A Beautiful City (in some areas)

My city, my house, my life! This is what I think about the place where I live, in Bucharest, Romania. It happens to be the capital of the country and the largest city in the country, the most economically developed, and with the highest standard of living in the country. It is somewhat normal to be like this and for a long time, in my youth, I thought it was mandatory for the capital of a country to be the biggest city. Then I found out that it is not mandatory, that there are many big countries with small capitals.

I was born ten years later after the country became communist (forced by the Soviet Union and as a result of the division of areas of influence after World War II). The change of the form of government, from the Kingdom of Romania to the Socialist Republic, led to a profound affect on the country's development. The country's elite was destroyed and those who decided what the country's trajectory would be were totally unprepared, untrained, and without school. The result was disastrous, first of all, everything related to the old society was destroyed. Including cities. Extremely valuable buildings, hundreds of years old, were demolished to build blocks of flats and buildings inspired by Russian or Chinese and North Korean communist architecture.

These actions have led to a change in the appearance of cities, to a mixture of careless old and worthless new. And yet, there are still parts of cities that still retain the beauty of yesteryear.

This has happened in all cities of the country, to a greater or lesser extent. Now I want to talk about the city where I live, Bucharest. I like the city where I live.

In my youth, during the communist period, when I could not even compare it with other cities in other countries, because I was not allowed to travel, this city was the most beautiful for me. Especially after a few decades from the beginning of communism, important new constructions with a special architecture started to appear. This is also from the desire of the communist leaders, out of the Soviet influence, to prove that communist Romania can compete with the developed countries of Western Europe.

Of course, the most spectacular buildings were built in the country's capital, Bucharest. Because in this city came heads of state and officials from western countries.

This is how the complex in University Square appeared. The University Square is considered the zero kilometers of the country, from where the measurement of distances to the other cities of the country begins.

Two important objectives were built in this place. Intercontinental Hotel, the tallest building in the city, and the National Theater building. The hotel has 24 floors and was, during the communist period, the most luxurious hotel in Romania. The construction lasted three years and was completed in 1970. The height of the hotel is not impressive, of course, but two aspects must be taken into account ... Bucharest is located in the most seismic area in Europe and the other buildings in the city did not exceed ten floors. So this building was twice as tall as the other buildings.

The other important building, the National Theater, has a longer and more interesting story that requires a separate post. The building was designed (like the Intercontinental Hotel) by Romanian architects who chose to respect the traditional Romanian architecture so that this building resembles both peasant houses and Romanian churches. He succeeded and not much because the initial project was modified at the request of the communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu, who was far from being an intelligent and trained person. After the fall of communism, this building was modified to comply with the original design.

I live on the outskirts of the city and I really like it there, I find everything I need nearby. Because of this and because I'm retired and I don't go to the office anymore, I don't go to the city center often. Especially now, due to the pandemic, the theaters and performance halls in the center have been closed and I had no reason to go there. A few days ago I had to buy a gift and I went to an English bookstore in the center and so I saw the place again.

I was very surprised to see many old, historic buildings that have been restored. To see that many other buildings are being repaired and restored. The city is changing for the better. I can hardly believe it and I am very happy. In a few years, the city center and the old center will change their appearance and make the image of the city attractive.

This post can also be considered a travel one, but my intention was to show some important buildings in the city that are being renovated or that have already been completed.

The University Square, about which we started the story, is completed. To the right is the University building, which also gives the name of this place. On the left is the headquarters of an important bank, the largest Romanian bank.

An underground car park was also built, a kind of construction not very common in our cities.

What I reproach, in fact, I can not reproach, the best is to regret that there are few squares in Bucharest, and those that exist are generally small. There are not many places where a lot of people can gather. Now we have found that the University Square has been expanded, they have also built a pedestal where different artists and singers can sing. Of course, they are not allowed now but I hope that the pandemic will end and we will return to life before.

Now I will show you the Square from different angles in the hope that you will be able to make an impression of how it actually looks.

Unfortunately, I don't have photos from the old times, from the last century, to show you what this square was like. With gray and degraded buildings and many small buildings, stalls in the center. Now it has changed radically, I like it and it will definitely be liked by the tourists who will visit it.

This walkthrough of the center made me very happy and it was a big surprise the way the place changed. One of my great disappointments, after Romania got rid of communism in 1989, was that the expected changes are happening too slowly. Thirty years have passed since then! Finally, I see that something important and visible is being done and I hope that the rhythm will be maintained so that I can hope to see as much as possible of the future face of the city. Because I don't have that much time available anymore.