Satu Mare is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011) and the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the center of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. Mentioned in the Gesta Hungarorum as castrum Zotmar (“Zotmar’s fort”), the city has a history going back to the Middle Ages. Today, it is an academic, cultural, industrial, and business centre in northwestern Romania.
Culture
Satu Mare has a county museum, an art museum, and a theatre, the North Theatre, built in 1889 which has both a Hungarian and a Romanian section. Concerts are given by the “Dinu Lipatti Philharmonic”, formerly the state symphonic orchestra of Satu Mare, in a concert hall in a wing of the Dacia Hotel. The county library had 320.000 books in 1997, including a special bibliophile collections of over 70.000 volumes.
Tourism
Major tourists attractions are:
- the Administrative Palace, at 97 m (318 ft), one of the tallest buildings in Romania
- the Capitoline Wolf statue
- the Chain Church
- the Dacia Hotel
- the Decebal Street Synagogue
- the Firemen’s Tower, a 47 m (154 ft) tall tower
- the Garden of Rome
- the Roman Catholic Cathedral
There are several hotels in the city: four 4-star hotels – Hotel Poesis, Villa Bodi, Satu-Mare City and Villa Class; eleven 3-star hotels – Astoria, Leon, Villa Lux, Dacia, Aurora, Dana I, Dana II, Select, Rania, Melody and Belvedere; and one 2-star hotel – Sport.
