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Buzău in County Buzău

Buzău is the capital city of the Buzău County, Wallachia, Romania. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the Carpathian Mountains and the fertile lowlands of east Wallachia. Buzău was known throughout the late middle ages for being an important market town, as well as for its Romanian Orthodox bishopric.

The city's most important landmark is the Communal Palace, built between 1899 and 1903, now serving as the City Hall. It is built in a mixed architectural style, rectangular in shape and having a tower in the southern corner. Along with the Courthouse, the Communal Palace was designed by architects commissioned by mayor Nicu Constantinescu, at the end of the 19th century.

From the Communal Palace, the Cuza Vodă street, leads to the Bazaar. The Cuza Vodă street features buildings from the late 19th century.

In the western part of the city, lies the Crâng park, a beautiful park carved in the corner of a larger forest. The forest, located on the outskirts of Buzău, is a remainder of the old Codrii Vlăsiei. The Crâng was designed in the early twentieth century after the model of the Wiener Prater park. It has an obelisk in the center, erected in 1976 to celebrate 1600 years since the first documentary evidence of Buzău's existence.

The oldest house in Buzău is the Vergu-Mănăilă house, built in the 17th or 18th century as a boyar's mansion. The house was rebuilt in 1971-1974 and now hosts the Museum of ethnography and folk art.

The Banului church, built in the 16th century as a monastery church, was rebuilt several times. In 1884, it was repainted by a team of painters including Gheorghe Tattarescu and his uncle Nicolae Teodorescu.

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Early Buzău History

The earliest mention on the river Buzău and the polis on its bank is a letter from Ioannis Soranus, governor of Scytia Minor to the archbishop of Caesarea Mazaca. The document, kept in copies at the Vatican Library and the "San Marco" library in Venice, talks about the martyrdom of the Christian missionary by the name of Sava, drowned by the goths in the river Buzău. He is the spiritual patron of the city of Buzău as well as several villages in the area.

The middle ages

Buzău evolved during the middle ages as both a market town and a spiritual center.

The earliest mention of Buzău as a market town (târg) and customs point comes from a document issued January 31 1431 by Dan II, voivod of Wallachia, in which it is stated that the salesmen from Braşov are free to trade in several cities of Wallachia (among them, Buzău), just as they were during the reign of Mircea cel Bătrân. The document suggests therefore, that the city held the market town status before his reign.

In the year 1500, Radu cel Mare creates The Bishopric of Buzău, making it a spiritual center of the area. In 1507, the city appears (under the name Boza) for the first time on a map made by Nicolaus Germanus.

In 1571, the Banului monastery is built. The monastery is called "Banului", by the title of its builder, ban Andronic Cantacuzino. The monastery church is rebuilt by Andreiana, wife of Şerban Cantacuzino, in 1722. After the monastic assets secularizing act of 1863, the monastery was disbanded, however its church, with its beautiful architecture, still stands.

Continuing Buzău's market town tradition, a document from 1575 speaks about the Bazaar (permanent market with shops, stores, cellars, storage rooms). The Buzău bazaar was the second oldest in Wallachia.

Modern history

In a document issued by Alexandru Ipsilanti on August 26 1778, we can find the oldest known mention of the Drăgaica fair. The initial purpose of Drăgaica was the trading of wool, and therefore it was held in the months that came after the sheep shearing. The Drăgaica fair is still being held in Buzău nowadays, twice every year, once in June and once in October.

The first known seal of Buzău, dating from the late 18th century bears the Phoenix bird, symbol of rebirth, process which the city had to go through several times throughout its history, after being burnt, destroyed or depopulated by wars, plagues, or earthquakes.

Between 1850 and 1880, the buildings on the Cuza Vodă Street were built. They replaced some older houses, whose cellars and foundations they kept. The buildings were built in the style of the 19th century South-Eastern European commercial houses, two-story buildings with shops at the ground floor, and residential rooms at the top floor.

In 1899, mayor Nicu Constantinescu begins the construction of the Communal Palace, project completed in 1903. The Communal Palace is now the city's most prominent landmark and most famous building. The same mayor constructed the new courthouse, as well as the Crâng park.

Constantin Brâncuşi lived in the city in the summer of 1914, where he created two of his sculptures: "Prayer" and Petre Stănescu's statue.

During World War I, the city was occupied, from 1916 to 1918, by German forces. Buzău returned to Romanian administration at the end of the war.

During World War II, the Soviet troops occupied Buzău in August 1944, and, as German soldiers were barricaded inside the Communal Palace, its tower was knocked down by cannons. The tower was rebuilt after the war. Heavy fighting took place in the area after August 23, 1944, when marshall Ion Antonescu was arrested in Bucharest and his pro-Nazi government overthrown. The Heroes' Cemetery, which lies in the west of the city, is the burial ground of the Soviet, German and Romanian soldiers who died at that time. The cemetery also contains monuments honoring the dead soldiers from both sides.

After the war, when Romania was taken over by communists, Buzău temporarily lost county capital status, being included in the Ploieşti region. In 1968, the Buzău county was reinstated with Buzău as its capital. The authorities ran a strong policy of demolition and building communist-type blocks of flats. As a consequence, the face of the city changed, as some old neighbourhoods were razed to make way for the new buildings.

In 1976, the city has celebrated 1,600 years since its oldest documentary mention. An obelisk was built in the Crâng park to mark the event.

In 1990, after the fall of Communism, the demolition process stopped and some neighbourhoods were saved from destruction. Building started for the St. Sava Cathedral in 1991.

The first school open in Buzău was the school for church and icon painters open by Chesarie, the bishop of Buzău. The school functioned at the bishopric of Buzău, and was managed by Nicolae Teodorescu. Gheorghe Tattarescu started learning painting here.

The city's most important educational landmark is the Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu high school, attended by Nobel prize winner George Emil Palade in his youth. The Hasdeu was inaugurated in 1867.

The city public library was open in 1893, under the name Carol I public library. Later it took the name of Buzău's most prominent writer and poet, Vasile Voiculescu.

The George Ciprian theatre was created in 1996. It does not have a team of actors of its own, but relies on contracts per play per season, therefore bringing to Buzău several distinguished actors in Romania. Its first manager was playwright Paul Ioachim.

The first superior college in the city is the Economic University College, inaugurated in 1992, as a member of the Academy of Economic Studies from Bucharest.