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Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the
Dâmbovița River Dâmbovița can refer to these places in Romania: * Dâmbovița County * Dâmbovița (river) * Dâmbovița Center The Dâmbovița Center (also named Casa Radio) is an unfinished building in Bucharest, Romania, near Cotroceni, on the shore of t ...
, less than north of the
Danube River The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
and the Bulgarian border. Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. The city became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture, and art. Its architecture is a mix of historical (mostly
Eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...
, but also Neoclassical and
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
),
interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...
(
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
,
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
and
Romanian Revival architecture Romanian Revival architecture ( Romanian National Style, Neo-Romanian, or Neo- Brâncovenesc; ro, stilul național român, arhitectura neoromânească, neobrâncovenească) is an architectural style that has appeared in late 19th century in Roman ...
), socialist era, and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of 'Paris of the East' ( ro, Parisul Estului) or 'Little Paris' ( ro, Micul Paris). Although buildings and districts in the historic city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes, and even
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...
's program of
systematization Systematization ( ro, Sistematizarea) in Romania was a program of urban planning carried out by the Romanian Communist Party under the leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Ceaușescu was impressed by the ideological mobilization and mass adulation ...
, many survived and have been renovated. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic and cultural boom. It is one of the fastest-growing high-tech cities in Europe, according to the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', CBRE,
TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...
, and others.
UiPath UiPath is a global software company that makes robotic process automation (RPA) software. It was founded in Bucharest, Romania, by Daniel Dines and Marius Tîrcă. Its headquarters are in New York City. The company's software monitors user activ ...
, a global startup founded in Bucharest, has reached over $35 billion in valuation. Bucharest hosts the largest high tech summit in
Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...
, Romania Blockchain Summit; the Summit was postponed during the pandemic and it is not clear when the next Summit is scheduled. In 2016, the historical city centre was listed as 'endangered' by the
World Monuments Watch World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and traini ...
. In 2017, Bucharest was the European city with the highest growth of tourists who stay over night, according to the Mastercard Global Index of Urban Destinations. As for the past two consecutive years, 2018 and 2019, Bucharest ranked as the European destination with the highest potential for development according to the same study. According to the 2011 census, 1,883,425 inhabitants live within the city limits. Adding the satellite towns around the
urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
, the proposed
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
of Bucharest would have a population of 2.27 million people. In 2020, the government used 2.5 million people as the basis for pandemic reports. Bucharest is the fourth
largest city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metropo ...
in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
by population within city limits, after
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, and
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
, just ahead of
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and the richest capital and city in the region, surpassing
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
a few years ago. By 2050, studies show Bucharest will emerge as Europe's richest city in terms of GDP per capita, followed by
Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...
and
Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
. A new report by Grosvenor revealed Bucharest will already be 3rd richest city in Europe by 2040. The city has a number of large convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional 'shopping arcades' and recreational areas. The city proper is administratively known as the 'Municipality of Bucharest' (''Municipiul București''), and has the same administrative level as that of a national
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
, being further subdivided into six
sectors Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a p ...
, each governed by a local mayor.


Etymology

The Romanian name ''București'' has an unverified origin. Tradition connects the
founding of Bucharest 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. Pre ...
with the name of '' Bucur'', who was a prince, an outlaw, a fisherman, a
shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
or a hunter, according to different legends. In
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
, the word stem ''bucurie'' means 'joy' ('happiness'), and it is believed to be of Dacian origin, hence the city Bucharest means 'city of joy'. Other etymologies are given by early scholars, including the one of an Ottoman traveller,
Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...
, who said that Bucharest was named after a certain 'Abu-Kariș', from the tribe of ' Bani-Kureiș'. In 1781, Austrian historian Franz Sulzer claimed that it was related to ''bucurie'' (joy), ''bucuros'' (joyful), or ''a se bucura'' (to be joyful), while an early 19th-century book published in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
assumed its name to be derived from 'Bukovie', a beech forest.Georgescu et al., p.76-77 In English, the city's name was formerly rendered as ''Bukarest''. A native or resident of Bucharest is called a 'Bucharester' ( ro, bucureștean).


History

Bucharest's history alternated periods of development and decline from the early settlements in antiquity until its consolidation as the national capital of
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
late in the 19th century. First mentioned as the '
Citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...
of București' in 1459, it became the residence of the
Voivode of Wallachia This is a list of rulers of Wallachia, from the first mention of a medieval polity situated between the Southern Carpathians and the Danube until the union with Moldavia in 1859, which led to the creation of Romania. Notes Dynastic rule is hard t ...
,
Vlad III the Impaler Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most imp ...
.Giurescu, C.C., 1976, History of Bucharest, Bucharest: The Publishing House for Sports and Tourism The Ottomans appointed Greek administrators (
Phanariotes Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greeks, Greek families in Fener, Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople whe ...
) to run the town from the 18th century. The
revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
initiated by
Tudor Vladimirescu Tudor Vladimirescu (; c. 1780 – ) was a Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri (''Tudor from Vladimiri'') or, occasionally, as Domnul Tudo ...
in 1821 led to the end of the rule of Constantinople Greeks in Bucharest. The Old Princely Court (''Curtea Veche'') was erected by
Mircea Ciobanul Mircea the Shepherd ( ro, Mircea Ciobanul, d. 25 September 1559), was the Voivode (or Prince) of Wallachia three times: January 1545 (he entered Bucharest on 17 March)–16 November 1552; May 1553–28 February 1554 (leaving Bucharest t ...
in the mid-16th century. Under subsequent rulers, Bucharest was established as the summer residence of the royal court. During the years to come, it competed with
Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște''; german: Tergowisch) is a city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița River. Târgoviște was one of the ...
on the status of capital city after an increase in the importance of southern
Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...
brought about by the demands of the ''suzerain'' power – the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. Bucharest finally became the permanent location of the Wallachian court after 1698 (starting with the reign of
Constantin Brâncoveanu Constantin Brâncoveanu (; 1654 – August 15, 1714) was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714. Biography Ascension A descendant of the Craiovești boyar family and heir through his grandfather Preda of a considerable part of Matei Ba ...
). Partly destroyed by natural disasters and rebuilt several times during the following 200 years, and hit by
Caragea's plague Caragea's plague ( ro, Ciuma lui Caragea) 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 Ioan Caragea. Alleged source As Caragea ca ...
in 1813–14, the city was wrested from Ottoman control and occupied at several intervals by the
Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
(1716, 1737, 1789) and
Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
(three times between 1768 and 1806). It was placed under Russian administration between 1828 and the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, with an interlude during the Bucharest-centred
1848 Wallachian revolution The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought t ...
. Later, an
Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
garrison took possession after the Russian departure (remaining in the city until March 1857). On 23 March 1847, a fire consumed about 2,000 buildings, destroying a third of the city. In 1862, after
Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...
and
Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
were united to form the
Principality of Romania The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia ( ro, Principatele Unite ale Moldovei și Țării Românești), commonly called United Principalities, was the personal union of the Principality of Moldavia and the Principality of Wallachia, ...
, Bucharest became the new nation's capital city. In 1881, it became the political centre of the newly proclaimed
Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...
under King
Carol I Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...
. During the second half of the 19th century, the city's population increased dramatically, and a new period of urban development began. During this period,
gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directl ...
, horse-drawn trams, and limited
electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...
were introduced. The Dâmbovița River was also massively channelled in 1883, thus putting a stop to previously endemic floods like the 1865 flooding of Bucharest. The Fortifications of Bucharest were built. The extravagant architecture and cosmopolitan high culture of this period won Bucharest the nickname of 'Little Paris' (''Micul Paris'') of the east, with
Calea Victoriei CALEA may refer to: *Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, an act by the US Congress to facilitate wiretapping of U.S. domestic telephone and Internet traffic *Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, a private accredit ...
as its
Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...
. Between 6 December 1916 and November 1918, the city was occupied by
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
forces as a result of the
Battle of Bucharest The Battle of Bucharest, also known as the '' Argeş–Neajlov Defensive Operation'' in Romania, was the last battle of the Romanian Campaign of 1916 in World War I, in which the Central Powers' combatants, led by General Erich von Falkenhayn, ...
, with the official capital temporarily moved to
Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...
(also called Jassy), in the Moldavia region. After World War I, Bucharest became the capital of
Greater Romania The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea. As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...
. In the interwar years, Bucharest's urban development continued, with the city gaining an average of 30,000 new residents each year. Also, some of the city's main landmarks were built in this period, including
Arcul de Triumf The Arcul de Triumf ( Romanian; "Triumphal Arch") is a triumphal arch located in the northern part of Bucharest, Romania, on the Kiseleff Road. The first, wooden, triumphal arch was built hurriedly, after Romania gained its independence (187 ...
and
Palatul Telefoanelor Telephones Company Building ( ro, Palatul Telefoanelor) is an Art Deco office building located on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania. It is now owned by Telekom România. Bucharest Palatul Telefoanelor in Bucharest is an Art Deco style buildi ...
. However, the
Great Depression in Romania The Great Depression ( ro, Marea Criză Economică or, rarely, ) of 1929–1933, which affected the whole world, had several consequences in the Kingdom of Romania. Romania had been among the winner countries of World War I. It received several n ...
took its toll on Bucharest's citizens, culminating in the
Grivița Strike of 1933 Grivița () is a district of Bucharest, Romania, centered on the Grivița Railway Yards (''Atelierele CFR Grivița''), which were and still are an important landmark within the manufacturing landscape of the city. Located near Gara de Nord, thei ...
. In January 1941, the city was the scene of the
Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom Between 21 and 23 January 1941, a rebellion of the Iron Guard paramilitary organization, whose members were known as Legionnaires, occurred in Bucharest, National Legionary State, Romania. As their privileges were being gradually removed by t ...
. As the capital of an
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
country and a major transit point for Axis troops en route to the Eastern Front, Bucharest suffered heavy damage during World War II due to Allied bombings. On 23 August 1944, Bucharest was the site of the royal coup which brought Romania into the
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
camp. The city suffered a short period of Nazi
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
bombings, as well as a failed attempt by German troops to regain the city. After the establishment of
communism in Romania This article covers the history and bibliography of Romania and links to specialized articles. Prehistory 34,950-year-old remains of modern humans with a possible Neanderthalian trait were discovered in present-day Romania when the '' Pe ...
, the city continued growing. New districts were constructed, most of them dominated by
tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...
s. During
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...
's leadership (1965–89), much of the historic part of the city was demolished and replaced by '
Socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
' style development: (1) the Centrul Civic (the Civic Centre) and (2) the
Palace of the Parliament The Palace of the Parliament ( ro, Palatul Parlamentului), also known as the Republic's House () or People's House/People's Palace (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The P ...
, for which an entire historic quarter was razed to make way for Ceaușescu's megalomaniac plans. On 4 March 1977, an earthquake centred in Vrancea, about away, claimed 1,500 lives and caused further damage to the historic centre. The
Romanian Revolution of 1989 The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...
began with massive anti-Ceaușescu protests in
Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...
in December 1989 and continued in Bucharest, leading to the overthrow of the
Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
. Dissatisfied with the postrevolutionary leadership of the National Salvation Front, some student leagues and opposition groups organised anti-Communist rallies in early 1990, which caused the political change. Since 2000, the city has been continuously modernised. Residential and commercial developments are underway, particularly in the northern districts; Bucharest's old historic centre has undergone restoration since the mid-2000s. In 2015, 64 people were killed in the
Colectiv nightclub fire The Colectiv nightclub fire was a deadly fire in Bucharest, Romania, on 30 October 2015, which killed 64 people (26 on site, 38 in hospitals) and injured 146. The fire, which was the deadliest fire in the country's history, occurred during a free ...
. Later the Romanian capital saw the
2017–2019 Romanian protests There were numerous protests against the Romanian Government between 2017 and 2019. In January 2017, days after the government of the Grindeanu Cabinet was sworn into office in Romania, protests took place throughout the country against ordin ...
against the judicial reforms. On 10 August 2018 a protest under the motto 'Diaspora at Home' was held in Bucharest and was marked by significant violence, with over 450 people injured.


Treaties

The following treaties were signed in Bucharest: * Treaty of Bucharest, between the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
and the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
ending the
Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) The Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire was one of the Russo-Ottoman Wars. Russia prevailed, but both sides wanted peace as they feared Napoleon's moves to the east. Background The war broke ou ...
* Treaty of Bucharest, between
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
and
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
ending the
Serbo-Bulgarian War The Serbo-Bulgarian War or the Serbian–Bulgarian War ( bg, Сръбско-българска война, ''Srăbsko-bălgarska voyna'', sr, Српско-бугарски рат, ''Srpsko-bugarski rat'') was a war between the Kingdom of Serb ...
* Treaty of Bucharest, between Bulgaria,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, Serbia,
Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...
, and
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
ending of the
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 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...
* Treaty of Bucharest, a treaty of alliance between Romania and the
Entente Powers The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
* Treaty of Bucharest, between Romania and the
Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...


Geography


General

The city is situated on the banks of the
Dâmbovița River Dâmbovița can refer to these places in Romania: * Dâmbovița County * Dâmbovița (river) * Dâmbovița Center The Dâmbovița Center (also named Casa Radio) is an unfinished building in Bucharest, Romania, near Cotroceni, on the shore of t ...
, which flows into the Argeș River, a tributary of the Danube. Several lakesthe most important of which are Lake Herăstrău, Lake Floreasca, Lake Tei, and Lake Colentinastretch across the northern parts of the city, along the
Colentina River The Colentina is a left tributary of the river Dâmbovița in Romania. It discharges into the Dâmbovița near Bălăceanca.
, a tributary of the Dâmbovița. In addition, in the centre of the capital is a small artificial lakeLake Cișmigiusurrounded by the
Cișmigiu Gardens The Cișmigiu Gardens or Cișmigiu Park ( ro, Grădinile Cișmigiu or Parcul Cișmigiu, links=) are a public park in the center of Bucharest, Romania, spanning areas on all sides of an artificial lake. The gardens' creation was an important mome ...
. These gardens have a rich history, having been frequented by poets and writers. Opened in 1847 and based on the plans of German architect Carl F.W. Meyer, the gardens are the main recreational facility in the city centre. Bucharest parks and gardens also include
Herăstrău Park King Michael I Park ( ro, Parcul "Regele Mihai I"), formerly Herăstrău Park ( ro, Parcul Herăstrău), is a large park on the northern side of Bucharest, Romania, around Lake Herăstrău, one of the lakes formed by the Colentina River. Geogr ...
,
Tineretului Park ''Tineretului'' Park (, "Youth's Park") is a large public park in southern Bucharest ( Sector 4). History The park, which was created in 1965 and finished in 1974, was planned by the architect Valentin Donose. It was designed as the main recreati ...
and the
Botanical Garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
. Herăstrău Park is located in the northern part of the city, around Lake Herăstrău, and includes the site the
Village Museum The Village Museum formally National Museum of the Village "Dimitrie Gusti" (''Muzeul Național al Satului "Dimitrie Gusti"'' in Romanian) is an open-air ethnographic museum located in the King Michael I Park (Bucharest, Romania), showcasing tra ...
. Grigore Antipa Museum is also near in the Victoriei Square. One of its best known locations are
Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and rol ...
Bucharest and Berăria H (one of the largest beer halls in Europe). Tineretului Park was created in 1965 and designed as the main recreational space for southern Bucharest. It contains a Mini Town which is a play area for kids. The Botanical Garden, located in the
Cotroceni Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 5. The nearest Metro stations are Eroilor, Academia Militară, and Politehnica. History The Hill of Cotroceni was once covered ...
neighbourhood a bit west of the city centre, is the largest of its kind in Romania and contains over 10,000 species of plants (many of them exotic); it originated as the pleasure park of the royal family. Besides them, there are many other smaller parks that should be visited, some of them being still large.
Alexandru Ioan Cuza Park Alexandru is the Romanian form of the name Alexander. Common diminutives are Alecu, Alex, and Sandu. Origin Etymologically, the name is derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "defending men" or "protector of men", ...
, Kiseleff Park,
Carol Park Carol I Park ( ro, Parcul Carol) is a public park in Bucharest, Romania, named after King Carol I of Romania. A French garden located in the southern-central area of Bucharest, partly on Filaret hill, originally capable of hosting various exhibit ...
,
Izvor Park Izvor (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, Romanian language, Romanian and Serbian language, Serbian for "Spring") may refer to: Bulgaria * , a village in Dimovo Municipality * Izvor, Burgas Province, a village in Burgas ...
,
Grădina Icoanei ''Grădina Icoanei'' ("Icon's Garden") is a small park in central Bucharest, situated not far away from Piața Romană and Bulevardul Magheru. The park, located next to Gheorghe Cantacuzino Plaza in Sector 2 of the city, was inaugurated in 1873. ...
, Circului Park and Moghioroș Park are a few of them. Other large parks in Bucharest are:
National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
, Tei Park, Eroilor Park and Crângași Park with
Morii Lake Lacul Morii ("Mill Lake") is the largest lake in Chiajna, with an area of . The lake is approximately from the center of Bucharest (Piața Unirii) and is located between the Polytechnic University of Bucharest neighborhood to the east, the Crânga ...
. Lake Văcărești is located in the southern part of the city. Over 190 hectares, including 90 hectares of water, host 97 species of birds, half of them protected by law, and at least seven species of mammals. The lake is surrounded by buildings of flats and is an odd result of human intervention and nature taking its course. The area was a small village that Ceaușescu attempted to convert into a lake. After demolishing the houses and building the concrete basin, the plan was abandoned following the 1989 revolution. For nearly two decades, the area shifted from being an abandoned green space where children could play and sunbathe, to being contested by previous owners of the land there, to being closed for redevelopment into a sports centre. The redevelopment deal failed, and over the following years, the green space grew into a unique habitat. In May 2016, the lake was declared a national park, the
Văcărești Nature Park Văcărești Nature Park (Romanian: ''Parcul Natural Văcărești'') is a nature park located in Sector 4 of Bucharest, Romania, containing the wetlands surrounding Lake Văcărești. History Having , the area where the park stands was part o ...
. Dubbed the 'Delta of Bucharest', the area is protected. Bucharest is situated in the center of the Romanian Plain, in an area once covered by the Vlăsiei Forest, which after it was cleared, gave way for a fertile flatland. As with many cities, Bucharest is traditionally considered to be built upon seven hills, similar to the seven hills of Rome. Bucharest's seven hills are: Mihai Vodă,
Dealul Mitropoliei Dealul Mitropoliei (, ''Metropolitanate Hill''), also called Dealul Patriarhiei (, ''Patriarchate Hill''), is a small hill in Bucharest, Romania and an important historic, cultural, architectural, religious and touristic point in the national capit ...
, Radu Vodă,
Cotroceni Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 5. The nearest Metro stations are Eroilor, Academia Militară, and Politehnica. History The Hill of Cotroceni was once covered ...
,
Dealul Spirii Dealul Spirii (, ''Spirea's Hill'') is a hill in Bucharest, Romania, upon which the Palace of the Parliament (formerly known as ''House of the People'') is now located. Spirii Hill Initially a vineyard known as ''Dealul Lupeștilor'', the hil ...
, Văcărești, and Sfântu Gheorghe Nou. The city has an area of . The altitude varies from at the Dâmbovița bridge in Cățelu, southeastern Bucharest and at the
Militari Militari is a district in the western part of Bucharest, in Sector 6. It is home to more than 100,000 inhabitants. In the past a village called "Militari" existed here, but today there are only few houses left from that time. The earliest housing ...
church. The city has a roughly round shape, with the centre situated in the cross-way of the main north–south/east-west axes at University Square. The milestone for Romania's
Kilometre Zero In many countries, kilometre zero (also written ''km 0'') or similar terms in other languages (also known as zero mile marker, zero milepost, control stations or control points) denote a particular location (usually in the nation's capital cit ...
is placed just south of University Square in front of the New St. George Church (Sfântul Gheorghe Nou) at St. George Square (Piața Sfântul Gheorghe). Bucharest's radius, from University Square to the city limits in all directions, varies from . Until recently, the regions surrounding Bucharest were largely rural, but after 1989, suburbs started to be built around Bucharest, in the surrounding
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 ...
. Further urban consolidation is expected to take place in the late 2010s, when the 'Bucharest Metropolitan Area' plan will become operational, incorporating additional communes and cities from the Ilfov and other neighbouring counties.


Climate

Bucharest has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(''Dfa/Dfb'' by the 0 °C isotherm), or a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Cfa'' by the -3 °C isotherm), with hot, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. Owing to its position on the Romanian Plain, the city's winters can get windy, though some of the winds are mitigated due to urbanisation. Winter temperatures often dip below , sometimes even to . In summer, the average high temperature is (the average for July and August). Temperatures frequently reach in midsummer in the city centre. Although average
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
and
humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...
during summer are low, occasional heavy storms occur. During spring and autumn, daytime temperatures vary between , and precipitation during spring tends to be higher than in summer, with more frequent yet milder periods of rain. The last five years witnessed significantly milder winters, with considerably less days with lows under -10 °C and consistent snowfall than in previous years.


Government


Administration

Bucharest has a unique status in Romanian administration, since it is the only municipal area that is not part of a
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
. Its population, however, is larger than that of any other Romanian county, hence the power of the Bucharest General Municipality (''Primăria Generală''), which is the capital's local government body, is the same as any other Romanian county council. The Municipality of Bucharest, along with the surrounding Ilfov County, is part of the București – Ilfov development region project, which is equivalent to NUTS-II regions in the European Union and is used both by the EU and the Romanian government for statistical analysis, and to co-ordinate regional development projects and manage funds from the EU. The Bucharest-Ilfov development region is not, however, an administrative entity yet. The city government is headed by a general mayor (''Primar General''). Since 29 October 2020 onwards, the general mayor of Bucharest is
Nicușor Dan Nicușor Dan (born 20 December 1969) is a Romanian activist, mathematician, former member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania as well as former founder and leader of the centre-right Romanian political party Save Romania Union (USR). He is cu ...
, currently an independent politician previously backed by the PNL-
USR PLUS USR PLUS was a Romanian progressive, liberal, and centrist political alliance active between 2019 and 2021. Established on 2 February 2019 solely as an electoral alliance between the political parties Save Romania Union (USR) and the Freedom ...
centre-right alliance at the 2020 Romanian local elections. Decisions are approved and discussed by the capital's
General Council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...
(''Consiliu General'') made up of 55 elected councilors. Furthermore, the city is divided into six administrative
sectors Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a p ...
(''sectoare''), each of which has its own 27-seat sectoral council, town hall, and mayor. The powers of the local government over a certain area are, therefore, shared both by the Bucharest municipality and the local sectoral councils with little or no overlapping of authority. The general rule is that the main capital municipality is responsible for citywide utilities such as the water and sewage system, the overall transport system, and the main boulevards, while sectoral town halls manage the contact between individuals and the local government, secondary streets and parks maintenance, schools administration, and cleaning services. The six sectors are numbered from one to six and are disposed radially so that each one has under its administration a certain area of the city centre. They are numbered clockwise and are further divided into sectoral quarters (''cartiere'') which are not part of the official administrative division: * Sector 1 (population 227,717): Dorobanți, Băneasa, Aviației,
Pipera Pipera village is a neighborhood in Voluntari, Ilfov County, at the northern edge of the city of Bucharest, Romania. Development Until 1995, Pipera was an ordinary village. After that, an "El Dorado" of land transactions began. Plots of land th ...
, Aviatorilor, Primăverii, Romană, Victoriei,
Herăstrău Park King Michael I Park ( ro, Parcul "Regele Mihai I"), formerly Herăstrău Park ( ro, Parcul Herăstrău), is a large park on the northern side of Bucharest, Romania, around Lake Herăstrău, one of the lakes formed by the Colentina River. Geogr ...
,
Bucureștii Noi Bucureștii Noi (, ''New Bucharest'') is a district situated in the north-west of Bucharest, Romania, in Sector 1. History At the end of the 19th century the area was known as ''Măicănești'' or ''Grefoaicele'' and was owned by Nicolae Bazil ...
, Dămăroaia, Străulești,
Grivița Grivița () is a district of Bucharest, Romania, centered on the Grivița Railway Yards (''Atelierele CFR Grivița''), which were and still are an important landmark within the manufacturing landscape of the city. Located near Gara de Nord, thei ...
, 1 Mai,
Băneasa Forest Băneasa Forest (''Pădurea Băneasa'' in Romanian) is a wood in the north of Bucharest, Romania. Covering , the ground is located in proximity to Băneasa neighborhood and Băneasa Airport. On its southern edge, there is the Zoo Băneasa zoologic ...
, Pajura, Domenii, Chibrit *
Sector 2 Sector 2 ( ro, Sectorul 2) is an administrative unit of Bucharest. Demographics Sector 2 is the city's most multicultural sector. In particular, it contains Romania's largest community of Chinese people, who mainly live in the districts of C ...
(population 357,338): Pantelimon, Colentina,
Iancului Iancului is the name of a district in Sector 2 (Bucharest) situated in the northeastern part of Bucharest, the capital of Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Eur ...
, Tei,
Floreasca Floreasca () is a district in Bucharest, Romania, in Sector 2. Its name comes from Lake Floreasca, which is situated in the north of the neighborhood. The Floreasca Hospital is also situated in the neighborhood, in its southern part. Floreasc ...
,
Moșilor Moșilor (literally, ''Elders'') is a residential quarter in Bucharest's Sector 2. It houses the Foișorul de Foc and Silvestru Church. Its name derives from the main avenue Calea Moșilor which in turn is named after a well-known fair held in Ob ...
,
Obor Obor is the name of a square and the surrounding district of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. There is also a Bucharest Metro station (on the M1 line) named Obor, which lies in this area. The district is near the Colentina and Moșilor ...
, Vatra Luminoasă, Fundeni, Plumbuita, Ștefan cel Mare, Baicului * Sector 3 (population 399,231): Vitan, Dudești, Titan, Centrul Civic, Dristor,
Lipscani Lipscani is a street and a district of Bucharest, Romania, which from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century was the most important commercial area of the city and Wallachia. It is located near the ruins of the old Princely Court built by Vla ...
, Muncii, Unirii * Sector 4 (population 300,331): Berceni, Olteniței,
Giurgiului Giurgiului () is a neighborhood in the southern part of the Romanian capital Bucharest, in Sector 5, near Berceni and Ferentari. Like Berceni, Giurgiului has plenty of 10-storey blocks of flats that were built under Communist rule, starting ...
, Progresul, Văcărești, Timpuri Noi, Tineretului * Sector 5 (population 288,690):
Rahova Rahova is a neighbourhood of southwest Bucharest, Romania, situated in Sector 5, west of Dâmboviţa River. It is named after the Bulgarian town ''Rahovo'' (today Oryahovo), site of a battle in the Romanian War of Independence. The neighborh ...
,
Ferentari Ferentari is a neighbourhood located in the 5th Sector of Bucharest, Romania. Etymology The word "Ferentari" comes from the Latin word "Ferentarius" meaning "soldier in the old pedestrian army". Area It is located in the South-South-West of B ...
,
Giurgiului Giurgiului () is a neighborhood in the southern part of the Romanian capital Bucharest, in Sector 5, near Berceni and Ferentari. Like Berceni, Giurgiului has plenty of 10-storey blocks of flats that were built under Communist rule, starting ...
,
Cotroceni Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 5. The nearest Metro stations are Eroilor, Academia Militară, and Politehnica. History The Hill of Cotroceni was once covered ...
, 13 Septembrie, Dealul Spirii * Sector 6 (population 371,060):
Giulești Giulești () is a neighbourhood in northwestern Bucharest, located in Sector 6. The Giulești Stadium, Giulești Theatre, Podul Grant are located in Giulești. Also, the Grivița Railway Yards and Lacul Morii are located nearby. History The ...
,
Crângași Crângași is one of the smallest neighborhoods in the 6th Sector of Bucharest, Romania. It is situated on the west side of the city near the Dâmbovița River, where it flows into Lacul Morii. Its name means "people living in a young forest". ...
,
Drumul Taberei Drumul Taberei (, ''The Camp Road'') is a neighbourhood located in the south-west of Bucharest, Romania, roughly between Timișoara Avenue (south of Plaza România and the Cotroceni Railway Station) and Ghencea Avenue, neighboring Militari to th ...
,
Militari Militari is a district in the western part of Bucharest, in Sector 6. It is home to more than 100,000 inhabitants. In the past a village called "Militari" existed here, but today there are only few houses left from that time. The earliest housing ...
, Grozăvești (also known as Regie),
Ghencea Ghencea is a district of the Romanian capital city Bucharest, in Sector 5 (Bucharest), Sector 5. It is home to the famous sports club CSA Steaua București. Nearby districts are Drumul Taberei and Rahova. History Construction of apartment blocks s ...
Each sector is governed by a local mayor, as follows: Sector 1 –
Clotilde Armand Clotilde Marie Brigitte Armand (born 28 June 1973) is a French-born Romanian politician and businesswoman. Since October 2020, she is Mayor of Bucharest's Sector 1. Armand first ran for Mayor of Sector 1 in the 2016 Romanian local elections on ...
(
USR USR may refer to: * USRobotics, a technology firm * USR (Guadeloupe football club), in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe * U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, a fictional robot manufacturer * /usr, directory in Unix systems, see Filesystem Hierarchy Standard ...
, since 2020), Sector 2 – Radu Mihaiu (
USR USR may refer to: * USRobotics, a technology firm * USR (Guadeloupe football club), in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe * U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, a fictional robot manufacturer * /usr, directory in Unix systems, see Filesystem Hierarchy Standard ...
, since 2020), Sector 3 –
Robert Negoiță Robert Sorin Negoiță (born 29 March 1972) is a Romanian politician and businessman. Placed on one of the top spots of ''Capital'' magazine's richest Romanians list, he is currently the mayor of Bucharest's Sector 3. Life and career Family ...
(PRO B, since 2012), Sector 4 – Daniel Băluță (
PSD PSD may refer to: Educational bodies * Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, a Pre-K to 12th grade school for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Philippine School Doha, a Filipino scho ...
, since 2016), Sector 5 –
Cristian Popescu Piedone Cristian Popescu Piedone (born 15 February 1963) is a Romanian convicted felon and politician who served as mayor of Bucharest's Sector 4 (Bucharest), Sector 4 from 2008 until the 4 November 2015, when he resigned following the Colectiv nightclub ...
(PPU SL, since 2020), Sector 6 – Ciprian Ciucu ( PNL, since 2020). Like all other local councils in Romania, the Bucharest sectoral councils, the capital's
general council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...
, and the mayors are elected every four years by the population. Additionally, Bucharest has a
prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...
, who is appointed by Romania's national government. The prefect is not allowed to be a member of a political party and his role is to represent the national government at the municipal level. The prefect is acting as a liaison official facilitating the implementation of national development plans and governing programs at local level. The prefect of Bucharest (as of 2021) is Alexandra Văcaru.


City general council

The city's
general council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...
has the following political composition, based on the results of the 2020 local elections:


Justice system

Bucharest's judicial system is similar to that of the Romanian counties. Each of the six sectors has its own local first-instance court (''judecătorie''), while more serious cases are directed to the Bucharest Tribunal (''Tribunalul Bucureşti''), the city's municipal court. The Bucharest Court of Appeal (''Curtea de Apel Bucureşti'') judges appeals against decisions taken by first-instance courts and tribunals in Bucharest and in five surrounding counties (Teleorman, Ialomița, Giurgiu, Călărași, and Ilfov). Bucharest is also home to Romania's supreme court, the
High Court of Cassation and Justice The High Court of Cassation and Justice ( ro, Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție) is Romania's supreme court, and the court of last resort. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de Cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of c ...
, as well as to the
Constitutional Court of Romania The Constitutional Court of Romania ( ro, Curtea Constituțională a României) is the institution which rules on whether the laws, decrees or other bills enacted by Romanian authorities are in conformity with the Constitution of Romania, Constitu ...
. Bucharest has a municipal police force, the Bucharest Police (''Poliția București''), which is responsible for policing crime within the whole city, and operates a number of divisions. The Bucharest Police are headquartered on Ștefan cel Mare Blvd. in the city centre, and at precincts throughout the city. From 2004 onwards, each sector city hall also has under its administration a community police force ('' Poliția Comunitară''), dealing with local community issues. Bucharest also houses the general inspectorates of the ''Gendarmerie'' and the
national police National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: Cuban National Police *East Timor: National Police of ...
.


Crime

Bucharest's crime rate is rather low in comparison to other European capital cities, with the number of total offences declining by 51% between 2000 and 2004,Bucharest Crime Statistics 2000–2004
, Bucharest Directorate-General of Police
and by 7% between 2012 and 2013. The violent crime rate in Bucharest remains very low, with 11 murders and 983 other violent offences taking place in 2007. Although violent crimes fell by 13% in 2013 compared to 2012, 19 murders (18 of which the suspects were arrested) were recorded. Although in the 2000s, a number of police crackdowns on
organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
gangs occurred, such as the Cămătaru clan, organised crime generally has little impact on public life. Petty crime, however, is more common, particularly in the form of
pickpocketing Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic ...
, which occurs mainly on the city's public transport network.
Confidence trick A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
s were common in the 1990s, especially in regards to tourists, but the frequency of these incidents has since declined. However, in general, theft was reduced by 13.6% in 2013 compared to 2012. Levels of crime are higher in the southern districts of the city, particularly in
Ferentari Ferentari is a neighbourhood located in the 5th Sector of Bucharest, Romania. Etymology The word "Ferentari" comes from the Latin word "Ferentarius" meaning "soldier in the old pedestrian army". Area It is located in the South-South-West of B ...
, a socially disadvantaged area. Although the presence of
street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policym ...
was a problem in Bucharest in the 1990s, their numbers have declined in recent years, now lying at or below the average of major European capital cities. ,
Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an American non-profit charitable foundation, established in 1944 by hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton. It remained relatively small until his death on January 3, 1979, when it was named the principal beneficiar ...
/
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...


Quality of life

As stated by the
Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...
international surveys for quality of life in cities around the world, Bucharest occupied the 94th place in 2001 and slipped lower, to the 108th place in 2009 and the 107th place in 2010. Compared to it, Vienna occupied number one worldwide in 2011 and 2009. Warsaw ranked 84th, Istanbul 112th, and neighbours Sofia 114th and Belgrade 136th (in the 2010 rankings). Mercer Human Resource Consulting issues yearly a global ranking of the world's most livable cities based on 39 key quality-of-life issues. Among them: political stability, currency-exchange regulations, political and media censorship, school quality, housing, the environment, and public safety. Mercer collects data worldwide, in 215 cities. The difficult situation of the quality of life in Bucharest is confirmed also by a vast urbanism study, done by the
Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism The Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning ( ro, Universitatea de Arhitectură şi Urbanism "Ion Mincu" din București) is a public university for architectural and urbanism studies in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, Bucureș ...
. In 2016, Bucharest's urban situation was described as 'critical' by a Romanian Order of Architects (OAR) report that criticised the city's weak, incoherent and arbitrary public management policies, its elected officials' lack of transparency and public engagement, as well as its inadequate and unsustainable use of essential urban resources. Bucharest's historical city centre is listed as 'endangered' by the
World Monuments Watch World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and traini ...
(as of 2016). Although many neighbourhoods, particularly in the southern part of the city, lack sufficient green space, being formed of cramped, high-density blocks of flats, Bucharest also has many
parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
.


Demographics

As per the 2011 census, 1,883,425 inhabitants lived within the city limits, a decrease from the figure recorded at the 2002 census. This decrease is due to low natural increase, but also to a shift in population from the city itself to its smaller
satellite town Satellite cities or satellite towns are smaller municipalities that are adjacent to a principal city which is the core of a metropolitan area. They differ from mere suburbs, subdivisions and especially bedroom communities in that they have muni ...
s such as
Voluntari Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest. The population ...
, Buftea, and
Otopeni Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, some north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 15,850 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city. Henri Coandă ...
. In a study published by the United Nations, Bucharest placed 19th among 28 cities that recorded sharp declines in population from 1990 to the mid-2010s. In particular, the population fell by 3.77%. The city's population, according to the 2002 census, was 1,926,334 inhabitants, or 8.9% of the total population of Romania. A significant number of people commute to the city every day, mostly from the surrounding Ilfov County, but official statistics regarding their numbers do not exist. Bucharest's population experienced two phases of rapid growth, the first beginning in the late 19th century when the city was consolidated as the national capital and lasting until the Second World War, and the second during the Ceaușescu years (1965–1989), when a massive urbanization campaign was launched and many people migrated from rural areas to the capital. At this time, due to Ceaușescu's decision to ban abortion and contraception,
natural increase In Demography, the rate of natural increase (RNI), also known as natural population change, is defined as the birth rate minus the death rate of a particular population, over a particular time period. It is typically expressed either as a number ...
was also significant. Bucharest is a city of high
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
: 8,260/km2 (21,400/sq mi), owing to the fact that most of the population lives in high-density communist era apartment blocks (''blocuri''). However, this also depends on the part of the city: the southern boroughs have a higher density than the northern ones. Of the European Union country capital-cities, only
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
have a higher population density (see
List of European Union cities proper by population density The population, population density, and land area for the cities of the European Union listed below are based on the entire city proper, the defined boundary or border of a city or the city limits of the city. See also *List of cities by popu ...
). About 97.3% of the population of Bucharest for whom data are available is
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
. Other significant ethnic groups are
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
, Hungarians, Turks,
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
,
Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
(mostly
Regat Germans , native_name_lang = , image = , image_caption = Top: Flag of the Kingdom of RomaniaBottom: The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania , image_alt = , image_upright = , total = , total_year = ...
), Chinese, Russians, Ukrainians, and Italians. A relatively small number of Bucharesters are also
Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
, Armenians, Bulgarians, Albanians, Poles, French, Arabs, Africans (including the
Afro-Romanians Afro-Romanians are citizens or residents of Romania who are of African descent. Afro-Romanian populations are mostly concentrated in major cities of Romania. Africans have been immigrating to Romania since the Communist Era. The majority of Afric ...
), Vietnamese, Filipinos, Nepalis, Afghans, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, and Indians. 226,943 people did not declare their ethnicity. In terms of religious affiliation, 96.1% of the population for whom data are available is
Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...
, 1.2% is
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, 0.5% is
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, and 0.4% is Romanian Greek Catholic. Despite this, only 18% of the population, of any religion, attends a place of worship once a week or more. The life expectancy of residents of Bucharest in 2015 was 77.8 years old, which is 2.4 years above the national average.


Economy

Bucharest is the centre of the Romanian economy and industry, accounting for around 24% (2017) of the country's GDP and about one-quarter of its industrial production, while being inhabited by 9% of the country's population. Almost one-third of national taxes is paid by Bucharest's citizens and companies. The living standard in the Bucharest-Ilfov region was 145% of the EU average in 2017, according to GDP per capita at the purchasing power parity standard (adjusted to the national price level). Bucharest area surpassed, on comparable terms, European metropolitan areas such as
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
(139%),
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
(125%),
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
(118%),
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
(110%),
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
(102%), or
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
(79%), and more than twice the Romanian average. After relative stagnation in the 1990s, the city's strong economic growth has revitalised infrastructure and led to the development of shopping malls, residential estates, and high-rise office buildings. In January 2013, Bucharest had an unemployment rate of 2.1%, significantly lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.8%. Bucharest's economy is centred on industry and
services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
, with services particularly growing in importance in the last 10 years. The headquarters of 186,000 firms, including nearly all large Romanian companies, are located in Bucharest. An important source of growth since 2000 has been the city's rapidly expanding property and construction sector. Bucharest is also Romania's largest centre for information technology and communications and is home to several software companies operating offshore delivery centres. Romania's largest stock exchange, the
Bucharest Stock Exchange The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) ( Romanian: ''Bursa de Valori București'') is the stock exchange of Romania located in Bucharest. In 2019, the capitalization of BVB increased 23.4% compared to the previous year, to the value of EUR 37.8 billi ...
, which was merged in December 2005 with the Bucharest-based electronic stock exchange
Rasdaq The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) (Romanian: ''Bursa de Valori București'') is the stock exchange of Romania located in Bucharest. In 2019, the capitalization of BVB increased 23.4% compared to the previous year, to the value of EUR 37.8 billion ...
, plays a major role in the city's economy. International supermarket chains such as
Kaufland Kaufland is a German hypermarket chain, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl. The hypermarket directly translates to English as 'buy-land'. It opened its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a major chain ...
,
Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...
,
Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
,
Selgros Selgros is a cash and carry chain in Europe, owned by Transgourmet Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coop (Switzerland). It started in 1989 as a joint venture between Rewe Group (50%) and Otto Group (50%). In March 2008, Rewe took over 100% ...
,
Penny Market Penny or internationally Penny Market (in Bavaria and Austria ''Penny Markt'') is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany, which operates 3,550 stores. The market was founded by Leibbrand Gruppe in 1973; since 1989, it has been fully o ...
,
Carrefour Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, which ...
,
Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% s ...
, Cora, Profi, and
Mega Image Mega or MEGA may refer to: Science * mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106 * Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation * "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy * Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...
are all operating in Bucharest. The city is undergoing a retail boom. Bucharest hosts luxury brands such as Armani, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Dior, Prada, Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci. Malls and large shopping centres have been built since the late 1990s, such as
Băneasa Shopping City Băneasa Shopping City is a shopping center in the north of Bucharest, Romania, opened on 18 April 2008. Located in the Băneasa neighborhood of Sector 1, it is part of the Băneasa Developments owned by convicted crimimaAurel and Radu Timofte. ...
, AFI Palace Cotroceni, Mega Mall, București Mall, ParkLake Shopping Centre, Sun Plaza, Promenada Mall and longest Unirea Shopping Centre. Bucharest has over 20 malls as of 2019. The corporations
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
,
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
,
Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...
, or IBM are all present in the Romanian capital. The top ten is also dominated by companies operating in automotive, oil & gas (such as Petrom), as well as companies in telecommunication and
FMCG Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG), are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, can ...
. File:2017 sediul IBM.jpg, IBM Bucharest File:Skyscrapers in Bucharest.jpg, Business skyscrapers in
Pipera Pipera village is a neighborhood in Voluntari, Ilfov County, at the northern edge of the city of Bucharest, Romania. Development Until 1995, Pipera was an ordinary village. After that, an "El Dorado" of land transactions began. Plots of land th ...
, including
Nusco Tower The Nusco Tower is a class A office building located in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the ...
(
Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...
headquarters) File:Petrom City.jpg, Petrom City File:IMG-20171002-15321-romania-unirea-bucharest.jpg,
Unirea Shopping Center Unirea Shopping Center is a chain of two large shopping centres, the initial one being located in Unirii Square, Bucharest, Romania, and the second one in Brașov. Bucharest Opened in 1976 and enlarged in 1989, it was the largest department sto ...
File:Bucharest Day 4 - AFI Cotroceni (9434236245).jpg,
AFI Cotroceni AFI Cotroceni is a shopping mall in Bucharest, Romania. It is located in the western part of the city, between the city center and two of the largest residential districts, Militari and Drumul Taberei. With approximately of gross leasable area ...


Transport

Bucharest in crossed by two major international routes: Pan-European transport corridor IV and IX.


Public transport

Bucharest's public transport system is the largest in Romania and one of the largest in Europe. It is made up of the
Bucharest Metro The Bucharest Metro ( ro, Metroul din București) is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the large ...
, run by
Metrorex The Bucharest Metro ( ro, Metroul din București) is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the large ...
, as well as a surface transport system run by
STB State Security ( cs, Státní bezpečnost, sk, Štátna bezpečnosť) or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it d ...
(''Societatea de Transport București'', previously known as the RATB), which consists of buses,
trams A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
,
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es, and light rail. In addition, a private minibus system operates there. , a limit of 10,000 taxicab licences was imposed.


Railways

It is the hub of Romania's national railway network, run by ''
Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) is the state railway carrier of Romania. As of 2014, the railway network of Romania consists of , of which (37.4%) are electrified. The total track length is , of which (38.5%) are electrifie ...
''. The main railway station is
Gara de Nord Bucharest North railway station ( ro, Gara București Nord; officially Bucharest North Group A) is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania. The vast majority of mainline trains to and from Bucharest origi ...
('North Station'), which provides connections to all major cities in Romania, as well as international destinations:
Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
,
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
,
Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...
,
Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the ...
,
Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Chernivtsi Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the upp ...
,
Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
,
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
,
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
,
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
etc. The city has five other railway stations run by CFR, of which the most important are Basarab (adjacent to North Station), Obor, Băneasa, and Progresul. These are in the process of being integrated into a commuter railway serving Bucharest and the surrounding
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 ...
. Seven main lines radiate out of Bucharest. The oldest station in Bucharest is Filaret. It was inaugurated in 1869, and in 1960, the communist government turned it in a bus terminal.


Air

Bucharest has two
international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
s: *
Henri Coandă International Airport Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport ( ro, Aeroportul Internațional Henri Coandă București) is Romania's busiest international airport, located in Otopeni Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, some north of ...
(
IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...
: OTP,
ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...
: LROP), located north of the Bucharest city centre, in the town of
Otopeni Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, some north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 15,850 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city. Henri Coandă ...
, Ilfov. It is the busiest airport in Romania, in terms of passenger traffic: 12,807,032 in 2017. *
Aurel Vlaicu International Airport Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (largely known as Băneasa Airport or Bucharest City Airport) is located in Băneasa district, Bucharest, Romania, north of the city center. Named after Aurel Vlaicu, a Romanian engineer, inventor, aeroplane co ...
(IATA: BBU, ICAO: LRBS) is Bucharest's business and VIP airport. It is situated only north of the Bucharest city centre, within city limits.


Roads

Bucharest is a major intersection of Romania's national road network. A few of the busiest national roads and motorways link the city to all of Romania's major cities, as well as to neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Ukraine. The A1 to Pitești, and from Sibiu to the Hungarian border, the A2 Sun Motorway to the Dobrogea region and Constanța, and the A3 to Ploiești all start from Bucharest. A series of high-capacity boulevards, which generally radiate out from the city centre to the outskirts, provides a framework for the municipal road system. The main axes, which run north–south, east–west and northwest–southeast, as well as one internal and one external ring road, support the bulk of the traffic. The city's roads are usually very crowded during rush hours, due to an increase in car ownership in recent years. In 2013, the number of cars registered in Bucharest amounted to 1,125,591. This results in wear and
pothole A pothole is a depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Water ...
s appearing on busy roads, particularly secondary roads, this being identified as one of Bucharest's main infrastructural problems. A comprehensive effort on behalf of the City Hall to boost road infrastructure was made, and according to the general development plan, 2,000 roads have been repaired by 2008. The huge number of cars registered in the city forced the Romanian Auto Registry to switch to 3-digit numbers on registration plates in 2010. On 17 June 2011, the
Basarab Overpass The Basarab Overpass ( ro, Pasajul Basarab) is a road overpass in Bucharest, Romania, connecting Nicolae Titulescu blvd. and Grozǎveşti Road, part of Bucharest's inner city ring. A design by engineer Javier Manterola, its construction was under ...
was inaugurated and opened to traffic, thus completing the inner city traffic ring. The overpass took five years to build and is the longest
cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...
in Romania and the widest such bridge in Europe; upon completion, traffic on the
Grant Bridge Podul Grant (''Grant Bridge'') is a bridge for motorway and lightrail in Bucharest, Romania. It is named after Effingham Grant, the United Kingdom, British Consul (representative), consul in Bucharest in the mid-19th century. Initially, the bridg ...
and in the Gara de Nord area became noticeably more fluid. Hotel Continental - Calea Victoriei.jpg, Victoriei Avenue, a major avenue in central Bucharest File:Podul Grozavesti - Seara.jpg,
Basarab Overpass The Basarab Overpass ( ro, Pasajul Basarab) is a road overpass in Bucharest, Romania, connecting Nicolae Titulescu blvd. and Grozǎveşti Road, part of Bucharest's inner city ring. A design by engineer Javier Manterola, its construction was under ...
Avenida de la Unión, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-29, DD 57.jpg, Most transited Unirii Boulevard is similar to the
Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...
File:Bucuresti, Romania. Bulevardul Magheru 2017.jpg, Magheru Boulevard is one of the most expensive shopping streets of Europe File:Strada Buzesti.jpg, Buzești Street


Water

Although it is situated on the banks of a river, Bucharest has never functioned as a port city. Other Romanian cities such as
Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...
and
Galați Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most par ...
serves as the country's main ports. The unfinished Danube-Bucharest Canal, which is long and around 70% completed, could link Bucharest to the
Danube River The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
, and via the Danube-Black Sea Canal, to the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
. Works on the canal were suspended in 1989, but proposals have been made to resume construction as part of the European Strategy for the Danube Region.


Culture

Bucharest has a growing cultural scene, in fields including the visual arts, performing arts, and nightlife. Unlike other parts of Romania, such as the Black Sea coast or
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, Bucharest's cultural scene has no defined style, and instead incorporates elements of Romanian and international culture.


Landmarks

Bucharest has landmark buildings and monuments. Perhaps the most prominent of these is the
Palace of the Parliament The Palace of the Parliament ( ro, Palatul Parlamentului), also known as the Republic's House () or People's House/People's Palace (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The P ...
, built in the 1980s during the rule of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. The largest Parliament building in the world, the palace houses the Romanian Parliament (the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
, and the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
), as well as the National Museum of Contemporary Art. The building boasts one of the largest convention centres in the world. Another landmark in Bucharest is
Arcul de Triumf The Arcul de Triumf ( Romanian; "Triumphal Arch") is a triumphal arch located in the northern part of Bucharest, Romania, on the Kiseleff Road. The first, wooden, triumphal arch was built hurriedly, after Romania gained its independence (187 ...
(The Triumphal Arch), built in its current form in 1935 and modelled after the
Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...
in Paris. A newer landmark of the city is the
Memorial of Rebirth The Memorial of Rebirth (''Memorialul Renașterii'' in Romanian language, Romanian) is a memorial in Bucharest, Romania that commemorates the struggles and victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which overthrew Communism. The memorial complex ...
, a stylised marble pillar unveiled in 2005 to commemorate the victims of the
Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...
of 1989, which overthrew Communism. The abstract monument sparked controversy when it was unveiled, being dubbed with names such as 'the olive on the toothpick' (''măslina-n scobitoare''), as many argued that it does not fit in its surroundings and believed that its choice was political. The
Romanian Athenaeum The Romanian Athenaeum ( ro, Ateneul Român) 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 most prestigious concert hall an ...
building is considered a symbol of Romanian culture and since 2007 has been on the list of the Label of European Heritage sites. It was built between 1886 and 1888 by the architect
Paul Louis Albert Galeron Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
, through public funding.
InterContinental Bucharest The Grand Hotel Bucharest is a 24-story high-rise five-star hotel situated near University Square, Bucharest, in Sector 1. Opened in 1971 as the Inter-Continental Bucharest, it is a city landmark. History Designed by Dinu Hariton, Gheorghe N ...
is a high-rise five-star hotel near University Square and is also a landmark of the city. The building is designed so that each room has a unique panorama of the city. House of the Spark (''Casa Scânteii'') is a replica of the
Lomonosov Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
. This edifice, built in the characteristic style of the large-scale Soviet projects, was intended to be representative of the new political regime and to assert the superiority of the Communist doctrine. Construction started in 1952 and was completed in 1957, a few years after Stalin's death in 1953. Popularly known as Casa Scânteii ('House of the Spark') after the name of the official gazette of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, ''Scânteia'', it was made for the purpose of bringing together under one roof all of Bucharest's official press and publishing houses. It is the only building in Bucharest featuring the
Hammer and Sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...
, the Red Star and other communist insignia carved into medallions adorning the façade. Other cultural venues include the
National Museum of Art of Romania The National Museum of Art of Romania ( ro, Muzeul Național de Artă al României) is located in the Royal Palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest. It features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, as well as the international ...
, Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History,
Museum of the Romanian Peasant The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant ( ro, Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român) is a museum in Bucharest, Romania, with a collection of textiles (especially costumes), icons, ceramics, and other artifacts of Romanian peasant life. One ...
, National History Museum and the
Military Museum Military Museum may refer to museums of military and war, or specific museums including: * Aldershot Military Museum, in Aldershot, England * Athens War Museum, in Athens, Greece * Base Borden Military Museum, Borden, Ontario, Canada * California ...
. File:Ansamblul de fântâni din Piața Unirii, București.jpg, Downtown Bucharest fountains in the Unirii Square File:Libraria Carturesti Carusel - Interior ziua.jpg, Interior of the Cărturești Carusel Bookstore File:ThermeBucuresti.jpg, Therme Bucharest is the largest
thermal bath A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneothe ...
(spa) complex in Europe.


Visual arts

In terms of
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
, the city has museums featuring both classical and contemporary Romanian art, as well as selected international works. The
National Museum of Art of Romania The National Museum of Art of Romania ( ro, Muzeul Național de Artă al României) is located in the Royal Palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest. It features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, as well as the international ...
is perhaps the best-known of Bucharest museums. It is located in the royal palace and features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, including works by sculptor
Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...
, as well as an international collection assembled by the Romanian royal family. Other, smaller, museums contain specialised collections. The
Zambaccian Museum The Zambaccian Museum in Bucharest, Romania is a museum in the former home of Krikor Zambaccian (1889 –1962), a businessman and art collector. The museum was founded in the Dorobanți neighbourhood in 1947, closed by the Ceauşescu regime ...
, which is situated in the former home of art collector Krikor H. Zambaccian, contains works by well-known Romanian artists and international artists such as
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
,
Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...
,
Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
,
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
, and
Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
. The
Gheorghe Tattarescu Gheorghe Tattarescu (; October 1818 – October 24, 1894) was a Moldavian, later Romanian painter and a pioneer of neoclassicism in his country's modern painting. Biography Early life and studies Tattarescu was born in Focşani in 1818. H ...
Museum contains portraits of Romanian revolutionaries in exile such as
Gheorghe Magheru General Gheorghe Magheru (; 1802, Bârzeiul de Gilort, Gorj County – 23 March 1880) was a Romanian revolutionary and soldier from Wallachia, and political ally of Nicolae Bălcescu. A Pandur and radical conspirator Magheru began his ac ...
, ștefan Golescu, and
Nicolae Bălcescu Nicolae Bălcescu () (29 June 181929 November 1852) was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution. Early life Born in Bucharest to a family of low-ranking nobility, he used his mother's ...
, and allegorical compositions with revolutionary (''Romania's rebirth'', 1849) and patriotic (''The Principalities' Unification'', 1857) themes. Another impressive art collection gathering important Romanian painters, can be found at the Ligia and Pompiliu Macovei residence, which is open to visitors as it is now part of the Bucharest Museum patrimony. The Theodor Pallady Museum is situated in one of the oldest surviving merchant houses in Bucharest and includes works by Romanian painter
Theodor Pallady Theodor Pallady (; 11 April 1871 – 16 August 1956) was a Romanian painter. Biography Theodor Pallady was the son of Ioan Pallady and Maria Cantacuzino, the older sister of Romanian diplomat Neculai B. Cantacuzino. He was born in Iași, Romani ...
, as well as European and oriental furniture pieces. The
Museum of Art Collections The Museum of Art Collections (Romanian: ''Muzeului Colecțiilor de Artă'') is a branch of the National Museum of Art of Romania and is situated in Bucharest. It is located on Calea Victoriei no.111 at the corner of Calea Griviței, in Romanit Pa ...
contains the collections of Romanian art aficionados, including Krikor Zambaccian and Theodor Pallady. Despite the classical art galleries and museums in the city, a contemporary arts scene also exists. The National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), situated in a wing of the
Palace of the Parliament The Palace of the Parliament ( ro, Palatul Parlamentului), also known as the Republic's House () or People's House/People's Palace (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The P ...
, was opened in 2004 and contains Romanian and international contemporary art. The MNAC also manages the Kalinderu MediaLab, which caters to multimedia and experimental art. Private art galleries are scattered throughout the city centre. The palace of the
National Bank of Romania The National Bank of Romania ( ro, Banca Națională a României, BNR) is the central bank of Romania and was established in April 1880. Its headquarters are located in the capital city of Bucharest. The National Bank of Romania is responsible ...
houses the national
numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...
collection. Exhibits include banknotes, coins, documents, photographs, maps, silver and gold bullion bars, bullion coins, and dies and moulds. The building was constructed between 1884 and 1890. The thesaurus room contains notable marble decorations.


Performing arts

Performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
are some of the strongest cultural elements of Bucharest. The most famous symphony orchestra is
National Radio Orchestra of Romania The Romanian Radio National Orchestra ( ro, Orchestra Națională Radio) is the symphony radio orchestra, part of the Romanian Radio Orchestras and Choirs. Concerts are held during all season at the Mihail Jora Concert Studio, well known as Sala ...
. One of the most prominent buildings is the neoclassical
Romanian Athenaeum The Romanian Athenaeum ( ro, Ateneul Român) 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 most prestigious concert hall an ...
, which was founded in 1852, and hosts classical music concerts, the
George Enescu Festival The George Enescu Festival (also known as George Enescu International Festival and Competition), held in honor of the celebrated Romanian composer George Enescu, is the biggest classical music festival and classical international competition hel ...
, and is home to the
George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra The George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra ( ro, Filarmonica George Enescu) is a musical institution located in Bucharest, Romania. Founded on 7 May 1868 under the supervision of Eduard Wachman, the Romanian Philharmonic Society had as purpose t ...
. Bucharest is home to the Romanian National Opera and the I.L. Caragiale National Theatre. Another well-known theatre in Bucharest is the State Jewish Theatre, which features plays starring world-renowned Romanian-Jewish actress
Maia Morgenstern Maia Emilia Ninel Morgenstern (; born 1 May 1962) is a Romanian film and stage actress, Gabriela DumbaPur și SIMPLU, Maia Morgenstern, ("Pure and simple, Maia Morgenstern", but with a pun, because Simplu is a Romanian musical group with whom ...
. Smaller theatres throughout the city cater to specific genres, such as the Comedy Theatre, the Nottara Theatre, the
Bulandra Theatre The Bulandra Theatre ( ro, Teatrul Bulandra) in Bucharest, Romania was founded in 1947 as Teatrul Municipal; its first director was Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra, one of the leading Romanian stage actresses of her generation. Liviu Ciulei was director b ...
, the Odeon Theatre, and the revue theatre of Constantin Tănase.


Music and nightlife

Bucharest is home to Romania's largest recording labels, and is often the residence of Romanian musicians. Romanian rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s, such as
Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...
and Holograf, continue to be popular, particularly with the middle-aged, while since the beginning of the 1990s, the hip hop/
rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
scene has developed. Hip-hop bands and artists from Bucharest such as B.U.G. Mafia, Paraziții, and
La Familia ''La familia'', (English: ''The Family'') is a 1969 Mexican telenovela produced by Televisa and originally transmitted by Telesistema Mexicano. Cast *Virginia Gutiérrez *Jorge Lavat *Irma Lozano *Enrique Aguilar Enrique Aguilar Zermeño ( ...
enjoy national and international recognition. The pop-rock band
Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...
have been gaining international respect, as has Spitalul de Urgență's raucous updating of traditional
Romanian music Romania is a European country with a multicultural music environment which includes active ethnic music scenes. Traditional Romanian folk music remains popular, and some folk musicians have come to national (and even international) fame. Histo ...
. While many neighbourhood discos play ''
manele Manele (from Romanian, ''fem.'' ''sg.'' manea; ''pl.'' manele, the plural form being more common) is a genre of pop folk music from Romania. The manele can be divided into "classical manele" and "modern manele". The "classical manele" are a Tu ...
'', an Oriental- and Roma-influenced genre of music that is particularly popular in Bucharest's working-class districts, the city has a rich
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
scene, and to an even larger extent,
house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
/
trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
and heavy metal/
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
scenes. Bucharest's jazz profile has especially risen since 2002, with the presence of two venues, Green Hours and Art Jazz, as well as an American presence alongside established Romanians. With no central nightlife strip, entertainment venues are dispersed throughout the city, with clusters in
Lipscani Lipscani is a street and a district of Bucharest, Romania, which from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century was the most important commercial area of the city and Wallachia. It is located near the ruins of the old Princely Court built by Vla ...
and
Regie Regie or Régie (from the Latin ''regium'': regal, royal) refers to a public or government establishment, administration, commission or management. They are also common first names in the Francophone world. Transport organisations * '' Regia Aut ...
.


Cultural events and festivals

A number of cultural festivals are held in Bucharest throughout the year, but most festivals take place in June, July, and August. The National Opera organises the International Opera Festival every year in May and June, which includes ensembles and orchestras from all over the world. The Romanian Athaeneum Society hosts the
George Enescu Festival The George Enescu Festival (also known as George Enescu International Festival and Competition), held in honor of the celebrated Romanian composer George Enescu, is the biggest classical music festival and classical international competition hel ...
at locations throughout the city in September every two years (odd years). The Museum of the Romanian Peasant and the Village Museum organise events throughout the year, showcasing Romanian folk arts and crafts. In the 2000s, due to the growing prominence of the Chinese community in Bucharest, Chinese cultural events took place. The first officially organised Chinese festival was the
Chinese New Year's Eve Chinese New Year's Eve (Lunar New Year's Eve) is the day before the Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year). Celebrating Chinese (Lunar) New Year’s Eve has always been a family matter in Asia, it is the reunion day for every Asian family. It has evol ...
Festival of February 2005, which took place in Nichita Stănescu Park and was organised by the Bucharest City Hall. In 2005, Bucharest was the first city in Southeastern Europe to host the international
CowParade CowParade is an international public art exhibit that has featured in major world cities. Fiberglass sculptures of cows are decorated by local artists, and distributed over the city centre, in public places such as train stations, important avenu ...
, which resulted in dozens of decorated cow sculptures being placed across the city. In 2004, Bucharest imposed in the circle of important festivals in Eastern Europe with the Bucharest International Film Festival, an event widely acknowledged in Europe, having as guests of honour famous names from the world cinema:
Andrei Konchalovsky Andrei Sergeyevich Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky (russian: link=no, Андрей Сергеевич Михалков-Кончаловский; born 20 August 1937) is a Russian filmmaker. He has worked in Soviet, Hollywood, and contemporary Russian ...
,
Danis Tanović Danis Tanović (born 20 February 1969) is a Bosnian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for having directed and written the script for the 2001 Bosnian movie ''No Man's Land'' which won him many awards, including an Academy Award f ...
,
Nikita Mikhalkov Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (russian: Никита Сергеевич Михалков; born 21 October 1945) is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union. Mikhalkov is a three-time laureate of the ...
,
Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...
,
Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski (, born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début ''Oko wykol' ...
,
Jan Harlan Jan Harlan (born 5 May 1937) is a German-American executive producer and the brother of Christiane Kubrick, director Stanley Kubrick's widow. He is the nephew of the film director Veit Harlan. Life Jan Harlan was born in Karlsruhe in 1937, ...
,
Radu Mihăileanu Radu Mihăileanu (born 23 April 1958) is a Romanian-born French film director and screenwriter. He left Romania in 1980 and graduated the IDHEC cinematographic institute in Paris. In addition to his work in the cinema he published a book of poe ...
, and many others. Since 2005, Bucharest has its own contemporary art biennale, the
Bucharest Biennale The Bucharest Biennale (full name: ''Bucharest International Biennial for Contemporary Art'') is a contemporary art biennale held in Bucharest, Romania. History The first edition of the Bucharest Biennale was held in 2005, with the following one ...
. File:Ateneul Român - Vedere Frontala.jpg,
Romanian Athenaeum The Romanian Athenaeum ( ro, Ateneul Român) 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 most prestigious concert hall an ...
File:Violetta in concert. Bucharest Phylharmony.jpg,
George Enescu Festival The George Enescu Festival (also known as George Enescu International Festival and Competition), held in honor of the celebrated Romanian composer George Enescu, is the biggest classical music festival and classical international competition hel ...
hosting concert at the George Enescu Philharmonic File:Bucuresti, Romania, OPERA ROMANA, B-II-m-B-19004 (Statuia lui George Enescu in fata OPEREI) (2).JPG,
George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biog ...
statue in front of the Romanian National Opera File:Sala Radio Mihail Jora 1.jpg, Mihail Jora Concert Studio File:Bucuresti, Romania, ACADEMIA ROMANA, (Statuia Zeitei Athena); B-II-m-A-19866.01; (8).JPG,
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
headquarters File:Biblioteca Academiei Române.jpg,
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
library


Traditional culture

Traditional Romanian culture continues to have a major influence in arts such as theatre, film, and music. Bucharest has two internationally renowned
ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
museums, the
Museum of the Romanian Peasant The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant ( ro, Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român) is a museum in Bucharest, Romania, with a collection of textiles (especially costumes), icons, ceramics, and other artifacts of Romanian peasant life. One ...
and the open-air Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum, in
King Michael I Park King Michael I Park ( ro, Parcul "Regele Mihai I"), formerly Herăstrău Park ( ro, Parcul Herăstrău), is a large park on the northern side of Bucharest, Romania, around Lake Herăstrău, one of the lakes formed by the Colentina River. Geograp ...
. It contains 272 authentic buildings and peasant farms from all over Romania. The Museum of the Romanian Peasant was declared the European Museum of the Year in 1996. Patronised by the Ministry of Culture, the museum preserves and exhibits numerous collections of objects and monuments of material and spiritual culture. The Museum of the Romanian Peasant holds one of the richest collections of peasant objects in Romania, its heritage being nearly 90,000 pieces, those being divided into several collections: ceramics, costumes, textiles, wooden objects, religious objects, customs, etc. The Museum of Romanian History is another important museum in Bucharest, containing a collection of artefacts detailing Romanian history and culture from the prehistoric times,
Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...
n era, medieval times, and the modern era.


Religion

Bucharest is the seat of the Patriarch of the
Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches, and one of ...
, one of the
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
churches in communion with the
Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
, and also of its subdivisions, the Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobrudja and the Archbishopric of Bucharest. Orthodox believers consider Demetrius of Basarabov to be the patron saint of the city. The city is a centre for other Christian organizations in Romania, including the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest is the Latin Metropolitan archdiocese in Romania. Its cathedral episcopal see is Bucharest. Ioan Robu was the archbishop from 1990 until his retirement on 21 November 2019. He previously Apostolic Adm ...
, established in 1883, and the Romanian Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Saint Basil the Great, founded in 2014. Bucharest also hosts six synagogues, including the Choral Temple of Bucharest, the Great Synagogue of Bucharest and the Holy Union Temple. The latter was converted into the Museum of the History of the Romanian Jewish Community, while the Great Synagogue and the Choral Temple are both active and hold regular services. A
mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
with a capacity for 2,000 people was in the planning stages at 22–30 Expoziției Boulevard. The project was later abandoned. File:Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului - București (Ianuarie 2022).jpg,
National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the ca ...
File:Palatul Patriarhiei - panoramio.jpg, Palace of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate File:Bucharest - St. Anthony Church (28376876671).jpg,
Curtea Veche Church The Curtea Veche Church ( ro, Biserica Curtea Veche) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 33 Franceză Street in the Lipscani quarter of Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to the Feast of the Annunciation and to Saint Anthony the Great. Histo ...
File:Russian Church in Bucharest Sfantul Nicolae.jpg,
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
File:Biserica greaca.JPG, Greek Orthodox Church of Bucharest File:Detaliu rozeta neo-gotica.JPG, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Cathedral File:Detalii de arhitectura.JPG, Italian Roman Catholic Church File:Bucharest Lutheran.jpg, Lutheran Church File:French Church Bucharest.jpg, Sacré-Coeur French Church File:RO B Anglican Resurrection church.jpg, Anglican Church of the Resurrection File:Bucharest - בית הכנסת הכוראלי של בוקרשט (28257630823).jpg, Choral Synagogue


Architecture

The city centre is a mixture of
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
, neoclassical,
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
, and
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
buildings, as well as 'neo-Romanian' buildings dating from the beginning of the 20th century and a collection of modern buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. The mostly utilitarian Communist-era architecture dominates most southern boroughs. Recently built contemporary structures such as skyscrapers and office buildings complete the landscape.


Historical architecture

Of the city's
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
architecture, most of what survived into modern times was destroyed by Communist
systematization Systematization ( ro, Sistematizarea) in Romania was a program of urban planning carried out by the Romanian Communist Party under the leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Ceaușescu was impressed by the ideological mobilization and mass adulation ...
, fire, and military incursions. Some medieval and renaissance edifices remain, the most notable are in the Lipscani area. This precinct contains notable buildings such as
Manuc's Inn Manuc's Inn ( ro, Hanul lui Manuc, ) is the oldest operating hotel building in Bucharest, Romania. It also houses a popular restaurant, several bars, a coffee-house, and (facing the street) several stores and an extensive bar. Its massive, mult ...
(''Hanul lui Manuc'') and the ruins of the Old Court (''Curtea Veche''); during the late Middle Ages, this area was the heart of commerce in Bucharest. From the 1970s onwards, the area went through urban decline, and many historical buildings fell into disrepair. In 2005, the Lipscani area was restored. To execute a massive redevelopment project during the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, the government conducted extensive demolition of churches and many other historic structures in Romania. According to Alexandru Budişteanu, former chief architect of Bucharest, 'The sight of a church bothered Ceauşescu. It didn't matter if they demolished or moved it, as long as it was no longer in sight'. Nevertheless, a project organised by Romanian engineer Eugeniu Iordǎchescu was able to move many historic structures to less-prominent sites and save them. The city centre has retained architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
, which is often seen as the 'golden age' of Bucharest architecture. During this time, the city grew in size and wealth, therefore seeking to emulate other large European capitals such as Paris. Much of the architecture of the time belongs to a Modern (rationalist) Architecture current, led by Horia Creangă and
Marcel Iancu Marcel Janco (, ; common rendition of the Romanian language, Romanian name Marcel Hermann Iancu ; 24 May 1895 – 21 April 1984) was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading ...
. In Romania, the tendencies of innovation in the architectural language met the need of valorisation and affirmation of the national cultural identity. The
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
movement finds expression through new architectural style initiated by
Ion Mincu Ion Mincu (; December 20, 1852 – December 6, 1912 in Bucharest) was a Romanian architect known for having a leading role in the development of the Romanian Revival style. Most of his projects are located in Bucharest, including his main work ...
and taken over by other prestigious architects who capitalise important references of Romanian laic and medieval ecclesiastical architecture (for example the
Mogoșoaia Palace Mogoșoaia Palace ( ro, Palatul Mogoșoaia, ) is situated about from Bucharest, Romania. It was built between 1698 and 1702 by Constantin Brâncoveanu in what is called the Romanian Renaissance style or Brâncovenesc style. The palace bears the ...
, the Stavropoleos Church or the disappeared church of Văcărești Monastery) and Romanian folk motifs. Two buildings from this time are the
Crețulescu Palace Crețulescu Palace (''Palatul Crețulescu'' in Romanian, alternative spelling "Kretzulescu" or "Krețulescu") is a historic building near the Cișmigiu Gardens on Știrbei Vodă Street nr. 39, in Bucharest, Romania. It was built for the Crețulesc ...
, housing cultural institutions including
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's European Centre for Higher Education, and the
Cotroceni Palace Cotroceni Palace (Romanian: ''Palatul Cotroceni'') is the official residence of the President of Romania. It is located at ''Bulevardul Geniului, nr. 1'', in Bucharest, Romania. The palace also houses the National Cotroceni Museum. History The ...
, the residence of the
Romanian President The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...
. Many large-scale constructions such as the Gara de Nord, the busiest railway station in the city, National Bank of Romania's headquarters, and the
Telephone Palace Telephones Company Building ( ro, Palatul Telefoanelor) is an Art Deco office building located on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania. It is now owned by Telekom România. Bucharest Palatul Telefoanelor in Bucharest is an Art Deco style buildi ...
date from these times. In the 2000s, historic buildings in the city centre underwent restoration. In some residential areas of the city, particularly in high-income central and northern districts, turn-of-the-20th-century villas were mostly restored beginning in the late 1990s. File:Palatul Cantacuzino, Bucureşti.jpg,
French Baroque French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
style –
Cantacuzino Palace Cantacuzino Palace is located on Calea Victoriei no. 141, Bucharest, Romania. It was built by architect Ion D. Berindey in the Beaux Arts style, having a few Rococo Revival rooms. Today it houses the George Enescu museum. History The pala ...
File:Palacio del Círculo Nacional Militar, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-29, DD 66.jpg, French Neoclassical style –
Palace of the National Military Circle The Palace of the National Military Circle, also known as the Officers' Circle Palace (Romanian:''Cercul Militar Național'') is located on Constantin Mile street in Bucharest, Romania. It was built in 1911, based on plans drawn by chief architect ...
File:Museo Nacional de Historia de Rumanía, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-29, DD 63.jpg, Neoclassical style –
National Museum of Romanian History The National History Museum of Romania ( ro, Muzeul Național de Istorie a României) is a museum located on the Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania, which contains Romanian historical artifacts from prehistoric times up to modern times. The mus ...
File:Front view of Romanian Palace of the Deposits and Consignments (Palatul CEC) in Bucharest (47981424973).jpg,
Eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...
style –
CEC Palace The CEC Palace ( ro, Palatul CEC) in Bucharest, Romania, built between 8 June 1897 and 1900, and situated on Calea Victoriei opposite the National Museum of Romanian History, is the headquarters of CEC Bank. History Before the construction of t ...
File:Carul cu bere.jpg,
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
Caru' cu Bere (aka ; "the beer wagon") is a bar and restaurant on Stavropoleos Street in the Lipscani district of Bucharest, Romania. The business was originally opened as a brewery in 1879 by Ioan Căbășan and his nephews, Ion, Gheorghe, and Nicolae Mircea ...
File:9 Strada Biserica Amzei, Bucharest (01).jpg,
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
– Mița the Cyclist House File:4, Strada Doamnei, Bucharest (Romania) 2.jpg, Romanian Revival – Marmorosch Blank Bank Palace


Communist era architecture

A major part of Bucharest's architecture is made up of buildings constructed during the
Communist era A Communist Era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of Communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist P ...
replacing the historical architecture with high-density apartment blocks – significant portions of the historic centre of Bucharest were demolished to construct one of the largest buildings in the world, the
Palace of the Parliament The Palace of the Parliament ( ro, Palatul Parlamentului), also known as the Republic's House () or People's House/People's Palace (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The P ...
(then officially called the House of the Republic). In Nicolae Ceaușescu's project of systematization, new buildings were built in previously historical areas, which were razed and then built upon. One of the singular examples of this type of architecture is Centrul Civic, a development that replaced a major part of Bucharest's historic city centre with giant utilitarian buildings, mainly with
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
or
travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a pro ...
façades, inspired by North Korean architecture. The mass demolitions that occurred in the 1980s, under which an overall area of eight square kilometres of the historic centre of Bucharest were levelled, including monasteries, churches, synagogues, a hospital, and a noted
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
sports stadium, changed drastically the appearance of the city. Communist-era architecture can also be found in Bucharest's residential districts, mainly in ''blocuri'', which are high-density apartment blocks that house the majority of the city's population. Initially, these apartment blocks started to be constructed in the 1960s, on relatively empty areas and fields (good examples include Pajura, Drumul Taberei, Berceni and Titan), however with the 1970s, they mostly targeted peripheral neighbourhoods such as Colentina, Pantelimon, Militari and Rahova. Construction of these apartment blocks were also often randomised, for instance some small streets were demolished and later widened with the blocks being built next to them, but other neighbouring streets were left intact (like in the example of Calea Moșilor from 1978 to 1982), or built in various patterns such as the Piața Iancului-Lizeanu apartment buildings from 1962 to 1963. There is also communist architecture that was built in the early years of the system, in the late 1940s and 1950s. Buildings constructed in this era followed the Soviet Stalinist trend of
Socialist Realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
, and include the
House of the Free Press The House of the Free Press ( ro, Casa Presei Libere) is a building in northern Bucharest, Romania, the tallest in the city between 1956 and 2007. History A horse race track was built in 1905 on the future site of the House of the Free Press. ...
(which was named ''Casa Scînteii'' during communism). File:View_from_the_Palace_of_Parliament_in_Bucharest.jpg, Centrul Civic, panoramic view File:Bulevardul Unirii.jpg, Apartment blocks on Unirii Boulevard, built in the 1980s File:NorthGatecasaScanteii.JPG, The
House of the Free Press The House of the Free Press ( ro, Casa Presei Libere) is a building in northern Bucharest, Romania, the tallest in the city between 1956 and 2007. History A horse race track was built in 1905 on the future site of the House of the Free Press. ...
(right) was the tallest in the city in Socialist Romania


Contemporary architecture

Since the fall of Communism in 1989, several Communist-era buildings have been refurbished, modernised, and used for other purposes. Perhaps the best example of this is the conversion of obsolete retail complexes into shopping malls and commercial centres. These giant, circular halls, which were unofficially called hunger circuses due to the food shortages experienced in the 1980s, were constructed during the Ceaușescu era to act as produce markets and
refectories A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the L ...
, although most were left unfinished at the time of the revolution. Modern shopping malls such as the Unirea Shopping Centre,
Bucharest Mall Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
, Plaza Romania, and City Mall emerged on pre-existent structures of former hunger circuses. Another example is the conversion of a large utilitarian construction in Centrul Civic into a
Marriott Hotel Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International's brand of full-service hotels and resorts based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of June 30, 2020, there were 582 hotels and resorts with 205,053 rooms operating under the brand, in addition to 160 ...
. This process was accelerated after 2000, when the city underwent a property boom, and many Communist-era buildings in the city centre became prime real estate due to their location. Many Communist-era apartment blocks have also been refurbished to improve urban appearance. The newest contribution to Bucharest's architecture took place after the fall of Communism, particularly after 2000, when the city went through a period of urban renewaland architectural revitalizationon the back of Romania's economic growth. Buildings from this time are mostly made of glass and steel, and often have more than 10 stories. Examples include shopping malls (particularly the Bucharest Mall, a conversion and extension of an abandoned building), office buildings, bank headquarters, etc. During the last ten years, several high rise office buildings were built, particularly in the northern and eastern parts of the city. Additionally, a trend to add modern wings and façades to historic buildings has occurred, the most prominent example of which is the Bucharest Architects' Association Building, which is a modern glass-and-steel construction built inside a historic stone façade. In 2013, the Bucharest skyline enriched with a 137-m-high office building (SkyTower of Floreasca City Centre), the tallest building in Romania. Examples of modern skyscrapers built in the 21st century include Bucharest Tower Centre, Euro Tower,
Nusco Tower The Nusco Tower is a class A office building located in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the ...
,
Cathedral Plaza Cathedral Plaza is an illegal office building in Bucharest, Romania, close to the Saint Joseph Cathedral. It has 19 floors and a surface of 23,000 m2. At a height of 75 m (246 ft), the structure was finished in 2010, but the building wa ...
, City Gate Towers,
Rin Grand Hotel RIN Grand Hotel is a four-star hotel located in the Vitan area in Bucharest, Romania. It is located in South – East Bucharest, from one of the largest squares in Europe, Piaţa Unirii (''Union Square''), and close to the commercial and histo ...
,
Premium Plaza Premium Plaza is a class A office building located in the city of Bucharest, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeaster ...
, Bucharest Corporate Centre, Millennium Business Centre,
PGV Tower Phoenix Tower (formerly PGV Tower) is a class A office building located in the city of Bucharest, Romania. It stands at a height of 65 meters and has 15 floors, with a total surface of 11,500 square metres. The building is owned by DEGI, the ...
,
Charles de Gaulle Plaza Charles de Gaulle Plaza is a "class A" office building in the Charles de Gaulle Square, Bucharest, Romania. It is constructed entirely out of concrete, steel and glass. It has 16 floors and a gross lettable area of . There are an additional five ...
, Business Development Centre Bucharest, BRD Tower, and
Bucharest Financial Plaza Bucharest Financial Plaza is a class A office building in the city of Bucharest, Romania. It has 18 floors, with a total of 30.000 m2 of floor space. It also has 3 underground floors which are used as parking spaces for 160 cars. Bucharest F ...
. Despite this vertical development, Romanian architects avoid designing very tall buildings due to vulnerability to earthquakes. Aside from buildings used for business and institutions, residential developments have also been built, many of which consist of high-rise office buildings and suburban residential communities. An example of a new high rise residential complex is Asmita Gardens. These developments are increasingly prominent in northern Bucharest, which is less densely populated and is home to middle- and upper-class Bucharesters due to the process of
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...
. File:Cladire - Splaiul Unirii 76.jpg, Skyscraper on the Splaiul Unirii File:Bd. Iancu de Hunedoara - Metropolis Center.jpg, Metropolis Center (office buildings) File:Corporate evening (20151102 172914 1PS) (23714549860).jpg, Corporate buildings File:Piaţa Presei Libere (6056672515).jpg, City Gate Towers office buildings


Education

Overall, 159 faculties are in 34 universities. Sixteen public universities are in Bucharest, the largest of which are the
University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
, the
Politehnica University of Bucharest Politehnica University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea Politehnica din București) is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania. 200 years of activity have been celebrated lately, as the university was founded in 1818.Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the
Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy ( ro, Universitatea de Medicină și Farmacie „Carol Davila”) or University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest, commonly known by the abbreviation UMFCD, is a public health sciences university i ...
, Technical University of Civil Engineering, the
National University of Political Studies and Public Administration The National School of Political Science and Public Administration ( ro, Școala Națională de Studii Politice și Administrative din București, SNSPA) is a public university in Bucharest, Romania, founded in 1991. SNSPA is a public institutio ...
and the
University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest The University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest (Romanian: Universitatea de Ştiinţe Agronomice şi Medicină Veterinară din Bucuresți) is the oldest and largest institution of higher agricultural sciences and veteri ...
. These are supplemented by nineteen private universities, such as the
Romanian-American University The Romanian-American University ( ro, Universitatea Româno-Americană) is a private university in Bucharest, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It b ...
. Private universities, however, have a mixed reputation due to irregularities. In the 2020
QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...
, from Bucharest, only the
University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
was included in the top universities of the world. The Politehnica University disappeared from the ranking. Also, in recent years, the city has had increasing numbers of foreign students enrolling in its universities. The first modern educational institution was the Princely Academy from Bucharest, founded in 1694 and divided in 1864 to form the present-day University of Bucharest and the
Saint Sava National College The Saint Sava National College (Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, under the name of t ...
, both of which are among the most prestigious of their kind in Romania. Over 450 public primary and secondary schools are in the city, all of which are administered by the Bucharest Municipal Schooling Inspectorate. Each
sector Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a po ...
also has its own Schooling Inspectorate, subordinated to the municipal one. File:Universitatea din Bucuresti din Piata Universitatii.jpg,
University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
(UB) File:Rectoratul Politehnicii, noaptea (1).jpg, Rectorate of the Politehnica University (PUB) at night File:New library PUB bgiu.jpg, Library of the Politehnica University File:Academia de Studii Economice.jpg, Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE) File:Biblioteca Central de la Universidad de Bucarest, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-29, DD 72.jpg,
Central University Library Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
File:Palatul Facultății de Medicină din București-1.JPG, University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMFCD)


Media

The city is well-served by a modern landline and mobile network. Offices of
Poșta Română CN Poșta Română SA is the national operator in the field of postal services in Romania. It is the sole supplier of universal service in any point on the Romanian territory. Poșta Română is active on the free market of value added postal ...
, the national postal operator, are spread throughout the city, with the central post office ( ro, Oficiul Poștal București 1) located at 12 Matei Millo Street. Public telephones are located in many places and are operated by
Telekom Romania Telekom Romania Communications (formerly known as Romtelecom) is a Romanian telecommunications company, which provides fixed voice, television and data services, for residential and business customers in Romania. As of 2020, Telekom Romania Commun ...
, a subsidiary of
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
and successor of the former monopoly
Romtelecom Telekom Romania Communications (formerly known as Romtelecom) is a Romanian telecommunications company, which provides fixed voice, television and data services, for residential and business customers in Romania. As of 2020, Telekom Romania Commun ...
. Bucharest is headquarters of most of the national television networks and national newspapers, radio stations and online news websites. The largest daily newspapers in Bucharest include ''
Evenimentul Zilei ''Evenimentul Zilei'' is a formerly physical and now exclusively online newspaper in Romania. Its name means "today's even (news)". History and profile ''Evenimentul Zilei'' was founded by Ion Cristoiu, Cornel Nistorescu and Mihai Cârciog, an ...
'', ''
Jurnalul Național ''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest Bucharest ...
'', ''
Cotidianul image:Cotidianul.png, The logo used between 2003 and 2007 ''Cotidianul'' (meaning ''The Daily'' in English) is a Romanian language newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile Founded by Ion Raţiu, ''Cotidianul'' was first ...
'', ''
România Liberă ''România liberă'' ("") is a Romanian daily newspaper founded in 1943 and currently based in Bucharest. A newspaper of the same name also existed between 1877 and 1888. History and profile The name ''România liberă'' was first used by a dai ...
'', and ''
Adevărul ''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...
'', while the biggest news websites are
HotNews HotNews is one of the oldest and biggest Romanian news sites focused mainly on general topics, finance, politics, and current affairs. The website constantly publishes news, interviews, video documentaries, and opinion pieces. As of February 20 ...
(with English and Spanish versions), Ziare.com, and ''
Gândul ''Gândul'' (, "The Thought") is a Romanian online newspaper published in Bucharest. It was founded in May 2005 by Mircea Dinescu, who used to write a daily editorial called "Vorba lu' Dinescu", and Cristian Tudor Popescu Cristian Tudor Popes ...
''. During the rush hours, tabloid newspapers ''
Click! ''Click!'' (former ''Averea'') is a Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south ...
'', ''
Libertatea Libertatea is a Romanian daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. It was founded on December 22, 1989 (12:45 p.m.), by Octavian Andronic, as "the first independent newspaper of t ...
'', and ''Cancan'' are popular for commuters. A number of newspapers and media publications are based in
House of the Free Press The House of the Free Press ( ro, Casa Presei Libere) is a building in northern Bucharest, Romania, the tallest in the city between 1956 and 2007. History A horse race track was built in 1905 on the future site of the House of the Free Press. ...
(), a landmark of northern Bucharest, originally named Casa Scânteii after the
Communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the s ...
-era official newspaper ''
Scînteia ''Scînteia'' (Romanian for "The Spark") was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history. The title is a homage to the Russian language paper ''Iskra''. It was known as ''Scânteia'' until th ...
''. The House of the Free Press is not the only Bucharest landmark that grew out of the media and communications industry.
Palatul Telefoanelor Telephones Company Building ( ro, Palatul Telefoanelor) is an Art Deco office building located on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania. It is now owned by Telekom România. Bucharest Palatul Telefoanelor in Bucharest is an Art Deco style buildi ...
('The Telephone Palace') was the first major modernist building on Calea Victoriei in the city's centre, and the massive, unfinished communist-era Casa Radio looms over a park a block away from the Opera. English-language newspapers first became available in the early 1930s and reappeared in the 1990s. The two daily English-language newspapers are the ''
Bucharest Daily News ''Bucharest Daily News'' was an English-language newspaper operating out of the Romanian capital city, Bucharest, and was frequently cited as a source by the sudden influx of Romanian news articles on Wikinews. It covered world and local news, pol ...
'' and '' Nine O' Clock''; several magazines and publications in other languages are available, such as the Hungarian-language daily ''
Új Magyar Szó ''Új Magyar Szó'' ( en, New Hungarian Word) was a Hungarian-language Romanian broadsheet newspaper, based in Bucharest. It had one of the largest audiences of all Hungarian-language papers in Romania; its readership was estimated at 40,000. Sinc ...
''. ''
Observator Cultural ''Observator Cultural'' (meaning "The Cultural Observer" in English) is a weekly literary magazine based in Bucharest, Romania. The magazine was started in 2000. The weekly publishes articles on Romania's cultural and arts scene as well as politica ...
'' covers the city's arts, and the free weekly magazines ''
Șapte Seri ''Şapte Seri'' ("''Seven Evenings''") is a free leaflet-sized weekly magazine about goings-on in Bucharest, Romania. It is written largely in Romanian with some English. History and profile The magazine first appeared on 12 June 1998, in 16 page ...
'' ('Seven Evenings') and ''B24FUN'', list entertainment events. The city is home to the intellectual journal ''
Dilema veche ''Dilema veche'' (English: "Old Dilemma") is a Romanian weekly magazine that covers culture, social topics, and politics. It was founded in 2004 as the successor to the magazine ''Dilema'', which was founded in 1993. Both magazines were founded by ...
'' and the satire magazine ''
Academia Cațavencu ''Academia Cațavencu'' (, "The Cațavencu Academy") is a Romanian satirical magazine founded in 1991 and made famous by its investigative journalism. ''Academia Cațavencu'' also owns ''Radio Guerrilla' an FM radio station with national coverag ...
''.


Healthcare

One of the most modern hospitals in the capital is Colțea that has been re-equipped after a 90-million-euro investment in 2011. It specialises in oncological and cardiac disorders. It was built by Mihai Cantacuzino between 1701 and 1703, composed of many buildings, each with 12 to 30 beds, a church, three chapels, a school, and doctors' and teachers' houses. Another conventional hospital is Pantelimon, which was established in 1733 by
Grigore II Ghica Grigore II Ghica (1695 – 3 September 1752) was Voivode (Prince) 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 t ...
. The surface area of the hospital land property was . The hospital had in its inventory a house for infectious diseases and a house for persons with disabilities. Other hospitals or clinics are Bucharest Emergency Hospital, Floreasca Emergency Clinic Hospital, Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, and Fundeni Clinical Institute or Biomedica International and Euroclinic, which are private.


Sports

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
is the most widely followed sport in Bucharest, with the city having numerous club teams, including, most notably, Steaua București,
Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...
, and
Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...
.
Arena Națională Arena Națională () is a retractable roof football stadium in Bucharest, Romania. It opened in 2011 on the site of the Stadionul Național (1953), original National Stadium, which was demolished between 2007 and 2008. The stadium hosts major fo ...
, a new stadium inaugurated on 6 September 2011, hosted the 2012 Europa League Final and has a 55,600-seat capacity, making it one of the largest stadiums in Southeastern Europe and one of the few with a roof. Sport clubs have formed for
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
,
water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...
,
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
,
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
and
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
. The majority of Romanian track and field athletes and most
gymnasts Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
are affiliated with clubs in Bucharest. The largest indoor arena in Bucharest is the Romexpo Dome with a seating capacity of 40,000. It can be used for boxing, kickboxing, handball and tennis. Bucharest hosted annual races along a temporary urban track surrounding the Palace of the Parliament, called Bucharest Ring. The Bucharest City Challenge race hosted
FIA GT The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
,
FIA GT3 Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various au ...
,
British F3 The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...
, and
Logan Cup The Logan Cup is the premier domestic first-class cricket competition in Zimbabwe. It is named after James Douglas Logan. History The first recorded cricket match in what was known at the time as Rhodesia was played in August 1890 near Fort V ...
races. Since 2009, Bucharest has the largest
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
Shop in Eastern Europe and the 2nd largest in Europe after Milan shop. The capital also hosted the international tennis tournaments WTA Bucharest Open and ATP Romanian Open. Ice hockey games are held at the Mihai Flamaropol Arena, which holds 8,000 spectators. Rugby games are held in different locations, but the most modern stadium is Arcul de Triumf Stadium, which is also home to the Romanian national rugby team. Bucharest hosted the
UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
championship at the
Arena Națională Arena Națională () is a retractable roof football stadium in Bucharest, Romania. It opened in 2011 on the site of the Stadionul Național (1953), original National Stadium, which was demolished between 2007 and 2008. The stadium hosts major fo ...
or Bucharest National Arena. The championship took place in 2021, being postponed due to the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.


People

*
Costache Aristia Costache or Kostake Aristia (; born Constantin Chiriacos Aristia; el, Κωνσταντίνος Κυριάκος Αριστίας, ''Konstantinos Kyriakos Aristias''; transitional Cyrillic: Коⲛстантiⲛꙋ Aрiстia, ''Constantinŭ Aris ...
(1800–1880), actor, writer, schoolteacher, revolutionary and philanthropist *
Nicolae Crețulescu Nicolae Crețulescu (, surname also spelled Kretzulescu; 1 March 1812 – 26 June 1900) was a Wallachian, later Romanian politician and physician. He served two terms as Prime Minister of Romania: from 1862 to 1863, and from 1865 to 1866. He was ...
(1812–1900), medical doctor and politician, second
Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...
following the assassination of
Barbu Catargiu Barbu Catargiu (26 October 1807 – ) was a conservative Romanian politician and journalist. He was the first Prime Minister of Romania, in 1862, until he was assassinated on 20 June that year. He was a staunch defender of the great estates of t ...
; one of the first presidents of the
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
*
Constantin Bosianu Constantin Bosianu (10 February 1815, Bucharest – 21 March 1882, Bucharest) was a Romanian jurist and politician, honorary member of the Romanian Academy, Prime Minister of Romania from 26 January to 14 June 1865. He was the first dean of th ...
(1815–1882), law professor and head of the Senate,
Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...
and first dean of the Faculty of Law in Bucharest * C. A. Rosetti (1816–1885), writer, politician and leader of the
Wallachian Revolution of 1848 The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought t ...
; the
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
was founded on his initiative *
Ion Ghica Ion Ghica (; 12 August 1816 – 7 May 1897) was a Romanian statesman, mathematician, diplomat and politician, who was Prime Minister of Romania five times. He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president many times (1876–1882, ...
(1816–1897), economist, engineer, mathematician, writer, revolutionary, diplomat and
Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...
*
Dimitrie Ghica Dimitrie Ghica or Ghika (31 May 1816 – 15 February 1897) was a Romanian politician. A prominent member of the Conservative Party, he served as Prime Minister between 1868 and 1870. Dimitrie Ghica was born in the Ghica family, as the son ...
(1816–1897), army officer, police prefect, politician,
mayor of Bucharest The Mayor of Bucharest ( ro, Primarul General al Municipiului București), sometimes known as the General Mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania, which is responsible for citywide affairs, such as the water system, the ...
and
Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...
*
Nicolae Bălcescu Nicolae Bălcescu () (29 June 181929 November 1852) was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution. Early life Born in Bucharest to a family of low-ranking nobility, he used his mother's ...
(1819–1852), historian, writer, soldier and leader of the
Wallachian Revolution of 1848 The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought t ...
*
Nicolae Filimon Nicolae Filimon (; 6 September 1819 – 19 March 1865) was a Wallachian Romanian novelist and short-story writer, remembered as the author of the first Realist novel in Romanian literature, ''Ciocoii vechi şi noi'' ("The Old and the New Parvenu ...
(1819–1865), novelist and short-story writer, author of the first Realist novel in
Romanian literature Romanian literature () is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language. History The development of the Romanian literature took place in parallel with tha ...
*
Dora d'Istria Dora d'Istria, pen-name of duchess Helena Koltsova-Massalskaya, born Elena Ghica (Gjika) (22 January 1828, Bucharest – 17 November 1888, Florence), was a Romanian Romantic writer and feminist, most notable for having emblematized the Albani ...
(1828–1888), writer *
Petre Ispirescu Petre Ispirescu (; January 1830 – 21 November 1887) was a Romanian editor, folklorist, printer, and publicist. He is best known for his work as a gatherer of Romanian folk tales, recounting them with a remarkable talent. Career Petre Ispiresc ...
(1830–1887), folklorist and publicist *
Alexandru Odobescu Alexandru Ioan Odobescu (; 23 June 1834 – 10 November 1895) was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician. Biography He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava ...
(1834–1895), archaeologist, author and politician *
Ștefan Fălcoianu Ștefan Fălcoianu (June 6, 1835–January 22, 1905) was a Romanian army general who served as Chief of the Romanian General Staff, Chief of the General Staff and Ministry of National Defence (Romania), War Minister. Biography Origins and ear ...
(1835–1905), army general who served as
Chief of the Romanian General Staff The Chief of General Staff ( ro, Șeful Statului Major General) is the highest professional military authority in the Romanian Armed Forces. He is appointed by the President of Romania, at the National Defense Minister's proposal (with the appro ...
and War Minister. * Ioan Kalinderu (1840–1913), law professor, writer, silviculturist, confidant of
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Carol I Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...
and head of the
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
* Ion I. Câmpineanu (1841–1888), politician, mayor of Bucharest and the first head of the
National Bank of Romania The National Bank of Romania ( ro, Banca Națională a României, BNR) is the central bank of Romania and was established in April 1880. Its headquarters are located in the capital city of Bucharest. The National Bank of Romania is responsible ...
* Emanoil Protopopescu-Pake (1845–1893), law professor, police prefect and politician, mayor of Bucharest *
Alexandru Macedonski Alexandru Macedonski (; also rendered as Al. A. Macedonski, Macedonschi or Macedonsky; 14 March 1854 – 24 November 1920) was a Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in hi ...
(1854–1920), poet, writer and literary critic *
Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea ; pen name of Barbu Ștefan; April 11, 1858 in Bucharest – April 29, 1918 in Iași) was a Romanian writer and poet, considered one of the greatest figures in the National awakening of Romania. Early life and ...
(1858–1918), writer, poet, lawyer and mayor of Bucharest *
Nicolae Filipescu Nicolae Filipescu (December 5, 1862 – September 30, 1916) was a Romanian politician. Filipescu was the mayor of Bucharest between February 1893 and October 1895. It was during his term the first electric tramways circulated in Bucharest. Betw ...
(1862–1916), politician, mayor of Bucharest *
Gheorghe Marinescu Gheorghe Marinescu (; 28 February 1863 – 15 May 1938) was a Romanian neurologist, founder of the Romanian School of Neurology. History After attending the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bucharest, Marinescu received most of his medi ...
(1863–1938), founder of the Romanian School of Neurology * Elena Văcărescu (1864–1947), writer and twice laureate of the
French Academy French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
*
Dragomir Hurmuzescu Dragomir M. Hurmuzescu (13 March 1865, in Bucharest – 31 May 1954, in Bucharest) was a Romanian physicist and inventor, teacher at the University of Iași and the University of Bucharest, and a correspondent member at the Romanian Academy. He i ...
(1865–1954), physicist and inventor *
Vintilă Brătianu Vintilă Ion Constantin Brătianu (16 September 1867 – 22 December 1930) was a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between 24 November 1927 and 9 November 1928. He and his brothers Ion I. C. Brătianu and Dinu Brătianu ...
(1867–1930), construction engineer, mayor of Bucharest and
Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...
*
Nicolae Paulescu Nicolae Constantin Paulescu (; 30 October 1869 (O.S.) – 17 July 1931) was a Romanian physiologist, professor of medicine, and politician, most famous for his work on diabetes, including patenting ''pancreine'' (a pancreatic extract containing ...
(1869–1931), medical doctor, physiologist and the discoverer of
insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...
*
Ion Gheorghe Duca Ion Gheorghe Duca (; 20 December 1879 – 29 December 1933) was Romanian politician and the Prime Minister of Romania from 14 November to 29 December 1933, when he was assassinated for his efforts to suppress the fascist Iron Guard movement. ...
(1879–1933), politician and
Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...
*
Tudor Arghezi Tudor Arghezi (; 21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer, best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest, he explained that his pen name was related to ''Argesis'', th ...
(1880–1967), poet and writer *
Traian Lalescu Traian Lalescu (; 12 July 1882 – 15 June 1929) was a Romanian mathematician. His main focus was on integral equations and he contributed to work in the areas of functional equations, trigonometry, trigonometric series, mathematical physics, geo ...
(1882–1929), mathematician *
Mateiu Caragiale Mateiu Ion Caragiale (; – January 17, 1936), also credited as Matei or Matheiu, or in the antiquated version Mateiŭ,Sorin Antohi"Romania and the Balkans. From Geocultural Bovarism to Ethnic Ontology" in ''Tr@nsit online'', Institut für die ...
(1885–1936), poet and prose writer, illegitimate child of
Ion Luca Caragiale Ion Luca Caragiale (; commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale; According to his birth certificate, published and discussed by Constantin Popescu-Cadem in ''Manuscriptum'', Vol. VIII, Nr. 2, 1977, pp. 179-184 – 9 June 1912) was a Romanian playw ...
* Viorica Agarici (1886–1979), nurse and philanthropist,
Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
*
George Topîrceanu George Topîrceanu (; March 20, 1886 – May 7, 1937) was a Romanian poet, short story writer, and humourist. Biography He was born in Bucharest, the son of Ion Topîrceanu, a furrier and his wife, Paraschiva (née Cosma), a carpet weaver. Th ...
(1886–1937), poet, short story writer and humourist. *
Henri Coandă Henri Marie Coandă (; 7 June 1886 – 25 November 1972)''Flight'' 1973 was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer, and builder of an experimental aircraft, the Coandă-1910 described by Coandă in the mid-1950s as the world's first jet, a co ...
(1886–1972), aviation pioneer, inventor, the builder of world's first jet powered aircraft (
Coandă-1910 The Coandă-1910, designed by Romanian inventor Henri Coandă, was an unconventional sesquiplane aircraft powered by a ducted fan. Called the "turbo-propulseur" by Coandă, its experimental engine consisted of a conventional piston engine dri ...
) and the discoverer of the
Coandă effect The Coandă effect ( or ) is the tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a convex surface. ''Merriam-Webster'' describes it as "the tendency of a jet of fluid emerging from an orifice to follow an adjacent flat or curved surface and to ent ...
* Jacob L. Moreno (1889–1974),
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
, leading
social scientist Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of socie ...
, founder of
psychodrama Psychodrama is an action method, often used as a psychotherapy, in which clients use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives. Developed by Jacob L. Moreno and h ...
and foremost pioneer of
group psychotherapy Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, ...
* Edward G. Robinson (1893–1973), actor of stage and screen during Hollywood's Golden Age *
Catherine Caradja Princess Catherine Olympia Caradja (born Ecaterina Olimpia Creţulescu; 28 January 1893 – 26 May 1993) was a Romanian aristocrat and philanthropist. Born in Bucharest, she grew up in England and France, and lived in Romania from 1908 to 1952, ...
(1893–1993), aristocrat and philanthropist *
Mihail Andricu Mihail Andricu (22 December 1894, Bucharest - 4 March 1974, Bucharest ) was a Romanian composer, violinist, and pianist. He studied with Alfonso Castaldi, Robert Klenck and Dumitru Kiriac. Andricu graduated from the National University of Music B ...
(1894–1974), composer, violinist, and pianist *
Camil Petrescu Camil Petrescu (; 9/21 April 1894 – 14 May 1957) was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era in Romania. Life Petrescu was born in Bu ...
(1894–1957), writer, poet and philosopher *
Marcel Janco Marcel Janco (, ; common rendition of the Romanian language, Romanian name Marcel Hermann Iancu ; 24 May 1895 – 21 April 1984) was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading ...
(1895–1984), visual artist, architect and art theorist, co-inventor of
Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...
*
Clara Haskil Clara Haskil (7 January 1895 – 7 December 1960) was a Romanian classical pianist, renowned as an interpreter of the classical and early romantic repertoire. She was particularly noted for her performances and recordings of Mozart. She was also ...
(1895–1960), classical pianist * Marthe, Princess Bibesco (1886–1973), writer and poet *
George Călinescu George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899, Bucharest – 12 March 1965, Otopeni) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the mos ...
(1899–1965), literary critic *
Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
(1907–1986), historian of religion, writer and philosopher * Haralamb H. Georgescu (1908–1977), modernist architect *
Șerban Țițeica Șerban Țițeica ( – May 28, 1985) was a Romanian quantum physicist. He is regarded as the founder of the Romanian school of theoretical physics. The third and last child of mathematician Gheorghe Țițeica, he was born in Bucharest, where he ...
(1908–1985), physicist, the child of
Gheorghe Țițeica Gheorghe Țițeica (; 4 October 1873 – 5 February 1939) publishing as George or Georges Tzitzéica) was a Romanian mathematician who made important contributions in geometry. He is recognized as the founder of the Romanian school of differentia ...
; head of the Romanian Academy * Vazken I of Bucharest (1908–1994),
Catholicos of All Armenians The Catholicos of All Armenians (plural Catholicoi) ( hy, Ամենայն Հայոց Կաթողիկոս; see #Other names), is the chief bishop and spiritual leader of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the worldwide Arme ...
,
National Hero of Armenia National Hero of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի ազգային հերոս, translit=Hayastani azgayin heros) is the highest title in Armenia. The law on the title was signed by President Levon Ter-Petrosyan on 22 April 1994. It is awarded "for o ...
*
Richard Wurmbrand Richard Wurmbrand, also known as Nicolai Ionescu (24 March 1909 – 17 February 2001) was a Romanian Evangelical Lutheran priest, and professor of Jewish descent. In 1948, having become a Christian ten years before, he publicly said Communism a ...
(1909–2001), Christian minister *
Maria Tănase Maria Tănase (; 25 September 1913 – 22 June 1963) was a Romanian singer and actress. Her music ranged from traditional Romanian music to romance, tango, chanson and operetta. Tănase has a similar importance in Romania as Édith Piaf in F ...
(1913–1963), singer and actress *
Corneliu Coposu Corneliu (Cornel) Coposu () (20 May 1914 – 11 November 1995) was a Christian Democratic and liberal conservative Romanian politician, the founder of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party ( ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc Cre ...
(1914–1995), politician and communist detainee *
Gică Petrescu Gică Petrescu (; 2 April 1915 – 18 June 2006) was a prolific Romanian folk music composer and performer. He made his debut at age 18 by joining a student band, having just graduated from the Gheorghe Șincai High School in Bucharest. His ...
(1915–2006), singer and composer *
Gellu Naum Gellu Naum (1 August 1915 – 29 September 2001) was a Romanian poet, dramatist, novelist, children's writer, and translator. He is remembered as the founder of the Romanian Surrealist group. The artist Lygia Naum, his wife, was the inspiration a ...
(1915–2001),
surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
writer *
Neagu Djuvara Neagu Bunea Djuvara (; 18 August 1916 – 25 January 2018) was a Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. Biography Early life A native of Bucharest, he was descended from an aristocratic Aromanian family ...
(1916–2018), historian, diplomat, law professor, writer and philosopher, nephew of
Alexandru Djuvara Alexandru Djuvara (; 20 December 1858 – 1 February 1913) was a Romanian writer, journalist and politician. Early years Djuvara was born in Bucharest on 20 December 1858. He was the uncle of prominent Romanian historian Neagu Djuvara. Afte ...
*
Dinu Lipatti Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti (; 2 December 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related to Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy. He comp ...
(1917–1950), pianist and composer *
Angelica Rozeanu Angelica Rozeanu (née Adelstein) (15 October 1921 – 21 February 2006) was a Romanian table tennis player of Jewish origin, the most successful female table tennis player in the history of the sport, winning the women's world singles title 6 ye ...
(1921–2006), one of the most successful female table tennis players in the history of the sport *
Horia Damian Horia Damian (Bucharest, 27 Feb 1922 - Paris 14 May 2012) was a Romanian painter and sculptor. Biography Damian enrolled at the School of Architecture in Bucharest in 1941. In that same year he made his debut at the Salonul Official de Pictur ...
(1922–2012), painter and sculptor *
Liviu Ciulei Liviu Ciulei (; 7 July 1923 – 24 October 2011) was a Romanian theater and film director, film writer, actor, architect, educator, costume and set designer. During a career spanning over 50 years, he was described by ''Newsweek'' as "one of the b ...
(1923–2011), theatre and film director, film writer, actor, educator, and costume and set designer * Dinu C. Giurescu (1927–2018), historian and politician, son of
Constantin C. Giurescu Constantin C. Giurescu (; 26 October 1901 – 13 November 1977) was a Romanian historian, member of the Romanian Academy, and professor at the University of Bucharest. Born in Focșani, son of historian Constantin Giurescu (historian), Constant ...
* Nicolae Herlea (1927–2014), opera singer, baritone *
Draga Olteanu Matei Draga Olteanu Matei (née Olteanu) (; 24 October 1933 – 18 November 2020) was a Romanian actress. She performed in more than thirty films from 1967 to 2006. Born in Bucharest, she studied at the Iulia Hasdeu High School in Lugoj. After mov ...
(b. 1933), film and stage actress *
Victor Rebengiuc Victor Rebengiuc (; known in full as Victor-George Rebengiuc; born 10 February 1933) is a Romanian film and stage actor, also known as a civil society activist. Since 1957, he has been a member of the Bulandra Theater company, acting in more th ...
(b. 1933), film and stage actor, activist *
Gheorghe Dinică Gheorghe Dinică (; 1 January 1934 – 10 November 2009) was a Romanian actor. Career Dinică showed an early interest in acting, being part of different amateur theater troupes since he was 17. In 1957, he entered The National Institute of Thea ...
(1934–2009), actor *
Mircea Albulescu Iorgu Constantin Albulescu (4 October 1934 – 8 April 2016), known professionally as Mircea Albulescu (), was a Romanian actor, university professor, journalist, poet, writer, and member of the Writers' Union of Romania (''Uniunea Scriitorilor'' ...
(1934–2016), film and stage actor, professor, journalist, poet and writer * Cristian Țopescu (1937–2018), sports commentator, journalist and politician *
Gheorghe Gruia Gheorghe Gruia Marinescu (October 2, 1940 – December 9, 2015) was a Romanian handball player, coach and sports official. Born in Bucharest, Gruia won the gold medal in the 1964 World Handball Championship and the 1970 World Championship. In t ...
(1940–2015), handball player and twice world champion, named ''Greatest Handball Player of All Time'' by the
International Handball Federation The International Handball Federation (IHF) is the administrative and controlling body for handball and beach handball. IHF is responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the IHF World Men's Handball C ...
(IHF) *
Margareta Pâslaru Margareta Pâslaru or Pîslaru (; born July 9, 1943, in Bucharest) is a Romanian-American singer, actress, composer, lyricist, TV producer, and artistic director. Debuting in 1958, Pâslaru celebrated the 50th anniversary of her career at The Roma ...
(b. 1943), actress and singer *
Cristian Gațu Cristian Gațu (born 20 August 1945) is a retired Romanian handball player. He earned 212 caps with the national team, winning the world title in 1970 and 1974 and medalling at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. After retiring from competitions he beca ...
(b. 1945), former handball player, twice winner of the World Championship with Romania and twice winner of the European Champions Cup with Steaua București *
Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Lucescu is also ...
(b. 1945), former football player and coach, European Coach of the Year *
Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (, born 19 July 1946) is a former World No. 1 Romanian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles from 23 August 1973 to 2 June 1974, and was the first man to hold the top position on the computerized ATP ranking ...
(b. 1946), tennis player and the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, first World No. 1, International Tennis Hall of Famer * Florea Dumitrache (1948–2007), football player and twice winner of the Romanian Footballer of the Year (Gazeta Sporturilor), Romanian Footballer of the Year award * Andrei Pleșu (b. 1948), philosopher and essayist * Corneliu Vadim Tudor (1949–2015), poet, writer, journalist and politician * Dudu Georgescu (b. 1950), football player and twice winner of the European Golden Shoe * Anghel Iordănescu (b. 1950), former football player and coach, and winner of the UEFA Champions League, European Cup * Dan Petrescu (businessman), Dan Petrescu (1953–2021), businessman and billionaire * Mircea Cărtărescu (b. 1956), writer, poet and literary critic * Michael Cretu, Michael Crețu (b. 1957), singer, songwriter, and producer, founder of Enigma (German band), Enigma * Mircea Geoană (b. 1958), former politician and Secretary General of NATO#Deputy Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General of NATO * Cristian Diaconescu (b. 1959), diplomat * Octavian Morariu (b. 1961), President of Rugby Europe *
Maia Morgenstern Maia Emilia Ninel Morgenstern (; born 1 May 1962) is a Romanian film and stage actress, Gabriela DumbaPur și SIMPLU, Maia Morgenstern, ("Pure and simple, Maia Morgenstern", but with a pun, because Simplu is a Romanian musical group with whom ...
(b. 1962), film and stage actress * Laura Badea-Cârlescu (b. 1970), fencer, Olympic, World and European champion in foil, Fédération Internationale d'Escrime, International Fencing Hall of Famer * Bogdan Aurescu (b. 1973), lawyer, diplomat and politician * Rukmini Callimachi (b. 1973), ''New York Times'' journalist * Theodor Paleologu (b. 1973), historian, diplomat and politician, son of Alexandru Paleologu * Roxana Mărăcineanu (b. 1975), former swimmer, first French world champion, politician and the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (France), Minister of Youth and Sports of France * Ion Oncescu (b. 1978), prolific Arm wrestling, arm wrestler, hall of famer * Alexandra Maria Lara (b. 1978), actress * Ana Maria Popescu (b. 1984), fencer, Olympic, World and European champion, former World No. 1 in épée * Cristina Neagu (b. 1988), handball player, has a record four IHF World Player of the Year awards


Twin towns – sister cities

Bucharest is Sister city, twinned with: * Amman, Jordan * Ankara, Turkey * Atlanta, United States *
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece * Beijing, China *
Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the ...
, Moldova * Damascus, Syria *
Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, Ukraine * Lagos, Nigeria *
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Russia * Nicosia, Cyprus * Pretoria, South Africa *
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
, Bulgaria * Tbilisi, Georgia In addition, Bucharest has a partnership with: * Yerevan, Armenia (2013)


See also

* List of buildings in Bucharest


References


Further reading


Modern history of Bucharest
City Hall of Bucharest * Șerban Cantacuzino, ''Două Orașe Distincte''. Revista Secolul XX 4/6 (1997): 11–40 * Ernie Schoffham, Luminița MacHedon, Șerban Cantacuzino, ''Romanian Modernism: The Architecture of Bucharest, 1920–1940''

Romanian Tourist Office * Tatiana Murzin

, 2005
Romanian Education Portal
Site for the Ministry of Education containing lists of all educational establishments.

on the Museums from Romania web site. * Bucica, Cristina.  , 2000.


External links



{{Authority control Bucharest, Capitals in Europe Cities in Romania Capitals of Romanian counties Localities in Muntenia Market towns in Wallachia Holocaust locations in Romania 1459 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Populated places established in the 1450s 1968 establishments in Romania States and territories established in 1968