Văliug
Văliug (German Franz village, Hungarian Ferenczfalva ) is a municipality in the district of Caras -Severin, Banat, Romania. It is located in the valley of the river Bârzava in 550 m altitude, in the Banat Mountains, at the foot of Semenic Mountains.
Neighboring towns
History
1792 first mentioned under the name Franz village, the place is bearing its name to the tripartite division of the Banat (1919). After the First World War, when the eastern part of Banat - including the area around Resita - fell to Romania, the place got the name Văliug.
Franz village was founded in 1753 by the arrival of 71 German families from the Salzkammergut in Austria, who had been called by the territorial administration management to be active in the carbon production. The coal was needed for the smelter in Resita. The settlers were therefore mainly Köhler by profession. They gave the place its name Franzdorf by Francis I, Emperor of Austria and from 1792 to 1835 King of Bohemia, Croatia and Hungary. 1795 came Romanians from Oltenia, who had fled from the Turks, and settled in the village. They built their houses on the hillside above and below the German settlement.
Cultural life
In the settlement year, 1753, the first school was built. The first teacher was Anton Josef Priklmayer, who worked until 1808. 1807 a new school was built, which served its original purpose until 1962. Language of instruction was German. In the settlement year, the first house of worship was built of wood. The first priest was Benedict Brown, of the community supplied pastoral until 1818. 1861 the new Roman Catholic church was consecrated.
Economy
The rapid development of industry in Resita necessitated the construction of a paved road for the wood or charcoal transport. So the road Văliug - Resita was built in 1802. 1803 went in the district Hommerschupfen the first blast furnace in operation. 1855, the road Văliug - Wolfsberg was built this up Slatina Brebu Nou (German Weidenthal ) extended from 1899 to 1903, which allowed access by Caransebeş and Băile Herculane (German Herkulesbad ). All this meant that new workers were needed. Between 1858 and 1859 a further 40 German families from Austria were settled.
In order to facilitate the transport of timber, the timber floating developed. The wood was now brought by water to Resita. To this end, the dam Klaus was built in 1865, that established the connection between Văliug and the village of Lend in Resita.
1872 a further 20 families German colonists who settled in Josefinental (Romanian Poiana Văliug ). Founder of this colony was George Brenan, director of the State Railway Company ( StEG ) in Resita, who named the colony after his wife Josephine. Between 1949 and 1954, the dam Gozna was created.
Tourism
After the First World War, a dam was built above the village; In 1956, the much larger dam was set above the village in operation. As a result, Franz village was a tourist attraction. Initially, the place between the two reservoirs was the coveted destination mainly of residents Reşiţas; but soon emerged more and more cottages so that tourists groups came from different parts of Romania after Văliug. The place is a starting point for excursions into the Semenic Mountains.