Liebling

History

The first recorded mention of a settlement on present-day Liebling dates from 1332. The medieval village was called Beesd and appears in papal tithe records as having a parish. Around 1597, in a Hungarian diploma, it is mentioned as Briszt. The modern village was established in 1786–1788 by colonizing Protestant Germans from Pfalz and Nuremberg. The village was built according to a well-established plan by the Timișoara administration, under the supervision of Commissioner Wallbrunn, who ordered the construction of 290 new houses, with straight and parallel streets. In the first year only 102 families arrived; the rest came later. The commune thus founded was named by Commissioner Wallbrunn Vécsháza, after the then governor of Banat. According to oral tradition, the governor, because he loved Protestants, changed it to Liebling (meaning "darling" in German), a name that became official in 1828, the year the Evangelical Lutheran church was built. After World War I, Romanian families moved here from present-day Alba County, which, through the agrarian reform, were put in possession of land (1926). The Romanian population grew post-war, the Germans migrated massively, especially after 1989, and the commune is today mostly Romanian.

Geography

Liebling is located in the southwest of Timiș County, from Timișoara and from Ciacova, the nearest town. Liebling belongs to the Timiș river basin. Tofoaia Valley crosses Liebling to the north, flowing into the Timiș River through the Birda-Lanca Canal. The influence of the Mediterranean and oceanic air masses makes the winters shorter and milder with a positive average temperature of , the coldest month being January. Springs are earlier and warmer, but short and with large temperature variations caused by the activity of cyclones in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Summers are long and hot. Autumns are also long, conducive to harvesting.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  48
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  47
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  34
• False-acacia

  Robinia pseudoacacia L. · Magnoliopsida
  34
• Johnson-grass

  Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. · Liliopsida
  33
• Eurasian Kestrel

  Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  30
• Mute Swan

  Cygnus olor (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  29
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  26

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2024-08-10
  5 km NNE of Ohaba Lungă, Romania
• M 4.7 — 2023-06-06
  6 km SW of Frumu?eni, Romania
• M 4.1 — 2023-05-22
  2 km S of Fântânele, Romania
• M 4.1 — 2018-12-23
  2 km NW of Hajdu?ica, Serbia
• M 2.9 — 2016-03-18
  2 km SSE of Carani, Romania
• M 4.1 — 2014-10-31
  1 km NNE of Teregova, Romania