ARAD, or Ó-Arad, a town of Hungary, capital of the county of the same name, 159 m. S.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 53,903. It is situated on the right bank of the river Maros, and consists of the inner town and five suburbs. Arad is a modern-built town, and contains many handsome private and public buildings, including a cathedral. It is the seat of a Greek-Orthodox bishop, and possesses a Greek-Orthodox theological seminary, two training schools for teachers—one Hungarian, and the other Rumanian—and a conservatoire for music. The town played an important part in the Hungarian revolution of 1848–49, and possesses a museum containing relics of this war of independence. One of the public squares contains a martyrs’ monument, erected in memory of the thirteen Hungarian generals shot here on the 6th of October 1849, by order of the Austrian general Haynau. It consists of a colossal figure of Hungary, with four allegorical groups, and medallions of the executed generals. Arad is an important railway junction, and has become the largest industrial and commercial centre of south-eastern Hungary. Its principal industries are: distilling, milling, machinery-making, leather-working and saw-milling. A large trade is carried on in grain, flour, alcohol, cattle and wood. Arad was a fortified place, and was captured by the Turks during the wars of the 17th century, and kept by them till the end of that century. The new fortress, built in 1763, although small, was formidable, and played a great rôle during the Hungarian struggle for independence in 1849. Bravely defended by the Austrian general Berger until the 1st of July 1849, it was then captured by the Hungarian rebels, who made it their headquarters during the latter part of the insurrection. It was from it that Kossuth issued his famous proclamation (11th August 1849), and it was here that he handed over the supreme military and civil power to Görgei. The fortress was recaptured shortly after the surrender of Görgei to the Russians at Világos. The fortress is now used as an ammunition depot.
The town of Uj-Arad, i.e. New Arad (pop. 6124), situated on the opposite bank of the Maros, is practically a suburb of Arad, with which it is connected by a bridge. The town was founded during the Turkish wars of the 17th century. The works erected by the Turks for the capture of the fortress of Arad formed the nucleus of the new town.
Világos, the town where the famous capitulation of Görgei to the Russians took place on the 13th of August 1849, lies 21 m. by rail north-east of Arad.