The Former Seat of the County Council

The starting point of any sightseeing tour of Sfântu Gheorghe is the Former Seat of the County Council, which was built in 1832 in the neoclassical style with the money of the nobility of the historical Covasna County and by the military and the serfs. It is probably the most prestigious and historically significant building in Covasna County and its fame is best nourished by the legendary saying attributed to Áron Gábor: "There shall be cannon!". During the Hungarian Revolution of 1948-49, this building was the seat of the Defence Commission of Covasna County, and it was in its meeting room that a meeting was held in the middle of 1848, during which the Szekler cannon foundry undertook to make cannons within two weeks. Since 1958, a relief of Áron Gábor – a faithful copy of the one on the warrior's tomb in Eresteghin, the work of István Puskás – has also been commemorating the historic moment at the entrance to the building. 

In the last decade of the 19th century, during the time of county government commissioner, József Potsa, two wings were added to the original block of the building and, in 1902 the banquet hall (now the Gábor Áron Hall) was renovated, the walls were decorated with portraits of famous Hungarian personalities. Until the advent of communism, the building was the seat of the regional administration at the middle level and since 1974, it has been home to the Bod Péter County Library.

Samu Csinta