Parks in Bucharest, Romania
Table of Contents
- I. Table of Contents
1. A Brief History of Bucharest
2. Downtown Bucharest
3. Map of Herastrau Park
4. All About Herastrau Park
5. Culture in the Park
6. Muzeul Satului The Village Museum "Dimitrie Gusti"
7. Recreation in Herastrau Park
8. People in Herastrau Park
9. Map of Cismigiu Gardens
10. Short History of Cismigiu Gardens
11. A Little Bit of Culture in Cismigiu
12. Cismigiu Gardens
13. Cismigiu Gardens: Recreation
14. Works Cited
Exhibit by Paula Linte
Downtown Bucharest
People In Herastrau Park
A Little Bit of Culture in Cismigiu
The Romanian Round
A place full of greenery that shelters statues of famous Romanian men of culture:
Mihai Eminescu: poet (1850-1889)
Alexandru Odobescu: author, archaeologist, and politician (1834 1890-1895)
Titu Maiorescu: literary critic and politician (1840-1917)
I.L. Caragiale: Playwrite(1852-1912)
George Cosbuc: poet (1866-1918)
St. O. Iosif: poet and translator (1875-1913)
Al. Vlahuta: author (1858-1919)
Duiliu Zamfirescu: novelist (1858-1922)
B.P. Hasdeu: writer and philologist (1857-1907)
N. Balcescu: leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution (1819-1852)
Vasile Alecsandri: poet and diplomat (1821-1890)
The First Kiosks
At the end of 19th C. one of the first kiosks in Bucharest was built at the main entrance of the park. The kiosk is restored and is still in use today.
Cismigiu Gardens
"Why I love it? Because I live next to it, because every morning I wake up hearing the birds and the frogs living here, because I hope(d) my love affairs witnessed by this place will last forever, because I've shared here my most intimate thoughts.
...Also because the spot has a scent of the past, because it mirrors the the history of Bucharest and because... it define Bucharest." Raluca Gavris, Spotted by Locals, May 20, 2011.
"During my last visit, the autumn weather was perfect, and I saw some scene that I could have seen a hundred years ago: old Romanians chatting on one of the many benches of the park, a drunken man hanging over a bench, girls playing hide and seek, Romanian men playing chess and other games, young couples walking and circling the park, looking for a secluded spot where they could exchange their passionate kisses. Bucharest has known many changes in the last 150 years; Cismigiu Gardens is a beacon the people can trust will be there for them." Travel Adventures, October, 2007
Cismigiu Gardens: Recreation
Like in Herastrau Park, Cismigiu Lake is not only used for scenic purposes but also for rowboat rentals. During the winter Cismigiu lake is used as an ice skating rink for the city.
The lake in Cismigiu (as well as Herastrau Lake) is the natural habitat for swans who are admired by both citizens and tourists.
"For me Cismigiu Gardens is the most amazing park in Bucharest. You can listen to the music of the orchestra almost everyday and you can take a boat ride any time you want. I used to walk by it every day on my way to and from work." Vila Batalu
The park has two types of walkways; some are more formal: straight with neatly planted trees, benches and statues, while the other is more fluid with it's winding paths around the lake.
Short History of the Cismigiu Gardens
The Cismigiu Garden is Bucharest's oldest park and located in the center of the city. The roots of this park lay in drinking fountains. In 1779 Prince of Wallachia, Alexandrul Ipsilanti ordered that two drinking fountains be built for the cities to have potable water. The park is named after the main builder of the fountains "Marele Cismigiu" (Cismigiu the Great). With the help of the Venetian landscape architect, Frederich Wilhelm Meyer, construction of the park - which then was marshlands - began around 1849. In 1860 it was open to the public.
Today the park which is next to city hall (leftmost picture) is 14 hectares (35 acres) and is the home of many rare, protected species of trees; among them are the Japanese red pin and the red spruce fir. The park is the meeting place for people of all ages whether they are going for a walk, a coffee, or out for a romantic evening.
Works Cited:
Parcul Herastrau accessed on July 25, 2011.
http://www.pmdb.home.ro/index.html
Bucharest Daily Photo accessed on July 24, 2011.
http://www.bucharestdailyphoto.com/tag/herastrau
Romanian Explorer accessed on July 23, 2011.
http://bucharest.romaniaexplorer.com/
Muzeul Satului accessed on July 29, 2011.
http://www.muzeul-satului.ro/muzeu_istoric.php
Spotted By Local; Raluca Gavris accessed on July 27, 2011.
http://www.spottedbylocals.com/bucharest/cismigiu-gardens/
Travel Adventures
http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/europe/cismigiu-garden.shtml
Flicker
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cod_gabriel/4674102356/
All Romanian Translated by Paula Linte
Exhibit created by:
Paula Linte
lintep@pdx.edu
Recreation In Herastrau Park
"I really liked walking through the large alleys in the park; my husband liked going to the cafes and restaurants." Vila Batalu
Herastrau park has a number of recreational activities for the citizens of Bucharest. It gives them a place to walk in nature in a busy city as well as a safe place to bike. The multiple views of the swan-filled lake is as relaxing as it is romantic for the Romanian youth. Natives and tourists alike can rent small rowboats and enjoy the water as well as the gardens.
The park also has a peacock viewing area as well as playgrounds for children and a train ride.
For more athletic city dwellers the park offers tennis courts as well as a place for the Romanian youth to practice their favourite sport - roller skating - in the skate park, which always draws a crowd.
Muzeul Satului The Village Museum "Dimitrie Gusti"
The Village Museum "Dimitrie Gusti" was created in 1936 in Herastrau Park in Bucharest and was one of the first outdoor ethnographic museums in Romania and the world. After ten years of research the museum was built in 2 months and was opened on May 10, 1936, in the presence of King Carol II (this day was also his birthday), and to the public a week later. The new museum needed not only to be esthetically appealing but also show real life. In creator and founder Dimitrie Gusti's vision, the museum was "a social museum of today's Romanian village -- a village-museum," -- a representation of all the Romanian villages.
Gusti said that the museum's mission was to show visitors the reality, the village life, as it was lived by the Romanian peasant. Thus, Gusti and the co-creators from time to time brought peasant families from the origins of the monuments to live in the houses in the museum. But Gusti did not expect the results of such experiments: the degradations of the monuments and museum objects from intense use; since during that time they did not know ways to preserve the monuments and objects.
All About Herastrau Park
HISTORY:
In the 1800's the upper class citizens of Bucharest took walks in the same place that is now Herastrau Park because of its ideal location for strolls and recreation. Toward the end of the 1800's until 1930 the area was called the National Park. Until 1935 the area that is now Bucharest's biggest park was covered in marsh and swamp lands which were drained that year under the orders of King Carol II because of the marsh's unsanitary conditions. These events created many lakes in Bucharest, the largest being Herastrau Lake. From 1936 to 1940 city officials landscaped the area with trees, shrubs, and flowers. Today the Herastrau park is 110 hectares (272 acres). and the lake - which takes up a majority of the park - is 77 hectares (173 acres).
Culture in the Park
The Japanese Garden in Herastrau Park was created in 1998 with the help of the Japanese Embassy in Bucharest. As of 2010 the garden is a skeleton of what it once was.
The Alley of Cariatides by sculptor Constantin Baraschi was a sensation since it was revealed during Bucharest Month in 1939. The sculpture represents classic Greek elements in a Romanian style.
The statue was at one point torn down and destroyed by the communist regime and replaced with a statue of Stalin which was later torn down, and in 2005 the Alley was rebuilt.
The sculpture consists of 10 statues on each side of the alley. The statues are Romanian peasant women, dressed in traditional costumes, carrying water jugs on their heads. What makes the women in the statues different from one another is the position of their hands.
The Monument of the Founding Fathers of The European Union
This statue by Ionel Stoicescu was debuted on Europe Day (May 9, 2006) while Romania was still trying to become part of the European Union (EU). The statue consists of the 12 heads of the founders of the EU with their names underneath.
A Brief History Of Bucharest
According to legend, Bucharest was founded by a shepherd named Bucur (happy) and established as a nameless settlement along the Dâbovita in 1368. Eventually the settlement was named Bucharest due to an ordinance given by Vlad Tepesi (Dracula) and in 1659 Bucharest became the capital of Romania.
After continuous growth and many attacks by Turks, Austrians, Russians, as well as natural disasters, in 1890 Bucharest was renovated and remodeled in the style of Haussman's Paris. Many of the major buildings in the city were also built or designed by French architects before World War I. These architectural choices give Bucharest the nickname: Paris of the East or as Romanians call it, Little Paris. An earthquake in 1977 prompted the construction of major city projects - subway system and airport - and also allowed communist leader Ceausescu to make his vision of the city a reality. In December 1989 Bucharest had the most violent revolution in Eastern Europe and in 2007 Romania became part of the European Union.
