Obiective Turistice

The courts of the town

Curțile orașuluiThe place Târgu Secuiesc developed around the long-shaped and trapezoid market. The first colonists were distributed equal parcels situated in the vicinity of the central market. On the occasion of the markets they could expose their goods directly in the market, in front of their own house or workshop. Until our days these narrow ground plots have been preserved in two circles, called today courts, which define the individual urban structure of Târgu Secuiesc. The most of the courts start from the market place, but later it was developed a secondary ring of courts, this latter being less regular.  The courts are narrow alleys being between 2-4 m wide and 25-180 m long. The formation of the courts can be explained probably through the manner of living of the craftsmen, as well as the Székely inheritance law. The law prescribed the equal distribution of the parental parcels among the children, in this way the families expanded lengthwise the parental parcels. The former names of the courts, e.g. Jancsó, Csíszár, Balogh, Kovács, Rácz, Szőcs, indicates the family name of the owner family. After 1851, as soon as the Székely successional law had changed, the old names were gradually changed with the numbering of the courts. In our days the range of courts ends with the Court number 73.