Tîrgu-Mureş [key], Hung. Maros Vásárhely, city (1990 pop. 172,470), central Romania, capital of Mureş judet (district), in Transylvania, on the Mureşul River. It is a major industrial center, with industries manufacturing food products, tobacco, fertilizers, machinery, and furniture. Tîrgu-Mureş is also a market for agricultural products. There are pedagogical and medical-pharmaceutical institutes in the city. Dating from the 12th cent., Tîrgu-Mureş was the scene (1704) of the proclamation of Francis II Rakoczy as “ruling prince” of Hungary. The city remained part of Hungary until 1918, when Romania acquired Transylvania; more than half the population of Tîrgu-Mureş is Hungarian. Most of the city was rebuilt after a great fire in 1876, but surviving buildings include the 17th-century citadel, several old churches, and the baroque mansions once owned by the Teleki and Banffy families, magnates of Hungary. The 18th-century Telekiana library has valuable manuscripts, and the imposing, modern “cultural palace” contains an art gallery, an ethnographic museum, a library, and a conservatory of music.
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