Șcheii Brașovului


Şcheii Braşovului is the old ethnically Bulgarian and Romanian neighborhood of Braşov, a city in Transylvania, Romania. This village-like section of the town is mostly made up of small houses built along narrow roads with gardens and small fields on the sides of the mountains. Until the 17th century, the inhabitants of Şchei were forbidden from owning property inside the city walls. The people living in the Şchei could only enter the town at certain times and had to pay a toll at the Catherine's Gate for the privilege of selling their produce inside the town. Catherine's Gate was the only entrance for the Romanians — they were not allowed to use the other four entrances. It was in Şchei that Braşov's first Romanian School was established, next to the Romanian Orthodox church of St. Nicholas.
Researchers maintain the Şchei were ethnic Bulgarians who later adopted the Romanian language and ethnic identity. The neighbourhood's name has been recorded through the ages as follows: Bolgarszek, Scheu Braşovului, oraşul Schei lângă Cetatea Braşovolui, Bolgarsek, Şchei de lângă Braşov, Şchiiaii Braşovului, Bolgaria Braşovului, Şchei lângă cetate Braşovului unde-i zic Bolgara, Şchiai, obştea din Bolgarseghi, sărăcimea obştii Bolgarsegului, Bolgarsec, Biserica Bolgarseghiului, Bolgarsechi, Bolgarsăchiu etc.
According to Radu Tempea's Istoria besérecei Şchéilor Braşovului manuscript of 1899, the Bulgarians arrived in Braşov in the late 14th century, more exactly 1392. Their arrival is linked to the reconstruction of the Black Church, which had been destroyed by the Tatars in the 13th century, the reconstruction beginning 1385.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the Bulgarian population of Şcheii Braşovului had been gradually Romanianized. An 1829 statistic on the population of Bolgárszeg, which stated the neighbourhood had a population of 5,829, did include Bulgari in the list along with Valachi, but noted no people of that ethnicity.

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