Reference Type: Book
Author: Tarisnyás, Csilla
Year: 2004
Title: Az örmény szamosújvár
City: Szamosújvár
Publisher: Galaxia Gutenberg
Number of Pages: 148
Language: Hungarian
Keywords: Armenian minority, history, urbanization, architecture, migration, politics, culture, traditions, settlement, education, economy, art, modernization, Catholic Church
Abstract: (En) One of the richest towns in artistic values of Transylvania, Gherla, is situated 011 the left bank of the Little Someş River, 257 m above sea level. In Roman times, behind today's furniture factory, there was a castrum stativum, called Congri. The first testimony of the town dates from 1291, when the settlement was mentioned under the name of "Gherla Bridge". This name, preserved up to the 16th century, comes from Slavic grla meaning 'brook', 'a place with no deep waters' or 'a passing place'.
In the 1530's "The New Fortress on the Someş" (English for Szamosújvár) obtains fame and importance and is mentioned in 1540 - for the first time - as belonging to George Martinuzzi, the king's treasurer. However, the Sighişoara Diet decides to demolish the fortress; later this idea is abandoned. In parts, the fortress has preserved its shape to the present day. The building of the fortress is continued in the 1544's. A part of the stones resulting from the demolition of the Bálványos fortress are brought here as building material. As a result, the fortress is also referred to as "New Bálványos". Fortified by pentagonal bastions, the fortress preserved the traces of several rebuildings and was constructed on the plans elaborated previously by the Italian architect Domenico da Bologna. Between 1619 and 1652, the fortification of the fortress was directed by Giovanni Landi and Agostino Serena. The fortress suffered later modifications as well. Since 1768 the fortress has been used as a penitenciary and in 1856 it was endowed with an extra three-floored building.
Szamosújvár ("The New Fortress on the Someş") was the scene of numerous gloomy events in the 16th and the 17th centuries. On 1 September 1594, prince Zsigmond Báthory brought his elder cousin, Boldizsár Báthory, together with chancellor Farkas Kovácsoczi in the fortress and on 11 September he ordered their death by strangulation. After 1869 the famous outlaw Sándor Rózsa was imprisoned and died here. His grave is marked by a gravestone in the former cemetery of the fortress.
The fortress was among the safest fortifications of Transylvania. Prince George Rákóczi II retreated here on 17 August 1657 after his tragic defeat in the bloody Polish battle and stayed here until the opening of the Transylvanian Diet on 3 September. Women from all over Transylvania came here to beg for the release of their husbands, driven away and taken prisoners by the Tatars.
According to the testimonies, great amount of treasures were deposited in the fortress. On 30 January Antal Veroncsics wrote that after the murder of George Martinuzzi general Castaldo hurried from Vinţu de Jos to Gherla since the deceased had a great amount of silver in the fortress. According to historian Farkas Bethlen, Martinuzzi's treasures consisted of gold, silver dishes and jewels, 300 stallions, 250 000 gold Forints, 17 pound goldpowder and 460 pound silver bars.
In the second half of the 17th century the military importance of the fortress and its dominion greatly diminished. During the reign of Michael Apafi (1661-1691) the fortress was a political prison. Pál Béldi's wife, the beautiful Zsuzsanna Vitéz - known for her tragic destiny -was imprisoned here together with her children and all those suspected of having taken part in the Béldi revolt.
The beginning of the 18th century brought radical changes for the town. During the reign of Michael Apafi, in 1672, Armenians started to settle down. The first groups of Armenians settled in Frumoasa de Ciuc, Gheorgheni, Dumbrăveni and Bistriţa. Emperor Leopold I granted the Armenians from Bistriţa in 1700 the right to buy the place to the south of the fortress, where Gherla village stood. They paid in instalments, the last amount was paid under Maria Theresa's reign (1740-1780). The construction of the town lasted for 15 years. The foundation-stone was laid in 1700, and the town was erected based on the plans of the Armenian engineer Alexa, living in Rome. The inhabitants of the town erected churches, schools and ornamental houses in late Baroque style. The Armenian taste adapted to the new environment and, in consequence, it emerged as a Transylvanian town of considerable importance. The increase of the population is significant: in 1721 there were 156, in 1727 193, and in 1735 there were 219 houses. Due to the inhabitants' growing wealth, the number of houses also increased. The craftsmen dealt with the manufacturing of satin and leather, but the majority were involved in trade and commerce. The wealth of the Armenians rapidly doubled and in 1737 they mortgaged the entire dominion of the town. The royal charter granted the town the name Armenopolis, i.e. Armenian town.
One of the town's leading forums was the town council, consisting of a judge, 12 jurors and a notary, all elected by the citizens. One of the privileges granted to Gherla was that it was free of nobiliar reign. The rights ensured by the royal charter were made public in 1728, at the Sibiu Diet. The economic increase of the town contributed to the rise of its legal power. In 1759 the Sibiu Diet raised the town to ^ statute of Free Royal Town, which also meant the autonomy of the local.
Important Armenian families acquired Hungarian nobleship during the 18th century. Among these, Bocsánczy, Gorové, Govrik, Karácsonyi. Issekuc, Lászlóffy, Placsintár, Simay, Szarukán, Verzár and others.
The Armenians from Gherla greatly contributed to the town's cultural life. In 1769 at a time when nobody had that in mind, the inhabitants of Gherla laid the foundations of a society for the cultivation of the Hungarian language with the start-ing sum of 4000 Forints. Later, from this foundation, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences came into being, in 1811 the first form of the grammar school was opened and a year later the second form. This school had five forms and existed until 1854. In 1861, on the basis of the new curriculum, the town officials inaugurated a Hungarian secondary school with four forms, which shortly became one of the most famous educational institutions in town.
From an artistic point of view, Gherla is a mis-en-scène of the late Baroque. At the end of the 18th century, the appearance of the town had already been shaped. The most important building in Gherla - without any doubt - is the Armenian Cathedral. The Cathedral faces a quadrilateral square: the meeting point of a rectangular network of streets. In the streets, a series of richly decorated houses and small palaces which enchant the eyes of the beholder.
The streets in Gherla are of two types: the houses belonging to the first type face the street with their longitudinal side as façades, the other type of houses faces its shorter side. The most important building of the first type is the Karácsonyi palace. It is characterized by a multitude of windows, enframed by a robust frame, which on their upper part end in a waveshaped sill. The triangular frontispiece is ornamented with a Madonna statue. The framing and the decoration of the windows are specific for the Gherla baroque and are found everywhere in a more simple or complicated form. Next to the Karácsonyi palace, there is a gorgeous portal. It has a large archform opening, evidence of the Gherla baroque achitecture. The two columns on both sides of the portal jump lean forward and are transformed into two Atlas statues. The frontispiece is ornamented by a blazon, the upper arch has a flower-basket decoration on its upper part. The development of the gate into a separate building is the laitmotif of most houses in Gherla. The yard of the palace has magnificent arcades and the ceilings of the ground floor rooms are decorated with refined stucco.
The Tódorffy house also belongs to the first type of houses. Under its archforming façade, refined ionic columns frame the entrance, which surprisingly open in the middle of the building. Another house worth mentioning and belonging to this group is the Lászlóffy house. Its portal is the richer alternative of the Tódorffy house portal. The second group of houses face their shorter part to the street. They are more modest in appearance, but much more numerous.
The most classical, if not the most representativ of this group is the Flórián house. There are three windows on the ground floor, its gable has the usual net ornaments. The closing of the triangular upper façade breaks off in the roof. Two windows open to the street from the garret, whose semicurcular borders surround empty niches. The niches contain small baroque statues such as Madonna, the Holy Trinity and so on. Next to the house, there is a building with two openings wnicn ensure a double entrance for the pedestrians and the vehicles. The structure of the Flórián house can be found in many other houses in Gherla. Difference can only be seen in the ornamentation of the garret, which here becomes a little façade. The large display and variety of columns and pillars, sills, festoons, archways, blazons and medallions make these houses worth seeing. We can even find Renaissance elements, for instance at the upper window frames of the Daniel house, where, just below the blazon, there is an engraving of the year 1747. Nevertheless, the great bulk of houses display the structural properties of the rococo
The first Armenian church or chapel was built by bishop Oxendius Verzerescul not far away from the centre, on the place of the churchyard This church was destroyed tn the 1720's. In 1723 the Solomon stone church was built together with a tower, based on the plans of Salamon Simay. According to the documents, the church was built within a year and was consecrated to the Blessed Viigin Mary. The church was renovated in 1845 and 1898. The altars were consecrated to the Virgin Maiy, the Holy Trinity, Saint Gregoiy the Illuminator, Saint Ann and Saint Louis. The baroque, one-nave church has three bells and is surrounded by a stone wall.
The Armenian Cathedral lies in the centre of the only Armenian, 18th century baroque town of Transylvania. Its foundation stone was laid in 1720. The construction of the cathedral began in September 1748. On 8 September the first mass was held inside the cathedral. Its altars were only finished in 1804, which, on 17 June, were consecrated to the Holy Trinity by József Mártonfy. Thunderbolt destroyed the tower in 1800 and 1804 and the bell cracked. The renovation of the cathedral cost 600 000 Forints and was completed in 1842.
The church was built in a baroque style, but it contains classical elements as well. The first floor of the façade is stripely plastered, the balconies show ribbon wreath ornaments, the wall columns end in ionic structures, the dome-shaped spire baroque characteristics. The entablatures, the apronal windows and the prominent wall mirrors are characteristics of classicism. Unlike the façade, nave contains Late Baroque traces. On it there are three-three big, semicircular with stone borders and, above them, lyre-shaped windows. The lyre shaped windows of the nave point to a rococo style that is seldom found in our ecclesiastic architecture. The nave ends in a rather long chancel.
The inside of the cathedral shows a more unified structure. The chancel, like in monasteries, is endowed with a lateral gallery having three entrances and above the gallery there is a semicircular, festooned window. The organ gallery which rests on two pillars also has three entrances and is endowed with banisters. The pillars which sustain the arched part above the gallery are incomplete. The position of the gallery, the festooned windows of the chancel and the mirrors in the entablature are a living proof that the decoration of the nave took place several decades after the nave had been built. The inside of the cathedral bears the mark of builder József Jung.There is no description or drawing about the former tower of the cathedral. It may be concluded from the structure of the present façade that the original façade was built with a tower.
The Armenian cathedral has seven altars. The big altar, consecrated to the Holy Trinity, was completed in 1842, on the expense of Gergely Jakabffi and cost 9000 silver Forints. The four lateral altars were consecrated to Saint Gregory the illuminator (the Apostle of the Armenians), the Ascension of Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and Saint Nepomuk as well as Saint John. In the lateral chapel there is an altar-piece which shows Christ being taken down from the cross. This work is attributed to P. P. Rubens in the local tradition, but today's art critics are reserved to corroborate this. The painting was a gift from emperor Francis I to the Armenians of Gherla.
The first review of the Armenians of Gherla, Armenia, was published in Hungarian under the command of Kristóf Szongott. Today this review is published under the supervision of Csilla Tarisnyás. In Gherla, today, there is also a cultural foundation founded for the promotion of cultural values, Pro Armenia.

(Hu) A múlthoz való ragaszkodás nemcsak a lelkekben, hanem a hajdani örmény ősökről szóló gyakori írásokban is megnyilvánul. A több mint 3500 ilyen témájú emlékezés, cikk, tanulmány, könyv rendre feleleveníti az örmény múlt eseményeit, az örmények erdélyi „honfoglalásának'' történetét, e néprész további sorsának alakulását, életmódjukat, szokásaikat, műveltségüket, művészetüket, gazdasági feltételeiket, az erdélyi társadalomban játszott szerepüket, hitvallásukat stb.
Az alábbi tanulmánykötet sem tesz mást. Felvázolja az örmény „főváros" kialakulását, és képek sorával igyekszik megteremteni azt a sajátos hangulatot, amely Szamosújvár a lakóinak, a városba látogatóknak a város barokk építészete nyújt. A tanulmányokban gyakori kulcsszó a hajdani falu, a mellé épülő új vár, az örményektől felépített város neve.
Régebb a névmagyarázó irodalom - mely nézet ma is felfelbukkan - nüerht településnevet a 'gázló' jelentésű szláv grlo közszóból származtatta. Ugyanolyan alakulás - vélték - ahogyan a szláv seno alakból a magyar széna, az 'érc' jelentésű szláv rudno alakból a magyar Rudna, Rodna, majd Radna helységnév keletkezett. E magyarázat hangtanilag teljesen szabályos, hibája azonban, hogy a későbbről adatolt Gerla alakból indul ki. Kiderült ugyanis, hogy a hajdani római castrum helyén, a népvándorlást követő századokban épült, a mai értelemben tanyányi kis település nevének első írásos adata 1291-ből való, mégpedig ebben a formában: Gerlahida, további, a megrövidült név adatai is mássalhangzóra végződnek - 1410: Gerlah, 1458: Gerlach. A Gerlahida településnév összetett szó, egy személynévnek (Gerlach) és egy közszónak, a híd régies birtokos személyragos alakjának összetétele: Gerlah+hida ('hídja'). A név tulajdonképpeni értelme ez: 'egy Gerlah (Gerlach) nevü személy birtokában lévő (Szamos-)híd: Gerlah, Gerla hídja'. Az elnevezés azzal kapcsolatos, hogy egy Gerlach nevű személy birtokán híd vezetett át a Kis-Szamoson, s áruval a hídon átkelők a tulajdonosnak vámot kellett fizetniük. Hasonló típusú, birtoklást kifejező településnév (tulajdonos+hídja) gyakori a magyarban. A Kis-Szamoshoz fűződő vámszedő hidakkal kapcsolatban kettőt is említhetünk még: Bonchida, Apahida (régen Apáihidd), Míg azonban mind Bonchida, mind az Apahida településnév eredeti formában, összetett névként máig fennmaradt, a Gerlahida helységnévnek csak az előtagja, a Gerlah, majd a méh, pléh Juh típusú szavak ejtéséhez hasonlóan a Gerla alakja maradt fenn. Az összetett név megrövidült, egytagú lett. A településnév alapjául szolgáló személynév azonos a német Gerlach személynévvel, mely a magyarban szabályos hangváltozással így alakult: Gerlach>Gerlah>Gerla. (A település kialakulásának idejében a német etnikumjelenlétét igazolja a szomszédos falu, Németi neve is, melynek ez a jelentése: 'a németé'; csak jóval később kapta a falu a megkülönböztető előtagot: Szamos új várnáméiig románul Mini in Gherlii.)
A XVI. század első felében a Gerla mindkét nyelvben - a kétféle helyesírásnak megfelelően a magyarban Gerla, a románban Gherla J még általánosan használt helységnév volt. E században azonban a kis település, Gerla életében változás állt be: közvetlen szomszédságában ugyanis egy vár épült. Minthogy Gerlától északkeletre fekvő, a mai Bálványosvár alj a falu fölött álló Bálványosvár már helv-zeténél fogva sem tudta ellátni a védelmi feladatokat, a kiszélesedő Szamos völev-ben, közvetlen Gerla szomszédságában, Szapolyai János megkezdte az Újbálványosvár építését. A vár neve a magyarban később a mellette fekvő település neve is lett: - 1552: Wywar, 1575: Uivár, 1595: Sznmosuivár, 1632: Gerla alias Szamosújvár. Ez a névváltoztatás azonban csak a magyar névhasználatban ment végbe. Ezzel ellentétben a vidék román lakossága beszédében megtartotta a település régi magyar nevét, és továbbra is - a román helyesírásnak megfelelően - Gherla elnevezéssel élt. így alakult ki a kettősség, a románban a Gherla, a magyar-ban a Szamosújvár településnév.
A vár melletti, a Rákóczi-féle szabadságharcban elpusztult kis település helvén I XVN-XVI1I. század fordulóján város épült, annak következtében, hogy Apafi Mihály idejében az Erdélybe települt, majd Besztercéről Szamosújvárra átköltözött örmények felépítették az örmények lakta várost. Az itt lakó örményeknek ez időben még az is szándékukban volt, hogy más helységekből, GyergyószentmiklósróI, Szépvízről, Ebesfalvárói (a mai Erzsébetvárosról) is mind idetelepítik az örményeket, és egyben kísérletet tettek a városnév megváltoztatására (1726: Örményváros, Armenopolis, Armenierstadl) Ez a kísérlet az örményeknek a magyar társadalomba való beilleszkedésével hamvába hullt, és maradt a településnév a magyarban a Szamosújvár,; a románban a Gherla.
A részleteket megtalálja az olvasó a kötet tanulmányaiban.

(De) Die Stadt Gherla, eine an Kunstleistungen sehr reiche städtische Ortschaft Siebenbürgens (Transsylvaniens), Jiegt in der Transsylvanische Ebene, am Ufer des kleines Samosch (Someșul Mic) von Klausenburg (Cluj) 45 km nördlich entfernt, an einer Höhe von 275 m. Die erste schriftliche Erwähnung datiert unter dem Namen von Gherlahida, aus dem Jahre 1291.
Die Burg von Gherla (Szamosújvár, Szamosneustadt) erscheint im IV. Jahrzehnt des XIII. Jahrhunderts. Die Burg ist in einem Schenkungsbrief an Giorgio Martinuzzi, königlichen Schatzmeister, im Jahre 1540 erwähnt. Die Burg von Gherla, wenigstens ein Teil davon ist noch älter, sie wurde im XIV. Jh. gebaut. Die architektonische Gesamtheit hat ihre Form in den vierziegeren Jahren des XVI. Jahrhundert, erhalten, nachher die, in der Nähe liegende Burg Bálványos, demoliert wurde und aus deren Baumaterial der Florentinische Architekt Domenico de Bologna eine viereckige Burg mit fünfeckigen Basteien bauen liess.
Im Laufe der Jahren 1619-1652 die Burg wurde von den italienischen Architekten Giovanni Landi und Agostino Sereno restauriert. Diese Burg wurde, anfangend mit dem Jahr 1768 als Gefängnis verwendet. Die Burg Gherla-Apahida war eine der befestigten Burgen Transsylvaniens. In dieser burg hat der Fürst Rákóczi György II. von Transsylvanien seinen Zufluchtsort gefunden, nachdem er von einer Expedition nach Polen (1657) zurückgekehrt war. Im XVII. Jh. wurde diese Burg grossartig geändert. Es war die Zeit als ringsherum um die Burg, sowie auch in anderen Ortschaften Transsylvaniens - wie Gyergyószentmiklós, Bistritz, Elisabethstadt (Dumbrăveni) - anlässlich des Aufrufs des Fürstens Apafi Mihály, über 3000 Armenische Familien hatten sich hier niedergelassen. Ein Teil der Armenier hatten im Jahre 1700 das Dorf Gherla mit 12 000 Florinen gekauft.
An dieser Stelle wurde, nach den Planungen des armenischen Bauingenieurs Alexa - der auch Rom kam -, eine Stadt im Barockstil errichtet worden, die ihren originellen Stil, bis heutzutage behalten hat. Die Stadt übernahm den Namen Armenopolis (Armenierstadt) nach ihren Einwohnern, indem sie zu einem"tötenden, kommerziellen Zentrum wurde.
Hinsichtlich der blühenden und finanziellen Lage der Armenier beweisend ist, dass sie bedeutendste Geld betrage der Kaiserin Maria Teresa und einigen grossen adliegen Familien geliehen haben.
Die bedeutendste Armenische Familien - sowie Gorove, Issekutz, Lászlóffy, Placsintár, Karácsony usw. - waren schon im XVIII. Jh. veradelt worden.