Ungheni, Mureş

Infobox Settlement
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = ROU
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
map_caption = Location of Ungheni, Mureş
|official_name=Ungheni
image_shield=


subdivision_type1=County
subdivision_name1=Mureş County
subdivision_type2=Status
subdivision_name2=Autolink|Town
settlement_type=Town|
leader_title=Mayor
leader_name=Ioan Covrig
|leader_party=PSD
area_total_km2=
population_as_of=2002
population_total=6554|latd=46|latm=29|lats=9|latNS=N|longd=24|longm=27|longs=39|longEW=E|
website=

Ungheni ( _ro. Ungheni; Hungarian: "Nyárádtő"; German: "Nyaradfluß") is a town in Mureş County, in central Romania. It was known until the 1960s as "Niraşteu".

6 villages are administratively part of the town:
*Cerghid
*Cerghizel
*Moreşti
*Recea
*Şăuşa
*Vidrasău

The town is situated 11 km from the county capital Târgu Mureş and is the location of the Târgu Mureş International Airport.

Demographics

The town has a population of 6,554. The ethnic breakdown is as follow:
*Romanians: 5,241 (79.97%)
*Roma: 710 (10.83%)
*Hungarians: 599 (9.14%)
*Others: 4 (0.06%)

Churches

The oldest church in the village was built by the greek-catholic believers between 1858-1864. In 1948, once the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church was banned by the communist regime, this church – along with all the properties of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church – has been given to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

After the anti-communist revolution from 1989, the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church has been officially recognized by the Romanian State and she started to claim the churches back. Until today, May 2008, the Romanian Orthodox Church refuses to give the properties back to the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, in some cases preferring to demolish them instead of giving them back to the owners that they’ve been stolen from.

The same thing happened with the old greek-catholic church from Ungheni. In 1997 the Romanian Orthodox Church started to build a new orthodox church around the greek-catholic one, even if they didn’t have any permits for that.

Despite of numerous complaints, report, memorandums or protests sent to numerous romanian and international organizations or world wide media by the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, the illegal construction work continued. On May 8th, 2008, without any permits or authorizations, the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to proceed with demolishing the old greek-catholic church in order to continue the work to the new church.

Into a public letter, the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church protested against the lack of respect for the law, the Christian patrimony and values of another Church as manifested by the Romanian Orthodox Church in this case. The letter continued: “At the same time we cannot understand how this case can help to facilitate the dialogue between Christian brothers and the ecumenical opening that is the goal of all Christian Churches, following from the mission given to them by Jesus that "all should be one" (John 17, 21). ”

For pictures from this illegal act, please visit:http://www.greco-catolica.org/a342-Biserica-Ortodoxa-Romana-a-inceput-demolarea-bisericii-greco-catolice-din-Ungheni-Mures.aspx