GROSSWARDEIN (Hungarian, Hagy-Vdrad), a royal free city, and capital of the county of Bihar in the Trans-Tibiscan circle, Hungary, is situated in a beautiful plain on the banks of the river Sebeskörös, 47° 3' N. lat., 21° 53' E. long. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic and of a Greek (Old-United) bishopric, of a royal court of justice, of the county assizes, and of a board of assessment, and is the headquarters of the divisional regiments and militia (Jιonved). The town consists of Nagy-Vârad proper, with Vârad-Olaszi, Vârad-Velencze, and Vàrad-Vâralja. The streets and squares are well laid out, and adorned with many fine public and private buildings. Among these are sixteen Roman Catholic churches, of which the most striking is the cathedral; two Calvinist, one Lutheran, one Old-United and two Orthodox Greek churches, and a Jews’ synagogue. The other noteworthy edifices comprise the county and town halls, two episcopal palaces, chapter and clergy houses, hospitals, cloisters belonging to the Compassionate Brothers, and a convent for Ursula nuns, several manufactories, a large and handsome railway station, a prison, and barracks. Among the educational establishments are the royal law academy, a Roman Catholic gymnasium and seminary for the education of priests, a Calvinist school, and a gymnasium for adherents of the Old-United or Catholic Greek confession, two institutes for training teachers, a military academy, a real-school, and an orphan asylum. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in industrial and commercial pursuits; and the neighbourhood yields a good supply of wine, fruit, and agricultural produce. The great fairs periodically held in the town attract strangers from a considerable distance. Grosswardein is the point of junction of the ...Alföld-Fiume, Tibiscan, and Hungarian Eastern railroads. Not far from the town are the much-frequented warm springs of Füspökfürdö (Bishop’s-bath). In 1870 the population was 28,700, of whom the majority were native Magyars, the rest chiefly Germans and Wallachs.
Grosswardein is one of the oldest towns in Hungary. Its Roman Catholic bishopric was founded by St Stephen of Hungary at the commencement of the 11th century. It was there that peace was concluded on 24th February 1538, between Ferdinand I. of Austria and his rival John Zâpolya, waiwode of Transylvania. In 1556 it passed into the possession of Transylvania, but afterwards reverted to Austria. In 1598 the fortress was unsuccessfully besieged by the Turks; in 1660, however, it fell into their hands, and was ceded to them by the treaty of Vasvâr (Eisenburg), 10th August, 1664. In 1692 it was recovered by the Austrians. The Greek Old-United or Catholic bishopric was founded in 1776. From its vicinity to Debreczin, the temporary seat of the Hungarian revolutionary government during the early part of the year 1849, Grosswardein became for a time invested with additional importance, as the depository of the state archives, bank-note press, and arms manufactory.
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