Timișoara (, , ; see other names), officially the Municipality of Timișoara, is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in western Romania. Located on the Bega River, Timișoara is considered the informal capital city of the historical Banat region. From 1848 to 1860 it was the capital of the Serbian Vojvodina and the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar. With 250,849 inhabitants at the 2021 census, Timișoara is the country's fifth most populous city. It is home to around 400,000 inhabitants in its metropolitan area, while the Timișoara–Arad metropolis concentrates more than 70% of the population of Timiș and Arad counties. Timișoara is a multicultural city, home to 21 ethnic groups and 18 religious denominations. Historically, the most numerous were the Swabian Germans, Jews and Hungarians, who still make up 6% of the population in Timișoara.
Conquered in 1716 by the Austrians from the Ottoman Turks, Timișoara developed in the following centuries behind the fortifications and in the urban nuclei located around them. During the second half of the 19th century, the fortress began to lose its usefulness, due to many developments in military technology. Former bastions and military spaces were demolished and replaced with new boulevards and neighborhoods. Timișoara was the first city in the Habsburg monarchy with street lighting (1760) and the first European city to be lit by electric street lamps in 1884. It opened the first public lending library in the Habsburg monarchy and built a municipal hospital 24 years ahead of Vienna. Also, in 1771 it published the first German newspaper in Southeast Europe (). In December 1989, Timișoara was the starting point of the Romanian Revolution.
Timișoara is one of the most important educational centers in Romania, with about 40,000 students enrolled in the city's six universities. Like many other large cities in Romania, Timișoara is a medical tourism service provider, especially for dental care and cosmetic surgery. Several breakthroughs in Romanian medicine have been achieved in Timișoara, including the first in vitro fertilization (IVF), the first laser heart surgery and the first stem cell transplant. As a technology hub, the city has one of the most powerful IT sectors in Romania alongside Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, and Brașov. In 2013, Timișoara had the fastest internet download speed in the world.
Nicknamed the "Little Vienna" or the "City of Roses", Timișoara is noted for its large number of historical monuments and its 36 parks and green spaces. The spa resorts Buziaș and Băile Călacea are located at a distance of from the city, respectively, mentioned since Roman times for the properties of healing waters. Along with Oradea, Timișoara is part of the Art Nouveau European Route. It is also a member of Eurocities. Timișoara has an active cultural scene due to the city's three state theaters, opera, philharmonic and many other cultural institutions. In 2016, Timișoara was the first Romanian Youth Capital, and in 2023 it held the title of European Capital of Culture, along with the cities of Veszprém in Hungary and Elefsina in Greece.
Etymology The Hungarian name of the city, Temesvár, was first recorded as Temeswar in 1315. It refers to a castle (vár) on the Timiș River (Temes). Timiș belongs to the family of hydronyms derived from the Indo-European radical thib 'swamp'. The Romanian and German oikonyms (Timișoara and Temeschburg, respectively) derived from the Hungarian form. The Ottoman administration used Temeşvar which was derived from Temesvár. The Habsburg/Austrian authorities also used Temeschwar, Temeswar or Temeschburg, names that have become commonplace in current usage. The name of the city comes from the river which passes the city, Timișul Mic (; ), hydronym which was in use until the 18th century when it was changed to Bega or Beghei.
History
Early history The southeastern part of the Pannonian Basin is bounded by the Mureș, the Tisza and the Danube; the region was very fertile and already offered favorable conditions for food and human livelihood in 4000 BC. Archeological remains attested the presence of a population of farmers, hunters and artisans, whose existence was favored by mild climate, fertile soil and abundant water and forests.
The first identifiable civilization in Banat were the Dacians who left traces of their past. Several Romanian historians have advanced the idea that the current location of Timișoara corresponds to the Dacian settlement of Zurobara. Although its location is unknown, the coordinates given by geographer Ptolemy in Geographike Hyphegesis place it in the northwest of Banat.
Middle Ages
It is assumed that in the 9th century, Knyaz Glad ruled over these lands, accepting Hungarian sovereignty, though no contemporary accounts exist. Timișoara was first officially mentioned in 1212 as the Roman castrum Temesiensis or castrum regium Themes. This year is disputed by historians of the opinion that the city's first documentary mention comes from 1266, when heir apparent Stephen V of Hungary donates part of the Tymes fortress, built by his father, Béla IV, to Count Parabuch. The city was destroyed by the Tatars in the 13th century, but the city was rebuilt and grew considerably during the reign of Charles I of Hungary, who, upon his visit there in 1307, ordered the strengthening of the fortress with stone walls and the building of a royal palace. The palace was built by Italian craftsmen and was organized around a rectangular court having a main body provided with a dungeon or a tower. He even moved the royal seat from Buda to Timișoara between 1316 and 1323. Timișoara's importance also grew due to its strategic location, which facilitated control over the Banat plain.
By the middle of the 14th century, Timișoara was at the forefront of Western Christendom's battle against the Muslim Ottoman Turks. In 1394, the Turks led by Bayezid I passed Nagybecskerek (present-day Zrenjanin) and Timișoara on their way to Wallachia where they were defeated by Voivode Mircea the Elder in the battle of Rovine. Timișoara once again served as a concentration point for the Christian armed forces, this time for the battle of Nicopolis. After the Christians' defeat, the Ottomans devastated Banat to Timișoara, from where they were expelled by Count István Losonczy. Appointed Count of Timiș in 1440, John Hunyadi moved with his family to Timișoara, which he would turn into a permanent military camp. John Hunyadi would come to be known throughout the region for his victory in Belgrade over the Ottomans, considered at that time a defender of Christianity. An important event in the city's history was the peasant uprising led by György Dózsa. On 10 August 1514 he tried to change the course of Bega River to be able to enter more easily into the city, but he was defeated by attacks from both inside and outside the city.
Ottoman rule (1552–1716)
The fall of Belgrade in 1521 and the defeat at Mohács in 1526 caused the division of the Hungarian Kingdom in three parts, and Banat became the object of contention between the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary and Ottomans. After a failed siege in 1551, the Turks regrouped and returned with a new strategy. On 22 July 1552, a 160,000-strong army led by Kara Ahmed Pasha conquered the city and transformed it into a provincial capital in the newly established province of (Temeşvar Eyalet). The Eyalet included most of Banat and southern Crișana. Local military commander, István Losonczy, and other Christians were massacred on 27 July 1552 while escaping the city through the Azapilor Gate. After the death of John Zápolya, Habsburgs tried to obtain Transylvania and Banat, including Timișoara, with mixed results; Transylvania even entered into dual vassalage for a time.
Timișoara remained under the Ottoman rule for 164 years, controlled directly by the Sultan and enjoying a special status, similar to other cities in the region, such as Budapest and Belgrade. During this period, Timișoara was transformed into an Ottoman fortification, with mosques, minarets, Quran schools, hammams, and bazaars being built.Gașpar, Adriana (2023). "Places of worship from the Ottoman Period in Timișoara, Romania". Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 74 (1): 171. doi:10.1556/072.2023.00011. "With the end of the Ottoman rule in Timișoara eyalet and the departure of the Muslim population from the province, according to the plan edited by Perrette, five mosques were left behind in the town, five in the suburb of Palanca Mare, two in the suburb of Palanca Mică, one of which in the neighborhood located east of the castle (...).... No building in Timișoara dating from the Ottoman Period has survived, unlike in Hungary where several places of worship or other contemporary buildings can still be visited." Timișoara became home to a large Islamic community and was predominantly populated by Muslims. The Ottoman period of Timișoara produced famous historical figures, such as Osman Ağa of Temeşvar and Ali of Temeşvar.
Except for a period in the late 16th century, the city did not suffer sieges until the end of the 17th century. In 1594, Gregory Palotić, Ban of Lugos and Karánsebes, started an anti-Ottoman uprising in Banat, with its starting point in Nagybecskerek. Following a strong Transylvanian offensive led by György Borbély, the Christian army conquered several towns, but Timișoara remained untouched. Another attempt to retake the city took place in 1596, when an army of Sigismund Báthory began the siege of the city. After 40 days of futile efforts, the besiegers drew back.
Habsburg rule (1716–1860)
After the victory at Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716, the Austrian army led by Prince Eugene of Savoy decided to conquer Timișoara. The Ottoman military, the kuruc and the Turkish civilian population were forced to leave the city after a 48-day siege marked by repeated bombings that destroyed much of the city's buildings. After the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), the Banat of Temeswar became the province of the Habsburg monarchy under the German name of Temeschburg and was proclaimed a "possession of the Crown", with a military administration which ruled it until 1751 when it was replaced by a civil one.
After the conquest of Banat, the imperial authorities in Vienna began an extensive process of colonization, inviting especially German Catholics from Württemberg, Swabia, Nassau, etc. who would become known as Banat Swabians. In Temeschburg, the Swabians settled mainly in Fabric, where they strongly developed craftsmanship. The main function of the town during this period was as a military fortress. The existing fortifications could not cope with the new military techniques, so the entire fortress was rebuilt in a late, flat and inconsistent adaptation of the Vauban style. It had an area ten times greater than the medieval Turkish fortress. Between 1728 and 1732, the Bega River was regulated into a navigable canal.