King Michael I Park (), formerly Herăstrău Park (), is a large

park 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 ...

on the northern side of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, around Lake Herăstrău, one of the lakes formed by the Colentina River.

Geography

The park has an area of about 187 ha, of which 74 ha is the lake. Initially, the area was full of marshes, but these were drained between 1930 and 1935, and the park was opened in 1936. The park is divided into two zones: a rustic or natural zone (the

Village Museum The Village Museum or formally National Museum of the Village "Dimitrie Gusti" () is an open-air ethnographic museum located in the King Michael I Park, Bucharest, Romania. The museum showcases traditional Romanian village life. The museum e ...

), which is left more or less undisturbed, and a public/'active' domain with open areas for recreation activities. Small boats are allowed on the lake.

Name

The park was initially intended to be called National Park (''Parcul Național''), but it was renamed ''Parcul

Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, ...

'' during the period of the Carol II of Romania's cult of personality. Following World War II, it was renamed ''Parcul I. V. Stalin'', featuring a statue of Stalin at its entrance. In 1956, during the de-Stalinization period, Stalin's statue was torn down and the name of the park was changed to "Herăstrău". The name ''Herăstrău'' referred to the Herăstrău lake, and has its origin in a dialectal version of the word ''ferăstrău'' in standard Romanian, meaning

saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

, referring to the water-powered sawmills that were once found on the Colentina river which flowed through it. On 19 December 2017, by a decision of the Bucharest General Council, the park was renamed to " King Michael I Park" to honor the former King of Romania after Michael I had died on 5 December 2017.

History

The area of the park has been inhabited since the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

, traces of settlements being found at the Herăstrău sand quarry, including

flint tools Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistory, prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or Lithic reduction, knapped stone, ...

made by the

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an Industry (archaeology), archaeological industry of Lithic technology, stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and We ...

culture, a culture generally associated with the

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

s. During the

quaternary glaciation The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial period, glacial and interglacial, interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Year#SI prefix multipliers, Ma (million ...

, the area was inhabited by large mammals such as the

woolly rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch. The woolly rhinoceros was a member of the Pleistocene megafauna. The woolly rhinoceros was larg ...

and the

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

, bones of the latter being found in the Herăstrău sand quarry.Giurescu, p.26 During the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, a settlement of the first part of the

Hallstatt era The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European archaeological culture of the Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallst ...

belonging to a pastoral population was located in Bordei-Herăstrău (the area between Herăstrău and Floreasca lakes, today part of the Herăstrău Park), which gives the name of the culture ( Bordei-Herăstrău culture). In the Dacian settlements of Herăstrău, which has been dated, with the help of the coins, to the 1st century BC, archeologists found a treasure containing silver fibulae, silver spiral bracelets, a silver bowl, as well as Ancient Greek coins (from Tomis and Dyrrachium) along with Dacian imitations. Prince of Wallachia

Alexander Ypsilantis Alexandros Ypsilantis (12 December 1792 – 31 January 1828) was a Greek nationalist politician who was member of a prominent Phanariot Greeks, Phanariot Greek family, a prince of the Danubian Principalities, a senior officer of the Imperial R ...

built an Ottoman-style pavilion on the banks of the Herăstrău Lake. The plain along the lake was used in 1831, during the Russian occupation, for military exercises by a joint force of the Wallachian and Russian militaries. By the mid-19th century, Herăstrău was the main

promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortification, fortress or city walls ...

area used by the Romanian élite for walks. In 1936, the work began for the creation of the National Park (''Parcul Național'') in Herăstrău. For this, several dozen squalid houses, as well as an industrial plant were expropriated and torn down, being replaced with alleys and trees, being finally open for the public in May 1939, becoming Bucharest's largest park.Giurescu, p.199

Buildings and facilities

Elisabeta Palace Elisabeta Palace () is a palace on Kiseleff Road in Bucharest, Romania. Built in 1936, it is the official residence in Romania of Margareta of Romania, her husband Prince Radu, and her sister Princess Maria. The Palace was designed in 1930 ...

, the current residence of the

Romanian Royal Family The Romanian royal family () constitutes the Romanian subbranch of the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern (also known as the ''House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen''), and was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Romania, a constitutional ...

, is located in the park, as an "island" inside the Village Museum, near ''

Arcul de Triumf Arcul de Triumf (Romanian language, Romanian; "The Triumphal Arch") is a triumphal arch located on the Șoseaua Kiseleff, Kiseleff Road, in the northern part of Bucharest, Romania. The monument, designed by Petre Antonescu, was built in 1921– ...

''. The Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum, an open-air museum showcasing traditional life of the Romanian peasant and having hundreds of houses from across Romania, is also one of the main attractions in the park. Scattered across the park are an open-air theatre, a yacht club, a sports club, the Herăstrău Hotel and, adjunct to the park, the Diplomatic Club, featuring a golf course. There is also Berăria H, the largest beer hall in southeastern Europe (formerly Pavilion H, a Soviet-style building); its capacity is of 2,000 places inside and 1,000 on an outside terrace.

Gallery

File:Elisabeta Palace Dining Room2.jpg,

File:BucarestVillageMuseum10.jpg,

File:Beraria H 20190410 194455013 (33731028558).jpg, Berăria H Beer Hall File:Main Green Lawn (AP4P1151 1PS) (29481278222).jpg, Green lawn File:Gradina Japoneza, Herastrau 03.jpg, Japanese Garden File:Parcul Herăstrău.jpg, Alley in Herăstrău Park in autumn File:Parcul Herastrau park Bucharest Bucuresti Romania.JPG, Sculptures File:Parque Herastrau, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-30, DD 21.jpg, Monument to the Founders of the EU File:Park Herastrau Eingang Charles de Gaulles Bukarest Rumänien.jpg,

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

entrance File:Parque Herastrau, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-30, DD 25.jpg, Fountains and gardens File:A black swan on Herăstrău Lake (5676919263).jpg, Black swan File:Carolina ducks in Herăstrău (5728054609).jpg, Carolina ducks File:Mr. Squirrel hugs you (5546327922).jpg, Squirrel File:Yellow-bellied slider (AP4N2407 1PS) (26812004507).jpg, Turtle File:Starling ro.JPG, Blackbird File:Ceas Herastrau.png, Public clock File:Parque Herastrau, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-30, DD 10.jpg, Public transport with boats File:Herastrau Park B-II-a-A-18802 1.jpg, Panoramic view of Herăstrău Park

Notes

References

* Constantin C. Giurescu, ''Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre'', Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966. * Florian Georgescu et al. ''Istoria Orașului București'', Muzeul de Istorie a Orașului București, 1965

External links

Parcul Herăstrău
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herastrau Parks in Bucharest Historic monuments in Bucharest 1936 establishments in Romania