Municipality
of Bucharest
The name of Bucharest was attested for the first time in a document
dated 20 September 1459, a muniment of Prince Vlad Tepes (Vlad the
Impaler) who built the citadel of Bucharest as another of the fortified
settlements in the Wallachian Plain. The year 1659, when Bucharest
became the capital-town of Tara Romaneasca (Wallachia), heralded a
new stage in the development of the city. Within total cottage
industry, Bucharest ranked first, as early as the 17th century, accounting
for ten per cent of total branches known. The first manufactories
became operational in the second half of the 18th century. After
the Union of the Romanian Principalities (Moldavia and Tara Romaneasca),
Bucharest became the Capital-city of the Romanian national state (1861).
It was at that time that a series of important economic units were
built: the Lemaitre foundry and the tobacco manufactory (1864), the
Oppler (1859) and Luther (1869) breweries, the city gas works (1871)
and the Carol Gobl printing houses (1859). In 1869, the first railway
line, that connecting Bucharest to Giurgiu, was commissioned, followed
by the Bucharest-Pitesti-Galati-Roman one in 1870. The first railway
station in Bucharest Filaret was built in 1869, while the Targoviste
Railway Station, present-day Gara de Nord (North Railway Station),
was built in 1872. As the town developed into an ever more important
trade centre, adequate institutions built up: Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (1868) seated in Lipscanilor street, in a building owned
by Miron Vlasto, first president of the Chamber; National Bank of
Romania (1880); Bucharest Stock Exchange (1882); General Bank of Romania;
Discount Bank; Romanian Bank. The first Landed Property Rural Credit
Company was set up in 1873, while the first Agricultural Credit Houses
appeared in 1881. Several other important edifices were built subsequently:
Romanian Athenaeum, Central University Library, Savings and Loan House,
Post Office Palace, Continental Hotel, Parliament Palace, Gh. Lazar
High School, Palace of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry that also
hosted the Stock Exchange, etc. In 1864, the first electric tram line
in Bucharest was inaugurated. Subsequent to the Great National Assembly
of 1 December 1918 of Alba-Iulia, Bucharest became the Capital-city
of Greater Romania, developing into a flourishing economic, financial,
cultural centre. Industrialisation was under way between the two world
wars. Bucharest was, in 1938, the location of 17 per cent of total
businesses having a say in the countrys economy covering all the
industrial branches developed at the time. The Malaxa (present-day
Faur), Metaloglobus and Grivita works were opened in 1923, while Laromet,
a rolled steel metallurgical works, opened in 1938. The food industry
developed in Bucharest at that time accounted for 40 per cent of the
aggregate country-wide. The leather and footwear industry in Bucharest
represented 32 per cent of the relevant national output and was developed
in such manufactories as Mociornita, Talpa, Tabacaria Nationala (National
Tannery), Grigore Alexandrescu. Baneasa Airport was commissioned in
1921, and the first radio station was opened in 1928. The present-day
Telephone Palace was inaugurated in 1933. New banks were also built:
Crissoveloni Bank, Italian-Romanian Commercial Bank, French-Romanian
Bank. In 1935, Grivita Workshops and Military Pyrotechnics developed
considerably. In 1941, Bucharest boasted 70,537 buildings and 992,536-strong
population. On 11 June 1948, the main industries were brought under
the control and ownership of the state. In 1950, the light and food
industry took the lead in Bucharest with 57.9 per cent followed by
mechanical engineering and chemistry with 24.1 per cent of the total,
while in 1982 the latter held more than 55 per cent of total industrial
activity in the Romanian Capital-city. New enterprises built up on
the structure of those nationalised in 1948: Timpuri Noi (former Lemaitre),
23 August (Malaxa). New facilities were also built: Autobuzul (1953),
Wood Working and Industrialisation Enterprise CIL Pipera (1960),
Danubiana Tyre Factory (1962), Cesarom Sanitary Fittings and Ceramic
Tiles Facility (1962), Policolor Lacquers and Paints Enterprise (1968),
Kinescope Enterprise (1970), etc. In 1965, there were 226 industrial
works operating in Bucharest. Their number amounted to 214 in 1983
employing 450,833 workers. In 1983, industrial output in Bucharest
represented 13 per cent of the aggregate country-wide, mechanical
engineering and chemistry taking larger shares than the average with
20 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively. Along with the big
industrial centres built by 1989, an increase was also registered
over the same time period with the number of apartments commissioned
that amounted to 446,100 over 1965-1984. Town planning shaped up new
districts: Titan, Balta Alba, Drumul Taberei, Berceni, Militari. Railway
traffic was extended and modernised (the first electrified railway
line connected, in 1969, Bucharest to Brasov). The first section of
the Bucharest Underground was commissioned in 1979, an attempt to
make Bucharest join the big metropolises of the world. Otopeni International
Airport was opened in 1970, meant to connect Romania to countries
world-wide. Along with Tarom, several other airlines use the Otopeni
International Airport for flights to destinations all over the world:
LAR, Romavia, Dacair, Lufthansa, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Swiss
Air, KLM, British Airways, El Al, etc.
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Geographical
Outline
The Romanian
Capital-city, the Municipality of Bucharest, is located in the south
of the country, at 70-80 m of altitude, 60 km away from the Danube,
100 km away from the Carpathian mountain range and 250 km away from
the Black Sea. The Municipality of Bucharest is almost half-way
between the Equator and the North Pole (70 km south of the 45ฐ N
Lat. parallel), in the midst of a temperate area in the south-east
of Europe. Bucharest climate is continental in character, with very
hot summers and cold winters. Bucharest is washed (along 24 km)
by the Dambovita river and its tributary, the Colentina (35 km in
the north of the city). The Romanian capital-city is surrounded
by a chain of lakes, most of them schemed, adding to the beauty
of the place: Mogosoaia, Straulesti, Baneasa, Herastrau, Floreasca,
Tei, Fundeni, Pantelimon. The Snagov lake is 25 km away from Bucharest.
The Sfantu Gheorghe Square is the location of
the 0 km milestone from where all national roads are measured, to
the state border. The Municipality of Bucharest, streaching over
228 sq. km, is divided into six administrative-territorial units
called sectors, as follows: sector 1 68 sq. km sector 2
30 sq. km sector 3 33 sq. km sector 4 32 sq. km sector
5 28 sq. km sector 6 37 sq. km).
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Touristic
Information
Founded in 1459,
on the banks of the Dambovita River, by ruler Vlad Tepes, Bucharest
become later the capital city of the Princely Court. The tradition
connects the founding of Bucharest with the name of Bucur who was
either a princely person, an outlaw, a fisher or a shepherd according
to different legends. But a fact doubtless: the name of Bucur is
of a Thracian-Geto-Dacian origin. The name of Bucharest (Bucuresti)
remembers the Romanian word "bucurie" (gladness), and
this town had, like many European metropoles, decades of gladness,
greatness, and sorrow too. Bucharest proved it is a great European
metropole many years ago. In 1701-1702, Sword bearer Mihai Cantacuzino
built the Coltea Monastery with "an infirmary and a house for
foreigners, for the resting and caress, in Christ, of our poor brothers
who are ill", with 12 beds for men and 12 beds for women, free
of charge. It was the first "hospital" in Bucharest, situated
on the place of the modern on of our days in downtown. In 1857 the
building of the Palace of Academy, the future University started
using the projects of arch. Alexandru Orascu. Bucharest is permanent
in front of progress. It has gas lamps in 1861 before Paris and
Berlin. In 1864, its Townhall was founded by law. On January, 1st,
1871, the street lighting with coal gas made by a factory in Filaret
was installed. In the same time, in Bucharest, the first vehicles
of public transport started to run: tramcar (1871) and horse trams
(1872). The first commercial and handicraft frequented place of
the town is "the Great Street" - the Lipscani Street at
present dated in a document from June, 5th, 1589. The archaeological
discoveries done in Hanul cu Tei, in the basement of the Gabroveni
Inn -and in the Lipscani Passage prove this zone was inhabited since
the XVth century. The Lipscani is a famous street in the historic
downtown of Bucharest only a few meters far from the Kilometer number
0 of Romanian Capital. The Lipsca is apparently the Romanian transcription
of the name of Leipzig. and Lipscani was the name of the merchants
who sold goods imported from Leipzig. In our days it is an important
commercial street which crosses other little streets named after
different old professions: "The big Street of Saddlers"
(where saddles, reins and harnesses were made). "The Street
of Locksmithes" a.o. The
town is also a cultural European town and from this its name of
"The Little Paris". There are artistic and literary rooms
and the famest is Princess Bibescu's. The population of Bucharest
was of a quarter of the one of Paris. Now in Bucharest more than
two million peoples live. In
the second half of the XIXth century and early in the XXth century,
important buildings are built: the National Bank (1883-1885), Foisorul
de Foc (the Firemen's Tower) (1892-1893), the Museum of the Romanian
Literature (1873), the Romanian Academy (1890), the Justice Palace
(1890-1895), "Gh. Lazar" Lycee (1 890), the Northern Railway
Station (1868-1872), the Parliament Palace on the Hill of Metropolitan
Church (1907), "Grigore Antipa" Museum (1908). In 1935
the Triumph Arch (27 m in high) is builit on the nice Kiseleff Avenue
which is longer than Champs Elysees in Paris. The
II WW, failure of monarchy, and the communist regime succeded. During
this period of time, some residential districts for workers were
built. The earthquake in 1977 forced the building of some new piles
of buildings in downtown. In the Union Square numerous blocks of
flats with rooms were built on the Union Boulevard (the one to the
former People's House, the Parliament building now). Bucharest
is a real garden-town with a varied architecture. From this point
of view the Cismigiu is a reference point. Here, in this park created
in 1860, with its lawns and status, there is a nice and old-fashion
atmosphere. This is the favorite walking place of Bucharest's in
summer. It is situated by the main boulevards, the Dambovita River
and huge civic center. The
boulevards of Bucharest are cut from the North to the South and
from the East to the West. but not very straight. The Victory Road
is the vertebral column of Bucharest. The Victory Road! It's the
axle of the wheel of this town. The Victory Road is the former Podul
Mogosoaiei. Why this name? Because in 1692, ruler Constantin Brancoveanu
built this wood floored road between his palace in Bucharest and
his castle in Mogosoaia. Along this road there are very interesting
building. The Stavrapoleos Church is a real jewel. The young Greek
monk Ioanichie leaves the Goura Monastery and comes in Bucharest.
In 1722 he bought the ground and builds the Stavropoleos Church
(October, 30th, 1724). In 1894, ar chitect Savulescu starts the
building of the Post Palace (now it is the National History Museum).
The building was opened in 1900, in autumn. It has a surface of
8000 sq.m, costed over 4000000 Lei in gold and it looks like the
Federal Post Palace in Geneve. Over 128 years, Capsa was more than
a hotel, a confectionery and a cafe'. In a way, it was the hub of
our country and its alive chronicle. At Capsa, evening by evening,
the fashionable world (actors, critics, writers, painters) of Bucharest
met. In 1878, a large-hearted Romanian returned from Athens, where
he has been a diplomatic agent, wanted to build a "home of
arts" with a concert hall, exhibition halls, library and a
picture gallery in Bucharest. The Athenaeum. The name of this Romanian
was Constantin Exarcu. He was helpt by Scarlat Rosetti, V.A. Urechia,
Nicolae Kretzulescu a.o. They decided to built the Athenaeum with
French architect Albert Galleron who built also the National Bank
of Romania. The expenses over-fulfilled the the money they have
had. So they initiated a public collection with the motto: "Give
one Leu for the Athenaeum". So, in 1888 the Romanian Athenaeum
was finished. A happy joining between Rome and Athens, with its
facade inspired by Erehteion, the wings of the Sibyle Temple in
Tivoli and the crowning of the Lisicrat Monument. the Athenaeum
was. is and will be for a long time the landmark of Bucharest like
the Eiffel Tower for Paris, the Sant Angelo Castle for Rome and
the Parliament building for London. At his death, Constantin Exarcu
left its fortune to the Romanian Athenaeum. Here in Exarcu's Athenaeum
Hubermann, Kubelik, Enescu and Voicu, Sauer, Paderewski and Ursuleasa
played violin and piano, Cortez, Nicolesco and Carusso sang. Celibidache
conducted, and in the exhibition halls, generations by generations,
Romanian painters and sculptors exhibited their works. The
Gen. Gh. Magheru Boulevard, parallel with the Victory Road, is relatively
short. Its buildings from the 30' host tourist agencies, airways
companies, shops, restaurants, cinemas and de luxe hotels. It is
continued by the Nicolae Balcescu street with buildings in the Second
Empire style. Also here there is the modern tower of the Intercontinental
Hotel, and closed to it, The National Theatre and University. The
old town is still a part of Bucharest. Try to find the ruins of
the Old Court (former Princely Court of Vlad Tepes) which is now
an open-air museum, build 1936 and its little church dating from
the XVI-th century, on the Iuliu Maniu Street. Near by it there
is the famous Manuc's Inn, a former caravanserai, built in 1808
and reopened as a hotel-restaurant. The Patriarchate Church, situated
on the Union Boulevard was built in 1657. The
museums in Bucharest are rich. The Village Museum - an open-air
museum - is situated in the Herastrau Park, near by the Triumph
Arch. On a surface of 15 ha, by the lake, there are 198 buildings
of authentic peasant's architecture from all over Romania. Other
important museums are: the National Art Museum, the Museum of Art
Collections, Cotroceni National Museum, the National History Museum,
National Since Museum and National Peasan Museum which keeps the
gold, silver and jewels of the Treasure. The
name of "the Little Paris" was given to Bucharest thanks
to its artistic life offered by Opera House, Operetta Theatre, the
National, Bulandra, Nottara Theatres, the "George Enescu"
Philharmonic Orchestra, a.o. In
the evening, the bars and restaurants, clubs and cabarets wake up.
Bucharest is the European town with the most numerous casinos. The
Bucharesters, like all Romanians, are kind, gladly and like to have
fun. Near by them or togather you can have fun too. Bucharest
has two airports, the Baneasa, for domestic flies and the Otopeni
for the international and domestic flies, as well five railway stations,
the main being the Northern Railway Station. The
three metro lines - Ml, M2, M3 - cover the whole town. Not
the least, we have to mention that Bucharest is an important economic
centre - 15 percent of the national potential being here. Bucharest
is surrounded by lakes and forests with old palaces and monsteries
situated near by them. The Snagov Monastery (1404) situated on an
island of the Snagov Lake, is a favorite place of Bucharest's. At
14 km far from Bucharest there is the wonderful Mogosoaia Palace
built in the XVIIIth century former residence of ruler Constantin
Brancoveanu who gave his name to a Romanian style which combines
baroque and Renaissance elements of architecture. A point of attraction
is also the Caldarusani Monastery - situated 40 km far from Bucharest
- built by ruler Matei Basarab in 1638 and later painted by Nicolae
Grigorescu. The pile of buildings from Cernica consists in two churches
and a chapel painted by Gh. Tatarescu dating from the first decade
of the XIXth century. The Museum of this monastery has valuable
and old art and religious objects, manuscripts and icons.
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