Grivița

Grivița () is a district 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 ...

, centered on the Grivița Railway Yards (''Atelierele CFR Grivița''), which were and still are an important landmark within the manufacturing landscape of the city. Located near Gara de Nord, their history dates back to the late decades of the 19th century, when they were developed in order to perform maintenance and overhaul of railway equipment serving

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first ra ...

. The name reflects the Romanian spelling for '' Grivitsa'', a village near Pleven, where one of the Ottoman redoubts in the Plevna's defenses was stormed and captured with heavy casualties by the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

during the

Romanian War of Independence The Romanian War of Independence () is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the phase of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), in which Romania, fighting on the Russian side of the war, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. On ...

(''see Siege of Plevna''). In honor of this victory, Calea Târgoviștei, a street in Bucharest that led to the road that connected the capital with the city of

Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște'') is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița (river), Ialomița River. Târgoviște was ...

, is renamed Calea Griviței. What initially started only to serve the city of Bucharest and the surrounding areas, grew over time into a cornerstone of the entire railway industry of Romania. In the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, after the start of the Great Depression in Romania, Grivița Railway Yards also become a focal point of the labor movement. The Grivița Strike of 1933 and its violent repression by the authorities are still remembered in Romania. During the communist regime, their name was changed to ''Grivița Roșie'' (" Red Grivița"), in memory of the 1933 events. The area surrounding the Yards, one of the oldest of the city of Bucharest, became known as ''Cartierul Grivița'' ("Grivița Borough"), populated by the workers of Grivița Railway Yards. To this day it remains a blue collar neighborhood. Districts of Bucharest Rail transport in Romania {{Romania-geo-stub