Lupeni is a mining city in the Jiu Valley

Jiu Valley

The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...

 in Hunedoara County

Hunedoara County

Hunedoara is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 485,712 and the population density was 69/km².*Romanians - 92%*Hungarians - 5%*Romas - 2%*Germans under 1%....

, 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...

 with a population of 31,409. It is one of the oldest and largest cities in the Jiu Valley. It is located on the banks of the West Jiu river within the Jiu Valley

Jiu Valley

The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...

, at a height varying between 630 m (in the east) and 760 m. The distance from Lupeni to Petrosani is 18 km (DN66A), and to Deva (the capital of Hunedoara County) is 114 km.

The name is derived from the 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...

 "lup" meaning "wolf".

It was the site of the Lupeni Strike of 1929

Lupeni Strike of 1929

The Lupeni Strike of 1929 took place on August 5 and 6 1929 in the mining town of Lupeni, in the Jiu Valley of Transylvania, Romania.-Chronology:...

 and of the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977

Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977

The Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977 was the largest protest movement against the Communist regime in Romania before its final days, ushering in a period of intermittent labour unrest that would last a dozen years, and the most important challenge posed by a group of workers to the regime since...

. The mining industry once employed 80% of the workers in the city, but after government subsidies were halted, it proved inefficient and much of it was closed down in 1997. The city's remaining active mine is the Lupeni Coal Mine

Lupeni Coal Mine

Lupeni Coal Mine is an underground mining exploitation, one of the largest in Romania located in Lupeni, one of six cities in the Jiu Valley region of Hunedoara County. The legal entity managing the Lupeni mine is the National Hard Coal Company which was set up in 1998. The mine has reserves of...

 managed by the Petroşani-based National Hard Coal Company

National Hard Coal Company

The National Hard Coal Company was set up as a commercial society by the Government of Romania in 1998. The main headquarters of the company is placed in Petroşani, the principal city in the coal mining region of Hunedoara County's Jiu Valley....

.

By religion

• Orthodox: 24,815
• Roman Catholic: 1,921
• Reformed: 1,562
• Pentecostal: 688
• Greek Catholic: 501
• Other: 1,155

External links

• The Municipality of Lupeni - official city website
• Jiu Valley Portal - the regional portal host of the Lupeni city website
• Science Highschool of Lupeni