Timisoara Travel guide

What to see and do

Timisoara has a number of museums, ancient cathedrals, monuments and parks that are worth a visit.

Getting around - Historic Timisoara is organized like a cross, with Piata Libertatii at the hart. Brediceanu street, Piata Libertatii, and Blvd. 16th December 1989, and Piata Unirii run south-north. Needless to say , Piata Libertatii is Timisoara's most popular and centrally located hangout, filled with cafes, supermarkets and beer patios. Blvd. 16th December, a pedestrian walkway that opens onto Piata Libertatii is also a great place to grab an ice cream or a beer. Piata Unirii, 110 yards north of Piata Libertatii is Timisoara's main meeting place, a quiet square lined with amber, orange and blazing-red 18th century apartments. Buses and trolleys run through Timisoara regularly, but you can easily rely on your feet for transportation unless you're headed to or from the train station.

HUNIADES's CASTLE
It was built by Carol Robert d'Anjou in 1316 and redecorated and enlarged by Iancu of Hunedoara (15th century) it is one of the oldest fortified bastionbastions in Timisoara. Today it houses the "Banat Museum" where you'll find a good collection of historic, archaeological and ethnographic displays. Other exhibits include maps, paintings and a scale model of 16th century Timisoara.
Huniade's Castle is located at: Piata Huniade Nr. 1. From the north side of Blvd. 16th December, walk a block east. Open Tuesday thru Sunday 10:00 - 5:00 PM. Phone number 40 56 13-48-18


BASTION OF THE CITADEL
Built in the 18th century, the bastion of the Citadel is the modern home of the "Banat's Ethnographic Museum" with a large collection of peasant art, costumes and hand-crafted jewelry and tools. If you go, you should inspect the Bastion complex from the outside. Raised by Timisoara's Turkish residents in the 1770's as a Muslim -only meeting hall, the Bastion retains its Arabic inscriptions and stone carvings. >From hotel Continental walk two blocks north ob Hector street. Open Tuesday thru Sunday, 10:00 thru 5:00 PM. Free admission.

METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL
Built between 1936 and 1946 by Ioan Traianescu, Timisoara's chief Orthodox cathedral is located at the end of Blvd. 16th December 1989. This 268 foot-tall, narrow brick church mixes Byzantine style with Moldovian influences. The church interior accommodates 5,000 and has a tall dome at the center. In the basement is a display of the 16th to 19th century icons ob wood and glass, beautifully preserved medieval stained glass, as well as books and other church objects. Admission is free, just ask one of the priests for a tour. They are more than happy to show you around. Open daily 6:00 AM thru 8:00 PM. Basement icon collection, daily 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

OLD TOWN HALL
It is the oldest building in town (18th century) built in the Renaissance and Baroque style, it stands on the site of a former Turkish public bath built in 1675 according to the stone inscription written in Arabic. Piata Libertatii Nr. 1.

OPERA HOUSE AND NATIONAL THEATRE
Both set in Piata Operei, were erected in the 18th century and rebuild in the 20th century. They are richly adorned and decorated. If you enjoy opera I suggest a night at the opera fallowed by a nice dinner at one of the many good restaurants in that area.

OLD CHIEFS COMMISSIONER's OFFICE
Located in Piata Unirii, and built in 1754 in the Renaissance and Baroque style, this magnificent building is remarkable for its carved wooden gates set in stone portals and its richly adorned walls.

BANAT VILLAGE MUSEUM

Is located in the Green Wood Forest just outside the city. Founded in 1971 on a 43 acres, it contains 21 monuments and 30 peasant dwellings (19th century) with all of their implement, brought from different areas of Banat. A farmhouse, water mills, a windmill, and old farm equipment. The museum is structured on a model of a village with all its institution: a mayor's office, school, club and church. Open 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Closed on Mondays.

Timisoara: History
Timisoara dates back in the time earlier than the first written echoes or documents about it. The diverse palette of Neolithic archaeological material, dug out within the precincts of the town, attest the existence of a longstanding settlement with a population of tillers and handicraftsmen. The Banat played an important part in the wars between the Dacians and the Romans, as well as during the Roman rule in the north of the Danube River. Many localities still bear the mark of those tumultuous times. In the south-west of the town one can still see fragments of solid entrenchments currently known under the name of the Roman-Moat. The historian Francesco Grisellini holds that the walls of the medieval fortress were built on the foundation of a former Roman castrum. At a time of great unrest and anxiety brought about by the migratory populations repeated raids, the inhabitants of those villages kept up their traditions and occupations. Their specific form of organizations was the territorial village communities ("popular Romanitiees")

For reason of defense, strong fortifications were made in order to control the roads and crossings, and thus secure survival in those turbid days. Such fortifications were built in Timisoara, in an area encircled, today, by Pietroasa Street, Alba-Iulia Street, Iancu de Hunedoara Square, Bocsa Street. It may have been one and the same with "Castrensis of Tymes" or "Castrum regium Themes" recorded by the early medieval sources: an indirect source in 1177, and a direct one in 1266. Besides the military and administrative role played by Timisoara, it has always had a major religious and political part since it came into being. The citadel was the religious centre of Romanians of the Banat, during the Xth-XIIIth centuries, until 1232. Timisoara's history is closely connected and directly engaged inthe effort made for stemming the Ottoman advance towards the centre of Europe. It was often the gathering place for the Christian armies. At the beginning of the XVth century, ample Turkish forays threatened the town causing great casualties in the carnage of battle. Backed by the peasants battalion commanded by Romanian knezes, Timisoara s garrison resisted heroically and it was not only once that they did carry the resounding day. In his plans for the defense of Christian Europe's liberty Iancu de Hunedoara (John Huniadyi) kept Timisoara for a very special part. The citadel became the centre of a permanent military base. He gathered his army on the plain near the walls of the town and then left for "the long campaign" in the fall of of 1443, and then for Varna. This town was also the place from where initiatives were started in order to grantassistance for Walachia and Moldavia. It was here that Iancu de Hunedoara brought his royal family after having consolidatedand fortified the castle (fortress). During the second half of the Xvth century Timisoara was the stage of violent struggle among the nobler parties, as well as of devastating repeated attacks waged by the Ottoman armies. In the early Xvth century, Timisoara knew dramatic social confrontations. The feudal rule, more and more oppresive, determined the bulk of peasantry to rise in arms under the leadership of Gheorghe Doja.

In the summer of 1514, the peasants army reached the town, trying to take possession of it and turn it into a centre of resistance. The long stretch of time under the Turkish domination (164 years) was also marked by political unrest and military confrontations. Timisoara also played an outstanding part in the anti-Otoman Uprising of the 1594 spring, in which Romanians and Serbians united against their common foe. The uprising was also closely connected to the fight for independence initiated by Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave). In the summer of 1596, the Romanian Voivode sent 4000 of his soldiers to participate in the siege of Timisoara. In 1600 he resume his plan; two reports show that the intention of Michael (the maker of the first union of the Romanian "lands") was "to snatch the citadel of Timisoara away" from the Turks hands. The Prince's assasination put an end to this project. The XVIIth century brought in even more turmoil, Timisoara was again in the foreground of the wars between the Ottoman and the Habsburg Empires; it was equally torn among the nobler parties. The Imperial Habsburg army surrounded the town in 1689 and kept it under siege for two years, without succeeding to defeat the Turkish garrison. In 1696 the Habsburg troops resumed their attacks; a fearful fight followed near the fortifications but the town could not be taken. In the summer of 1716 a stronger Habsburg army led by Eugene de Savoya reached the gates of citadel. Minute engineering works were developed and repeated bombardments prepared the decisive assault of October 1, 1716. After twelve days of battles, the Ottoman garrison capitulated and left Timisoara never to return. On October 18, Eugene de Savoya entered the citadel triumphantly, imposing the new Habsburgic rule which was to last for two hundred years. In the second half of the XIXth century Timisoara was to become an active presence in the national and social movement. On the 18th and 19th of November 1860 it was the host of the National Conference of the Romanians of Banat, claiming the Banat s autonomy and its tearing off from Hungary, demanding guarantees for the Romanians. It was in Timisoara that they laid the foundations of the National Party of Romanians of the Banat and Hungary, in 1860, led by Alexandru Mocioni. Romania s efforts in the 1877 War of Independence were supported by the town s population with offerings; they also took part in political activities for national and social rights, for the adoption of the universal suffrage. From this ample national movement, in which Timisoara had its major contribution, the 1918 Union of the Principalities would, eventually, become a reality. At Alba Iulia, on 1 December, many Romanians from Transilvania were present at the Grand National Assembly, where they upheld the unconditioned union of the Banat and Transylvania with Romania. The union of all the Romanian provinces created favorable possibilities for a more rapid development of Timisoara. In the period between the two World Wars a substantial progress was felt in its economic, social and cultural life. Timisoara become one of the most important urban centres of Romania, a model of civilization and of co inhabiting.

In December 1989 a major revolt against the rule of Ceausescu broke out here in Timisoara. This revolt spread all over the country and eventually led to the collapse of the ruling regime and the execution of Ceausescu and his wife Elena. Ceausescu's son was accused of being involved in all kinds of criminal "against the interests of the people" activities. But the revolt was not without heavy losses in terms of human lives; 1104 people died in December 1989. Before December 22nd 162 people died, 73 in Timisoara, 48 in Bucharest and 41 somewhere else in Romania. 3352 people were wounded. Some of the first victims were sent to Bucharest and cremated. The military had 260 dead, and 545 wounded. The "Securitatea" 65 dead and 73 wounded.

Ten years after the Coup d'Etat of December 1989, many questions were still un-answered.