Bucharest

Bucharest is one of the oldest and most important cities in Europe, an important cultural, historic and economic center of the Eastern Europe.

The city is full of life and light and it is developing continuosly. It has known many changes, and each and every era it went through, left a profound mark upon its structure.

The city went from being a fortress (Dâmboviţa Fortress) to being a city, a princely residence, and later a capital. The abdication of the king brought the ending of an entire kingship era. Almost half a century of communism was ended by a revolution that brought about capitalism.

Having a history of almost half a millennium, Bucharest stood witness and at the same time took part in the great turning points in the Romanian history and culture. Known as “The Small Paris” during the inter-war period, Bucharest has never stopped being a unique combination of West-European and Balkan cultures.

As any old city it has events and buildings that contribute to its special charm: churches, palaces and gardens, demolitions and reconstructions, wars and revolutions. They have all contributed to building Bucharest’s statute as European Capital.

Bucharest is a charming city, full of contrasts, a junction between grand and modest, featuring the characteristics of West-European implementations.

The end of 19th century is the most flourishing period for Bucharest, a timewhen elegant buildings following the French and Italian Renaissance architectural lines are built. These uildings can still be admired today. The architectural elements, along with the French influence upon the literature and the art of the period, have turned Bucharest at the end of the 20th century into “the Little Paris” of the Eastern Europe.