Premiers of Timisoara


  • 1718 – Opening of the first elementary school from the borough, the first one in Romania.
  • 1718 – The certification of the beer factory, the oldest one from the actual territory of Romania.
  • 1728 – The beginning of the Bega sewerage, the oldest navigable canal from the actual territory of Romania, currently non-functional.
  • 1745 – The first community hospital in Romania (24 years before Vien and 34 years before Budapest)
  • 1753 – Timișoara, a city with permanent theatrical season,(the third city of the habsburg monarchy, after Vien and Budapest)
  • 1760 – The first city of the monarchy to have street lamps.
  • 1771 – The first newspaper to appear on the actual territory of Romania and also the first german newspaper from south-east Europe: “Temeswarer Nachrichten”
  • 1819 – For the first time in Central Europe, the smallpox vaccine is administered.
  • 1823-1826 – Janos Bolyai, serving at the garrison from Timisoara, was working on elaborating the non-Euclidean geometry.
  • 1847 – The first concert of Johan Strauss (the son) to take place outside of Vien was in the courtyard of the beer factory.
  • 1854 – The first telegraph service in a city of nowadays Romania.
  • 1855 – First city of the habsburg monarchy to have gas-based street lighting.
  • 1881 – The first phone network from the actual territory of Romania.
  • 1884 – The first city in Continental Europe to have street lighting with electricity, with 731 lamps.
  • 1886 – The first emergency station from Hungary and Romania.
  • 1889 – First European football game in Romania.
  • 1895 – The first street with asphalt from the current territory of Romania.
  • 1897 – The first cinematographic projections on our countries territory.
  • 1899 – The second electrical tramway in a city of nowadays Romania, after the one in Bucharest in 1894.
  • 1938 – Cornelius Miclos invented as a world first, a welding machine for train and tramway railways.
  • 1953 – The only European city to have 3 public theatres, in romanian, hungarian and german.
  • 1989 – The beginning of the Romanian revolution against the Communist Party and the first free city of Romania.


Important personalities


  • Carol Robert de Anjou: Due to feudal agitaion he moved the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom in Timisoara (1316-1323), where his first wife was burried, Maria Ecaterina of Beuthen (In Saint Ecaterinas Church from Timișoara).
  • Ioan Huniade (1387 - 1456) - Count of Timis, he resided in the borough of Timisoara, owned by his family until 1440; he built the Huniade Castle, the oldest historical monument of the city.
  • Paul Chinezu (1432 - 1494) - Count of Timiș, leader of the banatian troops, undefeated against the turks.
  • Pelbartus Ladislaus de Temesvar (1430 - 1504) - Christian philosopher born in Timișoara, worked in Budapest at the court of king Matei Corvin.
  • Claudius Florimund Mercy (1666 - 1734) - Governor of Banat, freed Timișoara of Ottoman occupation he rebuilt the borough after the occidental model, he colonized it with Swabians and he transformed it into an important economical centre and made it the capital of Banat.
  • Nikolaus Lenau (Franz Nikolaus Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau), (1802 - 1850) - Austrian poet, one of the classics of german and universal poetry, born near Timisoara, in the parish Csatad (Schadat) nowadays known as Lenauheim.
  • Iosif Ivanovici (1845 - 1902) - Romanian conductor and composer, known for the vals „Valurile Dunării”.
  • Carol Telbisz (1853 - 1914) - Mayor of Timisoara for almost 30 years, during these years he modernised the entire city.
  • Augustin Pacha (1870 - 1954) - The first Bishop of the diocese of Timișoara, he defended the rights of the catholics from Banat during the nazi pressures, in a historical audience with Hitler; anti-communist dissident.
  • Traian Vuia (1872 - 1950) - inventor, a pioneer of airplane construction and also a pioneer of global aviation, subsequent in France, he presided the National Romanian Front, antifascist organization, he was born in the village Surducu Mic, (today part of parish Traian Vuia) in Timiș county.
  • László Székely (1877 - 1934) - first chief-architect of Timisoara, the originator of a great number of buildings with great significance to the history of the city.
  • Bela Bartok (1881 - 1945) - composer, pianist and folklorist, considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century because he managed to realize the fusion between nationalism and the musical intellection of that century.
  • Francesco Illy (1892 - 1956) - inventor of the first automatic coffe machine, and founder of Illycaffè.
  • Iosif Nemoianu (1894 - 1968) - founder of the Social Pediatrics of România in the 30’s. He was decorated with: Crucea „Meritul Sanitar” first class, given through high decree Nr. 1218.
  • Johnny Weissmüller (1904 - 1984) - actor, famous for his role as Tarzan.
  • Pius Branzeu (1911 - 2002) - rector during 1946 - 1976 at the Institute of Medicine of Timisoara, he studied medicine at the Faculty of Medicine from Strasbourg, France. He obtained his Ph.D under the guidance of the famous surgeon René Leriche with the thesis Contributions à l’étude anatomo-clinique des artérites oblitérantes croniques and he was a recipient of the „Louis Sencert” prize for the best surgery essay. He was external (1931), internal (1934–1938) and assistant chief of clinic (1938–1939) in the surgical clinic led by René Leriche.
  • Kherer Heinz (1913 - 2009) - actor and playwrighter, Ștefan Heinz Kehrer, he is strongly related to the Swabians from Banat and their history, in general, and also strongly connected to the german theatre from Romania, he was born in 1913 in Sânpetrul Mic (Totina) in Banat.
  • Ștefan Kovács(1920 - 1995) - coach of Ajax Amsterdam.
  • Ioan Holender (1935) - singer, director of the Opera in Viena.
  • Iolanda Balaș (1936) - twice an Olympic champion at athletic sports, considered one of the most valuable high jumps athlete of all time.
  • Ioan Munteanu (1938) - Obstetrics doctor, with many achievements in the domain of assited human reproduction; first vitro fertilization and human embryotransfer in Romania. He founded and organized the first laparoscopy centre, laparoscopic surgery and vitro fertilization from Romania.
  • Richard Oschanitzky (1939 - 1979) - composer, pianist and conductor. He was one of the most well known Jazz musicians of Romania.
  • Peter Jecza (1939 - 2009) - sculptor, sculpture teacher at the Faculty of Arts of the West University of Timisoara. His opera contains over 700 works of art, especially in bronze, displayed at various galleries in Europe.
  • Ana Blandiana (1942) - Poet.
  • Șerban Foarță (1942) - Writer, translator.
  • Andre Spitzer (1945 - 1972) - fencer and coach of the Olympic israeli fencing team at the Summer Olympics in 1972, victim of the terrorist attacks at the Olympics in Munich (1972).
  • Nicu Covaci (1947) - Founder of the great rock band Phoenix.
  • Murgu Corneliu (1948) - International tenor.
  • Mircea Baniciu (1949) - Member of the rock band Phoenix.
  • László Tőkés (1952) - Ex-parson of the reformed episcopate, played an important role in triggering the Revolution in 1989.
  • Richard Wagner (1952) - Writer, born in parish Lovrin, Timiș county.
  • Herta Müller (1953) - german writer, originating from Nițchidorf, Timiș county, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
  • Alexandru Tyroler - First chess champion of Romania.
  • Ivan Simina - canto, singer at the Wiener Staatsoper.
  • Cornelius Miclos – inventor of the first ever welding machine for train and tramway raylways.


Source: http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timișoara


Useful links
Primăria Timișoara |  Muzeul Banatului |  Muzeul de Artă Timişoara |  Muzeul Satului Bănăţean |  Opera Română din Timişoara | 
Teatrul Naţional Mihai Eminescu |  Teatrul German de Stat |  Teatrul Maghiar de Stat Csiky Gergely |  Filarmonica de Stat "Banatul" |