Vitan is a neighborhood in southeastern

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 ...

, along the Dâmbovița River. It is located in Sector 3, and lies between the

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

, Dristor, Centrul Civic, Olteniței, and Berceni districts.

History

According to , its name comes from the Vitan Plain, where the cattle of the townspeople once grazed, while according to historian Adrian Majuru, the neighborhood's name comes from the name of a property owner, whose estate subsequently became a village that was later incorporated into the city o f Bucharest. Vitan is one of the oldest neighborhoods of Bucharest, but does have extensive links to the Bucharest transport network. The Bucharest Mall is situated in the north side of the neighborhood, while the Târca–Vitan Church is located on Calea Vitan. It was opened in 1999. The Bucharest Mall was the first shopping centre constructed in Romania and was built upon a former hunger circus. The now drained Lake Văcărești is located on the right bank of the Dâmbovița and the use of the of land owned by the state (evaluated to about $650 million) is still undecided. The neighborhood was mostly erased to allow for prefabricated apartment buildings to be constructed on their site between 1986 and 1992 (often constructed illegally without the required permissions), with typical architecture of the Communist era. Previously, the only new buildings in the area were the Vitan Post Office (1956) and Polyclinic (1967).

References

{{coord, 44, 24, 37.99, N, 26, 8, 13.52, E, display=title Districts of Bucharest