The Myth-Shaping Power of a Past Vision of the Future

The creation of an era itself, as rhetoric of time, creates the otherness from which it builds up its own borders. Thus the creation of an era goes hand in hand with identity formation. The beginning of the 20th century, as the boundary of an era, appears as such a self-reflective moment in the life of Târgu Mureş. The study aims at presenting the social, economic and cultural changes of this period, notably the time when György Bernády was the mayor, the most significant period of urbanization of the town, the moment of the conscious designation of the above mentioned boundary of an era. It makes an attempt to grasp the beginning of the powerful personality cult of the former mayor; it analyzes those strategies of canonization and discourses that have played a key role in the process of the myth-formation of the hero and its time. In this era the process of György Bernády’s raising to the status of a cultural hero took place. The articles, which appeared in the local press, give a clear-cut image about what kind of judgements and appreciations have developed about the city and its councillor, as well as the infrastructural and cultural development