Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The city quarter Primăverii of București is the place where the rich people are living. During Communist times it was what we today would call a ‘gated community’. While the people outside had only electricity for two hours every day and remained hungry, the fat cats were living a good life there. You can validate this by visiting the Casa Ceaușescu, the former home of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.
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Everyone knows the famous Arc de Triomphe at Paris, France. But did you know that Romania has its own copy of it? After the country gained independence, a wooden version was constructed in 1878. After World War I the current version copying the original in France was finished in 1936. It is twenty-seven meters high, and it has a roof terrace that you can access free of charge.
Continue reading “Arcul de Triumf”
The public park named after Carol I. is a brilliant example of brutalist architecture and a demonstration of the power of the Communist party. Originally, it was a park opened in 1906 that was created to commemorate the reign of the first king of Romania. In Communist times after World War II the park was used for a different purpose.
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Burial traditions vary across the world very much, even within religions. Having a look on local cemeteries is therefore always interesting. But if you visit the biggest cemetery of București, the Cimitirul Șerban Vodă, you might get a wrong picture: until the 1970s the cemetery was reserved for ‘important’ people and is therefore seen as the national pantheon of Romania.
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Vast, that’s the best word describing the Parcul Tineretului, the youth’s park. 94 hectares of land have been dedicated to being the main recreational space of the capital city. It was opened in 1974 and an impressive boulevard for pedestrians lead you into the green starting in the north at the metro stop Tineretului.
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The Biserica Mănăstirii Stavropoleos is a magical place in the city center of București. It is a Romanian-orthodox cloister in Brâncovenesc style standing between the more modern buildings of the old town. It was built by a Greek monk in 1724 and is beautifully decorated on the inside, but also outside around the tiny door.
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If you get to the botanical garden of București and rate it with a western European scale in mind, you might be disappointed. In large parts it rather looks like a public park than a botanical garden. The vast Grădina Botanică was created in 1884 and was partially destroyed in both World Wars.
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The palace of parliament is one of the biggest buildings in the world by space. It was built between 1983 and 1989 by order of the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. To create it historical buildings containing 40,000 flats and a dozen churches were destroyed. The building costs were around 40 % of the gross national income of the country.
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If you need to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while, the Grădina Cișmigiu might be your place of choice. It was the first garden created in București (in 1860) and includes a long-stretched lake and a lot of alleys to walk through. The trees have been partially imported from Vienna by the German garden engineer who designed this oasis.
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The capital city of Romania is full of ancient buildings that are beautifully illuminated at night. One of these is the Romanian Athenaeum, a concert hall built between 1885 and 1888 by a French architect. It is one of the most important concert halls in Europe an seat of the philharmonic orchestra of București.
Continue reading “Ateneul Român”