Avocatul dr. Camil Velican, primul primar român, de după Marea Unire, al oraşului Alba Iulia
Lawyer Camil Velican, PhD., the first Romanian mayor, after the Great Union, of Alba Iulia city

Summary/Abstract: As a representative of the elite of the intellectual class of Transylvania, Camil Velican presents a transcendent biography of a Romanian intellectual at the change of the 19th-20th centuries. Following the family tradition, he opted for legal studies, and as starting point, he went to the Hungarian capital, where he attended the courses of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences within the Royal Hungarian University (1897-1900). The model of the best Romanian students of Budapest drew him to “Petru Maior” Academic Society, where talents of the national literature were trained. Since 1900, he continued his studies within “Ferenc József” University of Cluj, where he obtained a PhD in law, in 1902, after which he devoted himself to the profession of lawyer. Camil Velican devoted himself as an important representative of the Romanian lawyering, a profession which he practiced within Alba Bar Association, the member of which he had been since 1903. Having a rich political activity, he was the first Romanian mayor of Alba Iulia city after the Union of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918. He had a successful career, both in the administrative and in the legal field, and contributed, by his knowledge, to the economic and cultural development of the Community to which he fully devoted himself. It should be noted that Alba Iulia was the first city where, on 20 November 1918, a Romanian administration was set up, within which Camil Velican held the office of mayor. His activity as a mayor was outstanding and contributed to the development of the city, which had become very important for the entire country, considering the historical event which had occurred there. On 12 June 1937, the thread of a life during which he might have continued a prodigious activity in the most various fields of public life: politics, administration, economy, culture, was early interrupted. Subsequently, under the Communist regime, the name and activity of Camil Velican were intentionally forgotten, together with the names of other personalities who had performed the Great Union. Moreover, his family was subjected to some political persecution, specific to those times of sad memories. The change of paradigm in the Romanian society after the year 1989 did not change at all the former status quo, the memory of Camil Velican, who was as a person, being further ignored. Moreover, the house of Velican family, which was one of the main places established to receive delegates and for the meeting of the Transylvanian heads for the purpose of organizing the day of 1 December 1918, is now in an unjustified and unfair state of degradation.

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