Travelling to Arad

We have been in Romania for nearly a year and finally made it out west. The cities to visit are Oradea, Arad, and Timisoara. These were all Hungarian cities for many years until the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after WWI. After 1918, Transylvania was all given to Romania.

The Church has rented space in Arad and Timisoara. At only 45 minutes between them, it is easy to drive back and forth between the two branches. We have 6 missionaries serving in the two cities.

We stayed right down the street from Reconciliation Park. This monument park contains two notable statues. In the center, the Liberty Monument was erected in 1890 to honor 13 Hungarian generals executed after the 1849 Hungarian uprising. Nearby, an even more impressive Triumphal Arch was built in 2004 to remember the Romanian fighters killed in the same insurrection.

The Hungarian Statue of Liberty was installed in 1890, but was dismantled in 1925 by the Romanian government. After the fall of communism it was reinstalled in this new park to celebrate understanding between the two countries.

In 1924 Hungarian composer Béla Bartók performed in Arad. This week they are celebrating "Arad Days" with rides, food, and games. 

Like Sibiu, Arad is mostly untouched by war. The architecture is beautiful and often decorated in Hungarian.

We attended Church on Sunday in Arad and when we left at noon it was raining cats and dogs. We anticipated a 7-hour drive home, but it took us 10. The zoom meeting we had scheduled for 9pm had to be done in the car!