Ațel

Ațel

Hetzeldorf
Ațel Hetzeldorf
Commune
	Aerial view of Ațel/Hatzeldorf with the local medieval Evangelical Lutheran fortified church in the centre
	Location in Sibiu County
	Ațel Location in Romania
	Coordinates: 46°09′N 24°28′E / 46.150°N 24.467°E
Country	Romania
County	Sibiu
Established	1283 (first attested)
Subdivisions	Ațel, Dupuș
Government
• Mayor (2020–2024)	Ioan-Ovidiu Aldea (PNL)
Area	27.21 km2 (10.51 sq mi)
Population (2021-12-01)	1,263
• Density	46/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	EET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Postal code	557020
Vehicle reg.	SB
Website	Primăria Comunei Ațel (in Romanian)

Ațel (German: Hetzeldorf; Transylvanian Saxon: Hätselderf; Hungarian: Ecel) is a commune in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Ațel and Dupuș (Tobsdorf; Táblás). The commune first appears in written history in 1283 as villa Echelini. Later appearances in written documents are villa Heclini (1289), Hetzelini villa and villa Eczlen (1359), Ecczel (1365), and Heczeldorf (1548). A church is mentioned as of 1380.^[3]

Demographics

Population number (grouped by ethnicity) from 1850 to 2011:

Year	Romanians	Roma	Hungarians	Germans (more specifically Transylvanian Saxons)	Jews	Slovaks	Russians	Other/ Unknown	Total
1850	2,078	152	454	1,359	19	-	-	-	4,062
1992^[4]	2,672	205	585	263	-	-	-	-	3,726
2002^[5]	1,288	118	34	92	-	6	-	2	1,540
2011^[6]	1,138	154	20	77	-	-	3	37	1,429

Local architecture

The local medieval Evangelical Lutheran fortified church of Ațel was built by the native Transylvanian Saxon community and completed by the end of the 15th century; it is surrounded by double walls. Above the entrance rises the Old School tower, and close by is the Oat Tower. The fortified church of Dupuș was also built during the 15th century.

Notes

^ "Results of the 2020 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
^ "Populaţia rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (XLS). National Institute of Statistics.
^ Léstyán, Ferenc: Megszentelt kövek. A középkori erdélyi püspökség templomai, Budapest, Arcanum, 2003, ISBN 963-9374-74-1 [1]
^ Varga E. Árpád: Erdély etnikai és felekezeti statisztikája (1850–1992)
^ Aţel Commune Hall
^ National Institute of Statistics

References

Ațel at GEOnet Names Server
Edroiu, Nicolae, Comuna Ațel : Studiu monografic complex, Editura Eurodidact, 2002 ISBN 973-85629-0-2
Augustin Ioan, Hanna Derer. The Fortified Churches of the Transylvanian Saxons. Noi Media Print, 2004