Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Encyclopedia
Drobeta-Turnu Severin (droˈbeta ˈturnu seveˈrin; ; ; ; ) is a city in Mehedinţi 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...

, Oltenia
Oltenia
Oltenia is a historical province and geographical region of Romania, in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Danube, the Southern Carpathians and the Olt river ....

, 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...

, on the left bank of 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....

, below the Iron Gates.

The city administers three villages: Dudaşu Schelei, Gura Văii, and Schela Cladovei. The population of Severin is 104,557 (2002) up from 18,628 in 1900.

Geography and climate

It is situated in western Oltenia, at the edge of the Topolniţa depression, 220 km south-east of 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...

, 113 km west of Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...

 and 353 km west of Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

.

The region's climate gives Severin warm summers and mild winters, meaning the city is home to magnolia trees, Caucasian nut trees, and gingko biloba as well as the almond trees, figs, lilacs, lindens, and chestnut trees more common throughout Europe. The climate in the region can be classified as a "sub-Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

".

History

The first written document, mentioning the city 1,870 years earlier, was commemorated in 1992.

Roman times

The city, which was called Drobetae by the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

, took its name of Turnu Severin (meaning the Tower of Severus) from a tower on the north bank of the Danube built by the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

. The tower stood on a small hill surrounded by a deep moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

. Near Turnu Severin are the remains of the celebrated Trajan's bridge
Trajan's bridge
Trajan's Bridge or Bridge of Apollodorus over the Danube was a Roman segmental arch bridge, the first to be built over the lower Danube. For more than a thousand years, it was the longest arch bridge in the world, in terms of both total and span length...

, the largest in the Empire. Here, the Danube is about 1,200 metres (4,000 feet) broad. Built in only three years (103–105 AD) by the famous architect Apollodorus of Damascus
Apollodorus of Damascus
Apollodorus of Damascus was a Greek engineer, architect, designer and sculptor who flourished during the 2nd century AD, from Damascus, Roman Syria. He was a favourite of Trajan, for whom he constructed Trajan's Bridge over the Danube for the 105-106 campaign in Dacia. He also designed the Forum...

, the bridge was considered the most daring work in the Roman world. The bridge was built on 20 pillars of stone blocks, was 1135 m long, 14.55 m wide and 18.60 m high. Each bridge head had its own portal monument, whose remains can still be seen on both sides of the Danube. Oaks from 200 hectars of forest were used for the wooden parts of the construction. The bridge was composed of twenty arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...

es supported by stone pillars. Only two of them are still visible at low tide.
Drobeta became, from a strategic perspective, a town at the crossing of land and water roads which led to the north and south of the Danube. It became the first urban center in the region and the third of Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...

 after Sarmizegetusa
Sarmizegetusa
Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital and the most important military, religious and political center of Dacians...

 and Apullum
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania...

. During the reign of Emperor Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

 (117–138 AD), the settlement was declared a city in 121 AD. At this point the population had reached 14,000. During the reign of Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

 (193–211 AD), the city was raised to the rank of a colony (193 AD), which gave its residents equal rights with citizens of Rome. As a colony, Drobeta was a thriving city with temples, a basilica, a theater, a forum, a port and guilds of craftsmen. In the middle of the 3rd century, Drobeta covered an area of 60 hectars and had a population of almost 40,000 inhabitants.

After the retreat of the Roman administration from Dacia
Roman Dacia
The 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...

 in the 4th century, the city was preserved under Roman occupation as a bridge head on the north bank of the Danube until the 6th century. Destroyed by Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

 in the 5th century, it was rebuilt by Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...

 (527-565).

Medieval Age

The fortress of Severin was built by the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The 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...

 under Ladislaus I (1077–1095) as strategical point against the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...

. Along with the forming of the Vallachian Voivodeships (Voievodatele Valahe), the Severin fortress was a reason for a war over a period of several generations between Oltenian Voievodes (Litovoi
Litovoi
Litovoi, also Litvoy, was a Vlach voivode in the 13th century whose territory comprised northern Oltenia .He is mentioned for the first time in a diploma issued by king Béla IV of Hungary on 2 July 1247...

, Bărbat
Barbat
Bărbat was the brother and successor of voivode Litovoi whose territory had comprised northern Oltenia .In 1277 , Litovoi renounced fealty to king Ladislaus IV of Hungary when the king claimed lands for the crown, but Litovoi refused to pay tribute for them...

, then Basarab I) and Hungarians. The war ended with the Battle of Posada
Battle of Posada
The Battle of Posada was fought between Basarab I of Wallachia and Charles I Robert of Hungary.The small Wallachian army led by Basarab, formed of cavalry, foot archers, as well as local peasants, managed to ambush and defeat the 30,000-strong Hungarian army, in a mountainous region near the...

. Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

 then fought the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, which threatened the area of the Danube. In this context, castles on the banks of the river, the area from Iron Gates to Calafat
Calafat
Calafat is a city in Dolj County, Romania, on the river Danube, opposite the Bulgarian city of Vidin, to which it is linked by ferryboat. The construction of the Calafat-Vidin Bridge is planned between the two cities....

, began to be restored.

When the Hungarians attacked Oltenia and conquered Severin's fortress, Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II the Jerosolimitan was King of Hungary and Croatia . He was the younger son of King Béla III of Hungary, who invested him with the government of the Principality of Halych...

 organized the Banat of Severin. The first Ban of Severin, Luca, was mentioned in 1233. This year may be taken as the date of birth of a new castle over the ruins of Drobeta, under the name Severin (Severinopolis). It was a basis for the Banat of Severin, Terra Zeurino, (Ţara Severinului – Country of Severin). Severin's name was taken in memory of Severinus of Noricum, who was the patron saint
Patron saints of places
This article features a list of patron saints of places by nation, region and town/city. If a place is not here it may be in Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary.- Supranational :*Benedict of Nursia – main patron saint of Europe*Bridget of Sweden – Europe...

 of the medieval colony Turnu, initially a suffragane of the Diocese of Kalocsa
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kalocsa-Kecskemét
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kalocsa–Kecskemét is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. Since 1993, its official name is Archdiocese of Kalocsa-Kecskemét. The diocese is the metropolitan of the Diocese of Pécs and the Diocese of Szeged-Csanád. The patron...

.

In 1247, the Hungarian Kingdom brought the Knights of St. John to the country, giving them Severin as a residence, where they built the medieval castle of Severin (this is the Castrul Zeurini mentioned in Diploma Cavalerilor Ioaniti in 1247). Inside the strong fort a Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 church was erected. This was presumably the headquarters of the Catholic episcopate of Severin that was there until 1502. The knights withdrew in 1259, while the fortress remained in the range of the cannons of Turks, Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 and Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

 who wanted to cross the Danube. The Hungarians still wanted to attack Oltenia.

Severin fortress was the most important strategic redoubt on the Danube. Its conquest meant to gain an important bridgehead in the region.

Romanian Voivodes have also fought for this powerful fortress, conquering it or claiming it from time to time. Litovoi and Basarab I died at this fortress, which also humiliated Carol Robert of Anjou at Posada in 1330. Mircea the Elder (Mircea cel Bătrân) established Bănia Severinului (Banat of Severin) and, in 1406, concluded a treaty of alliance with Sigismund of Hungary right in Severin. After the death of Mircea, Sigismund freed the Severin Fortress occupied by the Turks, and even made some concessions to the monasteries of Vodita and Tismana
Tismana
Tismana is a town in Gorj County, Romania. It administers ten villages: Celei, Costeni, Gornoviţa, Isvarna, Pocruia, Racoţi, Sohodol, Topeşti, Vâlcele and Vânăta....

. Then Banat of Severin returned to John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János , Medieval Latin: Ioannes Corvinus or Ioannes de Hunyad, Romanian: Iancu (Ioan) de Hunedoara, Croatian: Janko Hunjadi, Serbian: Сибињанин Јанко / Sibinjanin Janko, Slovak: Ján Huňady) John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János , Medieval Latin: ...

 (Iancu de Hunedoara), who consolidated all the castles on the Danube. Around 1330, possession passed to the Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

n voivodes.

After the fall of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 in 1453, attacks on the Danubian fortresses were made, moving the Banat to Strehaia
Strehaia
Strehaia is a town in Mehedinţi County, Oltenia, Romania. It is situated 25 km west of Filiaşi, on the Motru River valley. Forests in the vicinity are home to the largest Herman's Tortoise colonies in Oltenia....

. Later in Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...

, the Severin population migrating to Cerneţi village at 6 km north, which became the capital of the Mehedinţi district. In 1524, after a devastating attack by the Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman 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...

, Litovoi only one tower of the fortress Severin was left standing, which led to the appointment of the Mehedinţi people by Turnul lui Severin (Tower of Severinus). Then it was seized by the Ottoman Empire in 1524. Under Ottoman occupation, the territory's administration moved to the west of Oltenia and was centered in Cerneţi. In 1936, Prof. Dr. Al. Bărăcilă executed excavations at the fortress, where he managed to reconstruct the layout of the castle and recovered rich archaeological materials (rails, iron, copper, stone cannon-balls, pipe of a bronze cannon etc.). The fortress was rectangular shaped with two walls made of unprocessed river stones, glued with mortar. In the center of the castle there was a chapel,surrounded by graves, built in part with materials taken from Drobeta Castrum. Also in the fortress was an oven-hearth serving a weapons workshop. Inside the interior, to the north, was a tower with three floors used for defense; to the east a second tower, thicker, at the angle of the wall. The entrance to the castle was through a gate dome and the fortress was surrounded by a deep moat. Severin was under Ottoman rule until 1829 except Wallachian occupiation between 1594 and 1599 and Austrian one between 1718 and 1738.

For nearly 300 years the fortress was rebuilt after each battle to defend Wallachia against the Hungarians and Turks. Former Drobeta was reborn. Later, monuments from the Ancient Age
Ancient Age
Ancient Age is a brand of bourbon whiskey distilled in Frankfort, Kentucky at the Buffalo Trace Distillery.- Current Expressions :* Ancient Age is a 36 month old bourbon, bottled at 80 proof...

 embedded in the walls of new fortresses were discovered. Two Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 churches, Roman Catholic and Orthodox, coexisted during these three centuries.

Modern times

After gaining freedom from Ottoman control as a consequence of the Treaty of Adrianople
Treaty of Adrianople
The Peace Treaty of Adrianople concluded the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was signed on September 14, 1829 in Adrianople by Russia's Count Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov and by Turkey's Abdul Kadyr-bey...

 in 1829, it was decided to rebuild the present city. A rigorous program started in 1836. It was followed, in 1858, by the construction of the harbor. By 1900 the national road, rail, the Carol and Elisabeta boulevards, Navigaţia Fluvială Românească (River Navigation of Romania), the railway workshops, the shipyard (which in 1914 was the largest in the country), the Roman Hall, the Municipal Palace, three churches and two hospitals were built. In 1883, on May 15, Theodor Costescu established Liceul "Traian" ("Traian" Highschool), which in the next century would become a modern school of national prestige. The building of industrial factories spurred the development of the city. In 1841, Severin became the capital of the county and in 1851 became a city. As a major port on the Danube, the freedom of trade facilitated the entry of goods by boat from 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 exchange of material necessary for economic development. Severin experienced a steady economic, urban and social growth until 1972, when it received the name of Drobeta-Turnu Severin.

In 1914, the Castelul de Apa (The Water Castle) was opened. Considered an emblematic monument to the people of Severin, it gives identity to the city by being built in one of the major traffic roundabouts of the settlement.

In the inter-war period, the city of Turnu Severin managed to be placed among the eighteen largest urban centers in all of Romania. The city became a metropolis of culture by the initiatives of the "Traian" Lyceum (highschool) and institutions that reside in the imposing halls of the Palace of Culture: library, museum, theater, cinema, choral ensemble "Doina", "Lumina" Society, and Free University. These institutions continued during the communist regime. In the latter period, building was less in central neighborhoods, with the specific architecture of the city surviving demolition.

Among the most remarkable buildings of this period were - Hotel "Parc" residence SHN "Iron Gates", the Administration Palace, Youth House, shop "Decebal", House of Trade Unions and kinetic fountain in front of the Cultural Palace. In 1969, Turnu Severin became the capital of the county, and in 1972, became a city, adding the name of the ancient Drobeta to the city's name, becoming Drobeta Turnu Severin.

Natives

  • Gheorghe D. Anghel
  • Maria Negru
  • Ştefan Odobleja
    Stefan Odobleja
    Ştefan Odobleja was a Romanian scientist, one of the precursors of cybernetics. His major work, Psychologie consonantiste, first published in 1938 and 1939, in Paris, had established many of the major themes of cybernetics regarding cybernetics and systems thinking ten years before the work of...

  • Gheorghe Anghel
  • Ion Biberi
  • Victor Daimaca
  • Paul Dimo
    Paul Dimo
    Paul Dimo was a Romanian electrical engineer, creator of REI method of nodal analysis of electric networks. He contributed also to the development of electrification Plan of Romania.-Biography:...

  • Ion Gigurtu
    Ion Gigurtu
    Ion Gigurtu was a Romanian politician, Land Forces officer, engineer and industrialist who served a brief term as Prime Minister from July 4 to September 4, 1940, under the personal regime of King Carol II. A specialist in mining and veteran of both the Second Balkan War and World War I, he made a...

  • Alexander Löhr
    Alexander Löhr
    Alexander Löhr was an Austrian Air Force commander during the 1930s and, after the "Political Union of Germany and Austria" , he was a German Air Force commander...

  • Alexandru Ioan Morţun
    Alexandru Ioan Mortun
    Alexandru Ioan Morţun is a Romanian physician, politician, and Member of the European Parliament. He is a member of the National Liberal Party , part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and became an MEP on January 1, 2007, with the accession of Romania to the European Union...

  • Mirel Rădoi
    Mirel Radoi
    Mirel Matei Rădoi is a Romanian football midfielder who can also play as center back. He currently plays for Al-Ain FC in the UAE Pro-League. Radoi is considered a symbolic player for Steaua Bucureşti...

  • Petre Sergescu
  • Emil Moise-Szalla
  • Gheorghe Ţiţeica
    Gheorghe Titeica
    Gheorghe Ţiţeica publishing as George or Georges Tzitzeica) was a Romanian mathematician with important contributions in geometry. He is recognized as the founder of the Romanian school of differential geometry....

  • Doru Viorel Ursu
    Doru Viorel Ursu
    Doru Viorel Ursu is a Romanian politician and lawyer. A member of the National Salvation Front , he was Minister of the Interior in the Petre Roman cabinets, carrying his mandate between the Mineriads of 1990 and 1991.-Biography:...

  • Alice Voinescu
  • Anton Linder (1880–1958), Austrian Social Democrat

External links

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