| Azomureș AZO | |
| Producedby: | Combinatul de Îngrășăminte Azotoase Târgu-Mureș, from 1990 called "Azomureș" |
| Country: | Romania |
| Introduced: | 1981 |
| Discontinued: | 2003 |
| Markets: | Romania and other |
| Previousowners: | A photographic paper factory was founded in 1947 by two Hungarian brothers, it was nationalized in 1950 and transformed into a cooperative and later it was taken over completely by the Romanian state. |
| Website: | azomures.com (Web Archive) |
Azomureș (or AZO) was the only brand of photosensitive materials from Romania, produced by Combinatul de Îngrășăminte Azotoase Târgu-Mureș (Târgu-Mureș Nitrogenous Fertilizer Plant) between 1981 and 2003.
The photographic materials were made in a separate section of the chemical plant, in the northern part of Târgu Mureș, using Japanese licensed production. The decision to locate the factory in this city was based on the tradition in photographic art and the existence of an older company in the field.
The main products were black and white and color photographic paper and films for general photography, industrial and medical use and black and white and color cinematographic films.
The factory has stood out as one of the newest companies of its kind in the world.
Due to low demand for film in the early 2000s, outdated production technology and debt, the department was closed in 2003.
In Târgu Mureș (formerly known by its Hungarian name, Marosvásárhely) there has been a tradition in the field of photography since the 19th century, in 1865 Péter Ciehulszki taking and processing a series of photographs in his own studio. In the following period, other workshops and studios were opened, which led to the creation in 1905 of Amatőr Fényképészek Egyesületének (Amateur Photographers Association).[1]
On October 8, 1933, the largest photographic exhibition organized by (Transylvanian Carpathian Society) took place in Târgu Mureș, where 205 photographs were included in the following groups: landscapes, portraits, specifics, specials and beginners. The president of the exhibition, Gábor Szijgyártó, stated that "the competitors gathered showed such a great sense in the art of photography, vision and perfect technical training that we rarely find anything like this at similar exhibitions in Western cosmopolitan cities."
In the early 1950s, (photojournalist for at the invitation of editor-in-chief András Sütő[2]) offered several local amateur photographers the opportunity to send their photos to exhibitions in the country and abroad, founding in 1953 the Photo Club (Hungarian: Marosvásárhelyi Fotóklub), as one of the artistic circles of the Palace of Culture from Târgu Mureș. In 1958 they organized the first national exhibition.[3]
After World War II, professional and amateur photographers resumed their work, but those who used to use the products of the German photographic industry (Kodak, Agfa) faced a significant shortage of film and photo paper. Thus, brothers Imre and Attila Horváth from Târgu Mureș, with the help of a sister of theirs and the brother-in-law who both had a photo studio, set up a laboratory in a garage on Baross Gábor Street (now Horea) for production of photographic paper called IMAGO, in 1947.
Following nationalization, in the autumn of 1950 IMAGO ceased to exist and was replaced by the photo paper section of the local industrial cooperative "Ödön Lázár", a section arranged in an apartment of Lázár Ödön's sister. Attila was director of the unit, Imre technical director and Erzsébet Nagyné Logyin laboratory technician. The main production equipment was made by Imre in the workshop of a local technical school.[4] In 1951, the Romanian state allocated 20 million lei for the construction of a new factory, being completed in 1953 in Piața Mărășești Street (today being the headquarters of the Mureș Department of Agriculture). Other installations were designed by the factory technician, the technical and investment department of the "Ödön Lázár" company provided assistance and their manufacture was ensured to the craft cooperative "Minszki Lajos" and the central workshop of the company to which the photo factory belonged. Another 8 employees also took qualification courses.
The management has started a six-month professional qualification course for both employees and those who have not yet worked there, in arithmetic, technical drawing, chemistry and photographic technology, to train the first technicians in the photographic paper industry in the country.