Cetatea de Baltă
commune in Alba County, Romania
Cetatea de Baltă (Hungarian: Küküllővár; German: Kokelburg) is a commune in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. The commune is composed of four villages: Cetatea de Baltă, Crăciunelu de Sus (Christendorf; Felsőkarácsonyfalva), Sântămărie (Frauenkirch; Boldogfalva), and Tătârlaua (Taterloch; Felsőtatárlaka).
Geography
The commune is located in the northeastern corner of the county, on the border with Sibiu and Mureș counties. It is traversed by county road DJ 117, which connects it to Târnăveni, 15 km (9.3 mi) to the northeast, and to Blaj, 21 km (13 mi) to the southeast; the county seat, Alba Iulia, is some 35 km (22 mi) past Blaj.
To the east it borders with Adămuș commune from Mureș County and with Bazna commune from Sibiu County, to the south and west with Valea Lungă commune, and to the west and north with Jidvei commune.
Cetatea de Baltă lies on the left bank of the river Târnava Mică. The river
Balta which discharges into the Târnava Mică in the village of Sântămărie. The river Tătârlaua is a left tributary of the river Balta; it discharges into the Balta in the village of Tătârlaua.
Population
At the 2021 census, Cetatea de Baltă had a population of 2,792, of whom 41.26% were Romanians, 38.04% Roma, and 14.46% Hungarians. At the 2011 census, the commune had 2,930 inhabitants, of whom 48.4% were Romanians, 33.3% Roma, 17.8% Hungarians, and 0.5% Germans.
“Cetatea de Baltă” enters the record as commune in Alba County, Romania. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Cetatea, Baltă and commune can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Cetatea de Baltă” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Cetatea, Baltă and commune provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16425231. Authority coordinates are 46.249, 24.186. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021 and 2011.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Cetatea de Baltă”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Cetatea de Baltă primary sources, Cetatea de Baltă archive and Cetatea research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cetatea de Baltă”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Cetatea de Baltă” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.