History of Bucharest
Encyclopedia
The history of Bucharest
covers the time from the early settlements on the locality's territory (and that of the surrounding area in Ilfov County
) until its modern existence as a city, capital of Wallachia
, and present-day capital of Romania
.
, much of the territory of Bucharest and Ilfov was covered by the thick forests of Codrii Vlăsiei
. The forested area, especially the Colentina
and Dâmboviţa
valleys, were home to small and scattered settlements as early as the Paleolithic
; during the Neolithic
, Bucharest saw the presence of the Glina culture, and, before the 19th century BC
, was included in areas of the Gumelniţa culture. During the Bronze Age
, a third phase of the Glina culture (centered on pastoralism
, partly superimposed on the Gumelniţa culture) and, later, the Tei culture evolved on Bucharest soil.
In the Iron Age
, the area was inhabited by a population identified with the Getae
and Dacians
(speaking an Indo-European language
; the view holding that the two groups were in fact one and the same is disputed, while the culture's latter phase can be attributed to the Dacians - small Dacian settlements were found in various places around Bucharest, such as Herăstrău, Radu Vodă, Dămăroaia, Lacul Tei, Pantelimon
and Popeşti-Leordeni
). These populations had commercial links with the Greek cities and the Romans
- Ancient Greek
coins were found at Lacul Tei and Herăstrău (together with a large amount of local counterfeit
ones), and jewels and coins of Roman origin in Giuleşti
and Lacul Tei.
Bucharest was never under Roman rule
, with an exception during Muntenia
's brief conquest by the troops of Constantine I
in the 330s
; coins from the times of Constantine, Valens
, and Valentinian I
etc. were uncovered at various sites in and around Bucharest. It is assumed that the local population was Romanized
after the initial retreat of Roman troops from the region, during the Age of Migrations (see Origin of the Romanians, Romania in the Early Middle Ages
).
Slavs
founded several settlements in the Bucharest region, as pointed out by the Slavic
names of Ilfov
(from elha - "alder
"), Colentina
, Snagov
, Glina
, Chiajna
etc. According to some researches, the Slavic population was already assimilated
before the end of the Dark Ages
. According to some researches, the area was part of the First Bulgarian Empire
between 681 and c.1000. While maintaining commercial links with the Byzantine Empire
(as attested by the excavations of 9th-12th century Byzantine coins at various locations), the area was subject to the successive invasions of Pechenegs and Cumans
and conquered by the Mongols
during the 1241 invasion of Europe
. It was probably later disputed between the Magyars and Second Bulgarian Empire
.
According to a legend first attested in the 19th century, the city was founded by a shepherd named Bucur (or, alternatively, a boyar
of that same name). Like most of the older cities in Muntenia
, its foundation has also been ascribed to the legendary Wallachian prince Radu Negru
(in stories first recorded in the 16th century). The theory identifying Bucharest with a "Dâmboviţa
citadel
" and pârcălab mentioned in connection with Vladislav I of Wallachia
(in the 1370s) is contradicted by archaeology
, which has shown that the area was virtually uninhabited during the 14th century.
Bucharest was first mentioned on September 20, 1459, as one of the residences of Prince Vlad III Dracula. It soon became the preferred summer residence of the princely court - together with Târgovişte
, one of the two capitals of Wallachia
- and was viewed by contemporaries as the strongest citadel in its country. In 1476, it was sacked by the Moldavia
n Prince Stephen the Great
, but was nonetheless favoured as a residence by most rulers in the immediately following period and was subject to important changes in landscape under Mircea Ciobanul
, who build the palace and church in Curtea Veche
(the court's area), equipped the town with a stockade
, and took measures to provide Bucharest with fresh water and produce
(early 1550s).
When Mircea Ciobanul was deposed by the Ottoman Empire
(Wallachia's overlord) in the spring of 1554, Bucharest was ravaged by Janissary
troops; violence again occurred after Mircea returned to the throne and attacked those who had been loyal to Pătraşcu cel Bun
(February 1558), during the 1574 conflict between Vintilă and Alexandru II Mircea
, and under the rule of Alexandru cel Rău (early 1590s).
, the political and commercial center of Wallachia began gravitating towards the south; before the end of the 17th century, Bucharest became Wallachia's most populous city, and one of the largest ones in the region, while its landscape became cosmopolitan. This was, however, accompanied by a drastic decrease in princely authority, and a decline of state resources.
On November 13, 1594, the city witnessed widespread violence, upon the start of Michael the Brave's uprising against the Ottomans, and the massacre of Ottoman creditor
s, who held control over Wallachia's resources, followed by a clash between Wallachians and the Ottoman troops stationed in Bucharest. In retaliation, Bucharest was attacked and almost completely destroyed by Sinan Pasha
's forces. It was slowly rebuilt over the following two decades, and again surfaced as a successful competitor to Târgovişte
under Radu Mihnea
(in the early 1620s). Matei Basarab
, who divided his rule between Târgovişte and Bucharest, restored the decaying court buildings (1640).
Bucharest was again ravaged, after only 15 years, by the 1655 rebellion of seimeni
mercenaries
against the rule of Constantin Şerban
- the rebel troops arrested and executed a number of high-ranking boyars, before being crushed by Transylvania
n troops in June 1655. Constantin Şerban added important buildings to the landscape, but he was also responsible for a destructive fire which was meant to prevent Mihnea III and his Ottoman allies from taking hold of an intact citadel. According to the traveler Evliya Çelebi
, the city was rebuilt as rapidly as it was destroyed: "houses of stone or brick [...] are few and unfortunate, given that their gavur
masters rebel once every seven-eight years, and the Turks and [their allies] the Tatars
consequently set fire to the city; but the inhabitants, in the space of the same year, restore their small one-storeyed, but sturdy, houses". Bucharest was touched by famine
and the bubonic plague
in the early 1660s (the plague returned in 1675).
's rule (1659–1660) and the end of Ştefan Cantacuzino
's (1715/1716), Bucharest saw a period of relative peace and prosperity (despite the prolonged rivalry between the Cantacuzino
and the Băleni families, followed by worsened relations between the former and the Craioveşti
).
The climactic moment was reached under Şerban Cantacuzino
and Constantin Brâncoveanu
, when the city embraced the Renaissance
under the original form known as the Brâncovenesc style
and was expanded (growing to include the area of Cotroceni
), furnished with inns maintained by princes, and given its first educational facilities (the princely Saint Sava College
, 1694); Brâncoveanu developed Curtea Veche
(which probably accommodated the boyar council in its new version), and added two other palace
s, including the one at Mogoşoaia
(built in Venetian
style and noted for its loggia
); this was also the time when the future Calea Victoriei
was carved out through Codrii Vlăsiei
.
, Wallachia was placed under the more compliant rules of Phanariotes
, inaugurated by Nicholas Mavrocordatos
(who had previously reigned over Moldavia
). These decisively marked Bucharest's development in several ways - the city was the unrivalled capital, being favoured by the decrease in importance of manorialism
and rural centers, cumulated with the progress witnessed by the monetary economy (during the period, boyar
status began revolving around appointment to administrative offices, and most of the latter were centered on the princely residence, including, after 1761, the banat
of Oltenia
).
Prince Nicholas' rule coincided with a series of calamities - a major fire, the first Habsburg
occupation during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18
(1716), and another plague epidemic -, but witnessed major cultural achievements inspired by The Enlightenment, such as the creation of a short-lived princely library
(maintained by Stephan Bergler
). Grigore II Ghica
and Constantine Mavrocordatos
maintained the commercial infrastructure, and the city became the site of a large market (probably in the Lipscani
area) and customs. In 1737, during the Austro-Turkish War of 1737-39, the city was again attacked by Habsburg troops and ransacked by the Nogais
, before suffering another major plague outbreak (followed by new outbursts in the 1750s), accompanied by a relative economic decline brought about by the competition between Greek
, Levant
ine and locals for official appointments.
Bucharest was twice occupied by Imperial Russian troops during the War of 1768-74
(initially aided by Pârvu Cantacuzino
's anti-Ottoman boyar rebellion, and then stormed by the troops of Nicholas Repnin
); the subsequent Peace of Kucuk Kaynarca
was partly negotiated in the city.
Under Alexander Ypsilantis
, large-scale works to provide the city with fresh water were carried out, and Curtea Veche
, destroyed by the previous conflicts, was replaced by a new residence in Dealul Spirii
(Curtea Nouă
, 1776); his legacy was carried out by Nicholas Mavrogenes. The Russo-Turkish-Austrian War erupted in 1787, and Mavrogenes retreated in front of a new Habsburg invasion, led by Prince Josias of Coburg
(1789). Despite other epidemics, coupled with the immense taxes imposed by Constantin Hangerli, and the major earthquake of October 14, 1802 (followed by ones in 1804 and 1812), the city's population continued to increase. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812
, Russian troops under Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich
entered the city to reinstate Constantine Ypsilantis
in late December 1806; it was under the latter's rule that Manuc's Inn had been built by Emanuel Mârzaian.
After the peace signed in Bucharest, the rule of John Caradja brought a series of important cultural and social events (the reformist Caragea law, the first hot air balloon
ride in the country, the first theater play, the first cloth manufacture
, and the first private printing press
, Gheorghe Lazăr
's educational activities), but also witnessed the devastating Caragea's plague
in 1813-1814 - which made between 25,000 and 40,000 casualties. Sources of the time indicate that the city alternated dense agglomerations with large privately-owned gardens and orchard
s, a pattern which made impossible the task of calculating its actual area.
The Greek War of Independence
and the contemporary Wallachian uprising
brought Bucharest under the brief rule of the pandur
leader Tudor Vladimirescu
(March 21, 1821), and was then occupied by the Filiki Eteria
forces of Major General Ypsilantis
- before seeing the violent Ottoman reprisals (ending in a massacre during August, one which made over 800 victims).
The following non-Phanariote reign of Grigore IV Ghica
, acclaimed by the Bucharesters upon its establishment, saw the building of a Neoclassical
princely residence in Colentina
, the expulsion of foreign clergy
men who had competed with Wallachians for religious offices, and the restoration of bridges over the Dâmboviţa River
, but also high taxes and a number of fires.
Ghica was removed from his position by the new Russo-Turkish War
and the Russian occupation of May 16, 1828; subsequently, the peace of Adrianople
placed the whole of the Danubian Principalities
' territory under military governorate (still under the suzerainty
of the Ottoman Empire
), pending the payement of war reparations
by the Ottomans.
After the short governorship of Pyotr Zheltukhin came the prolonged and profoundly influential term of Pavel Kiselyov
(November 24, 1829–1843), under whom the two Principalities were given their first document resembling a constitution
, the Organic Statute
(negotiated in Wallachia's capital). Residing in Bucharest, Kiselyov took particular care of the city: he acted against the plague and cholera
epidemics of 1829 and 1831, instituted a "city beautifying commission" comprising physicians and architects, paved many central streets with cobblestone
(instead of wooden planks), drained the swamps formed around the Dâmboviţa and built public fountains, settled the previously-fluctuating borders of the city (it now measured ca.19 km in perimeter
and was guarded by patrol
s and barriers), carved out Calea Dorobanţilor and Şoseaua Kiseleff
(major north-south routes), mapped the city and counted its population, gave Bucharest a garrison
for the newly-created Wallachian Army and improved its fire fighting
service; the changing city was described as unusually cosmopolitan and home to extreme contrasts by French visitor Marc Girardin
.
The granting of commercial rights to the Principalities and the retaking of Brăila
by Wallachia ensured an economic rebirth under the rule of Prince Alexandru II Ghica
, who expanded the number of paved streets and added the new Princely Palace (later replaced by the much larger Royal Palace
).
This was also the time the first opposition to Russian rule made itself felt, as the standoff in the Bucharest Assembly between Price Ghica and the radical
Ion Câmpineanu). The city was affected by a minor earthquake in January 1838, and a major flood in March 1839.
The new prince Gheorghe Bibescu
completed a water supply network
and works on public gardens, began constructing the National Theater of Romania building (1846; finished in 1852) and improved the chaussées linking Bucharest with other Wallachian centers. On March 23, 1847, a fire consumed around 2,000 buildings of Bucharest (about a third of the city).
Pressured by the revolutionary liberals who had issued the Islaz Proclamation attacking the conservative
and increasingly abusive system of the Organic Statute, attacked in the street by a group of young men, and faced with the opposition of the Army, Prince Bibescu accepted cohabitation with a Provisional Government taking inspiration from the European Revolutions
on June 12, 1848, and, just a day later, renounced the throne. The new executive, backed by popular shows of support on the Filaret field which reunited the Bucharester middle class
with peasants from the surrounding area (June 27, August 25), passed a series of radical reformist laws that drew the animosity of Tsar Nicholas I
, who pressured the Porte to crush the Wallachian movement; the proposed land reform
also led a group of boyars, headed by Ioan Solomon, to attack and arrest the government on July 1 - the effects of this gesture were cancelled on the same day by the inhabitants' reaction and the Ana Ipătescu-led attack on the building occupied by conspirators
.
Sultan
Abdülmecid
, sympathetic to the anti-Russian scope of the revolt, pressured the revolutionaries to accept a relatively minor change in the executive structure - the Provisional Government ceded position to a more moderate regency
(Locotenenţa Domnească), which was, nevertheless, not recognized by Russia.
The potential threat of a war between the two powers led Abdülmecid to revise his position and send Fuat Pasha
as his observer in Bucharest; at the same time, the city witnessed panic over the threat of a Russian invasion, and the briefly successful coup d'état
carried out by Metropolitan Neofit against the Revolution. On September 18, revolutionary crowds swept into the Interior Ministry, destroyed the lists of assigned boyar ranks and privileges
, and forced Neofit to cast an anathema
over the Organic Statute: such measures made Fuat Pasha lead Ottoman troops into Bucharest, a move which only met resistance from a group of firemen stationed on Dealul Spirii
(who engaged in a shootout after an incident which they perceived as provocation).
Bucharest remained under foreign occupation until late April 1851, and was again held by the Russian troops of Mikhail Dmitrievich Gorchakov
during the Crimean War
(between July 15, 1853 and July 31, 1854), being ceded to an interim Austrian
administration which lasted until the 1856 Treaty of Paris
. The three successive foreign administrations brought several improvements to the city (the Bellu cemetery and the Cişmigiu gardens, the telegraph and oil lamp
lighting
, the creation of new schools and academies, the Ştirbei Palace of Prince Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbei
, and the comprehensive city map drawn by Rudolf Artur Borroczyn).
The Paris treaty called for the creation of ad hoc Divans in Moldavia
and Wallachia, the first venue for the advocacy of a union between the two countries. Bucharest returned only delegates from the unionist Partida Naţională
to the new forums, but the overall majority in Wallachia was constituted of anti-unionists conservatives; on January 22, 1859, Partida Naţională members decided to vote for the Moldavian candidate for Prince, colonel Alexander John Cuza
, who had already been elected in Iaşi
- their vote was carried on January 24, after street pressure forced the other delegates to change their vote, leading to the eventual creation of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, a state with Bucharest as its capital and seat of its Parliament
. Cuza, who ruled as Domnitor
, paved the Bucharest streets with a better class of cobblestone
, established gymnasia
and several academic societies (including the University of Bucharest
), and ordered the building of a railway
between the capital and the Danube
port of Giurgiu
together with several metallurgical plants
in the Ilfov County
area; during his day, brick and stone lodgings became the norm.
On February 22, 1866, the city witnessed the coup against Domnitor Cuza, carried out by a coalition of Liberals
and Conservatives
disenchanted with the attempted land reform
and the increasingly authoritarian
regime - they occupied the ruler's residence and arrested Cuza and his mistress Marija Obrenović
, instating a Regency.
The largely Francophile
population of Bucharest came close to causing the fall of Carol I
, Cuza's successor, during the Franco-Prussian War
, after a clash with the German
residents of Bucharest in March 1871 - it was averted by the nomination of the Conservative Lascăr Catargiu
as premier
; the welcoming of Russian intervention by Bucharesters at the start of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878
contributed to the Ottoman decision to bombard the left bank of the Danube
, as Romania's independence was being proclaimed by Parliament.
, the Filaret Station (1869) and Gara de Nord
(1872), a horsecar
tram
system, a telephone
system, several factories, boulevard
s, administrative buildings, as well as large private lodgings (including the Creţulescu Palace
). The National Bank of Romania was opened in April 1880, as the first and most important in a series of new banking institutions.
After the proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania
in 1881, building works in the city accelerated. In 1883, floodings of the Dâmboviţa
, endemic under Cuza, were stopped through the channel
ling of the river (the change in course modified the neighbourhoods adjacent to the banks). New buildings were added, including the Romanian Athenaeum
, and the skyline increased in height - the Athénée Palace
, the first one in the city to use reinforced concrete
, had five stories. In 1885-1887, after Romania denounced
its economic ties with Austria-Hungary
, Bucharest's commercial and industrial development went unhindered: over 760 new enterprises were established in the city before 1912, and hundreds more by the 1940s. Limited use of electricity was introduced in 1882.
At the climax of the World War I Romanian Campaign
on December 6, 1917, Bucharest was placed under the military occupation of the Central Powers
(while the government retreated to Iaşi
). Of the 215 million lei
demanded by the new administration in order to cover its expenses, 86 were owed by the capital. After the Compiègne Armistice
, German troops evacuated Bucharest, and a Romanian administration was reinstated in late November 1918. As the country was embarking on the course that led to the creation of a Greater Romania
(confirmed by the treaties of Saint-Germain
, Neuilly
and Trianon
), its capital witnessed a relatively expanded social crisis - on December 26, 1918, troops fired on compositors
engaged in a strike
, who had been agitated by the newly-created Socialist Party of Romania
.
, Dămăroaia, Floreasca, Giuleşti
, the Militari
village, and the first streets in the Balta Albă
area). In 1929, the old tram system was replaced by a trolley
-based one.
A workers' riot erupted during the Griviţa Strike of 1933
, ending in a violent clampdown.
Under King
Carol II
, the city skyline began changing, and numerous art deco
- and Neo-Romanian-style buildings and monuments were added, including the new Royal Palace
, the Military Academy, Arcul de Triumf
, the University of Bucharest Faculty of Law, the new main wing of Gara de Nord, the ANEF Stadium, the Victoria Palace
, Palatul Telefoanelor
, Dimitrie Gusti
's Village Museum
, and the present-day Museum of the Romanian Peasant
; deep pits were dug to provide Bucharest with safer water, alongside the deviation of the southern course of the Argeş River
and the sanitation
of the northern lakes (Colentina, Floreasca, Herăstrău
, Tei), eventually leading to the creation of the present-day "necklace" of embanked ponds and surrounding parks.
regimes: after the one established by Carol II and his National Renaissance Front
, the outbreak of World War II brought the National Legionary State
and, after the bloody Iron Guard Rebellion
of January 21–23 (which was accompanied by a major pogrom
in the capital), the Ion Antonescu
government. In the spring of 1944, it was the target of heavy RAF
and USAF
bombings (see Bombing of Bucharest in World War II
).
The city was also the center of King Mihai I
's August 23 coup, which took the country out of the Axis
and into the ranks of the Allies
; consequently, it became the target of German
reprisals - on August 23–24, a large-scale bombing by the Luftwaffe
destroyed the National Theater and damaged other buildings, while the Wehrmacht
engaged in street-fighting with the Romanian Army. On August 31, the Soviet
Red Army
entered Bucharest.
In February 1945, the Romanian Communist Party
organized a protest in front of the Royal Palace, which witnessed violence and ended in the fall of the Nicolae Rădescu
cabinet and the coming to power of the Communist-backed Petru Groza
. On November 8, the King's Day, the new administration suppressed pro-Monarchy rallies - the onset of political repression throughout the country.
was firmly established after the proclamation of a People's Republic
on December 30, 1947. One of the major landscape interventions by early Communist leaders was the addition of Socialist realist
buildings, including the large Casa Scînteii
(1956) and the National Opera
. As a tendency for the entire period of Communist rule, the city underwent massive geographical and populational expansion: it began extending, westwards, eastwards and southwards, with new, tower block
-dominated districts such as Titan
, Militari
, Pantelimon
, Dristor
, and Drumul Taberei
.
During Nicolae Ceauşescu
's leadership, much of the historical part of the city, including old churches, was destroyed, to be replaced with the immense buildings of Centrul Civic - notably, the Palace of the Parliament
, which replaced about 1.8 km² of old buildings (see Ceauşima
). Alongside buildings characterised by a continuation of Socialist realism, Bucharest was home to several large-scale ones of a more generic modernist
style (Sala Palatului
, the Globus Circus, and the Intercontinental Hotel). By the time it was toppled, the regime had begun constructing a series of huge identical markets, commonly known as "hunger circus
es", and started digging the never-finished Danube-Bucharest Canal
. The Dâmboviţa River
was channeled for a second time, and the Bucharest Metro
, noted for its compliance with official aesthetics, was opened in 1979.
In 1977, a strong 7.4 on the Richter-scale earthquake in Bucharest
claimed 1,500 lives and destroyed many old lodgings and offices. On August 21, 1968, Ceauşescu's Bucharest speech condemning the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
led many inhabitants to briefly join the paramilitary
Patriotic Guards
- created on the spot as defense against a possible Soviet military reaction to Romania's new stance.
, which began in Timişoara
, Bucharest was the site of the rapid succession of major events between December 20 and December 22, leading to the overthrow of Ceauşescu's communist regime. Unhappy with some results of the revolution, students' leagues and other organizations, including the Civic Alliance
, organized mass protests against the National Salvation Front government in 1990 (in what became known as Golaniad
); these were violently suppressed by the miners of Valea Jiului - the Mineriad
of June 14–15. Several other Mineriads followed - only one of them (in September 1991) succeeded in reaching Bucharest, being responsible for the fall of the Petre Roman
government.
After the year 2000, due to the advent of Romania's economic boom, the city has modernized and several historical areas have been restored. In 1992, the first connection to the Internet
took place at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest
.
, were confirmed by Matei Basarab
in the 1640s, but the inner borders between properties remained rather chaotic, and were usually confirmed periodically by the Jude and his pârgari. Self-administration privilege
s were denied to Bucharesters and taken over by the Princes during the rule of Constantin Brâncoveanu
and the Organic Statute
period - in 1831, the population was allowed to elect a local council and was awarded a local budget
; the council was expanded under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the first Mayor of Bucharest
, Barbu Vlădoianu, was elected.
The guild
s (bresle or isnafuri), covering a large range of employments and defined either by trade or ethnicity, formed self-administrating units from the 17th century until the late 19th century. Several isnafuri in the Lipscani
area gave their names to streets which still exist. Although they lacked clear defense duties, given that Bucharest was not fortified, they became the basis for military recruitment
in the small city garrison
. Trading guilds became predominant over those of artisan
s during the 19th century, and all autochthonous ones collapsed under competition from the sudiţi
wholesale
traders (protected by foreign diplomats), and disappeared altogether after 1875, when mass-produced imports from Austria-Hungary
flooded the market.
Bucharest is home to the Romanian Orthodox
Patriarchy
and the Wallachian Metropolitan seat, of the Roman Catholic Archbishopric (established in 1883) and Apostolic Nunciature
, of the Archbishopric and Eparchy
Council of the local Armenian Apostolic Church
, of the leadership of the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Romania
as well as an important site for other religions and churches.
In Nicolae Ceauşescu
's times, a large number of religious locations were demolished to make room for tower blocks and other landmarks; the former included Văcăreşti Monastery, which was torn down during works to enlarge the Văcăreşti Lake.
church, built by Mircea Ciobanul
in the 1550s, followed by Plumbuita (consecrated by Petru cel Tânăr).
Constantin Şerban
erected the Metropolitan Church (today's Patriarchal Cathedral
) in 1658, moving the bishopric from Târgovişte
in 1668. In 1678, under Şerban Cantacuzino
, the Bishopric was equipped with a printing press
, which published the first Romanian-language
edition of the Bible
(the Cantacuzino Bible) during the following year.
The large-scale urban development under Prince Şerban and Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu
saw the building of numerous religious facilities, including Anthim the Iberian
's Antim Monastery
; in 1722, boyar
Iordache Creţulescu added Kretzulescu Church
to the city's landscape, during a period when most new places of worship were being dedicated by trader guild
s.
Phanariote rulers consecrated several major places of worship, including, among others, the Văcăreşti Monastery (1720), a monumental late-Byzantine
site, the Stavropoleos Church (1724) - both built under Nicholas Mavrocordatos
-, Popa Nan (1719), Domniţa Bălaşa (1751), the one in Pantelimon
(1752), Schitu Măgureanu (1756), Icoanei (1786), and Amzei (ca.1808). Another period of growth in the building of Orthodox religious sites was the inter-war one: 23 new churches were added before 1944.
The Jewish community of Bucharest was, at least initially, overwhelmingly Sephardi
(until Ashkenazim
began arriving from Moldavia
in the early 19th century). Jews were first attested as shop owners under Mircea Ciobanul
(ca.1550), and despite frequent persecutions and pogrom
s, formed part a large of the professional elites for most of Bucharest's history, and the largest percentage of the total population after Romanians (around 11%). The main Jewish-inhabited areas were centered on the present-day Unirii Square and the Văcăreşti
neighbourhood.
In World War II, Jews were the target of widespread violence during the National Legionary State
, and, upon its close, many were attacked and had their property looted during the Iron Guard Rebellion
- around 125 were murdered. A number of local Jews were deported to Transnistria
by Ion Antonescu
, but most remained on the spot and were forcefully assigned labor duties (cleaning out snow and sorting out the debris resulting from Allied
bombings). The Jewish population was drastically reduced through aliyah
.
Notable institutions of the community include the Bucharest Synagogue and the State Jewish Theater
.
Majority-Eastern Orthodox
groups other than Romanians
included sizeable communities of Greeks
(a highly influential and omnipresent one for much of the city's history, it was mentioned in Bucharest as early as 1561 and, after reaching its peak in the 18th century, entered a process of regression), Aromanians
(first attested in 1623, but probably counted among the Greeks by previous testimonials), Serbs
and Bulgarians
, alongside other South Slavs
(Bulgarians and Serbs were confounded in common reference until the 19th century; at the same time, sources more readily distinguished between groups of traders from Gabrovo
, Chiprovtsi
, or Razgrad
; an important group of Bulgarians retreated with the Russians at the close of the war of 1828-1829
, and settled in Bucharest as gardners and milkmen), as well as Arab parishioners of the Antiochian Orthodox Church
, Russians
(see also Bucharest Russian Church
), and most of the Albanians
present. Protected by the Church more than actually being considered its parishioners, the Roma
were, until 1855, slaves
of boyar
s and of the Church itself; in 1860, 9,000 Bucharesters were thought to have been Roma.
Presently, there are 18 Roman Catholic places of worship in Bucharest, including Bărăţia
(built in 1741, rebuilt 1861), the Saint Joseph Cathedral (1884) and the Italian Church
(1916). The Romanian Catholic community (which includes adherents to the Eastern Rite Church
) has traditionally been accompanied by the presence of majority-Catholic ethnic groups: Ragusan
traders were first mentioned in the 16th century; Italians
, recorded ca.1630, were traditionally employed as stonemasons; a Polish
minority became notable after the 1863 January Uprising
forced many to take refuge in Romania; the French, highly influential during the late 18th century and early 19th century, grouped 700 ethnics by the 1890s; between the two World Wars, Bucharest became home to a large Székely
community (probably some tens of thousands).
Mostly Gregorian
Armenians
, who originally came from Kamianets-Podilskyi
and Rousse
, were first mentioned in the 17th century, and left their mark on the entire city with the activities of Manuc-bei and Krikor Zambaccian (see also: Armenians in Romania
). They built their first church ca.1638, and their first Armenian-language
school in 1817; a new church, built on the model of the one in Echmiadzin
, was consecrated in 1911.
Most Protestants
in Bucharest have traditionally been Calvinist
Magyars and German
Lutherans, who accounted for several thousands of the city's inhabitants; mentioned as early as 1574, Lutherans have a church just north of Sala Palatului
, on Strada Luterană (the Lutheran Street).
Islam
was initially present through the means of the relatively minor Turkish
community and small groups of Muslim
Romas and Muslim Arabs; it is now represented by a growing, largely Middle Eastern immigrant community. In 1923, a mosque
was constructed in Carol Park
.
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
covers the time from the early settlements on the locality's territory (and that of the surrounding area in Ilfov County
Ilfov County
Ilfov is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs or satellites of Bucharest...
) until its modern existence as a city, capital of Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, and present-day capital of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
Ancient times
In AntiquityAncient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
, much of the territory of Bucharest and Ilfov was covered by the thick forests of Codrii Vlăsiei
Codrii Vlasiei
Codrii Vlăsiei was the forest that once covered parts of southern Romania, including the territory of today's Bucharest and the surrounding Ilfov County....
. The forested area, especially the Colentina
Colentina River
The Colentina River is a tributary of the Dâmboviţa River in Romania.The following lakes are built on the river:* Lake Moarta* Lake Ciocăneşti I* Lake Ciocăneşti I* Lake Crevedia VI* Lake Buftea* Lake Mogoşoaia* Lake Chitila...
and Dâmboviţa
Dâmbovita River
Dâmbovița is a river in Romania. It has its sources in the Făgăraş Mountains, on the Curmătura Oticu. The upper reach of the rivers, upstream of the confluence with the Boarcăşu River is also known as Izvorul Oticului River or Oticu River....
valleys, were home to small and scattered settlements as early as the Paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
; during the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
, Bucharest saw the presence of the Glina culture, and, before the 19th century BC
19th century BC
-Events:* Hittite empire in Hattusa, Anatolia.* 1900 BC: Proto-Greek invasions of Greece.* c. 1900 BC: Minoan Old Palace period starts in Crete.* c. 1900 BC: Fall of last Sumerian dynasty....
, was included in areas of the Gumelniţa culture. During the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, a third phase of the Glina culture (centered on pastoralism
Pastoralism
Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...
, partly superimposed on the Gumelniţa culture) and, later, the Tei culture evolved on Bucharest soil.
In the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, the area was inhabited by a population identified with the Getae
Getae
The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...
and Dacians
Dacians
The Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
(speaking an Indo-European language
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
; the view holding that the two groups were in fact one and the same is disputed, while the culture's latter phase can be attributed to the Dacians - small Dacian settlements were found in various places around Bucharest, such as Herăstrău, Radu Vodă, Dămăroaia, Lacul Tei, Pantelimon
Pantelimon, Ilfov
Pantelimon is a city in Ilfov County, Romania. The town — bordered by the Romanian capital, Bucharest, to the west — has an area of 134.83 km². Its name is derived from the Greek saint Panteleimon.-Local government:...
and Popeşti-Leordeni
Popesti-Leordeni
Popeşti-Leordeni is a town in Ilfov County, Romania, 9 km south of Bucharest, although from the northern edge of the town to the southern edge of Bucharest the distance is less than 100 m. The town's population is 15,115 inhabitants...
). These populations had commercial links with the Greek cities and the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
- Ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
coins were found at Lacul Tei and Herăstrău (together with a large amount of local counterfeit
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
ones), and jewels and coins of Roman origin in Giuleşti
Giulesti
Giuleşti is a neighbourhood in northwestern Bucharest, in Sector 6. The Giuleşti Stadium, Giuleşti Theatre, Podul Grant are located in Giuleşti...
and Lacul Tei.
Bucharest was never under Roman rule
Roman Dacia
The Roman province of Dacia on the Balkans included the modern Romanian regions of Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia, and temporarily Muntenia and southern Moldova, but not the nearby regions of Moesia...
, with an exception during Muntenia
Muntenia
Muntenia is a historical province of Romania, usually considered Wallachia-proper . It is situated between the Danube , the Carpathian Mountains and Moldavia , and the Olt River to the west...
's brief conquest by the troops of Constantine I
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
in the 330s
330s
-Significant people:* Constantine I* Constantine II* Constantius II* Constans...
; coins from the times of Constantine, Valens
Valens
Valens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
, and Valentinian I
Valentinian I
Valentinian I , also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the eastern provinces while Valentinian retained the west....
etc. were uncovered at various sites in and around Bucharest. It is assumed that the local population was Romanized
Romanization (cultural)
Romanization or latinization indicate different historical processes, such as acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorporated and peripheral populations by the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire...
after the initial retreat of Roman troops from the region, during the Age of Migrations (see Origin of the Romanians, Romania in the Early Middle Ages
Romania in the Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages in Romania spans the period from the withdrawal of the Roman administration from the province of Dacia in the 271–275 AD, thenceforward modern Romania's territories were to be crisscrossed by migrating populations for almost 1,000 years...
).
Beginnings
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
founded several settlements in the Bucharest region, as pointed out by the Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
names of Ilfov
Ilfov County
Ilfov is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs or satellites of Bucharest...
(from elha - "alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
"), Colentina
Colentina, Bucharest
Colentina is one of the main neighborhoods in Bucharest's 2nd district located on the north-east of the city. A local folk etymology says that the name is derived from "colea-n-tină" , this being the answer given by a spătar to Matei Basarab, who asked the former where he had defeated the Ottoman...
, Snagov
Snagov
Snagov is a commune, located 40 km north of Bucharest in Ilfov County, Romania. According to the 2002 census, 99.2% of the population is ethnic Romanian and 0.4% are Roma...
, Glina
Glina, Ilfov
Glina is a commune in the south-east of Ilfov county, Romania. Its name is derived from Slavic Glina, meaning "clay". It is composed of three villages: Căţelu, Glina and Manolache....
, Chiajna
Chiajna
Chiajna is a commune in the south-west of Ilfov County, Romania, immediately west of the capital, Bucharest. It is composed of three villages: Chiajna, Dudu and Roşu.-Etymology:Chiajna is a Romanian female name, being a feminine version of "cneaz" ....
etc. According to some researches, the Slavic population was already assimilated
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
before the end of the Dark Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
. According to some researches, the area was part of the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
between 681 and c.1000. While maintaining commercial links with the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(as attested by the excavations of 9th-12th century Byzantine coins at various locations), the area was subject to the successive invasions of Pechenegs and Cumans
Cumans
The Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
and conquered by the Mongols
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
during the 1241 invasion of Europe
Mongol invasion of Europe
The resumption of the Mongol invasion of Europe, during which the Mongols attacked medieval Rus' principalities and the powers of Poland and Hungary, was marked by the Mongol invasion of Rus starting in 21 December 1237...
. It was probably later disputed between the Magyars and Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
.
According to a legend first attested in the 19th century, the city was founded by a shepherd named Bucur (or, alternatively, a boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
of that same name). Like most of the older cities in Muntenia
Muntenia
Muntenia is a historical province of Romania, usually considered Wallachia-proper . It is situated between the Danube , the Carpathian Mountains and Moldavia , and the Olt River to the west...
, its foundation has also been ascribed to the legendary Wallachian prince Radu Negru
Radu Negru
Radu Negru also known as Radu Vodă , Radu Negru, or Negru Vodă, was a legendary ruler of Wallachia....
(in stories first recorded in the 16th century). The theory identifying Bucharest with a "Dâmboviţa
Dâmbovita River
Dâmbovița is a river in Romania. It has its sources in the Făgăraş Mountains, on the Curmătura Oticu. The upper reach of the rivers, upstream of the confluence with the Boarcăşu River is also known as Izvorul Oticului River or Oticu River....
citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
" and pârcălab mentioned in connection with Vladislav I of Wallachia
Vladislav I of Wallachia
Vladislav I of the Basarab dynasty, also known as Vlaicu-Vodă, was a ruler of the principality of Wallachia . He was a vassal of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander. In 1369 Vladislav I subdued Vidin and recognised Louis I of Hungary as his overlord in return for Severin, Amlaş, and Făgăraş...
(in the 1370s) is contradicted by archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, which has shown that the area was virtually uninhabited during the 14th century.
Early development
Târgoviste
Târgoviște is a city in the Dâmbovița county of Romania. It is situated on the right bank of the Ialomiţa River. , it had an estimated population of 89,000. One village, Priseaca, is administered by the city.-Name:...
, one of the two capitals of Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
- and was viewed by contemporaries as the strongest citadel in its country. In 1476, it was sacked by the Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
n Prince Stephen the Great
Stephen III of Moldavia
Stephen III of Moldavia was Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504 and the most prominent representative of the House of Mușat.During his reign, he strengthened Moldavia and maintained its independence against the ambitions of Hungary, Poland, and the...
, but was nonetheless favoured as a residence by most rulers in the immediately following period and was subject to important changes in landscape under Mircea Ciobanul
Mircea Ciobanul
Mircea the Shepherd was the Prince of Wallachia three times: January 1545 –16 November 1552; May 1553–28 February 1554 ; and January 1558–21 September 1559.-Biography:He was the fifth son of Radu cel Mare...
, who build the palace and church in Curtea Veche
Curtea Veche
Curtea Veche , built as a place or residence during the rule of Vlad III Dracula in the 15th century, now operates as a museum in the centre of Bucharest, Romania. The residence was moved under the rule of Radu cel Frumos, who moved the princely residence and the Wallachian capital to Bucharest...
(the court's area), equipped the town with a stockade
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...
, and took measures to provide Bucharest with fresh water and produce
Produce
Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced goods and, not limited to fruits and vegetables . More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. In supermarkets the term is also used to refer...
(early 1550s).
When Mircea Ciobanul was deposed by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(Wallachia's overlord) in the spring of 1554, Bucharest was ravaged by Janissary
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
troops; violence again occurred after Mircea returned to the throne and attacked those who had been loyal to Pătraşcu cel Bun
Pătraşcu cel Bun
Pătraşcu cel Bun was the Prince of Wallachia . He was the son of Radu Paisie and the father of Michael the Brave; he was a member of the House of Drăculeşti...
(February 1558), during the 1574 conflict between Vintilă and Alexandru II Mircea
Alexandru II Mircea
Alexandru II Mircea was Hospodar of Wallachia from 1568 to 1574 and 1574 to 1577. He was the father of Mihnea II Turcitul. His parents were Mircea III Dracul and Maria Despina...
, and under the rule of Alexandru cel Rău (early 1590s).
Growth and decline
In tune with the increasing demands of the Ottomans and the growing in importance of trade with the BalkansBalkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, the political and commercial center of Wallachia began gravitating towards the south; before the end of the 17th century, Bucharest became Wallachia's most populous city, and one of the largest ones in the region, while its landscape became cosmopolitan. This was, however, accompanied by a drastic decrease in princely authority, and a decline of state resources.
On November 13, 1594, the city witnessed widespread violence, upon the start of Michael the Brave's uprising against the Ottomans, and the massacre of Ottoman creditor
Creditor
A creditor is a party that has a claim to the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property or service to the second party under the assumption that the second party will return an equivalent property or...
s, who held control over Wallachia's resources, followed by a clash between Wallachians and the Ottoman troops stationed in Bucharest. In retaliation, Bucharest was attacked and almost completely destroyed by Sinan Pasha
Sinan Pasha
Sinan Pasha or Sinan Pashë Kahremanliu was an Albanian Grand Vizier, Ottoman military commander and statesman.-Life:...
's forces. It was slowly rebuilt over the following two decades, and again surfaced as a successful competitor to Târgovişte
Târgoviste
Târgoviște is a city in the Dâmbovița county of Romania. It is situated on the right bank of the Ialomiţa River. , it had an estimated population of 89,000. One village, Priseaca, is administered by the city.-Name:...
under Radu Mihnea
Radu Mihnea
Radu Mihnea was Voivode of Wallachia between September 1601 and March 1602, and again between March and May 1611, September 1611 and August 1616, August 1620 and August 1623, and Voivode of Moldavia in 1616-1619, 1623-1626...
(in the early 1620s). Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab was a Wallachian Voivode between 1632 and 1654.-Reign:Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637, 1639, and 1653 - see Battle of Finta...
, who divided his rule between Târgovişte and Bucharest, restored the decaying court buildings (1640).
Bucharest was again ravaged, after only 15 years, by the 1655 rebellion of seimeni
Seimeni
Seimeni designates the group of flintlock-armed infantry mercenaries charged with guarding the hospodar and his Court in 17th and 18th century Wallachia and Moldavia. They were mostly of Serb and other Balkan origin....
mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
against the rule of Constantin Şerban
Constantin Serban
Constantin Şerban was Prince of Wallachia between 1654 and 1658, illegitimate son to Radu Şerban .-Reign:...
- the rebel troops arrested and executed a number of high-ranking boyars, before being crushed by Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
n troops in June 1655. Constantin Şerban added important buildings to the landscape, but he was also responsible for a destructive fire which was meant to prevent Mihnea III and his Ottoman allies from taking hold of an intact citadel. According to the traveler Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi was an Ottoman traveler who journeyed through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years.- Life :...
, the city was rebuilt as rapidly as it was destroyed: "houses of stone or brick [...] are few and unfortunate, given that their gavur
Kafir
Kafir is an Arabic term used in a Islamic doctrinal sense, usually translated as "unbeliever" or "disbeliever"...
masters rebel once every seven-eight years, and the Turks and [their allies] the Tatars
Nogais
The Nogai people are a Turkic ethnic group in Southern Russia: northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and the Astrakhan Oblast; undefined number live in Chechnya...
consequently set fire to the city; but the inhabitants, in the space of the same year, restore their small one-storeyed, but sturdy, houses". Bucharest was touched by famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
and the bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
in the early 1660s (the plague returned in 1675).
Late 1600s
Between Gheorghe GhicaGheorghe Ghica
George Ghica March 3, 1600 – November 2, 1664), founder of the Ghica family, was Prince of Moldavia in 1658-1659 and Prince of Wallachia in 1659–1660....
's rule (1659–1660) and the end of Ştefan Cantacuzino
Stefan Cantacuzino
Ştefan Cantacuzino , was a Prince of Wallachia between April 1714 and January 21, 1716, the son of stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino.-Life:Ştefan was involved in his father's intrigue against Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu, denouncing him to the Ottoman Empire , and surrendering Brâncoveanu's secret...
's (1715/1716), Bucharest saw a period of relative peace and prosperity (despite the prolonged rivalry between the Cantacuzino
Cantacuzino family
The Cantacuzino or Cantacuzène family is an old boyar family of Wallachia and Moldavia, a branch of Greek Kantakouzinos family, allegedly descended from the Byzantine Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus. No definite genealogical links between Byzantine Greek and Romanian Cantacuzinos have been established...
and the Băleni families, followed by worsened relations between the former and the Craioveşti
Craiovesti
The Craiovești , later Brâncovenești , were a boyar family in Wallachia who gave the country several of its Princes and held the title of Ban of Oltenia for ca...
).
The climactic moment was reached under Şerban Cantacuzino
Serban Cantacuzino
Șerban Cantacuzino was a Prince of Wallachia between 1678 and 1688.He took part in the Ottoman campaign ending in their defeat at the Battle of Vienna...
and Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.-Ascension:A descendant of the Craioveşti boyar family and related to Matei Basarab, Brâncoveanu was born at the estate of Brâncoveni and raised in the house of his uncle, stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino...
, when the city embraced the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
under the original form known as the Brâncovenesc style
Brâncovenesc style
Is a type of architecture developed in Wallachia during the reign of Constantin Brâncoveanu in the 17th and 18th century.Examples of buildings with this style:*Horezu Monastery*Văcăreşti Monastery**Brâncoveanu Monastery*Surpatele Monastery...
and was expanded (growing to include the area of Cotroceni
Cotroceni
Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 6.The Hill of Cotroceni was once covered by the forest of Vlăsia, which covered most of today's Bucharest...
), furnished with inns maintained by princes, and given its first educational facilities (the princely Saint Sava College
Saint Sava College
Saint Sava College was one of the earliest academic institutions in Wallachia, Romania. It was the predecessor to both Saint Sava National College and the University of Bucharest.-History:...
, 1694); Brâncoveanu developed Curtea Veche
Curtea Veche
Curtea Veche , built as a place or residence during the rule of Vlad III Dracula in the 15th century, now operates as a museum in the centre of Bucharest, Romania. The residence was moved under the rule of Radu cel Frumos, who moved the princely residence and the Wallachian capital to Bucharest...
(which probably accommodated the boyar council in its new version), and added two other palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
s, including the one at Mogoşoaia
Mogosoaia Palace
Mogoşoaia Palace is situated about 10 kilometres from Bucharest, Romania. It was built between 1698-1702 by Constantin Brâncoveanu in what is called the Romanian Renaissance style or Brâncovenesc style, a combination of Venetian and Ottoman elements...
(built in Venetian
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
style and noted for its loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
); this was also the time when the future Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei is a major avenue in central Bucharest. It leads from Splaiul Independenţei to the north and then northwest up to Piaţa Victoriei, where Şoseaua Kiseleff continues north....
was carved out through Codrii Vlăsiei
Codrii Vlasiei
Codrii Vlăsiei was the forest that once covered parts of southern Romania, including the territory of today's Bucharest and the surrounding Ilfov County....
.
Early Phanariotes
In 1716, following the anti-Ottoman rebellion of Ştefan Cantacuzino in the context of the Great Turkish WarGreat Turkish War
The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century.-1667–1683:...
, Wallachia was placed under the more compliant rules of Phanariotes
Phanariotes
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...
, inaugurated by Nicholas Mavrocordatos
Nicholas Mavrocordatos
Nicholas Mavrocordatos was a Greek member of the Mavrocordatos family, Grand Dragoman to the Divan , and consequently the first Phanariote Hospodar of the Danubian Principalities - Prince of Moldavia, and Prince of Wallachia...
(who had previously reigned over Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
). These decisively marked Bucharest's development in several ways - the city was the unrivalled capital, being favoured by the decrease in importance of manorialism
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
and rural centers, cumulated with the progress witnessed by the monetary economy (during the period, boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
status began revolving around appointment to administrative offices, and most of the latter were centered on the princely residence, including, after 1761, the banat
Ban (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
of Oltenia
Oltenia
Oltenia is a historical province and geographical region of Romania, in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Danube, the Southern Carpathians and the Olt river ....
).
Prince Nicholas' rule coincided with a series of calamities - a major fire, the first Habsburg
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
occupation during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18
Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18
The Austro-Turkish War was fought between Austria and the Ottoman Empire.The Treaty of Karlowitz was not an acceptable long-standing agreement for the Ottoman Empire...
(1716), and another plague epidemic -, but witnessed major cultural achievements inspired by The Enlightenment, such as the creation of a short-lived princely library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
(maintained by Stephan Bergler
Stephan Bergler
Stephan Bergler was a Transylvanian Saxon classical scholar and antiquarian.-Biography:Born in Kronstadt , he studied at the University of Leipzig, after which he went to Amsterdam, where he edited the works of Homer and the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux...
). Grigore II Ghica
Grigore II Ghica
Grigore II Ghica was Voivode of Moldavia at four different intervals — from October 1726 to April 16, 1733, from November 27, 1735 to 14 September 1739, from October 1739 to September 1741 and from May 1747 to April 1748 — and twice Voivode of Wallachia: April 16, 1733 – November 27, 1735 and...
and Constantine Mavrocordatos
Constantine Mavrocordatos
Constantine Mavrocordatos was a Greek noble who served as Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia at several intervals...
maintained the commercial infrastructure, and the city became the site of a large market (probably in the Lipscani
Lipscani
Lipscani is a street and a district of Bucharest, Romania, which in the Middle Ages was the most important commercial center of Bucharest and the whole Wallachia...
area) and customs. In 1737, during the Austro-Turkish War of 1737-39, the city was again attacked by Habsburg troops and ransacked by the Nogais
Nogais
The Nogai people are a Turkic ethnic group in Southern Russia: northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and the Astrakhan Oblast; undefined number live in Chechnya...
, before suffering another major plague outbreak (followed by new outbursts in the 1750s), accompanied by a relative economic decline brought about by the competition between Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
ine and locals for official appointments.
Russo-Turkish Wars
Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774
The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 was a decisive conflict that brought Southern Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, and Crimea within the orbit of the Russian Empire.-Background:...
(initially aided by Pârvu Cantacuzino
Pârvu Cantacuzino
Pârvu or Pîrvu Cantacuzino was a high-ranking Wallachian boyar, ban of Oltenia, and anti-Ottoman rebellion leader who also briefly served as an officer in Russia's Imperial Army during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774...
's anti-Ottoman boyar rebellion, and then stormed by the troops of Nicholas Repnin
Nicholas Repnin
Prince Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin was an Imperial Russian statesman and general from the Repnin princely family who played a key role in the dissolution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.- Rule of Poland :...
); the subsequent Peace of Kucuk Kaynarca
Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca
The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed on 21 July 1774, in Küçük Kaynarca , Dobruja between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the...
was partly negotiated in the city.
Under Alexander Ypsilantis
Alexander Ypsilantis (1725-1805)
Alexander Ypsilantis was a Greek Voivode of Wallachia from 1775 to 1782, and again from 1796 to 1797, and also Voivode of Moldavia from 1786 to 1788. He bears the same name as, but should not be confused with, his grandson, the Greek War of Independence hero of the early 19th century...
, large-scale works to provide the city with fresh water were carried out, and Curtea Veche
Curtea Veche
Curtea Veche , built as a place or residence during the rule of Vlad III Dracula in the 15th century, now operates as a museum in the centre of Bucharest, Romania. The residence was moved under the rule of Radu cel Frumos, who moved the princely residence and the Wallachian capital to Bucharest...
, destroyed by the previous conflicts, was replaced by a new residence in Dealul Spirii
Dealul Spirii
Dealul Spirii is a hill in Bucharest, Romania, upon which, currently, the Palace of the Parliament is located....
(Curtea Nouă
Curtea Noua
Curtea Nouă was the residence of the Princes of Wallachia between 1776 and 1812.Located near the Mihai Vodă Monastery, on Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, it was built between 1775-1776 during the rule of Alexander Ypsilantis, and it meant to replace the old princely court at Curtea Veche.Curtea Nouă...
, 1776); his legacy was carried out by Nicholas Mavrogenes. The Russo-Turkish-Austrian War erupted in 1787, and Mavrogenes retreated in front of a new Habsburg invasion, led by Prince Josias of Coburg
Prince Josias of Coburg
Prince Frederick Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was a general in the Austrian service.-Biography:...
(1789). Despite other epidemics, coupled with the immense taxes imposed by Constantin Hangerli, and the major earthquake of October 14, 1802 (followed by ones in 1804 and 1812), the city's population continued to increase. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812
The Russo-Turkish War was one of many wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire.- Background :The war broke out in 1805–1806 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars...
, Russian troops under Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich
Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich
Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich , spelled Miloradovitch in contemporary English sources was a Russian general prominent during the Napoleonic Wars. He entered military service on the eve of the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790 and his career advanced rapidly during the reign of Paul I...
entered the city to reinstate Constantine Ypsilantis
Constantine Ypsilantis
Constantine Ypsilantis , was the son of Alexander Ypsilanti, a key member of an important Phanariote family, Grand dragoman of the Porte , hospodar of Moldavia and Walachia , and a Prince through marriage to the daughter of Alexandru Callimachi.-The Liberation of Greece from the Ottoman...
in late December 1806; it was under the latter's rule that Manuc's Inn had been built by Emanuel Mârzaian.
After the peace signed in Bucharest, the rule of John Caradja brought a series of important cultural and social events (the reformist Caragea law, the first hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
ride in the country, the first theater play, the first cloth manufacture
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
, and the first private printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
, Gheorghe Lazăr
Gheorghe Lazar
Gheorghe Lazăr , born and died in Avrig, Sibiu County, was a Transylvanian-born Romanian scholar, the founder of the first Romanian language school - in Bucharest, 1818.-Biography:...
's educational activities), but also witnessed the devastating Caragea's plague
Caragea's plague
Caragea's plague or Caradja's plague was a bubonic plague epidemic that occurred in Wallachia, mainly in Bucharest, in the years 1813 and 1814. It coincided with the rule of the Phanariote Prince John Caradja.-Alleged source:...
in 1813-1814 - which made between 25,000 and 40,000 casualties. Sources of the time indicate that the city alternated dense agglomerations with large privately-owned gardens and orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
s, a pattern which made impossible the task of calculating its actual area.
The Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
and the contemporary Wallachian uprising
Wallachian uprising of 1821
The Wallachian uprising of 1821 was an uprising in Wallachia against Ottoman rule which took place during 1821.-Background:...
brought Bucharest under the brief rule of the pandur
Pandurs
The Pandurs were Croatian Austrian frontier soldiers, who inhabited the areas of the Kingdom of Croatia and Military Frontier, and fought not only in the East-Turkish front, but also in the West-European front. They were a non-linear army, made out mainly of Croats...
leader Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu was a Wallachian Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or — occasionally — as Domnul Tudor .-Background:Tudor was born in Vladimiri, Gorj County in a family of landed peasants...
(March 21, 1821), and was then occupied by the Filiki Eteria
Filiki Eteria
thumb|right|200px|The flag of the Filiki Eteria.Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends was a secret 19th century organization, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece and to establish an independent Greek state. Society members were mainly young Phanariot Greeks from Russia and local...
forces of Major General Ypsilantis
Alexander Ypsilantis (1792-1828)
Alexander Ypsilantis, Ypsilanti, or Alexandros Ypsilantis was a member of a prominent Phanariot Greek family, a prince of the Danubian Principalities, a senior officer of the Imperial Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars, and a leader of the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization that...
- before seeing the violent Ottoman reprisals (ending in a massacre during August, one which made over 800 victims).
Kiselyov and Alexandru II Ghica
Grigore IV Ghica
Grigore IV Ghica or Grigore Dimitrie Ghica was Prince of Wallachia between 1822 and 1828. A member of the Ghica family, Grigore IV was the brother of Alexandru Ghica and the uncle of Dora d'Istria....
, acclaimed by the Bucharesters upon its establishment, saw the building of a Neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
princely residence in Colentina
Colentina, Bucharest
Colentina is one of the main neighborhoods in Bucharest's 2nd district located on the north-east of the city. A local folk etymology says that the name is derived from "colea-n-tină" , this being the answer given by a spătar to Matei Basarab, who asked the former where he had defeated the Ottoman...
, the expulsion of foreign clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
men who had competed with Wallachians for religious offices, and the restoration of bridges over the Dâmboviţa River
Dâmbovita River
Dâmbovița is a river in Romania. It has its sources in the Făgăraş Mountains, on the Curmătura Oticu. The upper reach of the rivers, upstream of the confluence with the Boarcăşu River is also known as Izvorul Oticului River or Oticu River....
, but also high taxes and a number of fires.
Ghica was removed from his position by the new Russo-Turkish War
Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
The Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829 was sparked by the Greek War of Independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Akkerman Convention....
and the Russian occupation of May 16, 1828; subsequently, the peace of Adrianople
Treaty of Adrianople
The Peace Treaty of Adrianople concluded the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was signed on September 14, 1829 in Adrianople by Russia's Count Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov and by Turkey's Abdul Kadyr-bey...
placed the whole of the Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
' territory under military governorate (still under the suzerainty
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
), pending the payement of war reparations
War reparations
War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...
by the Ottomans.
After the short governorship of Pyotr Zheltukhin came the prolonged and profoundly influential term of Pavel Kiselyov
Pavel Kiselyov
Count Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselyov or Kiseleff is generally regarded as the most brilliant Russian reformer during Nicholas I's generally conservative reign.- Early military career :...
(November 24, 1829–1843), under whom the two Principalities were given their first document resembling a constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
, the Organic Statute
Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...
(negotiated in Wallachia's capital). Residing in Bucharest, Kiselyov took particular care of the city: he acted against the plague and cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemics of 1829 and 1831, instituted a "city beautifying commission" comprising physicians and architects, paved many central streets with cobblestone
Cobblestone
Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...
(instead of wooden planks), drained the swamps formed around the Dâmboviţa and built public fountains, settled the previously-fluctuating borders of the city (it now measured ca.19 km in perimeter
Perimeter
A perimeter is a path that surrounds an area. The word comes from the Greek peri and meter . The term may be used either for the path or its length - it can be thought of as the length of the outline of a shape. The perimeter of a circular area is called circumference.- Practical uses :Calculating...
and was guarded by patrol
Patrol
A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as police officers or soldiers, that are assigned to monitor a specific geographic area.- Military :...
s and barriers), carved out Calea Dorobanţilor and Şoseaua Kiseleff
Soseaua Kiseleff
Şoseaua Kiseleff is a major road in Bucharest that runs as a northward continuation of Calea Victoriei. The road was created in 1832 by Pavel Kiselyov, the commander of the Russian occupation troops in Wallachia and Moldavia...
(major north-south routes), mapped the city and counted its population, gave Bucharest a garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
for the newly-created Wallachian Army and improved its fire fighting
Fire fighting
Firefighting is the act of extinguishing fires. A firefighter fights fires to prevent loss of life, and/or destruction of property and the environment...
service; the changing city was described as unusually cosmopolitan and home to extreme contrasts by French visitor Marc Girardin
Marc Girardin
Saint-Marc Girardin was a French politician and man of letters, whose real name was Marc Girardin.-Biography:...
.
Braila
Brăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County, in the close vicinity of Galaţi.According to the 2002 Romanian census there were 216,292 people living within the city of Brăila, making it the 10th most populous city in Romania.-History:A...
by Wallachia ensured an economic rebirth under the rule of Prince Alexandru II Ghica
Alexandru II Ghica
Alexandru II or Alexandru D. Ghica , a member of the Ghica family, was Prince of Wallachia from April 1834 to 7 October 1842 and later caimacam from July 1856 to October 1858....
, who expanded the number of paved streets and added the new Princely Palace (later replaced by the much larger Royal Palace
National Museum of Art of Romania
The National Museum of Art of Romania is located in the former royal palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest, Romania, completed in 1937...
).
This was also the time the first opposition to Russian rule made itself felt, as the standoff in the Bucharest Assembly between Price Ghica and the radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
Ion Câmpineanu). The city was affected by a minor earthquake in January 1838, and a major flood in March 1839.
1840s and 1850s
Gheorghe Bibescu
Gheorghe Bibescu was a hospodar of Wallachia between 1843 and 1848. His rule coincided with the revolutionary tide that culminated in the 1848 Wallachian revolution.-Early political career:...
completed a water supply network
Water supply network
A water supply system or water supply network is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components which provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes:# A drainage basin ;...
and works on public gardens, began constructing the National Theater of Romania building (1846; finished in 1852) and improved the chaussées linking Bucharest with other Wallachian centers. On March 23, 1847, a fire consumed around 2,000 buildings of Bucharest (about a third of the city).
Pressured by the revolutionary liberals who had issued the Islaz Proclamation attacking the conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
and increasingly abusive system of the Organic Statute, attacked in the street by a group of young men, and faced with the opposition of the Army, Prince Bibescu accepted cohabitation with a Provisional Government taking inspiration from the European Revolutions
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
on June 12, 1848, and, just a day later, renounced the throne. The new executive, backed by popular shows of support on the Filaret field which reunited the Bucharester middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
with peasants from the surrounding area (June 27, August 25), passed a series of radical reformist laws that drew the animosity of Tsar Nicholas I
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
, who pressured the Porte to crush the Wallachian movement; the proposed land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
also led a group of boyars, headed by Ioan Solomon, to attack and arrest the government on July 1 - the effects of this gesture were cancelled on the same day by the inhabitants' reaction and the Ana Ipătescu-led attack on the building occupied by conspirators
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
.
Sultan
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...
Abdülmecid
Abdülmecid I
Sultan Abdülmecid I, Abdul Mejid I, Abd-ul-Mejid I or Abd Al-Majid I Ghazi was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on July 2, 1839. His reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories...
, sympathetic to the anti-Russian scope of the revolt, pressured the revolutionaries to accept a relatively minor change in the executive structure - the Provisional Government ceded position to a more moderate regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
(Locotenenţa Domnească), which was, nevertheless, not recognized by Russia.
The potential threat of a war between the two powers led Abdülmecid to revise his position and send Fuat Pasha
Keçecizade Mehmet Fuat Pasha
Mehmed Fuad Pasha was an Ottoman statesman known for his leadership during the Crimean War and in the Tanzimat reforms within the Ottoman Empire. He was also a noted Freemason.- Career :...
as his observer in Bucharest; at the same time, the city witnessed panic over the threat of a Russian invasion, and the briefly successful coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
carried out by Metropolitan Neofit against the Revolution. On September 18, revolutionary crowds swept into the Interior Ministry, destroyed the lists of assigned boyar ranks and privileges
Historical Romanian ranks and titles
This is a glossary of historical Romanian ranks and titles used in the principalities of Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania, and later in Romania. Many of these titles are of Slavic etymology, with some of Greek, Byzantine, Latin, and Turkish etymology; several are original...
, and forced Neofit to cast an anathema
Anathema
Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...
over the Organic Statute: such measures made Fuat Pasha lead Ottoman troops into Bucharest, a move which only met resistance from a group of firemen stationed on Dealul Spirii
Dealul Spirii
Dealul Spirii is a hill in Bucharest, Romania, upon which, currently, the Palace of the Parliament is located....
(who engaged in a shootout after an incident which they perceived as provocation).
Mikhail Dmitrievich Gorchakov
Prince Mikhail Dmitrievich Gorchakov was a Russian General of the Artillery from the Gorchakov family, who commanded the Russian forces in the latter stages of the Crimean War and later served as a Namestnik of Kingdom of Poland from 1856 until his death....
during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(between July 15, 1853 and July 31, 1854), being ceded to an interim Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
administration which lasted until the 1856 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
. The three successive foreign administrations brought several improvements to the city (the Bellu cemetery and the Cişmigiu gardens, the telegraph and oil lamp
Oil lamp
An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....
lighting
Lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
, the creation of new schools and academies, the Ştirbei Palace of Prince Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbei
Barbu Dimitrie Stirbei
Barbu Dimitrie Ştirbei , a member of the Bibescu boyar family, was a Prince of Wallachia on two occasions, in 1848–1853 and in 1854–1856.-Early life:...
, and the comprehensive city map drawn by Rudolf Artur Borroczyn).
Capital of the United Principalities
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
and Wallachia, the first venue for the advocacy of a union between the two countries. Bucharest returned only delegates from the unionist Partida Naţională
Partida Nationala
The Partida Naţională was a liberal Romanian political party active between 1856 and 1859. It was a loose group which supported the union of the Danubian Principalities....
to the new forums, but the overall majority in Wallachia was constituted of anti-unionists conservatives; on January 22, 1859, Partida Naţională members decided to vote for the Moldavian candidate for Prince, colonel Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...
, who had already been elected in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
- their vote was carried on January 24, after street pressure forced the other delegates to change their vote, leading to the eventual creation of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, a state with Bucharest as its capital and seat of its Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
. Cuza, who ruled as Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
, paved the Bucharest streets with a better class of cobblestone
Cobblestone
Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...
, established gymnasia
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and several academic societies (including the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
), and ordered the building of a railway
Caile Ferate Române
Căile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...
between the capital and the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
port of Giurgiu
Giurgiu
Giurgiu is the capital city of Giurgiu County, Romania, in the Greater Wallachia. It is situated amid mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city of Rousse on the opposite bank. Three small islands face the city, and a larger one shelters its port, Smarda...
together with several metallurgical plants
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
in the Ilfov County
Ilfov County
Ilfov is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs or satellites of Bucharest...
area; during his day, brick and stone lodgings became the norm.
On February 22, 1866, the city witnessed the coup against Domnitor Cuza, carried out by a coalition of Liberals
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
and Conservatives
Conservative Party (Romania, 1880-1918)
The Conservative Party was between 1880 and 1918 one of Romania's two most important parties, the other one being the Liberal Party...
disenchanted with the attempted land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
and the increasingly authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
regime - they occupied the ruler's residence and arrested Cuza and his mistress Marija Obrenović
Marija Obrenovic
Elena Maria Catargiu-Obrenović , known in Serbia as Marija Obrenović, was a Moldavian and Romanian boyaress...
, instating a Regency.
The largely Francophile
Francophile
Is a person with a positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of France. This could include France itself and its history, the French language, French cuisine, literature, etc...
population of Bucharest came close to causing the fall of Carol I
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
, Cuza's successor, during the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, after a clash with the German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
residents of Bucharest in March 1871 - it was averted by the nomination of the Conservative Lascăr Catargiu
Lascar Catargiu
Lascăr Catargiu was a Romanian conservative statesman born in Moldavia. He belonged to an ancient Wallachian family, one of whose members had been banished in the 17th century by Prince Matei Basarab, and had settled in Moldavia.-Biography:...
as premier
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
; the welcoming of Russian intervention by Bucharesters at the start of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878
Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of numerous Balkan...
contributed to the Ottoman decision to bombard the left bank of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, as Romania's independence was being proclaimed by Parliament.
1878-1919
During the early years of Carol's rule, Bucharest was equipped with gas lightingGas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
, the Filaret Station (1869) and Gara de Nord
Gara de Nord
București Gara de Nord is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania...
(1872), a horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
system, a telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
system, several factories, boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
s, administrative buildings, as well as large private lodgings (including the Creţulescu Palace
Cretulescu Palace
Creţulescu Palace is a historic building near the Cişmigiu Gardens on the Ştirbei Vodă street nr. 39 in Bucharest, Romania...
). The National Bank of Romania was opened in April 1880, as the first and most important in a series of new banking institutions.
After the proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
in 1881, building works in the city accelerated. In 1883, floodings of the Dâmboviţa
Dâmbovita River
Dâmbovița is a river in Romania. It has its sources in the Făgăraş Mountains, on the Curmătura Oticu. The upper reach of the rivers, upstream of the confluence with the Boarcăşu River is also known as Izvorul Oticului River or Oticu River....
, endemic under Cuza, were stopped through the channel
Channel (geography)
In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or human-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...
ling of the river (the change in course modified the neighbourhoods adjacent to the banks). New buildings were added, including the Romanian Athenaeum
Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international...
, and the skyline increased in height - the Athénée Palace
Athénée Palace
The Athénée Palace hotel in Bucharest, Romania, now a Hilton, may have been Europe's most notorious den of spies in the years leading up to World War II, and only slightly less so during the Cold War. Located in the heart of Bucharest on Str...
, the first one in the city to use reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
, had five stories. In 1885-1887, after Romania denounced
Denunciation
Denunciation or abrogation refers to the announcement of a treaty's termination. Some treaties contain a termination clause that specifies that the treaty will terminate if a certain number of nations denounce the treaty...
its economic ties with Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, Bucharest's commercial and industrial development went unhindered: over 760 new enterprises were established in the city before 1912, and hundreds more by the 1940s. Limited use of electricity was introduced in 1882.
Romanian Campaign (World War I)
The Romanian Campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917, across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian...
on December 6, 1917, Bucharest was placed under the military occupation of the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
(while the government retreated to Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
). Of the 215 million lei
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
demanded by the new administration in order to cover its expenses, 86 were owed by the capital. After the Compiègne Armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
, German troops evacuated Bucharest, and a Romanian administration was reinstated in late November 1918. As the country was embarking on the course that led to the creation of a Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
(confirmed by the treaties of Saint-Germain
Treaty of Saint-Germain
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the new Republic of Austria on the other...
, Neuilly
Treaty of Neuilly
The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine, dealing with Bulgaria for its role as one of the Central Powers in World War I, was signed on 27 November 1919 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France....
and Trianon
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...
), its capital witnessed a relatively expanded social crisis - on December 26, 1918, troops fired on compositors
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
engaged in a strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, who had been agitated by the newly-created Socialist Party of Romania
Socialist Party of Romania
The Socialist Party of Romania was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party , after the latter emerged from clandestinity...
.
Inter-war
The elaborate architecture and the city's status as cosmopolitan cultural center won Bucharest the nickname of "Paris of the East" (or Micul Paris - "Little Paris"). Development continued during the 1930s - one of the most prosperous times in Romanian history: after 1928, the population increased by 30,000 inhabitants per year, the area reached 78 km² in 1939, and many new peripheral boroughs were added (Apărătorii Patriei, BăneasaBaneasa
Băneasa is a borough in the north side of Bucharest, near the Băneasa Lake . Like all north-side districts of Bucharest, it is relatively sparsely populated, with large areas of parkland...
, Dămăroaia, Floreasca, Giuleşti
Giulesti
Giuleşti is a neighbourhood in northwestern Bucharest, in Sector 6. The Giuleşti Stadium, Giuleşti Theatre, Podul Grant are located in Giuleşti...
, the Militari
Militari
Militari is a district in the western part of Bucharest, in Sector 6. It is home of more than 100,000 inhabitants.In the past a village called "Militari" existed here, but today they are only few houses left from this time....
village, and the first streets in the Balta Albă
Titan, Bucharest
Titan is a neighborhood of Eastern Bucharest, part of Sector 3. It surrounds the Alexandru Ioan Cuza Park, formerly known as "Titan", "I.O.R." , and "Balta Albă" ....
area). In 1929, the old tram system was replaced by a trolley
Trolley pole
A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" overhead wire to the control and propulsion equipment of a tram or trolley bus. The use of overhead wire in a system of current collection is reputed to be the 1880 invention of Frank J....
-based one.
A workers' riot erupted during the Griviţa Strike of 1933
Grivita Strike of 1933
The Grivița Strike of 1933 was a railway strike which was started at the Grivița Workshops, Bucharest, Romania, on 16 February 1933 by workers of Căile Ferate Române . The strike was brought about by the increasingly poor working conditions of railway employees in the context of the worldwide Great...
, ending in a violent clampdown.
Under King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
, the city skyline began changing, and numerous art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
- and Neo-Romanian-style buildings and monuments were added, including the new Royal Palace
National Museum of Art of Romania
The National Museum of Art of Romania is located in the former royal palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest, Romania, completed in 1937...
, the Military Academy, Arcul de Triumf
Arcul de Triumf
Arcul de Triumf is a triumphal arch located in the northern part of Bucharest, on the Kiseleff Road.The first, wooden, triumphal arch was built hurriedly, after Romania gained its independence , so that the victorious troops could march under it...
, the University of Bucharest Faculty of Law, the new main wing of Gara de Nord, the ANEF Stadium, the Victoria Palace
Victoria Palace
Victoria Palace is a palace in Victory Square, Bucharest, built in 1937, which is the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Romania and his cabinet.-See also:*Government of Romania...
, Palatul Telefoanelor
Palatul Telefoanelor
Bucharest Telephone Palace is an office building located on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania. It serves as the headquarters of Romtelecom.-Bucharest:Palatul Telefoanelor in Bucharest is an art deco style building...
, Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister of Education in 1932-1933...
's Village Museum
Village Museum
The Village Museum is an open-air ethnographic museum located in the Herăstrău Park , showcasing traditional Romanian village life. The museum extends to over 100,000 m2, and contains 272 authentic peasant farms and houses from all over Romania.It was created in 1936 by Dimitrie Gusti, Victor Ion...
, and the present-day Museum of the Romanian Peasant
Museum of the Romanian Peasant
The Museum of the Romanian Peasant is a museum in Bucharest, Romania, with a collection of textiles , icons, ceramics, and other artifacts of Romanian peasant life...
; deep pits were dug to provide Bucharest with safer water, alongside the deviation of the southern course of the Argeş River
Arges River
Argeș is a river of Southern Romania. It starts at the junction of headwaters Buda and Capra in the Făgăraș Mountains, in the Southern Carpathians and flows into the Danube at Oltenița.The main city on the Argeş is Piteşti...
and the sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
of the northern lakes (Colentina, Floreasca, Herăstrău
Herastrau Park
Herăstrău Park is a large park on the northern side of Bucharest, Romania, around Lake Herăstrău.The park has an area of about 1.1 km², of which 0.7 km² is the lake. Initially, the area was full of marshes, but these were drained between 1930 and 1935, and the park was opened in 1936...
, Tei), eventually leading to the creation of the present-day "necklace" of embanked ponds and surrounding parks.
1940s
Bucharest witnessed the birth of three consecutive fascistFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
regimes: after the one established by Carol II and his National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
, the outbreak of World War II brought the National Legionary State
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
and, after the bloody Iron Guard Rebellion
Legionnaires' Rebellion and Bucharest Pogrom
The Legionnaires' rebellion and the Bucharest pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between 21 and 23 January 1941.As the privileges of the Iron Guard were being cut off by Conducător Ion Antonescu, members of the Iron Guard, also known as the Legionnaires, revolted...
of January 21–23 (which was accompanied by a major pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
in the capital), the Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
government. In the spring of 1944, it was the target of heavy RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and USAF
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
bombings (see Bombing of Bucharest in World War II
Bombing of Bucharest in World War II
The Bucharest World War II bombings were primarily Allied bombings of railroad targets and those of the Oil Campaign of World War II, but included a bombing by Nazi Germany after the royal coup. Bucharest stored and distributed much of Ploiești's refined oil products....
).
The city was also the center of King Mihai I
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
's August 23 coup, which took the country out of the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
and into the ranks of the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
; consequently, it became the target of German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
reprisals - on August 23–24, a large-scale bombing by the Luftwaffe
History of the Luftwaffe during World War II
The German Luftwaffe was one of the strongest, most doctrinally advanced, and most battle-experienced air forces in the world when World War II started in Europe in September 1939. Officially unveiled in 1935, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, its purpose was to support Adolf Hitler's...
destroyed the National Theater and damaged other buildings, while the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
engaged in street-fighting with the Romanian Army. On August 31, the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
entered Bucharest.
In February 1945, the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
organized a protest in front of the Royal Palace, which witnessed violence and ended in the fall of the Nicolae Rădescu
Nicolae Radescu
Nicolae Rădescu was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-communist rule Prime Minister of Romania, serving from December 7, 1944 to March 1, 1945....
cabinet and the coming to power of the Communist-backed Petru Groza
Petru Groza
Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....
. On November 8, the King's Day, the new administration suppressed pro-Monarchy rallies - the onset of political repression throughout the country.
Communist era
The Communist regimeCommunist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
was firmly established after the proclamation of a People's Republic
People's Republic
People's Republic is a title that has often been used by Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their state. The motivation for using this term lies in the claim that Marxist-Leninists govern in accordance with the interests of the vast majority of the people, and, as such, a Marxist-Leninist...
on December 30, 1947. One of the major landscape interventions by early Communist leaders was the addition of Socialist realist
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
buildings, including the large Casa Scînteii
Casa Presei Libere
Casa Presei Libere is a building in northern Bucharest, Romania, the tallest in the city between 1956 and 2007.A horse race track was built in 1905 on the future site of Casa Presei Libere...
(1956) and the National Opera
Romanian National Opera
The Romanian National Opera is one of the national opera companies of Romania, situated in a historical building in Bucharest, near the Cotroceni neighbourhood....
. As a tendency for the entire period of Communist rule, the city underwent massive geographical and populational expansion: it began extending, westwards, eastwards and southwards, with new, tower block
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
-dominated districts such as Titan
Titan, Bucharest
Titan is a neighborhood of Eastern Bucharest, part of Sector 3. It surrounds the Alexandru Ioan Cuza Park, formerly known as "Titan", "I.O.R." , and "Balta Albă" ....
, Militari
Militari
Militari is a district in the western part of Bucharest, in Sector 6. It is home of more than 100,000 inhabitants.In the past a village called "Militari" existed here, but today they are only few houses left from this time....
, Pantelimon
Pantelimon, Bucharest
Pantelimon is a working-class neighborhood located in south-eastern Bucharest, Romania, in Sector 2. Outside Bucharest, there is an adjacent town named Pantelimon, administered separately....
, Dristor
Dristor
Dristor is a neighborhood located in the southeastern part of Bucharest. Nearby districts include Dudeşti, Vitan, Văcăreşti and Titan. The Dristor metro station is a major node of Bucharest Metro's network....
, and Drumul Taberei
Drumul Taberei
Drumul Taberei is a neighbourhood located in the south-west of Bucharest, Romania, roughly between Timişoara Avenue and Ghencea Avenue, neighboring Militari to the North, Panduri to the East and Ghencea and Rahova to the South and South-East.It is one of the few examples of successful urban...
.
During Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
's leadership, much of the historical part of the city, including old churches, was destroyed, to be replaced with the immense buildings of Centrul Civic - notably, the Palace of the Parliament
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania is a multi-purpose building containing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building, most expensive administrative building, and...
, which replaced about 1.8 km² of old buildings (see Ceauşima
Ceausima
Ceauşima is a vernacular word construction in Romanian, sarcastically linking former Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu to Hiroshima. This portmanteau term was sometimes coined in the 1980s to describe the huge urban areas of Bucharest that Ceauşescu ordered torn down, comparing the results with...
). Alongside buildings characterised by a continuation of Socialist realism, Bucharest was home to several large-scale ones of a more generic modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
style (Sala Palatului
Sala Palatului
Sala Palatului in Bucharest, Romania is a conference centre and concert hall immediately behind the National Museum of Art of Romania, the former royal palace in the heart of the city. It was built between 1959 and 1960, during the communist era...
, the Globus Circus, and the Intercontinental Hotel). By the time it was toppled, the regime had begun constructing a series of huge identical markets, commonly known as "hunger circus
Hunger circus
"Hunger circus" was a colloquial name for any in a series of identical buildings which were to be completed as part of Nicolae Ceauşescu's program of systematization during his period as ruler of Romania. Officially designated by the communist regime as "agro-alimentary complexes", the large domed...
es", and started digging the never-finished Danube-Bucharest Canal
Danube-Bucharest Canal
The Danube–Bucharest Canal is a long canal project that is planned to link Bucharest, Romania, to the Danube via Argeş River.The earliest plans, made by engineer Nicolae Cucu in 1880, sought to link Bucharest to the Danube at Olteniţa. In 1927, a study by Alexandru Davidescu was published at the...
. The Dâmboviţa River
Dâmbovita River
Dâmbovița is a river in Romania. It has its sources in the Făgăraş Mountains, on the Curmătura Oticu. The upper reach of the rivers, upstream of the confluence with the Boarcăşu River is also known as Izvorul Oticului River or Oticu River....
was channeled for a second time, and the Bucharest Metro
Bucharest Metro
The Bucharest Metro is an underground urban railway network that serves the capital of Romania, Bucharest. The network is run by Metrorex. It is one of the most accessed systems of the Bucharest public transport network with a ridership of 177.23 million passengers in 2010...
, noted for its compliance with official aesthetics, was opened in 1979.
In 1977, a strong 7.4 on the Richter-scale earthquake in Bucharest
1977 Bucharest Earthquake
The 1977 Vrancea Earthquake occurred on Friday, 4 March 1977, 21:20 local time and was felt throughout the Balkans. It had a magnitude of 7.2 with an epicenter in Vrancea at a depth of ....
claimed 1,500 lives and destroyed many old lodgings and offices. On August 21, 1968, Ceauşescu's Bucharest speech condemning the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
led many inhabitants to briefly join the paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
Patriotic Guards
Patriotic Guards (Romania)
The Patriotic Guards were Romanian paramilitary formations formed during the Communist era, designed to provide additional defense in case of outside attack.-History:...
- created on the spot as defense against a possible Soviet military reaction to Romania's new stance.
1989 to present-day
During the Romanian Revolution of 1989Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, which began in Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, Bucharest was the site of the rapid succession of major events between December 20 and December 22, leading to the overthrow of Ceauşescu's communist regime. Unhappy with some results of the revolution, students' leagues and other organizations, including the Civic Alliance
Civic Alliance Foundation
The Civic Alliance Foundation is a Romanian non-governmental organization . It is one of the largest Romanian NGOs, working for the consolidation of a civil society in the aftermath of the 42-year long communist regime. The AC has subsidiaries in 36 of the 41 counties, overseen by a 27-member...
, organized mass protests against the National Salvation Front government in 1990 (in what became known as Golaniad
Golaniad
The Golaniad was a protest in Romania in the University Square, Bucharest. It was initiated by students and professors at the University of Bucharest....
); these were violently suppressed by the miners of Valea Jiului - the Mineriad
Mineriad
See also The 1990s: the rise and decline of miners' unionsA Mineriad is the term used to name any of the successive violent interventions of miners in Bucharest. These interventions were generally seen as aimed at wrestling policy changes or simply material advantages from the current political...
of June 14–15. Several other Mineriads followed - only one of them (in September 1991) succeeded in reaching Bucharest, being responsible for the fall of the Petre Roman
Petre Roman
Petre Roman is a Romanian politician and a former Prime Minister of Romania. He served from 1989 to 1991, when his government was overthrown by the intervention of the miners led by Miron Cozma. Roman is a member of the Club of Madrid, grouping 66 democratic former heads of state and government...
government.
After the year 2000, due to the advent of Romania's economic boom, the city has modernized and several historical areas have been restored. In 1992, the first connection to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
took place at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Universitatea Politehnica din Bucureşti is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in 1864 based on the older technical school of Gheorghe Lazăr and it was renamed "Politehnica" in 1920.-History:...
.
Administrative history
A local administration was first attested under Petru cel Tânăr (in 1563), when a group of pârgari countersigned a property purchase; the city's borders, established by Mircea CiobanulMircea Ciobanul
Mircea the Shepherd was the Prince of Wallachia three times: January 1545 –16 November 1552; May 1553–28 February 1554 ; and January 1558–21 September 1559.-Biography:He was the fifth son of Radu cel Mare...
, were confirmed by Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab was a Wallachian Voivode between 1632 and 1654.-Reign:Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637, 1639, and 1653 - see Battle of Finta...
in the 1640s, but the inner borders between properties remained rather chaotic, and were usually confirmed periodically by the Jude and his pârgari. Self-administration privilege
Privilege
A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth...
s were denied to Bucharesters and taken over by the Princes during the rule of Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.-Ascension:A descendant of the Craioveşti boyar family and related to Matei Basarab, Brâncoveanu was born at the estate of Brâncoveni and raised in the house of his uncle, stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino...
and the Organic Statute
Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...
period - in 1831, the population was allowed to elect a local council and was awarded a local budget
Budget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
; the council was expanded under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the first Mayor of Bucharest
Mayor of Bucharest
The Mayor of Bucharest , sometimes known as the General Mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania, which is responsible for city-wide affairs, such as the water system, the transport system and the main boulevards...
, Barbu Vlădoianu, was elected.
The guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s (bresle or isnafuri), covering a large range of employments and defined either by trade or ethnicity, formed self-administrating units from the 17th century until the late 19th century. Several isnafuri in the Lipscani
Lipscani
Lipscani is a street and a district of Bucharest, Romania, which in the Middle Ages was the most important commercial center of Bucharest and the whole Wallachia...
area gave their names to streets which still exist. Although they lacked clear defense duties, given that Bucharest was not fortified, they became the basis for military recruitment
Military recruitment
Military recruitment is the act of requesting people, usually male adults, to join a military voluntarily. Involuntary military recruitment is known as conscription. Many countries that have abolished conscription use military recruiters to persuade people to join, often at an early age. To...
in the small city garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
. Trading guilds became predominant over those of artisan
Artisan
An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...
s during the 19th century, and all autochthonous ones collapsed under competition from the sudiţi
Suditi
For the commune in Ialomiţa County, see Sudiţi, Ialomiţa. For the villages in Buzău County, see Gherăseni and Poşta Câlnău.The Sudiţi were inhabitants of the Danubian Principalities who, for the latter stage of the 18th and a large part of the 19th century...
wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
traders (protected by foreign diplomats), and disappeared altogether after 1875, when mass-produced imports from Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
flooded the market.
Religious and communal history
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
Patriarchy
Patriarch of All Romania
The Patriarch of All Romania is the title of the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church. As of September 12, 2007, the chair is occupied by Daniel Ciobotea.-Metropolitans of Ungro-Wallachia:* Maxim * Macarie II * Ilarion II...
and the Wallachian Metropolitan seat, of the Roman Catholic Archbishopric (established in 1883) and Apostolic Nunciature
Apostolic Nunciature
An Apostolic Nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See, equivalent to an embassy.The head of the Apostolic Nunciature is called nuncio. A nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin nuntius, meaning messenger...
, of the Archbishopric and Eparchy
Eparchy
Eparchy is an anglicized Greek word , authentically Latinized as eparchia and loosely translating as 'rule over something,' like province, prefecture, or territory, to have the jurisdiction over, it has specific meanings both in politics, history and in the hierarchy of the Eastern Christian...
Council of the local Armenian Apostolic Church
Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
, of the leadership of the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Romania
Romanian ethnic minorities parties
The Romanian Constitution , under the contitions imposed by the Electoral Law, reserves a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for the party and cultural association of each ethnic minority in Romania...
as well as an important site for other religions and churches.
In Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
's times, a large number of religious locations were demolished to make room for tower blocks and other landmarks; the former included Văcăreşti Monastery, which was torn down during works to enlarge the Văcăreşti Lake.
Romanian Orthodoxy
For much of Bucharest's history, its neighbourhoods were designated by the names of the more important Orthodox churches in the respective areas. The first major religious monument in the city was the Curtea VecheCurtea Veche
Curtea Veche , built as a place or residence during the rule of Vlad III Dracula in the 15th century, now operates as a museum in the centre of Bucharest, Romania. The residence was moved under the rule of Radu cel Frumos, who moved the princely residence and the Wallachian capital to Bucharest...
church, built by Mircea Ciobanul
Mircea Ciobanul
Mircea the Shepherd was the Prince of Wallachia three times: January 1545 –16 November 1552; May 1553–28 February 1554 ; and January 1558–21 September 1559.-Biography:He was the fifth son of Radu cel Mare...
in the 1550s, followed by Plumbuita (consecrated by Petru cel Tânăr).
Constantin Şerban
Constantin Serban
Constantin Şerban was Prince of Wallachia between 1654 and 1658, illegitimate son to Radu Şerban .-Reign:...
erected the Metropolitan Church (today's Patriarchal Cathedral
Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral
The Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral is located near the palace of the Patriarchate of the Romanian Orthodox Church, on Dealul Mitropoliei, in Bucharest, Romania....
) in 1658, moving the bishopric from Târgovişte
Târgoviste
Târgoviște is a city in the Dâmbovița county of Romania. It is situated on the right bank of the Ialomiţa River. , it had an estimated population of 89,000. One village, Priseaca, is administered by the city.-Name:...
in 1668. In 1678, under Şerban Cantacuzino
Serban Cantacuzino
Șerban Cantacuzino was a Prince of Wallachia between 1678 and 1688.He took part in the Ottoman campaign ending in their defeat at the Battle of Vienna...
, the Bishopric was equipped with a printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
, which published the first Romanian-language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
edition of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
(the Cantacuzino Bible) during the following year.
Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.-Ascension:A descendant of the Craioveşti boyar family and related to Matei Basarab, Brâncoveanu was born at the estate of Brâncoveni and raised in the house of his uncle, stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino...
saw the building of numerous religious facilities, including Anthim the Iberian
Anthim the Iberian
Anthim the Iberian was one of the greatest ecclesiastic figures of Wallachia , a noted Eastern Orthodox theologian and philosopher, founder of the first printing press in Romania, and Metropolitan of...
's Antim Monastery
Antim Monastery
The Antim Monastery is located in Bucharest, Romania on Mitropolit Antim Ivireanu Street, no. 29. It was built between 1713 and 1715 by Saint Antim Ivireanu, at that time a Metropolitan Bishop of Romania. The buildings were restored by Patriarch Justinian Marina in the 1950s. As of 2005, there are...
; in 1722, boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
Iordache Creţulescu added Kretzulescu Church
Kretzulescu Church
Kretzulescu Church is an Eastern Orthodox church in central Bucharest, Romania. Built in the Brâncovenesc style, it is located on Calea Victoriei, nr. 45A, at one of the corners of Revolution Square, next to the former Royal Palace....
to the city's landscape, during a period when most new places of worship were being dedicated by trader guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s.
Phanariote rulers consecrated several major places of worship, including, among others, the Văcăreşti Monastery (1720), a monumental late-Byzantine
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
site, the Stavropoleos Church (1724) - both built under Nicholas Mavrocordatos
Nicholas Mavrocordatos
Nicholas Mavrocordatos was a Greek member of the Mavrocordatos family, Grand Dragoman to the Divan , and consequently the first Phanariote Hospodar of the Danubian Principalities - Prince of Moldavia, and Prince of Wallachia...
-, Popa Nan (1719), Domniţa Bălaşa (1751), the one in Pantelimon
Pantelimon, Bucharest
Pantelimon is a working-class neighborhood located in south-eastern Bucharest, Romania, in Sector 2. Outside Bucharest, there is an adjacent town named Pantelimon, administered separately....
(1752), Schitu Măgureanu (1756), Icoanei (1786), and Amzei (ca.1808). Another period of growth in the building of Orthodox religious sites was the inter-war one: 23 new churches were added before 1944.
Jewish history of Bucharest
The Jewish community of Bucharest was, at least initially, overwhelmingly Sephardi
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
(until Ashkenazim
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
began arriving from Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
in the early 19th century). Jews were first attested as shop owners under Mircea Ciobanul
Mircea Ciobanul
Mircea the Shepherd was the Prince of Wallachia three times: January 1545 –16 November 1552; May 1553–28 February 1554 ; and January 1558–21 September 1559.-Biography:He was the fifth son of Radu cel Mare...
(ca.1550), and despite frequent persecutions and pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s, formed part a large of the professional elites for most of Bucharest's history, and the largest percentage of the total population after Romanians (around 11%). The main Jewish-inhabited areas were centered on the present-day Unirii Square and the Văcăreşti
Vacaresti, Bucharest
Văcăreşti is a neighbourhood in south-eastern Bucharest, located near Dâmboviţa River and the Văcăreşti Lake. Nearby neighbourhoods include Vitan, Olteniţei and Berceni. Originally a village, it was included in Bucharest as it expanded...
neighbourhood.
In World War II, Jews were the target of widespread violence during the National Legionary State
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
, and, upon its close, many were attacked and had their property looted during the Iron Guard Rebellion
Legionnaires' Rebellion and Bucharest Pogrom
The Legionnaires' rebellion and the Bucharest pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between 21 and 23 January 1941.As the privileges of the Iron Guard were being cut off by Conducător Ion Antonescu, members of the Iron Guard, also known as the Legionnaires, revolted...
- around 125 were murdered. A number of local Jews were deported to Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
by Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
, but most remained on the spot and were forcefully assigned labor duties (cleaning out snow and sorting out the debris resulting from Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
bombings). The Jewish population was drastically reduced through aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
.
Notable institutions of the community include the Bucharest Synagogue and the State Jewish Theater
State Jewish Theater (Romania)
Teatrul Evreiesc de Stat in Bucharest, Romania is a theater specializing in Jewish-related plays. Its contemporary repertoire includes plays by Jewish authors, plays on Jewish topics, and plays in Yiddish...
.
Other communities
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
groups other than Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
included sizeable communities of Greeks
Greeks in Romania
There has been a Greek presence in Romania for at least 27 centuries. At times, as during the Phanariote era, this presence has amounted to hegemony; at other times , the Greeks have simply been one among the many ethnic minorities in Romania.-Ancient and Medieval Period:The Greek presence in what...
(a highly influential and omnipresent one for much of the city's history, it was mentioned in Bucharest as early as 1561 and, after reaching its peak in the 18th century, entered a process of regression), Aromanians
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
(first attested in 1623, but probably counted among the Greeks by previous testimonials), Serbs
Serbs in Romania
The Romanian Serbs are an ethnic minority in Romania. According to the 2002 census, there were 22,518 Serbs in Romania or 0.1% of the population...
and Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
, alongside other South Slavs
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
(Bulgarians and Serbs were confounded in common reference until the 19th century; at the same time, sources more readily distinguished between groups of traders from Gabrovo
Gabrovo
Gabrovo is a city in central northern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Gabrovo Province. It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an international capital of humour and satire , as well as noted for its Bulgarian National...
, Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi is a small town and municipality in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border...
, or Razgrad
Razgrad
Razgrad is a city in northeastern Bulgaria, administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Razgrad Province. As of February 2011, it has a population of 33,238 inhabitants.-History:...
; an important group of Bulgarians retreated with the Russians at the close of the war of 1828-1829
Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
The Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829 was sparked by the Greek War of Independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Akkerman Convention....
, and settled in Bucharest as gardners and milkmen), as well as Arab parishioners of the Antiochian Orthodox Church
Antiochian Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, also known as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East and the Antiochian Orthodox Church , is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...
, Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
(see also Bucharest Russian Church
Bucharest Russian Church
St. Nicholas Russian Church is located in downtown Bucharest, Romania, just off University Square. Russian Ambassador Mikhail Nikolaevich Giers initiated the building of a Russian Orthodox church in central Bucharest in 1905...
), and most of the Albanians
Albanians of Romania
The Albanians are an ethnic minority in Romania. As an officially recognized ethnic minority, Albanians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies to the League of Albanians of Romania .-Demographics:In the 2002 census 520 Romanian citizens indicated their ethnicity was Albanian,...
present. Protected by the Church more than actually being considered its parishioners, the Roma
Roma minority in Romania
The Roma constitute one of the major minorities in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians...
were, until 1855, slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
of boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s and of the Church itself; in 1860, 9,000 Bucharesters were thought to have been Roma.
Bucharest Baratia
Bărăţia is one of the Roman Catholic churches in Bucharest, Romania. It is located in central Bucharest, on the I. C. Brătianu Blvd, next to Piaţa Unirii.-Name:...
(built in 1741, rebuilt 1861), the Saint Joseph Cathedral (1884) and the Italian Church
Italian Church (Bucharest)
The Neo-Gothic red brick edifice was built in 1930. Owned by the Italian government, it is surrounded by grey concrete apartment blocks. Services are held daily in Romanian at 6 PM, and on Sundays, in Polish at 9 AM, Romanian at 10 AM, Italian at 11 AM....
(1916). The Romanian Catholic community (which includes adherents to the Eastern Rite Church
Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic
The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....
) has traditionally been accompanied by the presence of majority-Catholic ethnic groups: Ragusan
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
traders were first mentioned in the 16th century; Italians
Italians of Romania
The Italian Romanians are people of Italian descent who reside, or have moved to Romania.-Characteristics:They are an ethnic minority in Romania, numbering 3,288 people according to the 2002 census...
, recorded ca.1630, were traditionally employed as stonemasons; a Polish
Polish minority in Romania
According to the 2002 census, 3,671 Poles live in Romania, mainly in the villages of the Suceava region . There are even three exclusively Polish villages: Nowy Sołoniec , Plesza and Pojana Mikuli...
minority became notable after the 1863 January Uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
forced many to take refuge in Romania; the French, highly influential during the late 18th century and early 19th century, grouped 700 ethnics by the 1890s; between the two World Wars, Bucharest became home to a large Székely
Székely
The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...
community (probably some tens of thousands).
Mostly Gregorian
Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
, who originally came from Kamianets-Podilskyi
Kamianets-Podilskyi
Kamyanets-Podilsky or Kamienets-Podolsky is a city located on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi...
and Rousse
Rousse
Ruse is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, from the capital Sofia and from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...
, were first mentioned in the 17th century, and left their mark on the entire city with the activities of Manuc-bei and Krikor Zambaccian (see also: Armenians in Romania
Armenians in Romania
Armenians have been present in what is now Romania and Moldova for over a millennium, and have been an important presence as traders since the 14th century...
). They built their first church ca.1638, and their first Armenian-language
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
school in 1817; a new church, built on the model of the one in Echmiadzin
Echmiadzin
Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin is a 4th century Armenian church in the town of Ejmiatsin, Armenia. It is also the central cathedral of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church....
, was consecrated in 1911.
Most Protestants
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
in Bucharest have traditionally been Calvinist
Reformed Church in Hungary
The Reformed Church in Hungary is a key representative of Christianity in Hungary, being numerically the second-largest denomination in Hungary after the Roman Catholic Church, and the biggest denomination among ethnic Hungarians in Romania...
Magyars and German
Regat Germans
Regat Germans or Old Kingdom Germans are an ethnic German group of the eastern and southern parts of Romania. The Regat is land that was part of Romania before the First World War...
Lutherans, who accounted for several thousands of the city's inhabitants; mentioned as early as 1574, Lutherans have a church just north of Sala Palatului
Sala Palatului
Sala Palatului in Bucharest, Romania is a conference centre and concert hall immediately behind the National Museum of Art of Romania, the former royal palace in the heart of the city. It was built between 1959 and 1960, during the communist era...
, on Strada Luterană (the Lutheran Street).
Islam
Islam in Romania
Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries . In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic...
was initially present through the means of the relatively minor Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
community and small groups of Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
Romas and Muslim Arabs; it is now represented by a growing, largely Middle Eastern immigrant community. In 1923, a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
was constructed in Carol Park
Carol Park
Carol Park is a public park in Bucharest, Romania, named after King Carol I of Romania. For the duration of the communist regime, it was called Liberty Park ....
.
Population history
| 1789: 30,030 property-owners; 6,000 houses |
| 1810: 42,000, of which 32,185 Orthodox Christians |
| 1831: 60,587 property-owners; 10,000 houses |
| 1859: 122,000 |
| 1900: 282,000 |
| 1918: 383,000 |
| 1930: 639,000 |
| 1941: 992,000 |
| 1956: 1,237,000 |
| 1966: 1,452,000 |
| 2000: 2,300,000 |
| 2003: 2,082,000 |
Treaties signed in Bucharest
| Treaty of May 28, 1812 Treaty of Bucharest, 1812 The Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, was signed on 28 May 1812, in Bucharest, at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812.... , at the end of the Russo-Turkish War Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812 The Russo-Turkish War was one of many wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire.- Background :The war broke out in 1805–1806 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars... |
| Treaty of March 3, 1886 Treaty of Bucharest, 1886 The Treaty of Bucharest was signed by Serbia and Bulgaria on March 3, 1886, in Bucharest , marking the end of the Serbo-Bulgarian War. The treaty contained a single article, stating that peace between the two countries was restored. The treaty paved the way for the political imperative whereby only... , at the end of the Serbo-Bulgarian War Serbo-Bulgarian War The Serbo-Bulgarian War was a war between Serbia and Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November 1885 and lasted until 28 November the same year. Final peace was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest... |
| Treaty of August 10, 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, 1913 The Treaty of Bucharest was concluded on 10 August 1913, by the delegates of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece.As Bulgaria had been completely isolated in the Second Balkan War , and as it was closely invested on its northern boundary by Romania and on its western frontier by the... , at the end of the Second Balkan War Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia... |
| Treaty of August 4, 1916 Treaty of Bucharest, 1916 The Treaty of Bucharest of 1916 was signed between Romania and the Entente Powers on 4 /17 August 1916 in Bucharest. The treaty stipulated the conditions under which Romania agreed to join the war on the side of the Entente, particularly territorial promises in Austro-Hungary... , the treaty of alliance between Romania and the Entente Triple Entente The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907.... |
| Treaty of May 6, 1918 Treaty of Bucharest, 1918 The Treaty of Bucharest was a peace treaty which the German Empire forced Romania to sign on 7 May 1918 following the Romanian campaign of 1916-1917.-Main terms of the treaty:... , the treaty between Romania and the Central Powers Central Powers The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria... |