Miercurea-Ciuc : Romania

Miercurea-Ciuc (Hungarian: Csikszereda, German: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita county, Transylvania, Romania.

Demographics
According to the 2002 Census the city has a population of 42,029. Of whom 34,388 or 81.8% are Szekely Hungarians.

Description
Miercurea-Ciuc is the county seat of Hargita county, the former county seat of the Szekler county of Csikszek. The city lies in the east of the county in the Olt valley. Recently the city has been called the Szeklerland capital, as opposed to Targu Mures (Hungarian:Marosvasarhely).

After the city became the county seat of Harghita in 1968, a new socialist style city centre was constructed. It began to develop into the centre of Szekler culture and identity. In 2001 the old Hargita Hotel was converted into the Sapientia Transylvanain Hungarian University, which although privately run, is the first Hungarian university in Romania. Other cities in Transylvania also have Sapientia University faculties. Since the university opened it has been attracting more and more young people and intellectuals.

Miercurea-Ciuc is one of the coldest towns in the whole of Romania, with winter temperatures often going under 30°C making ideal for winter sports. The MiercureaCiuc icerink year-by-year hosts the national icehockey championships, which is often won by the city team. This achievement gives rise to a feeling of “national pride” in the Szeklerland. The other source of pride in the city is the famous Csiki beer, considered by some to be the best beer in Romania.
Petofi Street is the main pedestrianised street in the city, today it has a young feel thanks to the student presence, and houses many trendy restaurants and fashionable cafes where you can try Szekler specialities in an atmosphere that conjures up images of a small town in Western Europe.

In the city centre, the main point of interest is the Miko Castle, built in a late renaissance style. The original more decorative castle was raised in the 17th Century on the orders of Ferenc Miko Hidvegi, the personal advisor of Gabor Bethlen, the governor of Transylvania’s at the time. Much of the castle was destroyed in 1661 during the Tatar raids, it was rebuilt at the beginning of the 18th Century and was mainly used as a barracks, today it houses the Csik Szekely Museum. Behind the castle you will find a small Skanzen (museum village), consisting of a few traditional Csik houses and wooden gates. Across the road from the castle is the city hall built in 1886, originally the county hall of the old Hungarian crown county. Beside the castle is the 1904 Courthouse. Soon the city will have a new church designed by the Hungarian architect Imre Makovecz.

A few kilometres to the east of the city centre is the Csiksomlyo church, by which there is a large meadow, which is the site of a yearly Hungarian Roman Catholic pilgrimage which attracts Hungarians from all over the world but predominantly from Hungary, the Szekely lands and from the Csango lands. The event attracts several hundred thousand people and is held on Whit Sunday in June. It is called the “Csiksomlyo Saint’s Day” or Csiksomlyoi Bucsu in Hungarian.