Székelyudvarhely

Odorheiu Secuiesc
Székelyudvarhely

Municipality

Main Square

Flag

Coat of arms

Location of Odorheiu Secuiesc

Coordinates: 46°18′50″N 25°18′6″E / 46.31389°N 25.30167°ECoordinates: 46°18′50″N 25°18′6″E / 46.31389°N 25.30167°E

Romania

Harghita County

Government

• Mayor

Árpád Gálfi

Population (2011)

• Total

34,257

Ethnicity

• Hungarians

31,665 (95.8%)

• Romanians

861 (2.6%)

• Gypsies

509 (1.5%)

Time zone

EET (UTC+2)

• Summer (DST)

EEST (UTC+3)

Area code(s)

+40 266

Website

Official website of the town

Odorheiu Secuiesc (Romanian pronunciation: [odorˌheju sekuˈjesk]; Hungarian: Székelyudvarhely, Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈseːkɛjudvɒrhɛj]; German: Odorhellen) is the second largest city in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. In its short form, it is also known as Odorhei in Romanian and Udvarhely in Hungarian. The Hungarian name of the town "Udvarhely" means "courtyard place."

The city has a population of 34,257. Among those for whom data are available, 95.8% are ethnic Hungarians, making it the urban settlement with the third-highest proportion of Hungarians in Romania. The city is also home to communities of ethnic Romanians (2.6%) and Roma (1.5%).

Demographic evolution according to the censuses:

Half the population of the town professes Roman Catholicism (50.05%), while the remaining half is primarily divided between Hungarian Reformed (30.14%), Unitarian (14.71%), and Romanian Orthodox (2.54%) communities.

The town, as the former seat of the Udvarhely comitatus, is one of the historical centers of Székely Land. The first known reference to the city was in a papal register of duties in 1334 when it was mentioned by its Hungarian name, a sacerdos de Oduorhel. Since 1615, when Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, reaffirmed the rights of the town, the place has been referred to as Székelyudvarhely.

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Wikipedia