Blaj

Blaj is first mentioned in 1271 as Villa Herbordi, after the deed of a Count Herbod.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yt1M3egMbWMC&q=villa+herbordi&pg=PA244|title=Transylvania|isbn=9781841624198|last1=Mallows|first1=Lucy|last2=Abraham|first2=Rudolf|date=26 November 2012}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYwAAAAAcAAJ&q=villa+herbordi&pg=RA1-PA50|title=Archiv des Vereins für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde|year=1848}} In 1313, the domain passed to Herbod's son Blasius Cserei and the town was mentioned as Blasii. Started as a hamlet for the twenty families of servants of the noble's court, it was awarded town status on May 19, 1737.

Blaj is the principal religious and cultural center of Greek Catholics in Transylvania. At 27 October 1687 begins the history of the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic, history directly connected to the history of the town Blaj. It all started at the end of the treaty through which Transylvania was entering under the protection of Austria, renouncing the protection of the Turkish Empire.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

The first public school in Romanian was established in Blaj in 1754. Blaj was the first place to have Romanian written with Latin alphabet instead of Cyrillic in which it had traditionally been written. Blaj was also a center for the Romanian Age of Enlightenment, being the founding site of the Transylvanian School that promoted the Roman cultural heritage of the Romanians. Thus Blaj gained the nickname "The Little Rome",{{Cite web|url=https://www1.agerpres.ro/engleza-destinatie-romania/2014/06/18/destination-romania-alba-blaj-or-little-rome-as-eminescu-called-it-10-47-51|title=Blaj or "Little Rome", as Eminescu called it|date=June 18, 2014|website=AGERPRESS - the Romanian National News Agency|access-date=July 7, 2018|archive-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709010714/https://www1.agerpres.ro/engleza-destinatie-romania/2014/06/18/destination-romania-alba-blaj-or-little-rome-as-eminescu-called-it-10-47-51|url-status=dead}} as Romania's national poet Mihai Eminescu called it.

In 1848, Câmpia Libertății in Blaj was where over 40,000 Romanians met to protest Transylvania becoming a part of Hungary, holding that the lands would be stolen from them.{{cite book|last=Stoica|first=Vasile|title=The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands|year=1919|publisher=Pittsburgh Printing Company|location=Pittsburgh|page=23|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/23/}}

Blaj lies at the confluence of the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică rivers, where they form the Târnava River. It is located {{cvt|39|km}} northeast of the county seat, Alba Iulia, in a renowned wine-growing region.

{{Historical populations

|source = Census data

|1930 |4618

|1948 |6641

|1956 |8731

|1966 |15775

|1977 |20826

|1992 |22425

|2002 |21819

|2011 |20630

|2021 |17816

}}

At the 2021 census, Blaj had a population of 17,816.{{cite web|url=https://www.recensamantromania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tabel-1.03_1.3.1-si-1.03.2.xls|title=Populația rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021|publisher=INSSE|language=ro|date=31 May 2023}} At the 2011 census, the city had a population of 20,630, of which 16,779 (83.78%) were Romanians, 1,305 (6.51%) Hungarians, 1,850 (9.23%) Romani, and 45 (0.22%) Germans.

In terms of religious affiliation, 14,784 (71.19%) were Romanian Orthodox, 2,732 (13.24%) Greek-Catholic, 744 (3.58%)

Roman Catholic, 985 Reformed Church, 408 Baptist, and 220 Pentecostal.

The city has several high schools, including the Inochentie Micu Clain National College, the {{ill|Ștefan Manciulea Technological High School|ro|Liceul Tehnologic „Ștefan Manciulea” din Blaj}}, and the Sfântul Vasile cel Mare Greek-Catholic Theological High School.

The castle of the Bethlen dynasty is a popular tourist site near Blaj. Other sights worth visiting include the Metropolitan Palace, the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the "Buna Vestire" Monastery, the Greeks' Church, the "Liberty Field", and Avram Iancu's oak.

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Romania}}

Blaj is twinned with:

• {{flagicon|Switzerland}} Allschwil
• {{flagicon|Belgium}} Morlanwelz
• {{flagicon|Italy}} Recanati

• Tiberiu Bărbulețiu (born 1963), politician
• Silviu Bindea (1912–1992), footballer
• Matei Boilă (1926–2015), politician, Greek-Catholic priest
• Bogdan Cistean (born 1986), footballer
• Sonia Colceru (born 1934), volleyball player
• Ferenc Csentery (1937–2014), abstract metal sculptor
• Doina Ivănescu (1935–1996), volleyball player
• Bogdan Jica (born 2000), footballer
• Nicolae Linca (1929–2008), welterweight boxer
• Daniel Lupașcu (born 1981), footballer
• Ioan Simu (1875–1948), Greek-Catholic priest and politician
• Ioan Suciu (1907–1953), bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church
• Daniel Tătar (born 1987), footballer
• Samuil Vulcan (1758–1839), bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church

Blaj has a humid continental climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification). The city has a continental temperate climate, characteristic for the Transylvanian Plateau, with moderate precipitations of around 550 mm/m².

{{Weather box

|location = Blaj

|metric first = yes

|single line = yes

|collapsed=y

|Jan high C = 2.3

|Feb high C = 5.1

|Mar high C = 10.3

|Apr high C = 16.2

|May high C = 20.8

|Jun high C = 24.1

|Jul high C = 26.1

|Aug high C = 26.3

|Sep high C = 21.1

|Oct high C = 15.5

|Nov high C = 9.6

|Dec high C = 3.5

|year high C =

|Jan mean C = -1.6

|Feb mean C = 0.6

|Mar mean C = 5

|Apr mean C = 10.8

|May mean C = 15.7

|Jun mean C = 19.3

|Jul mean C = 21.2

|Aug mean C = 21.3

|Sep mean C = 16.2

|Oct mean C = 10.5

|Nov mean C = 5.1

|Dec mean C = -0.1

|year mean C =

|Jan low C = -5

|Feb low C = -3.3

|Mar low C = 0

|Apr low C = 5

|May low C = 10.1

|Jun low C = 14

|Jul low C = 15.9

|Aug low C = 16.1

|Sep low C = 11.5

|Oct low C = 6.1

|Nov low C = 1.6

|Dec low C = -3

|year low C =

|Jan precipitation mm = 29

|Feb precipitation mm = 27

|Mar precipitation mm = 37

|Apr precipitation mm = 56

|May precipitation mm = 75

|Jun precipitation mm = 84

|Jul precipitation mm = 76

|Aug precipitation mm = 56

|Sep precipitation mm = 54

|Oct precipitation mm = 43

|Nov precipitation mm = 33

|Dec precipitation mm = 36

|year precipitation =

|date=May 2021|source=https://en.climate-data.org/europe/romania/alba/blaj-44396/}}

• Bethlen Castle
• Câmpia Libertății

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Blaj}}

• [http://www.sunriseofromanians.com/ Blaj - Sunrise of Romanians (A short documentary film about Blaj)]

{{LocalitiesAlba}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places in Alba County

Category:Cities in Romania

Category:Localities in Transylvania

Category:Capitals of former Romanian counties