Central Romania: 100-year-old documents found in the walls of town hall in Sibiu county

Dozens of old documents from the interwar period were discovered hidden between the last floor and the attic of the city hall in the town of Tălmaciu, in Sibiu county, central Romania.

The city hall building dates back to 1944, and its renovation unveiled perfectly preserved historical treasures beneath thick layers of sand and sawdust.

The mayor suggests that the documents were likely intentionally hidden before 1940, before Northern Transylvania was given to Hungary by Nazi Germany.

"We identified tax registers and payments made by locals for animals and goods, as well as minutes of council meetings from the period 1920-1940," says Ioan Oancea, the mayor of Tălmaciu, cited by local news outlet Turnul Sfatului. He also says that the documents are like a window into history.

All documents were found with the commencement of the renovation works at Tălmaciu City Hall, a building that over the last 100 years has also served as a kindergarten, prison, administrative building, and space for firefighters. The renovation is funded through the EU-backed National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

"The entire construction is made of wood, including the separation between floors. When the workers dismantled the attic floor, the documents fell to the ground. They were placed on the floorboard, covered with a kind of sawdust and sand, and then sand was poured over them, followed by the attic's floorboards. It's very clear to me that the documents were hidden there. I don't know the reason, but we can speculate that it has to do with the giving of Northern Transylvania to Hungary in 1940," the mayor said.

In 1940, Northern Transylvania, covering an area of over 43,000 square kilometers, was ceded by the Kingdom of Romania to Hungary, as a result of the Second Vienna Accord. The mayor says the people of Tălmaciu probably did not know at that time exactly where the border would be drawn, so they decided to hide the documents. In 1947, through the Paris Peace Treaties, Northern Transylvania was officially returned to Romania.

(Photo source: Primăria Orașului Tălmaciu on Facebook)