Oravița

For the river in Caraș-Severin County, see Oravița (river).

Oravița
Town
Coat of arms
Location in Caraș-Severin County
Oravița Location in Romania
Coordinates: 45°2′25″N 21°41′7″E
Country	Romania
County	Caraș-Severin
Government
• Mayor (2020–2024)	Dumitru Ursu[1] (PSD)
Area	162.64 km^2 (62.80 sq mi)
Elevation	253 m (830 ft)
Population  (2021-12-01)[2]	9,346
• Density	57/km^2 (150/sq mi)
Time zone	EET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Postal code	325600
Vehicle reg.	CS
Website	www.oravita.ro

Oravița (Romanian pronunciation: [oˈravit͡sa]; Hungarian: Oravicabánya; German: Orawitz; Czech: Oravice; Serbo-Croatian: Oravica/Оравица) is a town in the Banat region of Romania, in Caraș-Severin County, with a population of 9,346 in 2021. Its theater is a fully functional scaled down version of the old Burgtheater in Vienna.

Six villages are administered by the town: Agadici (Agadics; Agaditsch), Brădișoru de Jos (until 1960 Maidan; Majdán), Broșteni (Brostyán), Ciclova Montană (Csiklóbánya; Montan-Tschiklowa), Marila (Marillavölgy; Marillathal) and Răchitova (Rakitova).

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1930	9,585	—
1948	6,974	−27.2%
1956	8,175	+17.2%
1966	9,912	+21.2%
1977	14,987	+51.2%
1992	15,293	+2.0%
2002	15,222	−0.5%
2011	10,225	−32.8%
2021	9,346	−8.6%
Source: Census data

Etymology

The name of the town is derived from the Slavic word orah(ov), meaning "(of) walnut" with suffix -ița.^[3]

Villages

Agadici

The history of Agadici can be traced back to at least the 17th century, when records noted a population of "800 souls". Today, there are fewer than 200 people living in Agadici. Agadici is a word derived from Turkish: Aga meaning 'colonel' and dici meaning 'daughter'. Therefore, Agadici means "daughter of the colonel". The town was supposedly named after a colonel's daughter when the Ottoman Empire occupied the land that is now the Banat (see the Temeşvar Eyalet).

Ciclova Montană

The second-oldest beer in what is now Romania was produced in Ciclova; it is first attested in a document of 1728. In the beginning, production was under the management and patronage of the local Catholic monastery. Known as "bere Ciclova" in later years, the firm went bankrupt in 1996.^[4]

Natives

• Florin Bătrânu (born 1971), footballer
• Cristian Boldea (born 1985), footballer
• Radu Pavel Gheo (born 1969), fiction writer and essayist
• Adolf Humborg (1847–1921), Austrian painter
• Kálmán Kerpely (1864–1940), Hungarian agronomist
• András Lévai (1908–2003), Hungarian engineer and academic
• Simeon Mangiuca (1831–1890), folklorist
• Kálmán Mihalik (1896–1922), Hungarian physician and composer

Climate

Oravița has a humid continental climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification).

Climate data for Oravița
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	2.7 (36.9)	4.7 (40.5)	10.1 (50.2)	15.9 (60.6)	20.4 (68.7)	23.8 (74.8)	25.9 (78.6)	26.1 (79.0)	20.8 (69.4)	15.4 (59.7)	9.9 (49.8)	4 (39)	15.0 (58.9)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−0.6 (30.9)	1 (34)	5.6 (42.1)	11.2 (52.2)	15.9 (60.6)	19.4 (66.9)	21.4 (70.5)	21.5 (70.7)	16.6 (61.9)	11.3 (52.3)	6.3 (43.3)	1 (34)	10.9 (51.6)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−3.8 (25.2)	−2.6 (27.3)	1.1 (34.0)	6.2 (43.2)	10.8 (51.4)	14.3 (57.7)	16.4 (61.5)	16.5 (61.7)	12.5 (54.5)	7.5 (45.5)	3.3 (37.9)	−1.7 (28.9)	6.7 (44.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	66 (2.6)	62 (2.4)	68 (2.7)	90 (3.5)	93 (3.7)	110 (4.3)	92 (3.6)	75 (3.0)	79 (3.1)	65 (2.6)	63 (2.5)	74 (2.9)	937 (36.9)
Source: https://en.climate-data.org/europe/romania/caras-severin/oravita-15644/

Anina–Oravița railway

The rail line from Anina to Oravița was the first mountain railway in Hungary and today's Romania. Opened in 1863, it is still in use today for touristic purposes, and it is one of the most beautiful railways in Europe due to very picturesque landscapes, viaducts, and long tunnels.

• 
  View from the Oravița–Anina mountain railway in 2010
• 
  Church of the Assumption, Oravița (1781–1784)

References

1. "Results of the 2020 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
2. "Populaţia rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (XLS). National Institute of Statistics.
3. Iordan, Iorgu (1963). Toponimia romînească. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne. p. 84. OCLC 460710897.
4. (in Romanian) Cristian Franț, "Berea Ciclova, un brand extrem de puternic care a murit subit", Adevărul, June 24, 2013