Bara, Timiș


Bara is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Bara, Dobrești, Lăpușnic, Rădmănești and Spata. Bara is located in the northeast of Timiș County, in a hilly area, from Timișoara and from Lugoj. It is the least populated of the communes of Timiș County and the 6th commune with the smallest population in Romania.

History

The first recorded mention of Bara dates from 1367. The name Bara is of Slavic origin and, in medieval documents, is associated with the description "terra acquosa", meaning a marshy land. In 1440 Bara is taken from the prefect of Timiș by King Vladislav I and given to the Șoimoș Fortress. By 1477 it was the property of the prefect of Pozsony, Miklós Bánffy. Under the Turks it was destroyed and re-established in 1690–1700. In 1879 Bara was bought by Pavel Teodorescu and Constantin Florea. The village was Romanian and remained mostly Romanian during the Austro-Hungarian rule.
All the villages in the commune were massively depopulated after World War II. Spata, for instance, became a ghost village in 1997 with the death of the last native. However, the settlement was repopulated by several families of Transylvanian shepherds.

Demographics



Bara had a population of 299 inhabitants at the 2021 census, down 22.94% from the 2011 census. Most inhabitants are Romanians. By religion, most inhabitants are Orthodox. For 6.02% of the population, religious affiliation is unknown.

Politics and administration

The commune of Bara is administered by a mayor and a local council composed of 9 councilors. The mayor, Daniel-Casian Ursu, from the Social Democratic Party, has been in office since 2020. As from the 2024 local elections, the local council has the following composition by political parties:

Notable people