Apáczai Csere János

On the facade of the local general school, there is a memorial plaque in Hungarian marking the birthplace of the Transylvanian humanist Apáczai Csere János. In 1881, teachers from Brașov county installed this plaque.

Apáczai Csere János (1625-1659) was a distinguished promoter of culture, a reformer of pedagogy, an encyclopedist and a thinker dedicated to this region. His education included periods in Cluj and Alba Iulia, followed by studies in the Netherlands. He adopted the principles of Cartesian rationalism and supported the view of Copernicus.

He developed advanced plans for the organization of the educational system. He wrote didactic textbooks and encyclopedic works. For his progressive ideas, he was persecuted by the feudal authorities. Among his notable works are the Hungarian Encyclopedia (1653) and Mica logica (1654).

On June 11, 1975, in Apața, events took place in honor of the 350th anniversary of the birth of Apáczai Csere János. On this occasion, a bust of the scholar, created by Elena Hariga Avramescu, was unveiled.

Source: Brașov memorial - Ștefan Petraru, Constantin Catrina (Ed. Sport-Turism 1976), page 85