1. FĂGĂRAŞ
Knowing the Past to Understand the Present

2. Etymology
 The name of the town comes from “fagar“ which in Proto-
Indo-European languages meant place while in ProtoGerman it meant beautiful.
 In Romanian the word “fag” means beech and “ars”
means burnt, this suggesting that the locality is situated in
an area that originally was covered by a beech forest, fact
explained by the great historian Nicolae Iorga, who
affirmed that the first settlements built here were around a
rich beech forest and the town would have taken its name
from this tree, fag, while becoming what it has been till
today.
 See also Ghyka Matila, A Documented Chronology of Romanian
History, Oxford: B. H. Blackwell Ltd. 1941

3. FAMILY NAMES OF FAGAR
Many names like Fagar originate from religious
texts like the Bhagavadgītā, the Quran, the Bible,
etc. Commonly these family names relate to a
religious phrase such as "Favored of God".
The Fagar family is an old lineage that has
spread all across the world for many
generations, and as the name Fagar has
migrated, it has evolved making its history tricky
to uncover.

4. 
Situated in the centre of the territory of Romania, on
route 1 at 67 km from Brasov and 76 km from Sibiu, on
the left bank of the Olt River, Fagaras has an altitude of
430 m.

Its coordinates are: Eastern longitude 24 ° 58 ' 27 "(25 °
Meridian runs through the eastern part of the town) and
Northern latitude 45 ° 55 ' 41".

5. Făgăraș has a population of 28,330 as of 2011
The Romanians have always formed the vast
majority of the population of this town but the
diverse background of the past is still obvious, in
spite of the Saxon and Hungarian emigration after
1990. There are Gypsies here as well, most of them
living in the outskirts.

7. 

The Land of Făgăraş is
inherited from the ancient
Dacians, a brave IndoEuropean people, described
by Herodot in his writings as
“fearless” and “most
courageous among the
numerous Thracians”.
Historians also demonstrate
in their writings that these
are the real ancestors of the
Romanians still living all
over Romania, here, in
Fagaras, too, some of them
surviving also as simple
peasants in the mountainous
villages nearby.
.
Gold bracelet with horse heads from VadFagaras
Brasov County; Kunsthistorisches Museum.

8. 
Located in Transylvania, along the middle
course of the river Olt, the medieval city center
in Făgăraş. In 1876 the territory was organized
in the county Făgăraş, Făgăraş county
administrative unit precursor. With the
communist regime in Romania Făgăraş land
was divided between Brasov and Sibiu

9. 
Archaeological findings have shown traces of human life
in the area ever since the Neolithic, the Bronze and the
Iron Ages in the town of Făgăraş and the vilages nearby:
Calbor, Cincşor, Hălmeag, Felmer, Șercaia, Beclean,
Mândra, Hoghiz, Săvăstreni and Ungra.

There are traces of Dacian dwellings in the Land of
Făgăraş part of the "magic triangles“ - invisible lines
that cross the Carpathians, between the cities and shrines
of our ancestors: the "Guruiete" – pyramid-like mounds
of earth, perched on hills near the villages around
Fagaras in: Hălmeag, Buneşti, Şona, the Temple of Şinca
Veche.

10. 

There are in the Land of Fagaras fortifications built by
the Romans and lots of archaeological traces leading us
back to a glorious past, emphasizing the fact that this
place has always been important both economically,
socially and spiritually. Most of the Saxon fortified
churches in this land were built with stones from these
decaying but still visible Roman forts.
According to a local legend, here is the land where a
Romanian leader, Negru Voda (“The Black Prince”),
voivode of Walachia, made his first fortress - now in
ruins near Fagaras, Breaza, around 1300.

12. 

After leaving the province of Dacia by the Roman military and
administrative authorities, the local population of the Land of
Fagaras continued its existence on one side and the other of Olt - the
eloquent proof are the settlements of the 4th century from Sercaia and
Rasnov, the monetary findings from Cornana of up and Hoghiz.
Traces of material culture have been identified in Felmer, Tlcus and
Ungra, and the numismatic evidence from Cincsor (4 th century) and
Voila (7th century).
These archeological discoveries reveal evidence of Daco-Roman
continuity. These Proto-Romanians are later attested here by the
archaeological discoveries in the village of Lower Cornana (Gruiul
cowboy), where they found a resort dating back to the 8 th and 9th
centuries - settlements in Rotbav (The pot), Matias, Harman and
Felmer, and the defense point of the 9th and 10th centuries, from
Breaza - the site of the ancient Dacian fortification which precedes
the early medieval fortress.

13. 
An sacred ancient place
where hermits in the
medieval ages led their
lives at a high spiritual
level.

14. 

"When were the years from Adam 6798, Radul
Black Prince, who had his seat in the Făgăraş
from his ancestors, the old Rumani, who came
from Rome, in the days of Emperor Trajan, was
reckoned to move the seat over here."
The Chronicle of the Baleni
The school you are visiting now was given his
legendary name by a great local personality, Ioan
Codru Drăguşan, in September 13, 1869 when he
founded it as a Romanian institution of
education.

15. 
In the 9th and 10th centuries, the land of Făgăraş is
mentioned in documents as ' Terra Blachorrum'
(country of the Romanians), proving to be a state
of pre-feudal formation which occurred in the
same period with the other Romanian
Carpathian voivodeships.

16. 

The 1st written document mentioning Romanians
in Transylvania, referred to Vlach lands ("Terra
Blacorum") in the Fogaras Region in 1222.
In this document, Andrew II of Hungary gave
Burzenland and the Cuman territories South of
Burzenland up to the Danube to the Teutonic
Knights. But it lasted for a short period: from
1211 to 1225 when these knights went back to
their countries.

17. 

The document of 1291 was a record in which
Ugrinus as a magistrate asked the king to return
these lands to the Romanians, recognizing that
the Romanians themselves had been in
possession of the great feud.
In 1393, Gobelinus, the Catholic bishop of
Transylvania, named Fagaras as the
"Romanian great city."

18. 


After the Tatar invasion in 1241-1242, Saxons
settled in the area.
In the 14th century, during the reign of Vladislav I
(Vlaicu Voda), until the reign of Radu the Great
(1495-1508), with minor interruptions, Făgăraşul
and Amlaşul were fiefs of the Lords in Walachia.
Thus, in 1369, Louis I of Hungary gave the Royal
Estates of Făgăraș to his vassal, Vladislav I of
Wallachia. The territory remained in the
possession of Wallachian Princes until 1464.

19. "I, Vlad, prince and voivode and
great prince Vlad's son, holding
rule and reigning over the whole
Land of Hungro-Wallachia,
Amlaş and Făgăraş."
(a 1460 document )

20. 


After the splitting of the Hungarian Feudal
Kingdom in 1541, Transylvania became an
autonomous principality under Ottoman
suzerainty.
In this framework, the domain and the Fagaras
Fortress became the property of hereditary
princes of Transylvania.
Many have given Făgăraş special attention
contributing to cultural and economic
development of the entire area.

21. 

Craftsmen come to organize in guilds. The
earliest document of a guild in Făgăraş is dated
as being from around 1590, when Mary
Christierna, wife of Sigismund Bathory, ruler
of Transsylvania gave privileges to the
shoemaker's guild.
The Tanners Guild experienced the strongest
growth, its products reaching fame and a large
sale. "The Tanners" Street still preserves the
memory of this craft.

22. 



During the rule of Transylvanian Prince Gabriel Bethlen
(1613–1629), Fagaras became an economic role model
town in Transylvania. Bethlen rebuilt the fortress
entirely.
In the years 1699-1765, the entire territory in the foothills
of the Făgăraş Mountains became the property of the
Hapsburgs.
In 1765, when Grand Prince of Transylvania was Maria
Theresa, the entire holding of Fagaras was donated to the
Saxon University (Universitas Saxonum) for 99 years.
In 1918 it returned to this land in the confines of the
Romanian State.

23. The Old Town Of Făgăraş
.

25. 



The adversity the country inhabitants of Făgăraş towards any form
of foreign domination made their presence felt since the 10th century
with the arrival of the Hungarians when the Romanian population,
organized in a voivodship, opposed them successfully, keeping their
autonomy and continuing to rule their own land, "according to the
old law of the Rumanians".
The attempts to retain independence against the oppressors are felt
throughout the middle ages, in 1368, 1432, 1434, 1436, 1503, 1508,
when numerous rebellions took place in Transylvania and in
Făgăraş, too.
The most important movements were in the years 1757-1761. The
bloody uprising was repressed by the Governor of Transylvania,
General Bukow when hundreds of Romanians, including Făgăraş
inhabitants were barbarously killed.
The 1848 revolution did not leave indifferent the inhabitants of
Făgăraş. The town was an important centre of action, thus creating
"Prefecture" and "the Roman Legion" of the country in Făgăraş.

26. 



It lasted from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, through
isolated groups of fighters remaining until the 1960s.
Armed resistance was the first and most structured form
of resistance against the communist regime.
It wasn’t until the overthrow of the Communist President
Nicolae Ceausescu, in late 1989 that details about what
was called “anti-communist armed resistance” were
made public.
The Romanian resistance was the longest lasting armed
movements in the former Soviet block.

27. 

Ion Gavrila Ogoranu led a resistance group in
the Făgăraş Mountains from 1948 to 1956.
He remained undetected until 1976. According to
him, a resistance group was located in a
mountainous area which comprised some
communities and was supported by a significant
number of inhabitants (up to several thousands),
who provided shelter, food and information.

28. 


First it was a wooden fort, surrounded by a moat
and wave of land, archaeological attested to XII
century.
In the 14th century it turned into a feudal castle
In the 15th century the fortress of stone and brick
from Făgăraş which was a military defense
fortress, had a quadrilateral enclosure with four
towers and bastions at the corners and a
barricade type tower outpost on the east side.

29. 



It withstood sieges and attacks due to the
strength of its thick brick walls and deep moat,
two of the structure's most notable features.
Today, Făgăraş Castle is a museum of
archeology and history.
Eighty of its rooms are preserved, along with
towers and courtyards.
Due to its well-preserved state, visitors to the
castle are able to envision it in use as a respected
Transylvanian stronghold and military outpost.

30. 
The Statue of Lady Stanca is the work of
sculpture Spiridon Georgescu (1887-1974) in
1938 and it is placed in front of the Fortress, at
the proposal of the great historian Nicolae Iorga,
adressed to the Association of Romanian
Women, Făgăraş which came with the idea of a
bust of Lady Stanca – an aristocrat Romanian
woman, wife of Michael the Brave, the king who
united Romania in 1600.

31. 
Michael the Brave who united Romania in 1600
came to Făgăraş in 1599 but after he was killed
in 1601 (near Turda, by Captain Jacques Beaury
Walloon) his wife, Lady Stanca was held captive
in the Fortress until the autumn of 1602 when
she was put in liberty and allowed to go to
Wallachia. However she became sick of the
plague and died in 1603.

32. High mountains that surround
in the south Făgăraş, mountains
that have snow on their peaks
even in late summer, hills,
pastures with sheep, fast flowing
mountain waters, or rivers flowing through valleys
between the hills make the environment particularly
beautiful. The asphalt roads that unite communities
from the region pass through a charming landscape.