Reşiţa

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Reşiţa

County	Caraş-Severin County
Status	County capital
Mayor	Liviu Spătaru, National Liberal Party, since 2004
Population (2006)	86.383
Geographical coordinates	45°18′0″N, 21°53′25″E
Web site	http://www.primaria-resita.ro/

Reşiţa (German: Reschitz, Hungarian: Resicabánya, Serbian: Решица/Rešica) is a city in western Romania and the capital of Caraş-Severin County, in the Banat region. Its 2004 population was 83,985.

Contents 1 History 2 Features 3 Transport 3.1 Public Transport 3.1.1 Trams 3.1.2 Buses 3.2 Road Transport 4 Shopping 5 Economy of Resita 6 Gallery 7 External Links

[edit] History

Historically, the town has its origins to the 15th century under the name of Rechyoka and Rechycha. Archaeological research found traces of habitation going back to the Neolithic, Dacian and Roman eras. It was mentioned in 1673 under the name of Reszinitza, whose citizens paid taxes to Timişoara, and by the years 1690 – 1700, it was mentioned as being part of the District of Bocşa together with other towns in the Bârzava Valley. The town was referenced to in the conscription acts of 1717 under the name of Retziza. It became since 3 July 1771 an important metal-manufacturing center in the region. The foundation of the industrial Reşiţa were laid with the establishment of factories near the villages of Reşiţa Română (Reschiza Kamerală or Olah Resitza) and Reşiţa Montană (Eisenwerk Reschitza, Nemet Reschitza or Resiczbanya). Reşiţa Montană was at first inhabited by Romanians, and later, in 1776, 70 German families settled there. Between the years 1910 – 1925, Reşiţa had the status of a rural area, and in 1925 it was declared a city thanks to its development to a powerful industrial location in modern Romania. In 1968, it became a municipality.

After 1989 Reşiţa lost most of its importance and its economy faced a drawback, along with the Romanian economy. The population also suffered a decrease, dropping from 110,000 in 1989 to 86,000 in 2006. After the fall of communism, the Reşiţa Steelworks (Combinatul Siderurgic Reşiţa, CSR) were bought by an American investor who brought the factory just one step away from bankruptcy. Today the steelworks are run by a Russian company, who has projects of modernization for the CSR. Still, it is believed that CSR would never reach again the status it had in the communist era.

[edit] Features

An important iron and steel center, Reşiţa is the site of blast furnaces, iron foundries, and plants producing electrical appliances, chemicals and machinery.

A locomotive museum featuring Romania's first locomotives is located in Reşiţa, in the Triaj neighborhood.

There are also important cultural points in Reşiţa that have been renewed in 2006, including the Scoala de Beton, Centrul Civic (Downtown) and Sala Polivalenta.

The Centrul Civic has been mostly renewed in 2006, but it is not yet finished, even though most of it is free of restrions. Another important point to view in resita is its famous fountain located in the Centrul Civic witch has been built in the communist era and it is one of Europe's most beautiful fountains, which can even change the water's shape in the air. Unfortunately it is not always on because it consumes a large amount of electricity. The city is considered by inhabitants as being divided into two big areas, Reşiţa de sus or oraşul vechi (old city), respectively Govândari area built after 1965. The old town is made up of 10 neighbourhoods : "Muncitoresc", "Valea Domanului", "Lunca Pomostului", "Moroasa I and II", "Driglovăţul Nou" , "Driglovăţul Vechi", "Stavila", Minda", "Başovăţ" şi "Lend"; while the newest part of the city, Govândari is divided into 4 "Microraioane". Complimentary to this there are the surrounding small towns, considered neighbourhoods: Câlnic, Ţerova, Secu and Cuptoare and Moniom .

Also, the city is a hub for leisure locations all around. Locations near Reşiţa include the ski resort at Semenic, Lake Gozna, Lake Secu, the Trei Ape Lake, Gărâna, Brebu, and Văliug.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Public Transport

Resita's public transport relays on 2 Tram lines and 5 bus lines, and is run by the Prescom company.

[edit] Trams

The 2 Tram Lines are Renk-Muncitoresc line (0), and Renk-Stavila line (DP) witch is basically an expansion of the Renk-Muncitoresc line, but there are only 3 trams on this line. The full tram fleet is consisting of about 42 trams. The current trams are GT8 models imported from Germany, and fully replaced the former pre-89 trams in 2002. Today there are only 2 of these former trams remaining, but they are out-of-use and scheduled for destruction.

[edit] Buses

Resita's bus fleet consists of about 35 buses running on 5 lines (2,3,4,9,10). There are 4 buses types: Man, DAC, Ikarus and Roman buses. The most frequent are the Ikarus buses. Buses are used very rarely in Resita, and they are most used by people living at the peripheria or in suburbs. In the past buses were more common in Resita, because there were the private buses to supplement the Prescom ones, but private buses were forbidden since November, 2005 because many clients complained about their unpunctuality and poor condition of some of those buses, as some even got on fire because of their old engines. Resita's bus system is to be upgraded by 2008 with 33 MAN-AG Lion's classic Interurban buses. Prescom has already acquired 2 of these buses, and are scheduled to be officially launched on the streets in March, 2007.

[edit] Road Transport

Resita features a main 4 lane road that connects the neightebourhood Stavila to the neightbourhood of Calnic. This main road passes through almost all important neighbourhoods in resita. The rest of the neightbour hoods in resita are accessible via 2 lane secondary roads or single-lane roads. Roads of Resita are ussualy well maintained, especially the main road, but there are occasional pot-holes on secondary roads. The road signs are usually well placed and well maintained, and traffic is usually friendly and traffic jams are a myth. Accidents are very rare and almost never lethal. Externaly Resita is connected by national roads to Caransebes (Continued to Bucharest) , and respectively Timisoara. There are also 3 county roads connecting Resita to Oravita, Vama Năidaş and respectively Anina.

[edit] Shopping

Resita currently has 4 supermarkets of witch 2 Artima supermarkets, one Plus supermarket, and one Spar supermarket. The Shopping Center of Resita is the Nera Shopping Center located in the Centrul Civic. There are a variety of companies operating in Resita, offering almost everything a normal consumer wold need.

There are also resorts for people who prefer nightlife, the most important being the Club Gladiator and Hot Club.

[edit] Economy of Resita

Resita has long been considered as the second largest industrial center of Romania. It has a population of about 86,000 inhabitants (2006). It is an important center in manufacturing steel and Vehicle Manufacturing. C.S.R. (Combinatul Siderurgic Reşiţa) and U.C.M.R. (Uzina Constructoare de Maşini Reşiţa) are the factories witch sustained the city's life for more than 300 years. The first factories were founded in 1771, during the reign of Maria Tereza. In the past they were named Uzinele şi Domeniile Reşiţa or UDR, as you can read on some steam locomotives, and before they were named St. E.G.

The economy of Resita has faced a drawback since 1989, but now it seems it's going forward as more investors come. In communications services Resita is a modern city, with many Internet service providers, some even offering speeds of up to 100 mb/s and high quality telephone and cellphone services

• Industry: Automobile industry, Iron industry, texture industry, civilian constructions;
• Agriculture: 1% of the labour force of the city works in agriculture;
• Services : public alimentation, internal and international transport;
• Tourism : 2 tourism societies (Tourist Semenic SA and BIRTA SA);

[edit] Gallery

[edit] External Links

• Official site of Resita
• Unofficial site of Resita