sq mi)
Elevation	763 m (2,503 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	5,094
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.comunapalanca.ro

Ghimeş-Făget (Hungarian: Gyimesbükk or sometimes Nagy-Gyimes) is a commune in Bacău County, Romania. It is the only commune in the county that lies in the historical region of Transylvania.

Component villages

The commune is composed of six villages: Făget (seat of the commune), Bolovăniș, Făgetu de Sus, Ghimeș, Răchitiș and Tărhăuși.

History

The Ghimeş strait. At the bottom: the new road and the bridge of the old road. Near the railway line: the former Austro-Hungarian customs house. Beyond it: the "Stone Nose" hill with the ruins of the Rákóczi castle

The area around 1770 (Josephine land survey)

The village was part of the Székely Land region of the historical Transylvania province. It was first mentioned in 1600 as Gijmes. The area of the commune belonged to Csíkszék until the administrative reform of Transylvania in 1876, when it fell within the Csík County of the Kingdom of Hungary.

The village was occupied by the Romanian army between 13 to 20 November 1918. Shortly thereafter, the Union of Transylvania with Romania was proclaimed, and the village, like the rest of Transylvania, formally passed with the Treaty of Trianon from Hungarian to Romanian control in 1920. In 1940, the Second Vienna Award granted Northern Transylvania to Hungary and the village was held by Hungary until 1944. With the Soviet occupation near the end of World War II, the Romanian administration returned and the commune's status as part of Romania was formalized in 1947.

Until 1918, it was a border village between Hungary and Romania and as such, it had an important and large railway station designed by Hungarian architect Ferenc Pfaff. The main building of the station was 102m long and 13m wide, comparable in size and elegance with the railway stations of Szeged and Fiume.

In 1950, as part of a wider administrative reform, the commune was transferred from Ciuc County to Regiunea Bacău. School education in the Hungarian language was abolished in 1965. Local teacher and school director András Deáky advocated for teaching in Hungarian and re-organized it after 1990. He also established a Hungarian language library from donations of the public.

Demography

In 2002, it had a population of 5,340; out of them, 2720 were Hungarians, 2522 were Romanians and 71 were Csangos. As to religion, 58.03% of the villagers are Roman Catholics, while 41.44% of them belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Landmarks

• On the right side of the Ghimeş Strait, on the pre-WWI Hungarian-Romanian border, the ruins of the Rákóczi Castle can be seen. It was built in 1626 upon the order prince Gabriel Bethlen. Later, it was strengthened several times, but today, it is in ruins.
• The old Roman Catholic church was built in 1782, its registers are kept as from 1785.
• The new Roman Catholic church was built in 1976, thanks to the efforts of parish priest Gergely Dani, it is decorated with frescoes made by Magda Lukásovics.
• In its vicinity, 3 stone landmarks of the Austro-Hungarian Empire can still be seen (beyond the Rákóczi Castle, following the ridge).
• At the foot of the Rákóczi Castle stands the railway guard house no. 30, the easternmost railway guardhouse of the pre-WWI Kingdom of Hungary.
• A Csango country house set up by the ethnographer Maria Tankó Antalné.

External links

• Website of the Roman Catholic Parish (Hungarian)
• Tourist accommodation (Hungarian)
• Datasheet of local Roman Catholic Parish (Hungarian)