| Gyula | |
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| Gyula Castle | |
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Gyula
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Hungary |
| County | Békés |
| Area | |
| • Total | 255.8 km2 (98.8 sq mi) |
| Population (2009) | |
| • Total | 32,055 |
| • Density | 125.16/km2 (324.2/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 5700, 5711 |
| Area code(s) | 66 |
Gyula (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɟulɒ] ( listen), Romanian: Jula) is a city in Békés county in south-eastern Hungary. It lies close to the border with Romania, on the river Fehér-Körös.
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The first recorded reference to Gyula was in a document dated 1313 which mentions a monastery called Gyulamonostor (Julamonustra in Latin). By 1332 the settlement around the monastery was being called Gyula / Jula. There are two versions for the origin of the name. One is that following the occupation of the Pannonian Plain by the Magyar tribes, the tribe of the gyula settled in the area. More likely is the version that a lord called Gyula or Jula founded the monastery and its settlement. During Ottoman rule, the town was a sandjak center as Göle or Küle in Tamışvar eyalet.
The Holocaust in Hungary is commemorated in Gyula's Germantown at the building that housed the Synagogue; one town among many that formed a once thriving Jewish community in Bekes county. Today, the Gyula Synagogue houses a music school and bears a plaque of remembrance dedicated to the memory of Gyula's Jewish community that perished in Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
As of the Census of 2001, the town had 32,967 inhabitants; 94.2% Magyars, 2.3% Romanians, 1.6% Germans, 0.3% Slovaks, 0.4% Roma and 1.2% other.
Gyula is a center for the small Romanian community of Hungary (2.3% of the inhabitants are ethnic Romanian).
To the east of the town centre stands the old fortress (13th century), now a cultural centre and a tourist attraction. Nearby, there are thermal spas known for their therapeutic effects.
Nicolae Bălcescu High School, designed by Szabó Jen in an architectural style resembling that of Transylvanian wooden churches, is Hungary's only Romanian-language high school.[1] Not very far is the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral, erected in 1867.
Gyula is home to Hungary's second oldest cake shop, and has a town centre comprising numerous small pedestrianised squares, many of which have large water fountains.
Gyula is twinned with:
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