Camil Velican (1878-1937), primul primar român al orașului Alba Iulia
Camil Velican (1878-1937), the First Romanian Mayor of Alba Iulia Town

Summary/Abstract: A representative of the intellectual elite from Transylvania, Camil Velican displayed a model biography of the Romanian intellectual at the turn of the XXth century. Following the family tradition, he studied law, at the beginning heading towards the capital of Hungary, where he attended the Faculty of Law and Political Science (1897-1900), at the Royal Hungarian University. The model of the best Romanian students from Budapest allured him to the “Petru Maior” Academic Society, where the talents of the national literature were harnessed. From 1900 onwards, he attended “Ferenc József” University from Cluj, where he defended a doctoral thesis on law in 1902, following which he became a lawyer. Camil Velican distinguished himself as a prominent figure of the Romanian Bar, professing within Alba Bar, whose member was starting with 1903. With a productive political activity, he was the first Romanian mayor of the Alba Iulia town, after the Union of Transylvania with Romania on the 1 December 1918. He had a successful career, both in administration and legal field, and contributed, by his knowledge, to the economic and cultural development of the community to whom he completely dedicated. Worth noticing is that Alba Iulia was the first town that on 20 November 1918 installed Romanian administration, wherein he occupied the position of mayor. Activity as mayor was remarkable and contributed to the development of the town, which became very important for the whole country, considering the historical event that took place here. In 1922, dr. Camil Velican was appointed prefect, a position occupied until 1926; he did his job with professionalism, dignity and honour. From this position, he was highly preoccupied with the reorganisation of the agriculture and completion of peasants’ land ownership, that began in 1921. Soon, he succeeded with minimum expense to increase the land productiveness, hiring in the county also Bulgarian vegetable growers, renowned for their skills and expertise. As prefect, he also carried out the noble task of completing the preparations and organising the coronation festivities of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie in Alba Iulia, on 15 October 1922.Political activity was an important stage from the life of the lawyer from Alba Iulia. Initially, he had links with the Romanian National Party, the political party that represented the interests of Romanians from Hungary and Transylvania during the Austrian-Hungarian dualism. However, immediately after the Great Union, he joins the National Liberal Party, becoming the founder and first president of the county party organisation in Alba County.He also obtained two deputy mandates (1931-1932 and 1933-1937).Unfortunately, on 12 June 1937, Camil Velican died, at only 57 years old. He left behind an enormous activity with the most varied domains of public life: politics, administration, economy, culture.

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