România ta
Bălan, Sălaj County · commune · 3,660 residents (2021 census)
First written mention
1399
The oldest surviving written mention of Bălan dates from 1399, 627 years ago.
Older than 76% of the 5,588 localities with a firm first mention.
Source: Wikidata (CC0), Suciu (1967–68), Documenta Romaniae Historica, Wikipedia; the date is the one the project picks
100 million years ago
27°–32° N
In the Cretaceous, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth, the ground under Bălan lay at 27°–32° north, depending on the plate-tectonic model (the project compares three). Today it is at 47.2° N. It has moved 1,917–2,372 km since.
The latitude band then; today at 47.2° N.
Source: Plate models Müller 2019, Merdith 2021 and PALEOMAP; GeoNames localities (CC BY 4.0)
Mountains on the horizon
0
No summit above 1,000 m is in view from Bălan in the project's calculation.
The calculation takes the terrain, the curvature of the Earth and the bending of light into account, out to 450 km, from 30 m above the ground (the roof of a ten-storey block).
Source: Terrain from Mapzen/AWS Terrain Tiles, summits from OpenStreetMap; the calculation is the project's
The sea or space
518 km
The sea is 518 km away in a straight line. Space begins 100 km straight up (the Kármán line), so from Bălan space is nearer than the sea.
93% of Romanians live within 518 km of the sea.
The distance starts from a point inside the commune or town.
Source: Natural Earth (public domain), GHSL 2025 population (JRC, CC BY 4.0)
Through the Earth, under your feet
1,538 km
Dig a straight tunnel through the centre of the Earth from Bălan and after about 12,740 km you come out in the South Pacific Ocean, at 47.2° S, 156.7° W. The nearest land from there is 1,538 km away: the Chatham Islands (New Zealand).
The tunnel passes through no other town: below you there is only rock, then the Earth's core.
Source: Natural Earth (public domain); ellipsoid geometry as in the project
Local seismic hazard
0.10 g
For the conventional scenario with a 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years, Table A.1 of RTC 18-2026, MDLPA's methodology for drawing up seismic-risk maps (in force from 11 October 2026), lists a peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.10 g for Bălan. This value describes seismic hazard at locality level; it does not assess the risk or safety of any particular building.
91% of Romanians live in localities where the table gives a higher PGA value; 9% live in localities with the same value.
Source: MDLPA Order 1,037/2026, RTC 18-2026, Annex A, Table A.1 (Official Gazette 771 bis, 11 Sep 2026)
Castles and manor houses
8.3 km
The nearest noble residence on Romania's List of Historic Monuments is Castelul Haller din Gîrbou, in Gîrbou, 8.3 km away (mijl.sec. XVIII). Within 25 km there are 9 residences; within 50 km there are 46 residences.
A conac is the manor house of a boyar or noble, a castle is fortified; a culă is an Oltenian tower house.
Source: List of Historic Monuments (National Heritage Institute), processed by the Castele project
The nearest hospital
13 km
The nearest hospital with inpatient beds is in Jibou (105 beds), 13 km away in a straight line between the localities' centres. 79% of Romanians live closer to a hospital.
79% of Romanians live closer to a hospital.
A straight line is not the road.
Source: INS: hospital beds (SAN102C, 2024) and population (POP107D, 2023); the calculation is the project's
The nearest airport
50 km
The nearest of the 17 airports with passenger traffic is Avram Iancu (Cluj-Napoca), 50 km away in a straight line. 3,582,134 passengers passed through it in 2025, 2nd among the country's airports.
60% of Romanians live closer to an airport.
Passengers are counted on landing and on take-off.
Source: Romanian Airports Association (2025 statistics), OurAirports (public domain); INS 2021 census population
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