Anina
title: "Anina" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-caraș-severin-county", "localities-in-romanian-banat", "towns-in-romania", "mining-communities-in-romania", "monotowns-in-romania"] topic_path: "general/populated-places-in-caras-severin-county" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anina" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox Romanian subdivision"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | town |
| county | Caraș-Severin |
| official_name | Anina |
| image_shield | ROU CS Anina CoA.png |
| image_skyline | Uzinele de fier Anina.JPG |
| image_caption | Anina Iron Works |
| image_map | Anina jud Caras-Severin.png |
| map_caption | Location in Caraș-Severin County |
| leader_name | Gheorghe Românu |
| leader_term | 2024–2028 |
| leader_party | PNL |
| coordinates | |
| elevation | 600 |
| area_total | 145.53 |
| population_total | auto |
| postal_code | 325100 |
| area_code | (+40) 02 55 |
| website | |
| :: |
::callout[type=note] the Romanian city ::
|type = town |county = Caraș-Severin |official_name = Anina |image_flag = |image_shield = ROU CS Anina CoA.png |image_skyline = Uzinele de fier Anina.JPG |image_caption = Anina Iron Works |image_location = |image_map = Anina jud Caras-Severin.png |map_caption = Location in Caraș-Severin County |leader_name = Gheorghe Românu |leader_term = 2024–2028 |leader_party = PNL |coordinates = |elevation = 600 |elevation_min = |elevation_max = |area_total = 145.53 |area_footnotes = |population_as_of = |population_total = auto |population_footnotes = |postal_code = 325100 |area_code = (+40) 02 55 |website =
Anina (; German: Steierdorf; Hungarian: Stájerlakanina) is a town in the Banat region of Romania, in Caraș-Severin County, with a population of 5,521 in 2021. The town administers one village, Steierdorf (German: Steierdorf, Hungarian: Stájerlak).
Geology
Anina represents one of the most important localities in the Southern Carpathians for Jurassic fossils, both plants and animals, as the geological heritage here is particularly diverse and well preserved (Popa, 2001, 2005). Anina is a fossil-Lagerstatte for Early Jurassic biota, the Hettangian-Sinemurian terrestrial Steierdorf Formation recording an extremely rich floral association, vertebrate and invertebrate tracks, traces and burrows. This paleontological heritage was uncovered also by significant mining works, such as underground mines and open cast mines, such works permitting the three-dimensional studies of the continental deposits, a unique opportunity in Europe and in the world, until the unfortunate closing of the last major mine in 2006. Still, the sterile dumps of the former mines and the former open cast mines of Ponor and Colonia Cehă very are rich in plant material, and they represent the subject of local conservation, as preserved sites or Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The Early Jurassic (Hettangian - Sinemurian) flora is represented by Bryophytes (Hepaticae), Pteridophytes (Filicopsida, Sphenopsida, Lycopsida) and Gymnosperms (Pteridospermopsida, Ginkgopsida, Cycadopsida, Coniferopsida), with numerous coal generators (Givulescu, 1998, Popa and Van Konijnenburg - Van Cittert, 2005). Very rare vertebrate tunnels were recently described (Popa and Kedzior, 2006), such burrows being formerly reported only from three occurrences in the world (South Africa, Arizona and Argentina), tetrapod tracks such as Batrachopus cf. deweyi (Popa, 2000), and sauropod tracks of Parabrontopodus sp. type (Pienkowski et al., 2009).
The Middle Jurassic marine formations are also extremely rich in marine invertebrates and drifted floral remains, while the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous units display basinal and carbonate platform features (Bucur, 1997).
Human geography
|source = Census data |1956 |11837 |1966 |14063 |1977 |11478 |1992 |11329 |2002 |10594 |2011 |7485 |2021 |5521
In 2002, the oldest modern human remains in Europe were discovered in a cave near Anina. Nicknamed "Ion din Anina" (John of Anina), the remains (the lower jaw) are some 40,000 years old.
The coal mining industrial heritage is significant, with Austrian industrial architecture and pits still preserved, such as the Northern Pit (Anina Pit I), Pit II, Pit IV (next to the Terezia Valley). Coal mining activities began in 1792, after the first coal outcrop was discovered by Matthew Hammer.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Anina-Oravita_03_2010.jpg" caption="View from Oravița – Anina [[mountain railway]] in 2010"] ::
The Anina-Oravița railway built in 1863 is still in use today for touristic purposes. It is one of the most beautiful railways in Europe due to very picturesque landscapes, viaducts and long tunnels. The railway preserves many aspects of the original design and, as such, it does not comply with many UIC standards and it needs special, more powerful locomotives and shorter rail coaches to operate.
Climate
Anina has a humid continental climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification).
|location = Anina |metric first = yes |single line = yes |collapsed=y |Jan high C = 1 |Feb high C = 2.8 |Mar high C = 7.5 |Apr high C = 13.3 |May high C = 17.7 |Jun high C = 21 |Jul high C = 23 |Aug high C = 23.3 |Sep high C = 18.3 |Oct high C = 13.5 |Nov high C = 8.3 |Dec high C = 2.5 |year high C = |Jan mean C = -2.3 |Feb mean C = -0.9 |Mar mean C = 3.2 |Apr mean C = 8.7 |May mean C = 13.3 |Jun mean C = 16.7 |Jul mean C = 18.6 |Aug mean C = 18.7 |Sep mean C = 14.1 |Oct mean C = 9.1 |Nov mean C = 4.5 |Dec mean C = -0.7 |year mean C = |Jan low C = -5.6 |Feb low C = -4.4 |Mar low C = -1.2 |Apr low C = 3.7 |May low C = 8.3 |Jun low C = 11.8 |Jul low C = 13.7 |Aug low C = 13.9 |Sep low C = 9.9 |Oct low C = 5.3 |Nov low C = 1.4 |Dec low C = -3.5 |year low C = |Jan precipitation mm = 66 |Feb precipitation mm = 62 |Mar precipitation mm = 68 |Apr precipitation mm = 90 |May precipitation mm = 93 |Jun precipitation mm = 110 |Jul precipitation mm = 92 |Aug precipitation mm = 75 |Sep precipitation mm = 79 |Oct precipitation mm = 65 |Nov precipitation mm = 63 |Dec precipitation mm = 74 |year precipitation = |date=May 2021|source=https://en.climate-data.org/europe/romania/caras-severin/anina-15645/}}
Natives
- (1895 – 1967), composer
- (1897 – 1944), church musician, music educator, and composer
- Ion Timofte (born 1967), footballer
Notes
References
- Bucur, I.I., 1997. Formatiunile mesozoice din zona Resita-Moldova Noua, Cluj-Napoca, 214 pp.
- Givulescu, R., 1998. Flora fosila a Jurasicului inferior de la Anina. Editura Academiei Romane, Bucuresti, 90 pp.
- Pienkowski, G., Popa, M.E. and Kedzior, A., 2009. Early Jurassic sauropod footprints of the Southern Carpathians, Romania: palaeobiological and palaeogeographical significance. Geological Quarterly, 53(4): 461–470.
- Popa, M.E., 2000. First find of Mesozoic tetrapod tracks in Romania. Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae, 2: 387–390.
- Popa, M.E., 2001. Ponor SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). Lower Jurassic Paleoflora. In: I.I. Bucur, Filipescu, S., Sasaran, E. (Editor), Algae and carbonate platforms in western part of Romania. Field trip guidebook. Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, pp. 167–171.
- Popa, M.E., 2005. Aspects of Romanian Early Jurassic Palaeobotany and Palynology. Part VI. Anina, an exceptional locality. Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae, 5: 375–378.
- Popa, M.E. and Kedzior, A., 2006. Preliminary ichnological results on the Steierdorf Formation in Anina, Romania. In: Z. Csiki (Editor), Mesozoic and Cenozoic vertebrates and paleoenvironments, Bucuresti, pp. 197–201.
- Popa, M.E. and Van Konijnenburg - Van Cittert, J.H.A., 2006. Aspects of Romanian Early - Middle Jurassic palaeobotany and palynology. Part VII. Successions and floras. Progress in Natural Sciences, 16: 203–212.
References
- "Results of the 2024 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau.
- "Anina 2017, orașul mort, uitat și sărăcit odată cu închiderea minei".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::