Orsova
Encyclopedia
Orșova (ˈorʃova; , , , , , ) is a port city on the Danube
river in southwestern Romania
's Mehedinți County
. It is one of four localities in the county located in the Banat
historical region. It is situated just above the Iron Gates
, on the spot where the Cerna River meets the Danube.
The first documented mention of its name was in 1150 under the Latin name Ursova. The name possibly comes from the Serbian name Uroš
+ Slavic -ova.
The town is a center for the extraction of bentonite
, chromium
, and granite
. The industry
is centered on energy production (the hydroelectric plant
), shipbuilding and engine manufacturing, assembly parts for electricity production, textiles, and the processing of feldspar
, asbestos
, quartz
, talc
, wood, etc.
The Orșova shipyard was constructed in 1890 and like a small reparation shop for the vessels which participated to the navigable channel from Iron Gate Romania- Sip Yugoslavia and had a continuously development along time, with a spectacular development after the year 1991 when was changed the name and also the organizational profile.
A wind farm
is being developed in the city territory, on a hill nearby (at 4.5 km from the agglomeration); the first turbines became active there in 2009. The project was partially expected to respond to the needs of the local community.
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
river in southwestern 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...
's Mehedinți County
Mehedinti County
Mehedinţi is a county of Romania. It is mostly located in the historical province of Oltenia, with one municipality and three communes located in the Banat...
. It is one of four localities in the county located in the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
historical region. It is situated just above the Iron Gates
Iron Gate (Danube)
The Iron Gates The gorge lies between Romania in the north and Serbia in the south. At this point, the river separates the southern Carpathian Mountains from the northwestern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Turkish, German and Bulgarian names literally mean...
, on the spot where the Cerna River meets the Danube.
History
Uroš
Uroš is a Serbian given name. Notable people with this name include:-Royalty:* Grand Prince Uroš I * Grand Prince Uroš II Prvoslav * Several kings and tsars called Stefan Uroš-Others:* Uroš Golubović, footballer...
+ Slavic -ova.
- The locality was the site of a RomanRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
port in Dacia MalvensisRoman DaciaThe Roman province of Dacia on the Balkans included the modern Romanian regions of Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia, and temporarily Muntenia and southern Moldova, but not the nearby regions of Moesia...
Orșova, and the site of a castrumCastraThe Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
named Dierna.
- In 1925, a confusion done by scholar Nandor Fettich misplaced the important Magyar burial site discovered at Cheglevici into the Orşova region. Later, the location of that discovery, testifying to the presence of the Magyars since the early 10th century, was clarified for the archeological community.
- King Ladislaus I of Hungary decisively defeated the CumansCumansThe Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
near Orșova in 1091.
- It was a major border fortification in the Middle Ages.
- The city was captured by Suleiman the MagnificentSuleiman the MagnificentSuleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
in 1522.
- Orşova became part of the Habsburg MonarchyHabsburg MonarchyThe 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...
in 1687 at the start of an Ottoman-Habsburg WarOttoman wars in EuropeThe wars of the Ottoman Empire in Europe are also sometimes referred to as the Ottoman Wars or as Turkish Wars, particularly in older, European texts.- Rise :...
, but Ottoman forces recaptured it in 1690. The Treaty of PassarowitzTreaty of PassarowitzThe Treaty of Passarowitz or Treaty of Požarevac was the peace treaty signed in Požarevac , a town in Ottoman Empire , on 21 July 1718 between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Republic of Venice on the other.During the years 1714-1718, the Ottomans had...
gave the city back to the Kingdom of HungaryKingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
in 1718. Treaty of Belgrade gave the city back to the Ottoman EmpireOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1739. Finally, The Treaty of SistovaTreaty of SistovaThe Treaty of Sistova ended the Austro-Turkish War between the Ottoman Empire and Austria. It was signed in Sistova in present-day Bulgaria on August 4, 1791....
gave the city back to the Kingdom of HungaryKingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
in 1791. The city remained in Hungary until the end of World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when it became part of Romania. It was included in the Mehedinți county during the administrative reform of 1968.
- The Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen was buried near Orşova from 1848 till 1853.
- During the works at the Iron Gates, the old center of the town was flooded and Orșova was developed (1966–1971) on higher ground, including the southern side of the Almăj Mountains and the villages of Jupalnic, Tufari, and Coramnic. Also flooded then was the neighboring Ada KalehAda KalehAda Kaleh was a small island on the Danube populated mostly by Turks that was submerged during the construction of the Iron Gates hydroelectric plant in 1970. The island was about 3 km downstream from Orşova and measured 1.75 by 0.4–0.5 km....
, with the scattering of the mostly Turkish community of the Danube island. Ada KalehAda KalehAda Kaleh was a small island on the Danube populated mostly by Turks that was submerged during the construction of the Iron Gates hydroelectric plant in 1970. The island was about 3 km downstream from Orşova and measured 1.75 by 0.4–0.5 km....
and its inhabitants, as well as the ancient city, are still present in the memory of its surviving locals.
Economy
Bentonite
Bentonite is an absorbent aluminium phyllosilicate, essentially impure clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. There are different types of bentonite, each named after the respective dominant element, such as potassium , sodium , calcium , and aluminum . Experts debate a number of nomenclatorial...
, chromium
Chromium
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
, and granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. The industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
is centered on energy production (the hydroelectric plant
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
), shipbuilding and engine manufacturing, assembly parts for electricity production, textiles, and the processing of feldspar
Feldspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's crust....
, asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
, quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
, talc
Talc
Talc is a mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula H2Mg34 or Mg3Si4O102. In loose form, it is the widely-used substance known as talcum powder. It occurs as foliated to fibrous masses, its crystals being so rare as to be almost unknown...
, wood, etc.
The Orșova shipyard was constructed in 1890 and like a small reparation shop for the vessels which participated to the navigable channel from Iron Gate Romania- Sip Yugoslavia and had a continuously development along time, with a spectacular development after the year 1991 when was changed the name and also the organizational profile.
A wind farm
Orsova Wind Farm
The Orşova Wind Farm is an under construction wind power project in Mehedinţi County, Romania. It will consist of an individual wind farm with 25 individual wind turbines with a nominal output of around 1.4 MW which will deliver up to 35 MW of power, enough to power over 22,925 homes, with a...
is being developed in the city territory, on a hill nearby (at 4.5 km from the agglomeration); the first turbines became active there in 2009. The project was partially expected to respond to the needs of the local community.
Natives
- Ignat BednarikIgnat BednarikIgnat Bednarik was a Romanian painter who worked in almost every genre of painting before devoting himself purely to watercolor. He was also interested in decorative art, design, interior decoration and book illustration...
(1882–1963), painter - Alexander Fölker (1956), handballTeam handballHandball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
player - Stefan FröhlichStefan FröhlichStefan Fröhlich was a highly decorated General der Flieger in the Luftwaffe during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
, Luftwaffe general