Timisoara – 800 years of documentary testimony

Located in a strategic place from where one could control the largest part of the Banat Plain, Timisoara thrived especially during the reign of Charles Robert of Anjou (1308-1342).

Between 1316 and 1323, in the context of the political turmoil from the Hungarian Kingdom, Charles Robert of Anjou moved the capital city to Timisoara, on which occasion they decided the construction of the royal palace.

For a period of 50 years (1440-1490), Timisoara fortress would be in the possession of the Corvinesti family, and John Hunyadi (Iancu de Hunedoara) would use the position of the city to install a permanent military camp.

Between 1552 and 1716, Timisoara was under Ottoman oppression having the same special status as Belgrade and Buda.

In 1716, Eugene of Savoy conquered the Timisoara fortress adding it to the Habsburg Empire. As it was normal, once with the Great Union of 1918, Timisoara would belong to Romania.

Timisoara is, by far, the city that registered the most European premières in various domains.
It was the first city in the Habsburg Empire lighted with gas lamps (1857) and the first electrically lighted city of the continental Europe (1884).

In 1771, at Timisoara, it was issued the first newspaper on the current Romanian territory and the first newspaper in German from the South-Eastern Europe, Temeswarer Nachrichten (Timisoara News).

In 1889, the city hosted the first European football match in Romania and in 1895 the first street on the current Romanian territory was paved with asphalt.

In 1953, Timisoara was the only European city having three state theatres in Romanian, Magyar and German languages.

The documentary attestation date of Timisoara city is quite controversial from historians’ point of view, but the one most of them agree upon is the year 1212.

Considering this date accepted, Romfilatelia introduces into circulation the postage stamp issue entitled “Timisoara - 800 years of documentary testimony”, consisting of four stamps and one souvenir sheet.

On the postage stamp with the face value of lei 2.10 is illustrated the Episcopal Roman-Catholic Cathedral, edifice also known under the name of the Roman-Catholic Dome, built between 1736 and 1774, according to the blueprints of the Viennese architect Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. The architectural style of the Cathedral is Baroque and it is considered to be the most unitary and representative Baroque construction in Timisoara and one of the most valuable edifices in Banat. It also belongs to the rare monuments in which the original furniture of the edifice has been preserved almost integrally until nowadays.

On the postage stamp with the face value of lei 5.00 is illustrated the Timisoara Fortress in 1602, a reproduction after a chromolithography made by Fork E. in 1876 at Timisoara.

On the postage stamp with the face value of lei 7.60 is illustrated the Hunyadi Castle, a reproduction after a lithography from the 18th century. The oldest building of Timisoara, Hunyadi Castle, was built between 1443-1447 by John Hunyadi (Iancu de Hunedoara) on the ruins of an old castle from the 14th century, erected by Charles Robert of Anjou. In 1947, the Hunyadi Castle became the Museum of Banatin in whose rooms one may see objects and documents from the field of archeology, history and natural sciences.

On the postage stamp with the face value of lei 14.50 is illustrated The Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral, the biggest religious construction of Timisoara considered the symbol of the city.

On the souvenir sheet of the issue is illustrated the image of a reconstruction of Timisoara Fortress in 1800, and the current coat of arms of Timisoara municipality.

The philatelic document is created into a limited edition of 150 copies, equipped with the postage stamps of the issue, numbered and cancelled with the “first day” postmark.

The philatelic album is created into a limited run printing of 500 pcs., equipped with a special philatelic product, numbered in red from 001 to 500, which brings together the 4 postage stamps of the issue, the souvenir sheet and the schwarzdruck of the postage stamps of the issue, having imprinted in gold foiling the “first day” postmark of the issue.