Arad

People have lived on the banks of the Mureș for thousands of years, and in the 2nd century the Romans built a fort where the district of Aradul Nou now stands. The town was first recorded as Orod around 1078–81. Ottoman forces took the region in 1551 and built the city's first fortress in 1553–55; Habsburg troops captured it in 1687, and after the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699 the Mureș became the frontier between the two empires. In 1720 the town had 177 Romanian, 162 Serbian and 35 Hungarian families, and German settlers from Franconia founded Neu Arad on the south bank in 1724.

Between 1763 and 1783 Maria Theresa had a new star-shaped fortress built. In 1849 it fell to the Hungarian revolutionaries, who made Arad their headquarters; Lajos Kossuth issued his proclamation here before handing power to Artúr Görgey. After the surrender at Világos, the Austrians executed thirteen rebel generals at the fortress on 6 October 1849, and Hungarians have called Arad their Golgotha ever since. The 19th century also made Arad a centre of learning: the Preparandia, founded in 1812, was the first Romanian teacher training school in Transylvania.

Industry followed. The Weitzer factory began building railway wagons in 1892, MARTA made the first cars in Hungary, and in 1921 the two merged as Astra Arad, which by the 1980s was Europe's largest maker of freight wagons. In 1910 nearly three-quarters of the 63,000 inhabitants were Hungarian; during the First World War some 4,000 Serb internees died in the fortress, and in 1920 the city became part of Romania.

Arad's culture shows its border-town past. Hungarian heritage is visible in the memorials of 1848–49 — the Statue of Liberty of 1890 honours the heroes of the Hungarian revolutionary army and the 13 Martyrs — while an arch of triumph of 2004 honours the Romanians who fought on the other side, and Reconciliation Park remembers the executed generals. Romanian, Serbian, Hungarian, German and Jewish communities have all left churches, schools and a synagogue, and Hungarian- and German-language high schools still teach today.

The city has a long musical and theatrical tradition. It hosted one of the first music conservatories in Europe; Franz Liszt performed here in 1846, and Béla Bartók in 1924; and the young poet Mihai Eminescu came as a prompter with a touring theatre company in 1868. The Hirschl theatre of 1817 is considered the oldest stone theatre in Romania, the Ioan Slavici Classical Theatre hosts an annual classical theatre festival, and the philharmonic plays in the Cultural Palace. There is also an international festival of underground theatre.

Sport has deep roots too: the first official football match was played in 1899, UTA Arad has won six Romanian football championships, and Astra Arad plays first-division water polo.

Arad had about 145,000 people at the 2021 census, the third largest city in western Romania after Timișoara and Oradea. Like many Romanian cities it has lost residents to bigger cities and to the suburbs, where nearby villages are growing fast.

Railway wagons remain one of the main industries. Astra Arad was split in the 1990s into separate companies making freight wagons, passenger cars and buses, and since 2016 freight wagons have been built by the Greenbrier-Astra Rail joint venture; the city is also a transport hub on the road and railway between Budapest and Bucharest, and its airport has the largest cargo terminal in western Romania. The city has two universities, the private Vasile Goldiș Western University and the public Aurel Vlaicu University.

Life centres on Revoluției Boulevard, where trams, cafés and shops meet, and in summer on the Mureș, where the Neptun lido draws millions of visits a year. The city has two market areas for fruit and basic food, and its nearness to Hungary means some residents cross the border to shop.

Arad's food is the food of the Banat and Crișana, mixing Romanian, Hungarian, Swabian and Serbian traditions. Mămăligă, the maize-flour porridge eaten with cheese and sour cream, and sarmale, cabbage leaves rolled round minced meat and rice, sit beside Hungarian goulash, the paprika-seasoned meat-and-vegetable dish, and grilled mici, rolls of spiced minced beef, lamb and pork often served with mustard. Ciorbă, the family of sour soups, starts many meals, and tochitură, cubes of pork cooked slowly in their own fat and served with mămăligă and eggs, is another traditional Romanian dish.

Sweet breads such as cozonac, filled with walnuts or poppy seeds, appear at holidays, and papanași, a fresh-cheese dessert topped with sour cream and fruit preserve, are a traditional sweet.

Wine comes from the Miniș-Măderat hills east of the city, whose traditional Cadarcă grape has made red wine there since at least 1744, while the Mustoasă de Măderat grape gives fresh white wines. In town, Revoluției Boulevard holds many of the cafés, bars and restaurants.