Reghin

Reghin lies in the north of Mureș County, on both banks of the Mureș river at its confluence with the Gurghiu, 32 km from Târgu Mureș. The settlement first appears in a charter of King Andrew II of 1228 under the name "Regun", and its German name, Sächsisch-Regen, recalls the Transylvanian Saxon community, still the majority in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1551 the Saxon community adopted the Lutheran Reformation, in 1863 Reghin became a free royal town, and in 1848 the town was almost entirely burned down. The 2021 census recorded 29,742 inhabitants. The main historic monument is the Evangelical church at Strada Călărașilor 1 (LMI code MS-II-a-A-15761), built as a Roman Catholic church in 1330, the date given by an inscription on the north wall. János Kemény was elected Prince of Transylvania in Reghin on 1 January 1661. The church burned in the fires of 1708 and 1848 and was rebuilt each time. The "Anton Badea" Ethnographic Museum, at Strada Vânătorilor 51, was founded by the ethnographer Anton Badea, who started the collection in 1960. It occupies a building of 1892, itself a listed monument, and holds more than 7,500 objects, including traditional technical installations (an oil press, a watermill, a wine press), tools, folk costume and crafts from the Upper Mureș Valley, the Gurghiu Valley and part of the Transylvanian Plain. The town also has the wooden church of St Nicholas, a monument of national importance. Reghin is known as "the city of violins" for its tradition of making violins and other stringed instruments from resonance wood from the Călimani and Gurghiu forests. The first instruments were produced by the "Hora" company, followed by "Gliga Instrumente Muzicale". A monument in the town honours the violin makers.