Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Temesvár

TEMESVÁR, a royal free city and capital of the county of Temes, is the chief town of south-eastern Hungary. It lies on the navigable Béga Canal and the river Béga, in 45° 47' N. lat. and 21° 14' E. long. The inner town is fortified and separated from the suburbs by a glacis, now partly converted into a park. Temesvár is the seat of the Roman Catholic bishop of Csanád and of a Greek bishop, as also of several Government departments of great importance, and of one of the fifteen army corps of the Austrian-Hungarian army. The majority of the inhabitants follow industrial and commercial pursuits, and carry on a brisk trade in grain, flour, spirits, fruits, flax, and hemp with the neighbouring districts and with Roumania and Servia, by means of the Arad-Temesvár and the Austrian-Hungarian State Railways, as well as by the Béga Canal and by road. The town possesses many charitable and educational establishments, and is a favourite place of residence on account of its neatness and cleanliness. It has been lighted by electricity since 1883. Among the buildings specially worthy of notice are some fine old churches, a new theatre, and a synagogue in the Byzantine style. Temesvár played an important part in the Turkish wars and in that of 1848-49. The population was 37,500 in 1886.