Quito Square (''Piața Quito'') is located in the center of

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 of ...

, near Victory Square, right in the middle of Paris Street. At its centre is a sculpture dedicated to (October 14, 1883 – February 10, 1919), one of the pioneers of

aviation in Romania Romania has a rich tradition in aviation. At the beginning of the 20th century, pioneers such as Henri Coandă, Aurel Vlaicu, Traian Vuia and George Valentin Bibescu made important contributions to early aviation history, building revolutionary aer ...

, the second best aviator in Romania. On June 22, 1905, Mircea Zorileanu was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, being assigned to the 1st '' Roșiori'' regiment in

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 ...

. In the summer of 1910, he suffered an injury during horse riding; due to his fractures he was declared unfit for riding. While recovering in the summer of 1910, he became interested in aviation, especially after

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...

's first flight to Romania on October 31, 1909. In the autumn of 1910, with the little money he had, he traveled to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

to attend

Roger Sommer Roger Sommer (4 August 1877 in Pierrepont, France – 14 April 1965 at Sainte-Maxime) was a French aviator. Born to Alfred Sommer, a Belgian industrialist, Roger Sommer became involved with aviation from an early age. He broke the record for ...

's Blériot aviation school, at

Mourmelon-le-Grand Mourmelon-le-Grand () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. Population Camp de Châlons The ''camp de Châlons'', also known as ''camp de Mourmelon'', is a military camp of circa 10,000 hectares near Mourmelon-le-Grand ...

. He attended the school from November 12, 1910 to February 13, 1911, but did not obtain a pilot's license at that time. When he returned to Romania, Zorileanu was asked to demonstrate his skills at Prince

George Valentin Bibescu George III Valentin, Prince Bibescu (; 22 March 1880, Bucharest – 2 July 1941, Bucharest) was a Romanian early aviation pioneer and automobile enthusiast. Family His parents were George Bibescu (son of Gheorghe Bibescu) and Valentine de Riquet ...

's flight school in Bucharest. on July 15, 1911 he executed before a military commission a flight with a Blériot

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, following which he received the second flight license granted in Romania. On one of the corners of Quito Square is the villa of engineer and builder , where he lived with his whole family. The project, in the

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 ...

style, was carried out by the architect between 1930 and 1932.

References

* {{Quarters Bucharest Squares in Bucharest