Bucharest - The Tale of a City

Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, is located in the South-East of the country where Vlăsia Forest used to be hundreds of years ago. Today there are only a few odd groves left. The Dâmboviţa crosses the city and the lakes in the North of the Capital provide coolness and humidity in the hot summer days.

The town developed gradually, gathering the neighbouring villages around the old historical centre. Dâmboviţa was a binder of the urban settlement that spread in its natural boundaries, extending itself mainly to the North in the lake area. The memory of the old villages is still preserved today in the mind of Bucharest's inhabitant for whom names like Berceni, Colentina, Floreasca or Pantelimon are now familiar as component areas of Bucharest.

In 1659 Bucharest becomes the permanent capital city of Ţara Românească. The town develops; many churches appear, as well as large fortified inns and the first street paved with wood beams: Podul Mogoşoaiei ( Mogoşoaia Bridge) (1692), later re-named Calea Victoriei in 1878. In the 19th century the town is modernised, turning into the capital city of Romania, a modern state founded by the unification of Moldavia with Ţara Românească in 1862. It is the second largest city in the South-East of Europe after Istanbul. Pavements appear, first in wood, later in granite from Scotland and Sicily; also public lighting, the sewerage system and public parks. Towards the end of the century the two axes that structure the city were traced, North-South, East-West. The reign of Charles I (1866-1914) is the age of great edifices representative for Bucur's town: the Romanian Atheneum (1888), Charles I Foundation (1891), the Ministry of Agriculture (1894), the Palace of Justice (1890-1895), the Palace of the Post (1894-1900), Sturdza Palace (1899), the Palace of the Savings Bank (1900), the Palace of the Patriarchy (1907), the Military Circle (1912), Athenée Palace Hotel (1914), etc.

After the First World War (1914-1918) Bucharest becomes one of the most beautiful capital cities in Europe. The glamour of cultural and social life, its atmosphere and architecture brought it the well-deserved name of “Little Paris”.

Its natural and, we might add, harmonious becoming was brutally interrupted by the establishment of the communist regime (1945-1989). The city became the subject of a destructive social and town-planning experiment. Hundreds of thousands of people were brought to Bucharest along with the imposed industrialisation. Without any genuine relation to the city, the new inhabitants were accommodated in dormitory blocks that made up the satellite workers' quarters in Bucharest. During Ceauşescu's rule an area equal to that of Venice was pulled down in order to leave room for the nonsensical project of the House of the People. Tens of churches, some of them of great historical and architectural value, were the victims of bulldozers: Sfânta Vineri ( Holy Friday Church), Mănăstirea Văcăreşti (Văcăreşti Monastery), Biserica Enei ( Enei Church) etc.

Today, the city is a blend of old and new, traditional and modern, oriental and occidental. This gives it the aspect of an eclectic disorderly metropolis on the one hand, but originality and charm on the other.

Dear friends,

Actually, we were never too far from you: for centuries the blue waves of the Danube brought merchants from Bucharest to their Viennese partners, cereals for the famous viennoiseries, young people to universities… Many Romanian fortunes were spent in the enchanted city of music, ball-rooms and cafés. Vienna has always been a fascination for us: one of the most beautiful memories of my childhood, for instance, is linked to the New Year Day, more precisely the New Year Concert in Vienna broadcasted by Romanian Television - a concert that I still listen to every year with the same emotion.

Today, we are coming to see you as one of the capital cities of the New Europe, as a European metropolis that is preparing to live a new youth.

First of all, we are bringing a variety of cultural events that illustrate our tradition, as well as the dynamics of the contemporary artistic stage, in a permanent re-defining process, marked by paradox and tension. You will take part in many original and captivating events.

However, “Bucharest Days in Vienna” do not mean just entertainment, but also debates on architecture, town-planning, health systems, management and constructions, tourism and information technology - during the conference “Investment opportunities in the City of Bucharest”. Over the past years Bucharest has been going through a spectacular development process: it is a European capital where everything is to be done, from the rehabilitation of historical buildings to the modernization of transport infrastructures, from improving and developing the tourist potential of recreational parks to the IT planning and control systems for urban development. At the real estate fair “Real Vienna” we bring projects in which we hope you will join us as partners.

We hope that our presence in Vienna this year will reinforce the exchange and dialogue network we share, will enhance communication, will help develop the economic and cultural relations that have linked our cities for many years.