Mediaş
| Mediaș | ||
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| Municipality | ||
St. Margaret Evangelical Church in the historical city centre
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 Location of Mediaș |
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 Mediaș
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| Coordinates: 46°9′50″N 24°21′3″E / 46.16389°N 24.35083°ECoordinates: 46°9′50″N 24°21′3″E / 46.16389°N 24.35083°E | ||
| Country |
 Romania
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| County | Sibiu County | |
| Status | Municipality | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 62.62 km2 (24.18 sq mi) | |
| Population (2011) | ||
| • Total | 47,204 | |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | |
| Website | http://www.primariamedias.ro/ | |
Mediaș (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmedi.aʃ]; German: Mediasch; Hungarian: Medgyes; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: Medwesch) is the second largest city in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania.
Mediaș is located in the middle basin of Târnava Mare River, at 39 km from Sighișoara and 41 km from Blaj. The health resort Bazna, officially recognized for the first time in 1302, is 18 km from Mediaș. The health resort offers mineral water springs, rich in salts, mineral mud and a special type of salt, called "Bazna salt". The distance between Mediaș and the county's residence Sibiu is 55 km.
The city administers one village, Ighișu Nou (Eibesdorf; Szászivánfalva).
The first signs of human communities in the area are thought to be from the middle Neolithic period.
In the 13th century, the kings of Hungary invited German settlers known as Transylvanian Saxons to the area, who settled in the valley of the Târnava Mare River.
In 1910 Mediaş had 8,626 inhabitants (44.8% Germans, 31.6% Romanians, 19.9% Hungarians). In 1992, there were 64,481 inhabitants. By 2011, the figure had fallen to 44,169. The ethnic composition in 2011 was:
Mediaş is the second industrial center after Sibiu in the county.
From the 14th to 19th centuries, various manufacturers and professionals were members of associations based on their trades called bresle (guilds), the first two unions were the ones formed by tailors and cloth makers, in 1457. In 1698, Mediaş already had 33 unions.
In the 19th century, unions started to merge and build factories. The first factory, called "Karres", was established in 1881 and produced various leather products. In 1888, a factory that manufactured cloth and various textiles was built, followed in 1985 by a factory called "Salconserv" that produced salami and cans. The company used to produce the famous brand of salami called "salam de Sibiu", for the company "Theil & Co. A.G. Salami und Selchwarenfabrik", located in Sibiu.
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Wikipedia