Sânnicolau Mare is a town in Timiş County

Timis County

Timiș , , Banat Bulgarian: ) is a county of western Romania, in the historical region Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the largest county in Romania in terms of land area....

, 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...

 and the westernmost of the country. 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...

 region, along the borders with Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

 and Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, it has a population of just under 13,000. It was a district (járás) center in Torontál County during Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 rule, except the years of Ottoman rule between 1551 and 1716 (nominally to 1718).

In the late 18th century, the Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...

 dynasty of Austria recruited German farmers and artisans to resettle areas along the Danube

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....

 that had been depopulated during the Ottoman reign and the plague. They were allowed to keep their own religion, language and culture, and many German villages were founded 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...

. The descendants of the ethnic Germans became known as Danube Swabians

Danube Swabians

The Danube Swabians is a collective term for the German-speaking population who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary, especially alongside the Danube River valley. Because of different developments within the territory settled, the Danube Swabians cannot be seen as a unified people...

 (Danauswaben) and spoke a distinct form of German that became different from what evolved in the principal states. This is one reason for the high proportion of ethnic Germans in the town before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. After the war, many left the area to escape Soviet dominance; others were expelled because of anti-German sentiment throughout eastern Europe.

The town served as the county seat between 1807 and 1820 due to a great fire in Nagybecskerek

Zrenjanin

Zrenjanin is a city and municipality located in the eastern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina. It is the administrative centre of the Central Banat District of Serbia...

, the county seat. Occupied by Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n troops in 1918 during World War I

World War I

World 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...

, the town became part of Romania in 1919 during the realignment after the war.

Sânnicolau Mare is known for the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

The Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós or Treasure of Sânnicolau Mare is an important hoard of twenty-three early medieval gold vessels, in total weighing 9.945 kg, found in 1799 near the town then known as Nagy Szent Miklós or Groß-Sankt-Niklaus in northern Banat The Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós or...

, a treasure of 23 gold objects discovered here in 1799 (it was then called Nagyszentmiklós in the Hungarian Kingdom). The pieces are on display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Kunsthistorisches Museum

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and the National Museum of History

National Historical Museum (Bulgaria)

The National Historical Museum in Sofia is Bulgaria's largest museum. It was founded on 5 May 1973 and its first representative exposition was opened in 1984 to commemorate 1300 years of Bulgarian history...

, Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

. The town is the birthplace of Béla Bartók

Béla Bartók

Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

, the notable 20th-century Hungarian composer. The town is 64 kilometers away from Timişoara

Timisoara

Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...

, the biggest city in the region.

Demographics

Historical population of Sânnicolau Mare
Year	Population	Romanians	Hungarians	Germans	Serbs	Bulgarians
1880	10,836	31.3%	10.8%	41.2%	11.4%	N.D.
1890	12,311	31.3%	12.2%	43.5%	10.3%	N.D.
1900	12,639	33.1%	15.3%	41.1%	9.8%	N.D.
1910	12,357	32.6%	17.5%	39%	9.2%	N.D.
1920	10,900	36.1%	10.6%	40.1%	N.D%	N.D.
1930	10,676	40%	11.6%	35.2%	7.5%	0.3%
1941	10,640	42.1%	10.1%	35%	N.D	N.D
1956	9,956	54.6%	12.4%	24.4%	6.5%	0.8%
1966	11,428	59.4%	10.9%	21.8%	6.4%	1%
1977	12,811	62.2%	10.9%	19%	4.7%	1.6%
1992	13,083	73.4%	10.6%	5.9%	4.6%	3.1%
2002	12,914	76.8%	9.4%	3.2%	3.6%	3.6%

External links

• Events in Sannicolau-Mare