"It is our light which we imbibe in our soul, and the land upon we living and dieing" /Tamási Áron/ Lupen - Lupeni - Hargita County, Románia.



Description: Tamási Áron’s „village of angels”, in the heart of Szeklerland, between Sovata and Odorheiu Secuiesc, near the National Road no. 13A, in the valley of the river called Fehérnyikó. The first written reference about the settlement is from 1566; today is the center of the communality of 9 villages. The name of the village is possible to date from the name of wolf - the totem animal, from the heathen times. The popular tradition says there was a small water mill north from the Nyikó river. Around the water mill, and also around the village, there were forests. Here, to this watermill came a man with his horse to grind. While the men grinded, wolves ate his horse. The man went home without his horse, and told everybody that “wolves populate that place down”. The tradition is derives from this story the name of the village. The settlement is situated on the side of Gordon mountain.



Population: The communality since its foundation is populated by Szekler-Hungarian, Roman Catholic peoples. In 1850 there lived 1051 people, in 1910 1317 people, at the time of the Revolution from 1956 1550 people, and according to the last dates, in 2001 there lived 1776 people in the village: 1773 Hungarian and 3 Romanian nationalities. From the point of view of religion: 1733 Roman Catholic, 40 Reformed and 3 Orthodox.



Economical characterization: the main activity of the population is the animal husbandry (beef, sheep, horse, goat, swine and poultry) and plant cultivation (potatoes, bean, corn, wheat, barley, oat, and today even flax and sugar beet) which serves mainly the animal feeding. There are important traditions of fruit cultivation too, usually plum, apple, pear and nut.



Besides the most important source of extra income of people living in Lupeni is the charcoal burning.



The first written reference about charcoal-burning is dated from 1594, when the charcoal-burning was the privilege of people living in Lupeni. Today the charcoal burning is maybe the most typical activity of the surroundings; the fuming charcoal heaps are attracting curious onlookers. The artisan and folk-art are important activities, the homespun of women are wonderful, and the needle-laces and wool covers are very beautiful.



The animal world, vegetation:The surroundings are rich in wild animals. There are several forest rapacious animals, like the Carpathian brown bear, wolf, fox, lynx, wild-cat, and wild grass-eating: deer, roe, field-rabbit and wild boar. We can find here song-birds, birds of passage, and among dieing out birds of prey the goshawk. The special values of the village are the forests, 50% of them are beech, mixed with other deciduous trees, like hornbeam and ash-tree, 30% is oak-tree, 17% pine, and 3% other tree species, like lime-tree, birch and sorb. Lupeni and Tamási Áron - the village and the writer - are united in mind of the people living in the locality and environs. Lupeni became the pilgrim places of the classical Hungarian literature. Tamási with his art has created an enduring memorial to his native village. As a style-creator, he has introduced the Szekler speech in the Hungarian literature.

With the brain and trick of ÁBEL ÉS FORTÉLLYAL "drawn a lesson from everything learning and teaching, and collecting the mood for life till death?" (TAMÁSI ÁRON)

A beautiful landscape is waiting for those who are coming to Lupeni from the direction of the "Concrete-road".


Sculptured with good taste and maintained with care, an authentic copy of a typical Szekler gate from the zone of Nyiko river, from the turn of the century is showing the entrance.

In this frame you will discover, in a square surrounded by pines, after a row of roses, beautiful old quartz mass, and between two oak-trees, the tomb of Tamási Áron, with the background of the church tower. Here rests one of the best writers of the Szekler prose literature. His tomb is carefully maintained, full of wreath left by his admirers, marked with sculptured wooden shrine, with the following text:

"Tamási Áron, 1897-1966 He was part of Szekler tribe / Son of Hunnia / faithful servant / of his decayed century.'

In this frame you will discover, in a square surrounded by pines, after a row of roses, beautiful old quartz mass, and between two oak-trees, the tomb of Tamási Áron, with the background of the church tower. Here rests one of the best writers of the Szekler prose literature. His tomb is carefully maintained, full of wreath left by his admirers, marked with sculptured wooden shrine, with the following text:

"Tamási Áron, 1897-1966 He was part of Szekler tribe / Son of Hunnia / faithful servant / of his decayed century.'

The memorial house of Tamási Áron. The memorial house was dedicated on 24th September 1972, and it is situated at 238. Nagy Street. It is almost 150 year old, wood-beam, three-parted, shingle-roof house. Between 1970-1982 the administrator of the house was Tamási Gáspár, the brother of the writer, and since 1982 Tamási Erzsébet, the sister of the writer and her husband, Sipos Ferenc. The barn was built by Tamási Gáspár. In the first room, called the „big house" the is a memorial exhibition for Tamási Áron with the interior design of the Tamási family, the commodity goods of Tamási Áron, and can be seen the selected collection of the creations, writings, letters and pictures of Tamási.



On the table there is the family album and a keepsake album. Tamási Áron was born in the exterior „small house" (room) in 19th September 1897. Today's administrator of the museum is still „Erzsi néni", the youngest sister of the writer. The Roman Catholic Church was built in 1842-1848 on the Church-hill, west from the village, at 581 m height. Its protector is Saint John Nepomuki. The size of the church: 47 m long, 15,80 m wide, the tower is 38 m high.


It is one of the Austrian classicist rural churches, which has simplified classical-baroque furniture. Today’s church bells were made in Sibiu in 1927. The organ was made in 1865 (Mátisfalvi Szõcs Sámuel has built it). In front of the church there is a memory of those who died in 1914-18 from the village. The frescos of the church are made by painter brothers from Arad.



The village, under Harghita mountain, in the valley of Nyiko, between high mountains is waiting for you. Here was born the Szekler writer, Tamási Áron, and his tomb is here too. They named a school in the village after the famous writer. The elementary school was built in 1936. In the small garden in front of the school, on 19th September 1997 was dedicated the bust of Tamási Áron, at the 100 anniversary of of the writer. Today the statue is decorating the entrance. Its creator is Sánta Csaba, sculptor from Sovata.



The mountains from surroundings: The village is situated between cut up hills, on the volcanic platform of Harghita mountains. The highest place is the Gordon, at Northeast from the village, which is separating the village from the near Dealu. In the direction of Firtuºu there are lower hills, where is possible to cultivate fruits. To North the Kalonda-top, to Southeast the Baknya-top is closing the valley. To West the 600 meter high Cseretetõ is separating the village from Pãltiniº and Satu Mic. Németh László was surprised when came to Lupeni with Tamás, because there „exists” the work of Tamási, the "village of angels". The centuries have transformed to colorful the soul of mountain people, who are joking with death and almost dancing on ballades. Today’s people living in Lupeni, descendants of older times frontier guards, ploughmen, animal keepers, entrepreneurs, woodmen, carriers and charcoal-burners are waiting for guest with traditional Szekler hospitality in a way to accomplish the expectations of the and of XXth Century.







Look for Kovács Sándor, in Lupeni, the main organizer of Gordon Tours Rural Tourism. He will inform you about local and other Szeklerland accommodation possibilities, eating, cultural and entertainment possibilities, places to see. You can make use of all the public services existing in the village: medical surgery, car services, and gas station.