Information regarding the outer city is scarce; sources include a census from 1673 and a survey by an Italian architect, Giovanni Morando Visconti, from 1711. As these sources do not mention the ethnicity of the inhabitants, it is almost impossible to estimate the number of Romanians living in the two suburbs.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, soon after the incorporation of Transylvania into the Austrian Empire, the life of the inhabitants of Alba Iulia changed radically, as the construction of the new Vauban fortress necessitated the relocation of the suburbs.

In the new location, the Romanians were given the neighbourhoods of Lipoveni, located in the north, and Heiuș and Maieri, in the centre and the south respectively. The Romanians in Lipoveni were generally craftsmen – leather dressers, masons etc. – and many of them participated in the construction of the Vauban fortress. Those from Heiuș tended to be involved in transport and raft building, working in Partoș Port. All three suburbs also held tenant peasants, for which reason these suburbs were not considered a part of the privileged city.

Not long after the relocation of the population, between 1713 and 1715, the Holy Trinity Church was constructed in Maieri. This was the first ecclesiastical building in the new settlement, and was intended as a continuation of the former Orthodox Metropolitan Church, whose buildings had been demolished. The second new church, built in 1720 in Lipoveni, was dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God.

From this period onwards, there are more numerous records and more precise information available on the Romanians in Alba Iulia. In 1733, 363 Romanian families – around 1,800 – individuals lived in Alba Iulia. 975 individuals lived in Lipoveni.

The unrest from 1759-1761, started by Sofronie’s movement, touched the suburbs of Alba Iulia as well. The two Romanian churches were disputed between the Greek-Catholic and Orthodox Romanians. In the end, the Greek-Catholics were given both churches. However, the claims of the Orthodox were justified due to their higher numbers; in 1760-1762, as a result of Sofronie’s movement, 298 families renounced Uniation and returned to Orthodoxy, while only 21 families remained Greek-Catholic.

The Orthodox confession had the status of a tolerated religion, a situation which continued until 1781, when Emperor Joseph II issued his tolerance edict, which allowed, among other things, free and unlimited practice of religion. Not long after the promulgation of this edict, the Orthodox Romanians built their own churches. In 1784, an Orthodox church was constructed in Lipoveni, and in 1795 another was built in Maieri.

As concerns education, sources mention the first Romanian school in Alba Iulia in 1754, which functioned alongside the Greek-Catholic monastery in Maieri. Another school is mentioned three decades later, in the Lipoveni neighbourhood. Information on Orthodox confessional education is scarcer. By the end of nineteenth century, the Romanians of Alba Iulia had four schools.

In the nineteenth century, the Romanian population grew constantly. In 1869, there were 3,221 Romanian inhabitants in Alba Iulia (1,492 Orthodox, 1,729 Greek-Catholics), representing 40,49% of a total of 7,955 inhabitants of Alba Iulia. In 1910, there were 5,170 Romanians, representing 44.5% from a total of 11,616.

The Romanian community’s situation in Alba Iulia changed radically after the unification of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918. From this point, the Romanian element became more present in the city, both among the personnel of the administration and newly established institutions, and in terms of new buildings erected. Even before Unification, the city had had a Romanian mayor, Camil Velican. In 1919, “Mihai Viteazul” High School was inaugurated. In 1921, the Bishopric of the Army was established and in 1921-1922, the Coronation Cathedral was built.

Demographically, the trend continued in the same direction. In 1920, the Romanian community consisted of 5,228 inhabitants, representing 54% of a total population of 9,645. By 1941, the number of Romanians had almost doubled, and continued to outpace growth in other ethnic groups, reaching 11,380 individuals, representing 73,47 % of the city’s 15,489 inhabitants.

After the installation of the Communist regime, in the context of planned industrialization of the region, the population of the city grew spectacularly. By 1977, the total population had reached 41,199, of which 37,644 (91,37%) were Romanians. A similar demographic structure continued after 1989, and currently, according to the 2011 census, Alba Iulia has 63,536 inhabitants, of which 55,926 (88,02%) are Romanian. (C.A.)