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37-494: Work on the castle, which is 75 m long and 70 m wide, began on 26 April 1623 and probably was completed in the 1630s. In style, it resembles the castles at Iernut , Vințu de Jos and Lăzarea . It is named after Ferenc Mikó (1585–1635), who began building it a decade after becoming supreme captain of the Csíkszék ( Ciuc ), Gyergyószék ( Gheorgheni ) and Kászonszék ( Caşin ) Székely seats , later merged into Csík County . Documents of

74-650: A top priority on Ceaușescu's agenda. The concept was first developed by Nikita Khrushchev , aiming to raise the standard of rural life by amalgamating villages in order to stop the migration of younger people from rural to urban. However, the project was forgotten while Ceaușescu focused on other projects, such as the Centrul Civic and the Danube–Black Sea Canal , but it was relaunched in March 1988. The 1974 law for urban and rural territorial reorganization provided for

111-540: A town on 28 November 2000. Bragadiru and Măgurele became towns on 29 December 2005. In Hungary, the program is called " romániai falurombolás " (lit. "Romanian village destruction"). After May 1988, Transylvanian "atrocity stories" abounded in the Hungarian press. The Romanian regime drew unfavorable world opinion and came under increasing attack from the global press. In June 1988, 50,000 people protested in Budapest because

148-470: Is twinned with: Romanian rural systematization program The Romanian rural systematization program was a social engineering program undertaken by Nicolae Ceaușescu 's Romania primarily at the end of the 1980s. The legal framework for this program was established as early as 1974, but it only began in earnest in March 1988, after the Romanian authorities renounced most favoured nation status and

185-520: Is a town in Mureș County , central Transylvania , Romania . It administers eight villages: Cipău ( Maroscsapó ), Deag ( Marosdég ), Lechința ( Maroslekence ), Oarba de Mureș ( Marosorbó ), Porumbac ( Porumbáktanya ), Racameț ( Józseftanya ), Sălcud ( Szélkút ), and Sfântu Gheorghe ( Csapószentgyörgy ). It officially became a town in 1989, as a result of the Romanian rural systematization program . The town

222-1132: Is situated on the Transylvanian Plateau . It lies on the banks of the Mureș River ; the Lechința and Valea din Jos rivers discharge into the Mureș here. Iernut is located in the southwestern part of Mureș County, 19 km (12 mi) north of Târnăveni and 30 km (19 mi) west of the county seat, Târgu Mureș . It lies at the intersection of two national roads : DN15  [ ro ] , which runs from Turda in Cluj County to Târgu Mureș and on to Bacău in Western Moldavia , and DN14A  [ ro ] , which connects Iernut to Târnăveni and ends in Mediaș , Sibiu County . The partially built A3 motorway ( Autostrada Transilvania ), which connects Bucharest to

259-452: Is the loss of the individual house.". It was an all-out effort at social engineering: kitchens and bathrooms were communal space in the government-owned and controlled apartments. The number of villages was to be reduced to 5,000–6,000 (grouped in 2,000 communes), implying that 7,000–8,000 would be destroyed. Workers and intellectuals were to be settled in 3–4 storey buildings, with small blocks of 4 apartments or individual two-storey houses for

296-682: The Hungarian border near Oradea , runs just south of the town. Artifacts from the Wietenberg culture (a Middle Bronze Age archeological culture that roughly dates to 2200–1600/1500 BC) have been discovered in Lechința. After 1570, the town became part of the Principality of Transylvania . The Treaty of Radnot was signed here on 6 December 1656, during the Second Northern War ; the treaty divided

333-540: The Kájoni János County Library , including a rare documents collection, has operated in the castle since 1978. The building is classified as a historic monument by the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs . 46°21′22″N 25°48′10″E  /  46.35611°N 25.80278°E  / 46.35611; 25.80278 Iernut Iernut ( Hungarian : Radnót , pronounced [ˈrɒdnoːt] )

370-621: The Magyar Autonomous Region , and between 1960 and 1968, the Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region. In 1968, the region was abolished, and since then, the settlement has been part of Mureș County. At the 2021 census , Iernut had a population of 8,473, of which 67.76% were Romanians , 12.26% Roma , 7.87% Hungarians , and 12% others. At the 2011 census , the town had 8,373 inhabitants, of which 76.55% were Romanians, 13.36% Hungarians, 9.84% Roma, and 0.18% others. Iernut

407-703: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between the signing parties. Frequent invasions forced Michael I Apafi , Prince of Transylvania , to convoke the Transylvanian Diet to the fortress of Radnót in the late 1680s. Starting in the Middle Ages , the settlement was part of Küküllő County in the Kingdom of Hungary ; in 1876, the county was split in two, and Radnót fell within Kis-Küküllő County . In

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444-818: The Transylvanian Military Frontier , part of the Military Frontier . During the Transylvanian Revolution of 1848 , part of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas , it served as the headquarters of Sándor Gál , commander of the Székely revolutionary forces. In 1970, following a thorough restoration, the Ciuc Szekler Museum , established in 1930, moved into the castle. Additionally, part of

481-639: The trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu . The program fell behind schedule, with only 24 new towns declared in 1989 out of the 100 expected by 1990. These 24 agro-industrial towns are listed below: Bragadiru , Cornetu , Balotești and Otopeni were likewise to become agro-industrial towns. Two hundred dump trucks were required to carry the rubble resulted from the demolition of many private houses in Otopeni, Dimieni and Odăile . In Bragadiru, Măgurele , Otopeni and 30 Decembrie blocks totalling thousands of apartments were built. Otopeni became

518-527: The American human rights scrutiny which came with it. The declared aim of this program was to eliminate the differences between urban and rural, by the means of razing half of Romania's 13,000 villages and moving their residents into hundreds of new "agro-industrial centers" by 2000. The program gained notoriety in Europe, with protests from multiple countries – chiefly Hungary – as well as a Belgian-led initiative to save

555-512: The Austrians designed a defensive system involving four Italian-style bastions, remnants of which are still visible on the south side. On the southwest side, they built a gunpowder depot, while converting the south bastion into a chapel. The chapel ceiling is decorated in modest stucco, following a late- Baroque design. The Gothic window frames were placed later on. The ground-floor rooms have dome-shaped cylindrical ceilings with groin vaults . Above

592-698: The Romanian Fourth Army (under the command of Soviet general Sergei Trofimenko ) and the German 8th Army occurred at the Oarba de Mureș Battle  [ ro ] for the nearby Sângerogiu Hill. Some 11,000 Romanian soldiers lost their lives in this battle. After the advent of the Romanian People's Republic , Iernut became in 1950 part of the Turda raion of Cluj Region . Between 1952 and 1960, it fell within

629-680: The Romanian villages by "adopting" them. Within a year, on 18 April 1989, the first batch of 23 new agro-industrial towns was completed. Only one new town was created between 1974 and 1988, as Ceaușescu focused his attention on other projects. Although cut short by the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, at least three more rural settlements in an advanced state of systematization were, ultimately, transformed into towns as well. Nicolae Ceaușescu's 1988 idea to raze about half of Romania's 13,000 villages and rebuild others into "agro-industrial centers"

666-497: The United States Congress meaningless. His action showed that he would not submit to pressure from either side, East or West. Ceaușescu felt fed-up by continuous United States Congressional scrutiny of Romania's human rights record, a scrutiny hindering his long-cherished "grand design". Shortly after his "cocky" gesture on MFN, Ceaușescu announced the most sweeping and ominous plan of his regime up to that point, involving

703-868: The aftermath of World War I , the Union of Transylvania with Romania was declared in December 1918. At the start of the Hungarian–Romanian War of 1918–1919, the locality passed under Romanian administration; after the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, it became part of the Kingdom of Romania . Iernut became the seat of Plasa Iernut in Târnava-Mică County ; the villages Lechința de Mureș and Oarba de Mureș fell within Plasa Luduș , in Turda County . In World War II , from 16 September to 6 October 1944, fierce fighting between

740-603: The country, "ugly" concrete Civic Center buildings began to emerge in the centers of the planned new towns. Around 18 villages had suffered major demolitions by the end of 1989 while 5 others were completely razed. According to the Wall Street Journal : "In the countryside, smashed hamlets and villages are making way for the same prefabricated housing blocks of Orwellian Bucharest.". The systematization program encountered resistance from villagers and local authorities alike. Local revolts against systematization were reported in

777-407: The cultivation area, while also stifling individual initiative and increasing centralization. The peasants were to receive derisory compensation for their demolished homes and then be charged rent for their new blocks, in which there was no accommodation for animals. As Romanian historian Dinu Giurescu put it: "The ultimate goal is the proletarianization of our society. The final step in this process

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814-478: The development of the countryside by focusing on the more viable villages while the rest would be gradually starved of investment. However, momentum was lost in the late 1970s, and of the 140 new towns promised by 1985, only one – Rovinari – was completed in 1981. No explanation was ever given, but likely Ceaușescu transferred his attention to the aforementioned projects. The villages most likely to be phased out were those with minimal prospects for growth. By

851-587: The fact that talks were being held at all as a means to win time and regain some of his lost credibility. The meeting was seen in Hungary as a capitulation of the country's national interests and significantly damaged Grósz's own prestige. The scale of the potential destruction caused an international outcry to such an extent that it led to the creation of organizations such as the Belgian-based Opération Villages Roumains , which provided for

888-465: The farmers. The countryside would be urbanized through 558 new agro-industrial towns. Although aspects of the program were absolutely necessary (improvement of services, diversification and stabilization of the workforce), it allowed little scope for local consultation and its implementation timespan was far too short (hence compulsory resettlement) with no realistic compensation for the required expropriation. Between 3 August 1975 and 3 July 1988, Romania

925-402: The liquidation of up to 8,000 villages. On 3 March 1988, speaking at an official conference, Ceaușescu announced: by the year 2000, 7,000 - 8,000 of Romania's 13,123 villages would be "modernized", as in transformed into 558 "agro-industrial" centers. The Ilfov Agricultural Sector around Bucharest was chosen by Ceaușescu as a showpiece (to be completed by 1992-1993), as a model for emulation by

962-432: The major differences between towns and villages; to bring the living and working conditions of the working people in the countryside closer to those in the towns". He thought that by gathering people together into apartment buildings so that "the community fully dominates and controls the individual", systematization would produce Romania's "new socialist man". Ceaușescu was determined to revolutionize agriculture by increasing

999-519: The rest of the country. The first evictions and demolitions took place in August 1988. Only 2-3 days were given before shops were closed down and bus services were stopped, forcing the inhabitants into the selected villages. Whole communities were moved to blocks in Otopeni and Ghermănești , where as much as 10 families had to share one kitchen and the sewage system had not been completed. In other villages across

1036-699: The suspension of Romania's MFN status. On 26 February 1988, in order to save face, Romania announced that it did not need MFN status. The House and Senate votes were rejected as unacceptable "interference in the internal affairs" of Romania. To underline this rejection, the village-bulldozing program was made public in April 1988. Romania's renunciation of MFN status in February 1988 resulted from Ceaușescu's growing irritation with American pressure over Romania's human rights situation, such as Ceaușescu's treatment of his opponents. Ceaușescu's renunciation of MFN made its suspension by

1073-989: The thousands of villages proposed for destruction by the Romanian Government included 1,500 ethnic Hungarian ones. That demonstration, taking place on 27 June, was the largest organized in Hungary after 1956 . The plan was also criticised by leading members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party . In retaliation for the 27 June protest rally held in Budapest, Ceaușescu closed the Hungarian consulate in Cluj . To address these issues, and to comply with Mikhail Gorbachev 's request, Károly Grósz met with Ceaușescu in Arad on 28 August 1988. The talks were fruitless, with Ceaușescu unwilling to concede or compromise on any point. He simply used

1110-401: The time also refer to it as "Mikó's new citadel". The first written document to mention the citadel dates to 1631. After Ferenc Mikó's heirs died prematurely, the citadel came into the possession of Tamás Damokos, supreme judge of Csíkszék. On 21 October 1661, Turkish and Tatar troops led by Ali, Ottoman pasha of Temeşvar Province , invaded Csíkszereda, occupying and burning the citadel. It

1147-693: The twinning of threatened Romanian villages with Western communities. Few of the villages were actually destroyed, systematization only really succeeding in "imprinting Romania onto the consciousness of Europe". Opération Villages Roumains was founded on 22 December 1988 in Brussels , being officially launched on 3 February 1989. By the beginning of May 1989, Romanian villages had been adopted by 231 communes in Belgium , 95 in France , and 42 in Switzerland . The Belgian effort

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1184-482: The villages of Petrova , Monor and Parva . Local officials were threatened, while in other places officials refused to carry out orders. The director of the Miercurea Ciuc County Savings Bank resigned in protest over pressure to designate his native village of Păuleni-Ciuc a street of the nearby town of Frumoasa . The systematization program was terminated on 26 December 1989, the day after

1221-473: The window sills there are tall, narrow, rectangular embrasures . The fortified castle played an important defensive role at the eastern border of the Habsburg Empire. Through the mid-20th century, the building was used by the troops of various armies. In particular, it served as a barracks for Habsburg troops until 1764. From 1764 to 1848 it was the residence of the commander of the 1st Székely Regiment of

1258-471: The year 2000, 85% of communes were to have piped drinking water and 82% modern sewage. According to a statement by the regime, by the year 2000, Romania expected "to eradicate basic differences between villages and cities and to ensure the harmonious development of all sections of the country". Ceauşescu's declared aim - based on an original idea in the Communist Manifesto - was "to wipe out radically

1295-706: Was accorded most favoured nation status from the United States . In 1988, Ceaușescu renounced Romania's MFN status with the United States, just as the latter was about to suspend it over human rights violations. In July 1987, the United States Congress voted to suspend Romania's MFN status. Although the suspension was meant to last at least 6 months, in order to avoid further humiliation, Ceaușescu renounced his country's MFN status. More than 85 oral testimonies and 995 written statements were submitted to support

1332-409: Was not new. It had been written into law in 1974. At that time, about 3,000 villages were scheduled to die out gradually, while 300–400 more were to be transformed into towns. However, industrial construction assumed priority, overshadowing the rural reconstruction and resettlement program, which was not pursued with any vigor. In the spring of 1988, however, the rural systematization program reemerged as

1369-452: Was rebuilt in 1714-16 under orders from Habsburg General Stephan Steinville, as attested by a stone inscription above the entrance gate. In 1735, the Austrian engineer and colonel Johann Conrad Weiss drew up the castle's plan. This is the oldest surviving plan of the building, and has been important to those studying both its history and the stages of its construction. For the rebuilt citadel,

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