View source for Onești

{{Short description|City in Bacău County, Romania}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox Romanian subdivision
|type                = municipality
|county              = Bacău
| official_name      = Onești
| image_flag         = Flag Onești.jpg
| image_shield       = ROU BC Onesti CoA1.jpg
| image_skyline      = {{multiple image
| border             = infobox
| total_width        = 300
| image_style        = infobox
| perrow             = 1/2/1
| caption_align      = center
| image1             = Onesti_seen_from_Perchiu_hill.jpg
| caption1           = View from Perchiu Hill
| image2             = Monumentul_Eroilor_Onesti.jpg
| caption2           = Heroes Monument
| image3             = Fântână_Onesti.jpg
| caption3           = Salt Crystal artesian well
| image4             = Borzesti_Side_view.jpg
| caption4           = Borzești Church
}}
| image_caption      = 
| image_location     = 
| image_map          = Onesti jud Bacau.png
| map_caption        = Location in Bacău County
| leader_name        = Adrian Jilcu<ref>{{cite web |url=https://onesti.ro/primarie_onesti/conducere|
title=Conducere Primăria Municipiului Onești|language=ro|publisher=Onești City Hall|website=onesti.ro|access-date=22 May 2025}}</ref>
| leader_party       = PSD
| term               = 2024&ndash;2028
| coordinates        = {{coord|46|15|31|N|26|46|09|E|region:RO|display=inline,title}}
| elevation          = 210
| elevation_min      = 180
| elevation_max      = 398
| area_total         = 52.48
| area_footnotes     = 
| population_as_of   = 
| population_total   = auto
| population_footnotes = 
| postal_code        = 601003–601159
| area_code          = (+40) 0234
| website            = {{URL|https://www.onesti.ro/}}
}}

'''Onești''' ({{IPA|ro|oˈneʃtʲ}}; {{langx|hu|Ónfalva}}), formerly known as '''Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej''',<ref name=":0" /> is a [[municipiu|city]] in [[Bacău County]], Romania, with a population of 34,005 inhabitants as of 2021. It is situated in the historical region of [[Western Moldavia|Moldavia]].

Administratively, the villages of Slobozia and Borzești form part of Onești.

==History==
[[File:Ansamblu urban, centrul comercial al orașului – Blocuri de locuit, vedere de ansamblu.jpg|thumb|left|Onești in 1965]]
The locality was documentary attested as a village on 14 December 1458. In 1952, the [[Communist Romania|communist authorities]] decided to build a large petrochemical industrial platform ([[Borzești Petrochemical Plant]]) and a new related city in the area of Onești and Borzești villages. Borzești, according to legend, was the birthplace of [[Stephen III of Moldavia]]. It is the site of the [[Borzești Church]], which was built on his orders in 1493–1494.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Monografia Municipiului Onești – în date și evenimente|last=Rozalia & Teodor Verde|date=July 2003|location=Onești|pages=12}}</ref>

At the death of the [[Communist]] leader [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]] in March 1965, Onești was [[List of places in Romania whose names were changed|renamed]] ''Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej'', but the name was changed back in 1990<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Onesti|title=Onești {{!}} Romania|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref> shortly after the [[Romanian Revolution]].

Above the borough Malu, on the right-hand side of the river Cașin, were discovered archaeological fragments from a settlement dating from the [[Neolithic Age]].{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==Geography==
Onești is located in the [[Tazlău-Cașin Depression]] of the [[Romanian Carpathians|Eastern Carpathians]] at an average altitude of {{convert|210|m|ft}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bacau.insse.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Anuar2019.pdf|title=Anuarul statistic al județului Bacău|date=2019|page=27|publisher=[[INSSE]]}}</ref> It lies at the confluence of the rivers [[Trotuș]], [[Cașin (Trotuș)|Cașin]], [[Oituz (river)|Oituz]], and [[Tazlău (river)|Tazlău]], some {{convert|60|km|mi|abbr=on}} southwest of the county capital, [[Bacău]]. The city is crossed by the [[International E-road network|European road]] [[European route E574|E574]] and by the national roads DN11A and DN12A that connect it to [[Bucharest]], to the northern part of the country, and to [[Transylvania]]. Rail connections are made through the [[Căile Ferate Române]] network, and the proposed A13 [[Brașov–Bacău Motorway]] will link the city to the rest of Romania's [[Highways in Romania|highway network]] as a second connection to the country's major cities.

==Demographics==
{{Historical populations
|align = left
clear
|source = Census data
|1930 |3828
|1956 |11253
|1966 |35663
|1977 |41738
|1992 |58810
|2002 |51681
|2011 |39172
|2021 |34005
}}
At the [[2011 Romanian census|2011 census]], Onești had 39,172 inhabitants, of which 90.29% were [[Romanians]], 1.39% [[Romani people in Romania|Roma]], 0.53% [[Hungarians in Romania|Hungarians]], and 0.13% [[Greeks in Romania|Greeks]]. At the [[2021 Romanian census|2021 census]], the city had a population of 34,005; of those, 79.75% were Romanians, and for 19.77% the ethnicity was not known.<ref name="RPL2021">{{cite web|url=https://www.recensamantromania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tabel-1.03_1.3.1-si-1.03.2.xls|title=Populația rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Romania)|INSSE]]|language=ro|date=31 May 2023}}</ref>

==Economy==
Borzești is a neighborhood in the southeast of Onești, under separate administration until 1968.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Monografia Municipiului Onești – în date și evenimente|last=Rozalia & Teodor Verde|date=July 2003|location=Onești|pages=51}}</ref> The [[Borzești Petrochemical Plant]] is located there.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Orașele Trotușene – Studiu de geografie umană II|last=Ioan Șandru, Constantin V. Toma, Nicu Aur|publisher=Întreprinderea Poligrafică Bacău|year=1989|location=Bacău|pages=190}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Județele Patriei – Județul Bacău|last=Pintilie|first=Rusu|publisher=Sport-Turism București|year=1980|pages=158}}</ref>

<gallery class="center">
File:Rafinaria Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej.jpg|No. 10 Oil Refinery ([[RAFO Onești]]) in 1968
File:Combinatul Chimic Borzesti.jpg|Borzești Chemical Plant (Chimcomplex) in the 1960s
File:Combinatul de cauciuc sintetic si produse petrochimice Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (Onesti).jpg|Synthetic Rubber Plant (Carom Onești)
File:Termocentrala Borzesti exterior.jpg|[[Borzești Power Station]]
File:Hotelul Trotus Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (Onesti).jpg|Hotel Trotuș in the 1980s
File:Mercur street, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej.jpg|City in the 1970s
</gallery>

==Culture==
[[Saint Nicholas]] is the [[patron saint]] of the city, whose inhabitants are predominantly [[Romanian Orthodox Church|Romanian Orthodox]]. St. Nicholas Day, 6 December, is the municipal day of Onești.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

Popular tourist attractions are Perchiu Hill and the Hero Cross from atop the aforementioned hill, the Municipal History Museum, a steel monument dedicated to the Romanian national poet [[Mihai Eminescu]], and the city park.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

==Mayors==
* {{ill|Emil Lemnaru|ro}} ([[Social Democratic Party (Romania)|PSD]]), 1996–2012
* Victor-Laurențiu Neghină ([[Social Democratic Party (Romania)|PSD]]), 2012–2015
* Alexandru Cristea ([[National Union for the Progress of Romania|UNPR]]), 2015–2016
* Nicolae Gnatiuc ([[Social Democratic Party (Romania)|PSD]]), 2016–2020
* Victor-Laurențiu Neghină ([[People's Movement Party|PMP]]), 2020–2024

==Notable people==
* [[Antonio Andrușceac]] (born 1967), politician
* [[Mihail Aslan]] (1857–1936), general in World War I
* [[Gabriel Bruchental]] (born 1965), footballer
* [[Diana Chelaru]] (born 1993), gymnast
* [[Nadia Comăneci]] (born 1961), gymnast
* [[Daniel Dines]] (born 1972), entrepreneur
* [[Teodora Enache]] (born 1967), jazz singer
* [[Georgeta Gabor]] (born 1962), gymnast
* [[Loredana Groza]] (born 1970), singer
* [[Ștefania Jipa]] (born 2000), handball player
* [[Gheorghe Maftei (weightlifter)|Gheorghe Maftei]] (born 1955), weightlifter
* [[Laura Moise]] (born 1976), judoka
* [[Daniel Munteanu]] (born 1978), football player and manager
* [[Alexandru Nazare]] (born 1980), politician
* [[Ana Maria Pavăl]] (born 1983), wrestler
* [[Adrian Rotaru]] (born 1994), handballer
* [[Eduard Tismănaru]] (born 1987), footballer
* [[Dumitrița Turner]] (born 1964), artistic gymnast 
* [[Silvia Zarzu]] (born 1998), artistic gymnast

==Twin towns and sister cities==
*{{flagicon|Italy}}  [[Pistoia]], Italy 
*{{flagicon|Moldova}} [[Strășeni]], [[Moldova]] (2015)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timpul.md/articol/municipiul-oneti-s-a-infrait-cu-oraul-streeni-din-republica-moldova-78365.html|title=Municipiul Onești s-a înfrățit cu orașul Streșeni din Republica Moldova|date=2015-08-23|website=Timpul|language=ro|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|Norway}} [[Skien Municipality|Skien]],  Norway
*{{flagicon|France}} [[Eysines]], France

==See also==
*[[CSM Borzești]]
*[[FCM Dinamo Onești]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Onești}}

{{Bacău County}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onesti}}
[[Category:1458 establishments]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 1450s]]
[[Category:Populated places in Bacău County]]
[[Category:Planned communities in Romania]]
[[Category:Socialist planned cities]]
[[Category:Cities in Romania]]
[[Category:Monotowns in Romania]]
[[Category:Localities in Western Moldavia]]