Frumoasa is a commune in Harghita County

Harghita County

Harghita is a county in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea-Ciuc.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 326,222 and a population density of 52/km².*Hungarians- 85%...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. It lies in the Székely Land

Székely Land

The Székely Land or Szekler Land refers to the territories inhabited mainly by the Székely, a Hungarian-speaking ethnic group from eastern Transylvania...

, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

.

Component villages

The commune is composed of four villages:

In Romanian Romanian language Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...	In Hungarian Hungarian language Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
Bârzava	Csíkborzsova
Făgeţel	Bükkloka
Frumoasa	Csíkszépvíz
Nicoleşti	Csíkszentmiklós

History

The first written mention of the village is from 1567 as Zepwyz. In 1602 it was recorded as Szépviz ("beautiful water"). Its original Romanian name derived from the Hungarian toponym as Ciuc-Sepviz which was Romanianized to its current official name in 1919.

According to tradition, the village's original name was Szépmező. According to Balázs Orbán

Balázs Orbán

Balázs Orbán was a Hungarian writer, historian and politician.He was born in Lengyelfalva, Grand Principality of Transylvania and died in in Budapest....

, it was founded during the reign of László I as a community of border guards for the defense of the Ghimeṣ pass, on the eastern border of the Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

. The Roman Catholic chapel was built before 1694 by the Bíró family. The Roman Catholic church was built in 1892.

The village administratively belonged to Csíkszék, then, from 1876 until 1918 to the Csík County in the Kingdom of Hungary. After WWI, by the terms of the Treaty of Trianon

Treaty of Trianon

The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...

 of 1920, it became part of Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. As a result of the Second Vienna Award

Second Vienna Award

The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...

, it belonged to Hungary again between 1940 and 1944. After WWII, it came under Romanian administration and became part of Romania in 1947. Between 1952 and 1960, it formed part of the Hungarian Autonomous Province; it then formed part of the Mureş-Hungarian Autonomous Province until it was abolished in 1968. Since then, the commune has been part of Harghita County.

Demographics

The commune has an absolute Székely

Székely

The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...

 (Hungarian) majority. According to the 2002 census it has a population of 3,652; of which 96.39% or 3,520 are Hungarian.

The village of Făgăţel has a significant population of ethnic Romanians, numbering 64 of the village's 130 inhabitants.

Tourist attractions

• Saint Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church
• 'Snowy' Virgin Mary Catholic Parish Church
• Ruins of the St. Ladislaus Gothic chapel on Pagan Mountain
• Biró-Chapel (Craftsmen's Chapel)
• Ski track