Timisoara is a large and old city, the third largest in the country, with a population of over 300,000 people. It is both a young, student policy and at the same time a major industrial center. In addition, forced construction during the reign of the Habsburgs made the old center of Timisoara look like the sophisticated baroque cities of Europe: the Romanians proudly call their city little Vienna. And at the same time – the most cosmopolitan city in Romania.
Timisoara was the first European city to have horse-drawn trams in 1869. And 20 years later, it became the first to have electric lighting on the streets.
How to get to Timisoara
According to Wholevehicles, 10 km from Timisoara is the second largest airport in Romania, Traian Vuia, the main transfer point for the second Romanian airline Carpataire. By regular flights “Carpatair” you can get to Timisoara through Dusseldorf, Lviv, Munich, Rome, Stuttgart, Venice. Austrian airlines also fly here from Vienna, and about five flights daily connect the city with Bucharest. From Budapest you can get to the city by direct trains (about 5 hours), as well as from Belgrade (4 hours) or Vienna (8 hours). Finally, from the Serbian border Vrshak you can take a bus.
History
It is not known exactly when Timisoara (or Temesvár in Hungarian) was founded, but the royal palace of the Hungarian monarch was built here in the early 14th century. The city was ravaged by the Tatar hordes and captured by the Turks, who ruled over it for more than a century and a half. Then the Habsburgs drove the Turks away, demolishing most of the mosques and building new baroque buildings in their place. In the early 20th century, Serbs claimed the city, but to no avail; and during the Second World War, Timisoara was badly damaged by air raids. Finally, in 1989, it was here that the historic popular assembly took place, which resulted in a revolution throughout the country and the overthrow of Ceausescu.
Timisoara was the first European city to have horse-drawn trams in 1869. And 20 years later, it became the first to have electric lighting on the streets.
Entertainment and attractions of Timisoara
You can walk to the most interesting places in the city: the most important points are located on the two main city squares. Or you can rely on public transport: the city has buses and trolleybuses, quite modern, and also old trams of German models. At stops, in the modern European manner, there are boards with a schedule, but, alas, Romania is far behind the rest of Europe in terms of punctuality.
There are two types of taxis in Timisoara: those licensed by the city government have an oval black sticker on the rear doors. Taxis of local companies that do not have such a sticker (but just the inscription “Taxi”) are half the price, although they are also quite legal.
The central square of Timisoara is the Victory Square (sometimes it is also called the Opera Square). Today, this square is one of the symbols of the Romanian Revolution, during which the communist regime was overthrown. Here stands the Cathedral of the Three Hierarchs, the main Orthodox church of the city. This is a rather austere brick and concrete building, built right before the Second World War: then they did not have time to finish the interior of the cathedral and finished it 15 years later. For Russian tourists, the cathedral may seem outwardly completely “non-Orthodox”, nevertheless, its architecture is typical of Moldovan and Romanian churches: it is narrow, tall, with 4 small and 9 large towers. The cathedral is over 80 meters high, making it the largest in the country and one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world. Also on Victory Square you can see the Opera House, built in the second half of the 19th century by architects from Vienna, the City Hall, the Philharmonic. Beautiful residential mansions of the 19th and 20th centuries are also located here.
Timișoara stands in a swamp, so it took about 5,000 oak beams to lay under the cathedral so that it would not sag.
Union Square in the center of the Old Town was built up during the Habsburg era, mostly with beautiful private mansions, in which many coffee houses are open today. The first attraction of the square is the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which stands opposite the Serbian Orthodox Church. The first one was built in the middle of the 18th century in a classical architectural style and received an elegant baroque interior decoration. The second was built around the same time and is an ornate mint green episcopal residence with extravagant trim and white stucco. In addition, the building of Nicholas Lenau College, built in 1761, is located on the square: the first city theater was opened here.
And on the south side of the square, you can admire the impressive baroque palace of the 18th century, formerly the residence of the city’s governor, and now the museum of fine arts. The museum’s collection contains works by German, Flemish and Italian artists. Finally, on the northwest corner of the square, you can see a beautiful Art Nouveau building, typical of Hungary in the early 20th century, the Skont Bank, very picturesque due to the curved lines of the facade, decorative elements of wrought iron and turquoise mosaic tiles.
3 things to do in Timisoara:
- Spend an evening in the hipster bar “Skartz” on the street. Zoe, 1. It’s a little away from the very center, but young people prefer to hang out there. The “chip” of the institution is in ice cream, which is sold in a bar and eaten on beds, sofas and hammocks.
- Find the Timisoara Capitoline she-wolf – an exact copy of the Roman one.
- Photograph a house with peacocks, built in 1905 on Plevney Square: its facade is decorated not only with peacocks, but also with swans, owls, squirrels, bunches of grapes, etc.
Between Victory and Union Squares there is Freedom Square – small, but with old buildings. Here you can admire the building of the old Town Hall and the beautiful sculpture of St. Nepomuk. And behind the Union Square is the Museum of the Revolution with free admission and a small but high-quality exhibition that allows you to understand what exactly happened during this week, which Romanians are so proud of.
Hunyad Castle is also noteworthy, built in the 14th century during the reign of Carol Robert, Duke of Anjou, and rebuilt in its own way by the Habsburgs in the 18th century. Today, the palace building houses the Banat Province Museum. The museum is considered one of the oldest in the country, and its expositions are dedicated to local history, nature, culture and folklore. The old protective city walls are also of interest – more precisely, what is left of them. Namely, the bastion of the 18th century, which is located near Union Square, if you walk along Palanka Street. Inside the bastion today is the ethnographic department of the Banat Museum.
Traian Square is also part of the old city, although this quarter is more like a separate ghetto. Often this place is called the Factory because of the old factory buildings that create more than a colorful entourage. The surroundings, however, are created not only by buildings: once at the Factory, watch your pockets, and in the dark, it’s better not to appear here at all. But during the day you can admire one of the most beautiful buildings in the city in the Factory quarter – the new synagogue built in 1899, built in the traditional Moravian style. There is also a local brewery nearby.
There is also an old synagogue in Timisoara, although it was built only 30-odd years earlier than the new one. This oriental-style building, which replicates the great synagogue in Oran, Algeria, is one of the largest synagogues in Europe.
In Romania, Timisoara is sometimes called the city of parks. Near Union Square is the most beautiful of them – Botanical. Not far from the Victory Square is the Rose Park and in the same place, behind the cathedral – the Central Park. And at the institute campus there is a Children’s Park. Near the Green Forest is the Village Museum, where you can get acquainted with the traditional life of the Romanian people. In the same area there is a small city zoo.
Neighborhood of Timisoara
The small Swabian town of Zimbolia is located 40 km west of Timisoara, on the border with Serbia. The town is quite old, with a rich history and a number of interesting sights. Gimbolia’s symbol is the statue of St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters. The Roman Catholic Church and traditional Swabian houses are also beautiful. There are also several interesting museums in the city: the museum of the artist Stefan Jaeger, the museum of firefighters Florian, the house-museum of Dr. Karl Diel and the museum of the press.
And about 20 km east of Timisoara are the Rekas vineyards. Here they conduct tours of the wine cellars, which end with the opportunity to taste white, red and rosé wines of classic local varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Kadarka, Feteaska.