People lived in Timisoara since ancient times. First there were the Dacians and later the Romans, who named it Castrum Temesiense. First mentioned in 1212 as a citadel, by the 14th century it became an important outpost in the fight between Christendom and the Muslim Ottoman Turks. It was here that Hungarian and French crusaders gathered before the Battle of Nicopolis (1396), one of the last large-scale crusades.
From the 18th century, it developed around the fortified nucleus. Later transitioned towards becoming an important economic and industrial center. The city flourished between the interwar period and the Communist period. Its population tripled during that time.
On 22 December 1989, following a popular uprising, Timisoara became the first Romanian city free of communism, starting the Romanian Revolution which toppled Ceaușescu’s regime.
Iancu de Hunedoara built the first castle of the Huniaz in 1443-1447, on the ruins of an old castle belonging to the 14th century, built by Carol Robert de Anjou. After a visit in 1307, he decided to make a home in Timisoara. The construction was ready in 1315, and since 1316 the king was already established in his new castle where he lived 8 years.
The edifice developed around a yard with corner towers. Iancu de Hunedoara was the leader of the comitat in Timisoara between 1441 and 1456. He ordered the set-up of a new castle on the ruins of the old royal palace, damaged by an earthquake. The new castle served as a home for every king who until 1552 made a halt in Timisoara.
Ottoman Occupation
In the period of the Ottoman occupation (1552-1716), it was the place of the military commanders of Pașalâcul de Timisoara. During the re-conquest of Banat by the imperial army, the castle deteriorated.
After renovation, it became an artillery barrack and a military depot. In 1849 the Hungarian revolutionaries, while besieging Timisoara, destroyed the castle. Reconstruction work and the renovation ended in 1856. It has a scalloped upper part, which makes it look like a fortress.
The Castle’s Tower
The tower of the castle has a rectangular shape, with scallops. Two massive pilasters that have in the upper part a collection of guns flank the main entrance, specific to the Middle Ages. Since 1947, the castle has housed the Museum of Banat. In front of the castle, there are two lanterns, at the light of which one can read that Timisoara was the first town in Europe that in 1884 introduced public electric lighting.
The St. George’s Cathedral, or The Dome is at the Piata Unirii, in the center of town. The cathedral’s foundation stone is from the 6th of August, 1736. Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach from Vienna designed it, and then Hans Lechner continued working on the building as of 1750.
Two architects from the city, Johann Theodor Kostka and Carl Alexander Steinlein, finished it in 1774.
The Dome has an Austrian Baroque style and is dedicated to Saint George, the diocese’s patron saint. Michel Angelo Unterberger painted the picture at the high altar, director of the fine arts academy of Vienna, illustrating the patron saint. Johann Nepomuk Schöpf painted the side altars in 1772.
Josef Moser made the precious oil lamps. Leopold Wegenstein built the organ, which provides an impressive experience for the ears. New cathedral bells came from Germany in 1998.
On the outskirts of the forest, on a 17-hectare area, lies the Banat Village Museum. Its foundation is due to the persistence of Ioachim Miloia, an important cultural personality of interwar Banat. The Transylvanian poet Lucian Blaga noted that “Banat is the Romanian ethnography Baroque”.
Western travelers noted the richness and diversity of rural civilization in the region ever since the 18th century. The collection of old households and popular technical installations tries to present the reasons for such assessments.
The museum’s “core” is an interesting reconstruction of a village civic center, with a town hall, a school, a “National House” and, of course, a pub. The central piece is the wooden church.
Like all museum exhibits, it too was once a “live” object: a true parochial church, with an interesting history. Built in 1746 in Remetea Luncă, by 1807 it had already moved to the neighboring village of Topla. From there it went to the museum in 1987. It’s now the oldest church in Timisoara.
Other wooden churches of Banat are on display in about 20 villages of Banat, in particular in the Făget and Lugoj regions.
Multiculturalism is one of the major features of the Banat. The museum hosts typical houses of Germans, Hungarians, Slovaks, and Ukrainians from Banat, and in preparation, there are a Serbian house and a Roma house.