Lupeni

Not to be confused with Lupeni, Harghita.

Lupeni (Romanian pronunciation: [luˈpenʲ]; German: Schylwolfsbach, Hungarian: Lupény) is a mining city in the Jiu Valley in Hunedoara County, Romania. It is one of the oldest and largest cities in the Jiu Valley. It is located on the banks of the West Jiu river within the Jiu Valley, at a height varying between 630 m (in the east) and 760 m. The distance from Lupeni to Petrosani is 18 km (DN66A), and to Deva (the capital of Hunedoara County) is 114 km.

The name is derived from the Romanian "lup", meaning "wolf".

It was the site of the Lupeni Strike of 1929 and of the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977. The mining industry once employed 80% of the workers in the city, but after government subsidies were halted, it proved inefficient and much of it was closed down in 1997. The city's remaining active mine is the Lupeni Coal Mine managed by the Petroșani-based National Hard Coal Company.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1956	21,188	—
1966	29,340	+38.5%
1977	28,280	−3.6%
1992	32,853	+16.2%
2002	31,409	−4.4%
2011	23,390	−25.5%
Source: Census data

By nationality

• Romanian: 19,465 (88.53%)
• Hungarian: 1,581 (7.19%)
• Roma (Gypsy): 735 (3.34%)
• German: 71 (0.32%)

By religion

• Orthodox: 24,815
• Roman Catholic: 1,921
• Reformed: 1,562
• Pentecostal: 688
• Greek Catholic: 501
• Other: 1,155

See also

• Jiu Valley

External links

• Jiu Valley Portal - the regional portal host of the Lupeni city website
• Science Highschool of Lupeni