History of Gheorgheni
From Bronze Age finds to the present day — the story of the Székelys, the Armenians and
the Lázár counts that shaped one of the most fascinating regions of Transylvania.
Early history — from the Bronze Age to 1607
The Depression of Giurgeu was already inhabited 3000 years ago — proven by the Bronze Age finds unearthed on the terrace below Magasbükk. The first settlement formed at Békény-loka, but the true peopling of the region only began after the Mongol invasion of 1241, when Székelys fleeing the Tatars found refuge here.
Bronze Age finds
Bronze Age finds unearthed on the terrace below Magasbükk show that the region was already inhabited 3000 years ago. The first settlement lay at Békény-loka.
Resettlement after the Mongol invasion
Székelys fleeing in the wake of the Mongol invasion found refuge in the Giurgeu Depression. The settlement was re-founded at that time — in the middle of the 13th century.
Székelys of Ciuc and Giurgeu
The Székelys of Ciuc and Giurgeu were first mentioned in 1285 — in connection with the Battle of Tarkő against the Tatars.
First written mention
The papal tithe register mentions three settlements named Giurgeu: Szentmiklós, Alfalu and Szárhegy (today Lăzarea). The church — dedicated to Saint Nicholas — already stood before; in 1332 a parish priest named Nicholas is recorded.
Giurgeu Seat under King Matthias
King Matthias Corvinus was the first to raise Giurgeu to the rank of a Székely mother seat, separate from Ciuc. The Székelys enjoyed noble rights, owned their own land and were generally exempt from taxes — in exchange, they were required to render military service in time of war.
Rise of the Lázár family
The Lázár family acquired significant estates in Ciuc and Giurgeu. For a long time they led the Székely seat and held wide-ranging political influence in the region.
Great Székely uprising
The Székelys rose up over the curtailment of their ancestral rights against John II of Hungary (the later Prince John Sigismund), who brutally crushed the revolt with his troops. The common Székelys who had taken part were reduced to serfdom — and from then on most of Gheorgheni's inhabitants became serfs of the Lázár counts.
Land tenure structure
According to a 1567 conscription, Gheorgheni was home to 78 serf families alongside 10 free Székely households — laying bare the heavy consequences of the 1562 uprising.
Redemption of freedom
The Székelys reduced to serfdom were able to redeem themselves only in 1599. Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, restored the old liberties in his charter dated 31 December 1601.
Market rights
Prince Sigismund Rákóczi granted Gheorgheni the right to hold a market — this marked the beginning of its urbanisation. The market right opened the way to the strengthening of its commercial role, which would reach fulfilment with the Armenian settlement of 1637.
The suffix "Szent Miklós" (Saint Nicholas) comes from the church's patron saint. The origin of the word "Gyergyó" is disputed: some derive it from the Hungarian verb "gurog (görög)", others from the name of the György river ("Gyergyjó"). Another tradition links it to the cry of the first settlers ("Jer! Jó!" — "Come! It is good!"). The most plausible explanation derives it from the name of Saint George.
Armenian settlement — from 1637 to the present day
In the mid-17th century, with the support of the Prince of Transylvania, a substantial Armenian community settled in Gheorgheni and became the engine of the town's commercial and cultural life. The Armenians came from Moldavia, and to this day they play a defining role in the town's character.
First documented Armenians
The first documented Armenian brothers — Hörtz Azbej and Vartik — arrive in Giurgeu. Crossing the Carpathians, they appeared regularly on the local market and traded in town. The "cemetery of strangers" also takes shape in this period.
Mass settlement
In the mid-17th century — during the reign of Prince Michael Apafi of Transylvania — several hundred Armenian families arrive in Giurgeu from Moldavia. These people sought refuge from political instability and persecution.
Right of settlement
Michael Apafi I, Prince of Transylvania, granted the Armenians the right of settlement — thereby regulating their legal status in Transylvania. From then on, the Armenian community became the commercial and economic engine of the town.
Union with the Catholic Church
The Armenians entered into union with the Roman Catholic Church while preserving their own rite. This allowed them to found a separate parish while keeping their Armenian liturgical traditions — Old Armenian language and rite.
Church plot
The Armenians bought the "cemetery of strangers" together with a small chapel. A telling clause: if they were to leave the town, they could not reclaim the purchase price — showing that they still saw Giurgeu as a temporary home at the time.
The Armenian Baroque church
The present Baroque Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is built on the site of the Gothic chapel. It was consecrated in 1772 in honour of the birth of the Virgin Mary. In 1748 it was reinforced with a loop-holed stone wall and bastion towers.
The last year of the Mercantiel Forum
The local Armenians enjoyed autonomy — they had their own decision-making body, the Mercantiel Forum, conducted in Armenian until 1799. From the start of 1800 onwards they switched to Hungarian and the Latin alphabet.
Founding of the Csíky Garden
The lawyer Dr Dénes Csíky, of Armenian descent, bought the land around Filep's well and began laying out the 20-hectare arboretum. The garden was completed in 1909 and remains one of the town's treasures to this day.
Closure of the Armenian school
The last institutional step towards Magyarisation — with the closure of the Armenian school, the language fell out of use for good. Today it survives only as the Old Armenian liturgical language.
Founding of banks and embourgeoisement
The Armenians founded the town's first savings bank, then its first bank, and later did the same in surrounding villages (e.g. Joseni). The phrase "Armenian dawn" stems from their habit of buying up market goods early. The Armenians contributed greatly to the embourgeoisement of Giurgeu.
"There are two kinds of people in this region: those who know they have Armenian ancestors and those who don't know it yet."
— A Transylvanian saying that expresses the deep rootedness of the Armenians in the town's lifeFamous figures born here and with ties to the town
Gheorgheni has given Transylvania and Hungary many outstanding figures — politicians, artists, scholars and athletes. Many of them were of Armenian descent and played a prominent role in the history of Transylvania and Hungarian culture.
Born in the town
Orel Dezső
1861 – 1923Community organiser, newspaper editor and lawyer. The first mayor of Gheorgheni as a town with an organised council.
Lázár István
b. 1881Writer, poet and screenwriter — a participant in the Transylvanian literary scene at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dr. Kónya István
1915 – 1958Lawyer and participant in the movement led by Aladár Szoboszlay. Executed in Timișoara in 1958 under the communist regime.
Török István
b. 2 Jan 1924Stage actor — a theatre artist born in Gheorgheni.
Bálint Erzsébet (Kostyákné)
b. 1926Music teacher and writer on the arts. Her father, Ákos Bálint, served for half a century as a Roman Catholic cantor of the Armenian rite and conductor of the choral society.
Kónya István
b. 1926Museum curator and natural-science writer. Chronicler of the town's ethnographic and natural heritage.
Kolumbán József
b. 1935Mathematician and university professor. External member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 2001 — part of the town's scientific heritage.
Bagossy Norbert
b. 1990Lead singer of Bagossy Brothers Company — one of the popular figures of contemporary Hungarian music, the younger pride of Gheorgheni.
Raised here and figures connected to the town
Marius Urzică
Raised here, became Romania's legendary gymnastOlympic champion, three-time European champion and three-time world champion in artistic gymnastics. His head coach was József Ferencz — he was raised and trained in Gheorgheni.
Joó Rózsi
Makó, 1900 — Gheorgheni, 1979An actress who spent much of her life here and died here in 1979. One of the artists closely tied to the town.
The Armenian connection — world-renowned descendants
The Armenian community of Gheorgheni is part of a network of families from which figures of international importance descended. Though not all were born in the town, they are all descendants of the Transylvanian Armenian community:
Czárán Gyula
1847 – 1906"The father of Hungarian tourism" — road builder, cave explorer and honorary member of the Transylvanian Carpathian Society. He carried out pioneering work mainly in the Bihor (Apuseni) Mountains. Of Armenian descent on both his father's and mother's sides.
Pongrátz Gergely
1932 – 2005Commander-in-chief of the Corvin Passage in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution ("Bajusz"). Descendant of an Armenian family from Gherla. Under his command, the Corvin Passage fighters destroyed Soviet tanks.
Spiru Haret
turn of the 19th–20th c.A former Romanian Minister of Education, creator of the modern Romanian school system. He came from a Transylvanian Armenian family — one of the key figures in the history of Romanian education.