Cry for Help for the Mansion in Tamașfalău

I first heard about Tamașfalău in the context that it has one of the best natural football pitches in the whole of Covasna County. The more famous landmark of the settlement located 15 kilometres southwest of Târgu Secuiesc, near the confluence of the Zăbala Stream and the Negru River, on the plain known as Nagyvölgy (Great Valley), is the Thúry-Bányai Mansion, built between 1810 and 1820.

The village was named after its founder, the Tamásfalvi family, two members of which - Gergely Tamásfalvi and György Tamásfalvi - bravely took part in the fight against the Turks in 1515, during the reign of King Sigismund of Hungary, and for their bravery, they were awarded the estate where they founded the municipality of Tamașfalău. After the disappearance of the family, it became the property of the Thúry family, and in 1865 of the Bányai family. The mansion, built in the late neoclassical-empire style, is a two-storey building with a broken-plan roof, with neoclassical decorative elements on the main façade, the central staircase is decorated with balustrades, Doric half-pillars, and pilasters, the roof is crowned with a triangular tympanum.

The building was converted into a cultural centre in 1973, and part of the central rooms was opened up, but the modifications made to create a stage and auditorium did little to enhance the architectural value of the property. The building, which needs to be restored but is open to the public, is one of the historical monuments of Covasna County crying out for help.

Samu Csinta