Hungarian university campus to be built in Sfântu Gheorghe, foundation stone laid

A long-awaited construction project has begun, with the foundation stone for the campus of the Hungarian University of Transylvania (Sapientia) being laid on Thursday on the outskirts of Sepsiszentgyörgy in Székely Land. The investment, covering an area of 10 hectares, will provide modern educational and accommodation facilities for 400-500 university students studying agricultural engineering, forestry engineering, sports and fine arts – writes maszol.ro.

The construction site is located opposite the stadium of Sepsi OSK: the founding charter of the campus was signed and a time capsule was placed at the ceremony.

Transylvanian Reformed Bishop Béla Kató, President of the Sapientia Foundation, pointed out in his speech that the university has been pushed from the centre of the cities to the outskirts of the cities during the construction works, but it is still being built. He explained:

There are two important points in a storefront building: the foundation stone and the cornerstone, one holds the building together, the other holds it together, and if these are well chosen by the builder, the building will be storm resistant.

The Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (HUU) has been providing mother tongue education for the Hungarians of Transylvania for decades, and is a servant and instrument of national survival, said Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office.

Hunor Kelemen, President of the Hungarian Democratic Alliance in Romania (RMDSZ), recalled that the history of Hungarians in Transylvania is "a history of constant new beginnings", and that the community has had to start from scratch and build new institutions on numerous occasions since 1918. Rector Márton Tonk recalled the conditions in the cities before the university was built, saying that the institutional system had been built in a relatively short time, 25 years.