Târgu Mureş

Târgu Mureş, city, capital of Mureş judeƫ (county), north-central Romania. It lies in the valley of the Mureş River, in the southeastern part of the Transylvanian Basin. First mentioned in the early 14th century, it was a cattle and crop market town called Agropolis by Greek traders. In the 15th century it had 30 guilds. The mathematician Farkas Bolyai (1775–1856) lived in Târgu Mureş.

Târgu Mureş is an important cultural centre in the heart of the Magyar and German minority area and was the administrative capital of the former Mureş Magyar Autonomous Region. There is a state theatre with Magyar and Romanian sections, a Szekler song and dance ensemble, a theatre institute, a technical university, and a university of medicine and pharmaceutics. The Teleki-Bolyai Library, founded at the end of the 18th century by Count Samuel Teleki, chancellor of Transylvania, contains a large collection of first editions and important manuscripts documenting Transylvanian history, as well as mathematical and scientific works. The Palace of Culture houses many activities; its stained-glass windows depict historical scenes.

The city experienced remarkable growth in the 20th century. It has a sugar refinery, a nitrogenous fertilizer works using natural-gas by-products, and factories producing furniture, clothing, leather goods, and processed foods. New residential districts at Oancea and Merişani contrast with surviving old buildings. Pop. (2007 est.) 145,943.