Charles de Gaulle statue in Herăstrău Park

Charles de Gaulle Square ( ro, Piața Charles de Gaulle) is a square in northern

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 country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, Romania. It lies at the intersection of Aviatorilor, Constantin Prezan and Primăverii Boulevards, and Calea Dorobanților. In the centre of the square stands

Paul Neagu Paul Neagu (1938-2004) was a Romanian artist living in England who worked in diverse media such as drawing, sculpture, performance art and watercolor. He died on 16 June 2004 in London. His influences included Cubism, Marcel Duchamp, Constantin ...

's ''Crucea Mileniului'' (Millennium Cross), built in the 1990s. In September 2006, on the occasion of the

Francophonie Francophonie is the quality of speaking French. The term designates the ensemble of people, organisations and governments that share the use of French on a daily basis and as administrative language, teaching language or chosen language. The t ...

Summit held in Bucharest, a statue of

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

was unveiled. Sculpted by Mircea Spătaru, it is high and was financed by the government. During the Communist period of Romania, the square hosted parades in honor of the Revolution of 23 August 1944.

Neighbourhood

Herăstrău Park is located to the northwest of the square,

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 (18 ...

is located in its own square a few hundred metres to the west, on Constantin Prezan Boulevard, while Piața Victoriei, where the Romanian Government headquarters is situated, is located south, at the end of Aviatorilor Boulevard. The state-owned

Romanian Television Televiziunea Română (), more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Română de Televiziune ("Romanian Television Society"; SRTV), the Romanian public television. It operates six channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Info, ...

is located about to the southeast, on Calea Dorobanților. The

Primăverii Primăverii neighborhood (“Springtime”) is a district situated in the north of Bucharest, the capital of Romania, in Sector 1. The area is one of the most expensive in the city and is home to many politicians and local celebrities. History ...

neighbourhood, which included the houses of the communist ''

nomenklatura The ''nomenklatura'' ( rus, номенклату́ра, p=nəmʲɪnklɐˈturə, a=ru-номенклатура.ogg; from la, nomenclatura) were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key admin ...

'', is located to the northeast. ''

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 ...

'', an office building inaugurated in 2004, is located in the southeastern part of the square and the Aviatorilor metro station is located right underneath the square, oriented from north to south.

Name

The square was originally Piața Jianu, from

Iancu Jianu Iancu Jianu (; 1787 – 14 December 1842), also Ioniță Jianu, was a Wallachian Romanian hajduk. Biography Born in Caracal, Oltenia, Wallachia, in 1787, to the Jianu boyar family, as the youngest of four brothers. His father, Costache Jianu, w ...

, a haiduc (brigand) and folk hero who fought together with

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 the

1821 Wallachian Revolution The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative b ...

. In 1940 it was renamed Piața Adolf Hitler, but its original name was restored shortly after 23 August 1944, when Romania joined the

Allies 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 ...

and turned against the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

. However, following the

Soviet occupation of Romania The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania. The fate of the territories held by Romania after 1918 that were incorporated int ...

, its name was changed in 1948 to Piața Generalissim I. V. Stalin, lasting until the early 1960s, when Romania began to assert a more independent foreign policy vis-à-vis the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. A statue of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

stood in the square between 1951 until a summer night in 1962, when four tanks and twelve bulldozers removed it in several hours. The square was renamed Piața Aviatorilor,

Aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

s' Square. Diana Toea
"Piața Charles de Gaulle s-a numit Hitler în ’40 și Stalin în ’47, după cum a bătut vântul intereselor"
''

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 du ...

'', October 4, 2012; accessed October 4, 2012 Its final name change happened in the late 1990s, the square being renamed after

, the leader of the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...

and first

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the

French Fifth Republic The Fifth Republic (french: Cinquième République) is France's current republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.. The Fifth Republic emerged from ...

Notes

External links

Charles de Gaulle Square, aerial view from the north
Charles de Gaulle Plaza, the building on the southeast of the Square
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and ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110713021456/http://www.imphotostudio.com/foto/chdegaulle.jpg an image of it {{coord, 44, 27, 58.23, N, 26, 5, 10.82, E, display=title Squares in Bucharest