Hi Bloggers!

This time we went to Bucharest. What a visit! As I always like to know more about the city and its past I’m going to talk about the history of Bucharest.

Bucharest has a long history but the city hasn’t always been the capital of Romania and it hasn’t always been named this way. The area where Bucharest is situated used to be covered with a lot of forests. That is probably the reason why in ancient times it didn’t develop and didn’t become a real city.

It wasn’t until the 14^th century that Bucharest was mentioned. According to the legend the city was founded by the shepherd Bucur. Though in general it is assumed that it was prince Mircea Ciobanu of Wallachië who founded Bucharest in the 14 century after he had conquered the Turks.

In the 17^th century Bucharest was attacked by the Turks once again. The city burned and everything was destroyed. After reconstruction the city started to grow, prosperity increased and so it was in this century that prince Constantin Brâncovaenu made Bucharest the capital of Romania. Though this didn’t mean that the city was to be spared. In the following centuries several severe natural disasters caused many destructions.

Besides natural disasters the city also suffered a lot because of the attacks of the Habsburgs, the Ottomans, Russia and Austria. In the 19^th century the city burned again and this destroyed almost a third of the beautiful buildings.

In the second half of the 19^th century, after the city recovered yet again, the population of Bucharest increased a lot. Because of its extravagant architecture and high standard of life it was nicknamed ‘Paris of the east’.

During the First World War the city was attacked by the Germans and during the Second World War it was bombed by the Allied. After the war Romania became part of the Soviet Union and was ruled by the dictator Nicolae Ceausecu. Because of him a lot of the historical buildings were demolished as he wanted new buildings to take their place. In late 19^th century an earthquake stroke the city which damaged once again many ancient buildings. Despite the war and natural disasters some of the historical quarters were preserved.

After the Soviet Union came to an end this also meant liberation of Romania of communism. After several hard years tide turned for the better. From 2000 on economy and culture started to grow. Nowadays new buildings stand aside the historical ones and that is what makes Bucharest a true metropolitan.

Ilse xxx

Sources: 

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boekarest

http://www.take-a-trip.eu/nl/boekarest/geschiedenis

http://www.vacance-roumanie.com/toerisme_Roemenie/accomodatie_Roemenie.html