The Town of Zlatna

Zlatna (German Goldmarkt or Klein-Schlatten, Hungarian Zalatna, Latin Ampelum) is one of the oldest towns in Transylvania, located in the Depresiunea Zlatna, about 36 km west of Alba Iulia, on the Valea Ampoiului, in the heart of the Munții Metaliferi. With 6,652 inhabitants at the 2021 census and an area of 254 km², the town administers 18 villages scattered across the surrounding valleys and hills. Traces of Bronze Age settlement (Wietenberg culture) have been found in the town. In Roman times this was the settlement of Ampelum, an important gold-mining centre that probably held the rank of municipium. Traces of the Roman presence remain visible today through the archaeological remains found in the area. The settlement is first recorded in 1347 and became a town in 1387. Gold mining continued, and Prince Gabriel Bethlen brought German and Slovak miners here. The town's territory includes the nature reserves of Piatra Bulbuci, Calcarele de la Valea Mică and Cheile Caprei (Feneș Gorge). Nearby are the Detunata peaks, in Bucium commune, and the Ampoița Gorge. The Orthodox Church of the Dormition, built in Gothic style in 1424, with murals from the 15th and 18th centuries (a category A historical monument), and the Church of Saint Nicholas and the Nativity of the Virgin are the town's main monuments. Did you know that the German poet Martin Opitz, who came to teach at the college in Alba Iulia in 1622, wrote a poem called simply "Zlatna", published in 1623?