Năsăud is a town in Bistriţa-Năsăud County

Bistrita-Nasaud County

Bistrița-Năsăud is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, with the capital city at Bistrița.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 311,657 and the population density was 58/km².*Romanians – 90.3%*Hungarians – 5.9%*Roma – 3.6%...

 in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 located in the historical region of Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

. The town administers two villages, Liviu Rebreanu and Luşca.
The name Năsăud is possibly derived from the Slavic

Slavic languages

The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...

 nas voda, meaning "near the water". Another etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 is from Nußdorf (Nussdorf, "walnut tree village"), the Transylvanian Saxon

Transylvanian Saxons

The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...

 name of the town during the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

.

A former Habsburg

Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

 border town known for its border regiments with panache and good schools, Năsăud saw industrial expansion during the communist era

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

 and industrial collapse after 1989

History of Romania since 1989

- 1989 revolution :1989 marked the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. A mid-December protest in Timişoara against the eviction of a Hungarian minister grew into a country-wide protest against the Ceauşescu régime, sweeping the dictator from power....

. Local economic activity revolves around the remittance economy generated by massive outmigration to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 during the early 2000s.

Năsăud still has a few late 18th and early 19 century buildings left standing. Most remarkable in this regard is the local Romanian Greek Catholic

Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic

The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....

church and the former military headquarters of the Habsburg era military regiment, now a museum. Although the town hall is located in its midst, the 19th century center of the town has been left to decay.

The economic upturn of the mid 2000's has translated into a livelier city life and infrastructure improvements.Most notable in this regard are the refurbishing of the old military headquarters (now a museum), better roads and more bar/restaurant options.

External links