Csíkszereda

	CSÍKSZEREDA (Mircurea Ciuc, Rumania today) is the capital of the Székely-land. It took its name from the Slavic word szreda (Engl. middle) which the Székelys transformed to Szerda, then to Szereda, which refers to the geographical location of the town, i.e., it is in the middle of Csík-szék, one of the five administrative jurisdictions of the Székely-land. The town was founded by craftsmen during the reign of the Hungarian kings of the House of Árpád (1000-1301), and it quickly became a busy commercial center of the region holding fairs on every Wednesday. The first written document about the municipality of Csíkszereda is from 1558, when Hungarian queen Isabel relieves oppidum Zereda from paying tax to the Hungarian royal court. The history of Csíkszereda has been plagued with devastating raids by the Tartars, Turks, and Habsburg troops, only to be interrupted by peace periods when local high-noble tyrants ruled the land with and iron fist. In 1717-1719, a very serious black pox epidemic killed two-thirds of the population of the town. During the Hungarian Liberation Fight of 1848, patriotic newspapers, such as the Hadi Lap and the Csíki Gyutacs were printed in Csíkszereda. After World War I, the Treaty of Trianon, 1920, annexed Csíkszereda, along with entire Transylvania, from Hungary to Rumania (to whom these places had never belonged before). Csíkszereda, with a population of 70,000, today is an important industrial town and continues to be the cultural and ethnic center of the Hungarian Székelys in the Székely-land.
	The Áron Márton Grammar School was originally opened in Csíksomlyó (a municipality in the outskirts of Csíkszereda), as part of the Franciscan monastery there, in 1668. The students of the monastery grammar school not only received a high level of education, but were also encouraged to get involved in extra-curricular activities, such as forming amateur play groups. They have developed their amateur performing art skills to a considerable level, since they have put on 48 school plays (47 in Hungarian, 1 in Latin language), which were showing according to regular yearly calendars, known as the Csíksomlyói misztériumok (Engl. Mystical plays at Csíksomlyó). Székely Áron Gábor, the castor of the famous cannon of brass of 1848 was among its students. The building of the Franciscan monastery of Csíksomlyó was growing small for the reputable grammar school, so they built a 365-room building in Csíkszereda in secessionist style in 1909, and the school moved here in 1911. The Áron Márton Grammar School, which is proud of its traditions, celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1968.
	The Castle of Mikó stands in the southern part of Csíkszereda and is the most well-known landmark of the town. The original castle, which had been on this spot, was built by Hungarian king Saint Ladislaus I (1077-1095), the famed King of Knight, but it was later destroyed during subsequent wars. Using the old foundations, the present building was erected by Hungarian noble Ferenc Mikó, commander-in-chief of Csík-, Gyergyó- and Kászon-szék (administrative jurisdictions of the Székely-land), between 1611-1621.This castle was meant to be a fortified residential palace, rather than a military object, and it became a luxurious chateau. During the 1661 Turkish raid on Csíkszereda, the castle was almost totally destroyed and the devastation became complete by the next Tartar attack in 1694. In 1714, the building was rebuilt by Habsburg general Steinwille who made the Castle of Mikó a military fortress. The castle was hardly finished when one of the most deadly black pox epidemics hit town in 1717-1719, killing the majority of the people. Csíkszereda was recuperating when the Castle of Mikó, now serving as a jail, was used to hold and torture the Székely prisoners of the anti-Habsburg resistance, called the Madéfalvi veszedelem (Engl. Massacre at Madéfalva), in 1764. Today, the Castle of Mikó, among others, hosts the Museum of the Székelys of Csík-szék.

Hungarian Images and Historical Background
© 1994 András Szeitz
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