Bucharest: Little Paris of the East

Bucharest is Romania's capital and largest city, as well as the most important industrial and commercial center of the country. With more than 2.1 million inhabitants in the urban area, Bucharest is one of the largest cities in Southeastern Europe. Bucharest is the primary entry point into Romania. Bucharest is a booming city with many large infrastructure projects changing the old face of the city. Known in the past as "The Little Paris," Bucharest has changed a lot lately, and today it has become a very interesting mix of old and new that has little to do with its former reputation. Finding a 300-year-old church near a steel-and-glass tower that both sit next to a communist-style building is commonplace in Bucharest. Bucharest offers some excellent attractions and has cultivated a sophisticated, trendy, and modern sensibility that many have come to expect from a European capital. Bucharest has benefited from an economic boom along with the EU grants that have helped rebuild parts of the city, including the revamped old town. Those who have known Bucharest in the past but have not visited recently will be surprised by the changes that are taking place. The largest finished project is the impressive Basarab overpass, which is Europe's widest cable bridge.

In October 2009, a central Holocaust memorial was unveiled in the Romanian capital of Bucharest. It is dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust in Romania. Between 1940 and 1944, hundreds of thousands of Romanian Jews fell victim to the systematic persecution of Jews by the Romanian authorities.

Once upon a time, Bucharest was home to a big, prosperous Jewish community. Almost 11% of Bucharest’s population was represented by Jews in the inter-war period. Those days are long gone now, as the Jews were greatly affected by the events of the World War II, migration to Israel and our communist regime. The Jewish neighbourhood (which used to spread from Unirii Square towards the east part of Bucharest) was destroyed in the ’80, during Ceausescu’s Regime. Although only a few marks of the old Jewish district are still standing, we find their legacy and culture still vibrant and rich.

Revolution Square is a square in central Bucharest, on Calea Victoriei. Known as Piața Palatului until 1989, it was later renamed after the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

The Royal Palace of Bucharest, known as Palace of the Republic between 1948 and 1990, is a monumental building situated in the capital of Romania, on Calea Victoriei.

Imobulil Solly Gold, modernist house at Boulevard Hristo Botev 34, Bucharest, designed by Marcel Janco. Built in 1934.

The Great Synagogue in Bucharest, Romania was raised in 1845 by the Polish-Jewish community. It was repaired in 1865, redesigned in 1903 and 1909, repainted in Rococo style in 1936 by Ghershon Horowitz, then it was restored again in 1945, as it had been devastated by the far-right Legionaries.