Sovata

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Sovata
Szováta
Location of Sovata
Location of Sovata
Coordinates: 46°35′46″N 25°4′28″E / 46.59611, 25.07444
Country Flag of Romania Romania
County Mureş County
Status Town
Government
 - Mayor Ferenc Péter (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania)
Population (2002)
 - Total 11,614
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)

Sovata or Szováta (Romanian: Sovata, Hungarian: Szováta) is a town in Mureş County, Transylvania, central Romania.

3 villages are administratively part of the town:

  • Căpeti/Kopács
  • Ilieşi/Illyésmező
  • Săcădat/Szakadát
  • In 2004; the village of Sărăţeni (Sóvárad) broke away to form an independent commune.

Contents

[edit] Demographics

According to the 2002 Census the town has a population of 11,614. It has a Székely Hungarian majority, 10,465 or 90.11% are Hungarian.

[edit] Geography

Sovata is the northernmost settlement of the territory called Sóvidék (Salt Land), situated between the Corund River and the valley of the Târnava Mică River. It can be reached from Târgu-Mureş, Miercurea-Ciuc and Odorheiu Secuiesc on the 13A main road and from Reghin on a connection road.

3 villages are administratively part of the town:

  • Căpeti/Kopács
  • Ilieşi/Illyésmező
  • Săcădat/Szakadát
  • In 2004; the village of Sărăteni (Sóvárad) broke away to form an independent commune.

[edit] History

The first data about Sovata are from 1578. By 1583 it already was a village. Due to its warm-water, salty lakes it became increasingly popular during the next centuries. It gained the status of town in 1952.

[edit] Spa

The geological events in 1875 gave birth to the Bear Lake, which is unique in Europe, its water being helio-thermal and salty, with well-known therapeutic effects (for chronic gynecological symptoms, severe rheumatic pains, peripheral nervous system and post-accidental motor diseases). The therapeutic effects o for chronic gynecological symptoms have earned Sovata a "let's get hopping and breeding" fame, which has become quite legendary.

There are four more salty lakes: Nut Lake, Black Lake, Red Lake and Green Lake. Between the two wars Sovata became one of the most fashionable spas in the country, visited several times even by the Romanian Royal Family.

[edit] External links