Văcărești Nature Park (Romanian: ''Parcul Natural Văcărești'') is a nature park located in Sector 4 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 ...

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

, containing the

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s surrounding Lake Văcărești.

History

Having , the area where the park stands was part of a large swampy area on the outskirts of Bucharest. To its west was the area known as the "valley of weeping" that was the

rubbish dump A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

of interbellum Bucharest. Much of the swampy area surrounding the park was drained by Communist Romania, building a neighbourhood of apartment blocks, while the "valley of weeping" became

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

wanted to build a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

which was supposed to be filled from the

Argeș River Arges or Argeș may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Romania * Argeș County, a county in Muntenia, with its capital at Pitești * Argeș Region, an administrative division from 1950 to 1952 * Argeș River, which flows through the Southern ...

via the Mihăilești Lake. As such, a concrete dam was built to surround the lake. The few modest houses located in this area were bought by the state and demolished. The plans for development were abandoned when communism fell and the area was overtaken by nature. In 2003, the Ministry of the Environment concessioned the area for 49 years to the Royal Romanian Corporation for

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6 million. The company was supposed to invest over a billion dollars in a sports-culture complex, however it did not honor its part of the contract. Due to the area being unused for such a long period of time, plant-life and wildlife flourished within the confines of the dam. The biodiversity now encountered here is considered by some to be comparable to that of a small river delta. A 2013 study counted hundreds of species of plants and 96 different species of birds. On June 5, 2014, the Lake Văcărești zone was declared a protected nature area and named ''Văcărești Nature Park'' by the Government of Romania. Văcărești Nature Park was the setting for Radu Ciorniciuc's 2020 documentary '' Acasă, My Home'', following a family that lived in the park for 20 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vacaresti Nature Park Nature parks Parks in Bucharest 2016 establishments in Romania