Gârnic

Garnic ( Gerník Czech, German Weitz Ried, Ried or Szörénybúzás Hungarian Weitz ) is the largest of six of Banat Czechs populated villages in the district Caras -Severin, Romania. At the community Garnic also includes the village of Padina Matei.

Geographical Location

Garnic is located about 15 km north of the Danube in the Banat Mountains at 600-750 m above sea level. Much of the municipality is part of the National Park Iron Gate.

Neighboring towns

History

The village was founded in 1827 during the second, mainly militarily motivated Czech wave of immigration in the Banat. The population of initially about 500 people grew by the year 1934 to 1400. Before the fall of the Ceauşescu regime in 1989 still lived 910 inhabitants in Garnic, in 2000, there were mainly caused by migration to the West, but already only 559 This is the place still the largest Czech community in Romania and has as only Czech village the status of a separate community, which also includes the small Romanian-speaking village Padina Matei heard.

Sources of income are mainly agriculture and in recent years increasingly tourism. Industry and mining, such as in Eibenthal play only a minor role. A special tradition in Garnic has the mining and burning of limestone gained here in dug lime kilns operated since the early days.

Demography

Despite the strong decline of the Czech minority Garnic is still the largest Czech community in Romania.