Articles (1839)

He Grew Up Without a Mother, Completed Only 12 Grades, and Appeared in the First New Year's Eve Show on Romanian Television. The Life of the Great Actor Mișu Fotino

Few actors managed to win over Romanian audiences with as much natural charm, elegance, and humor as Mișu Fotino. For nearly six decades, his name became synonymous with high-quality theater, refined comedy, and the New Year's Eve television shows that brought millions of viewers in front of their television sets. Charismatic, discreet, and deeply...

What You Should Know Before You Walk Into a Pawnshop in Bucharest

Rahova, Ferentari, Obor, Colentina are the Bucharest neighborhoods where pawnshop counters have been a fixture for decades, though lately you'll also find them on central boulevards, next to pharmacies and currency exchange offices. The market has grown steadily, driven by high bank interest rates and inflation, reaching an estimated 1.8 billion le...

Which have been the most sought-after faculties in Bucharest in recent years. From traditional competition to surprising rises

In Bucharest, the title of “most sought-after faculty” does not have a single answer. It depends on how we measure it: by the total number of candidates, by competition per state-funded place, by the traditional prestige of the field or by the specialisations that have grown suddenly in recent years.Data published by universities shows several clea...

Architects Who Shaped Bucharest: Horia Creangă, the Great Novelist's Nephew, the Aristocrat of Simple Lines

Bucharest still preserves the imprint of the architects who permanently changed the appearance of the city. Among the most important creators of modern Romanian architecture is Horia Creangă, the man who demonstrated that elegance does not lie in abundant ornamentation but in the balance of forms and the beauty of proportions. Considered by many hi...

The Story of the Great Actor Jean Lorin Florescu, the Romanians' Favorite Villain, Loved by Draga Olteanu Matei

Jean Lorin Florescu remains one of the most fascinating figures in the history of Romanian cinema and theatre. With an imposing presence, remarkable elegance, and a mysterious charm, the actor managed to turn almost every character he portrayed into a memorable appearance. Although audiences most often associated him with villainous roles, which he...

Who Was Alexandru Papiu Ilarian and Why Does He Have a Street Named After Him in Bucharest

Romania's history is marked by numerous personalities who fought for the affirmation of the national identity and for the modernization of the Romanian state. Among them is Alexandru Papiu Ilarian, one of the most important scholars and politicians of the 19th century. An outstanding jurist, historian, philologist, university professor, and Transyl...

Bucharest’s Parachute Tower, the concrete giant that taught people how to fall

Behind the National Arena, among sports grounds, trees and paths where Bucharest residents casually walk their dogs, rises one of the strangest silhouettes in the city. A slender concrete cylinder, as tall as a substantial apartment block, is topped by a metal cantilever resembling the arm of a crane that has somehow lost its construction site. Thi...

Pawnbroking, a 550-Year Story: How an Act of Charity Became the Shop on the Corner

On Sfântul Ionică Street in Bucharest once stood a multi-story building with a sober, imposing façade, the kind of architecture that left no doubt about how seriously the institution inside took itself. A chronicler of the time noted, with a touch of irony, how luxurious the building looked for an institution that claimed to be modest. Inside opera...

From Welded Steel to Rubber Tiles: How Bucharest's Playgrounds Changed Over the Last 50 Years

In the block neighborhoods built during the 1970s, a playground usually meant a swing made from welded pipe, a slide with rusting rails, and a climbing frame built for durability rather than for children. The sand around it mixed with dirt within a season, and the paint chipped off in the first year. Kids who grew up there don't remember the equipm...

10 things you may not have known about Magheru Boulevard

Perhaps the best-known thoroughfare in the Romanian capital after Calea Victoriei, General Gheorghe Magheru Boulevard stretches from Piața Romană to the intersection with C.A. Rosetti Street. Although many people believe that it continues all the way to University Square, from the junction with C.A. Rosetti onward the same thoroughfare runs toward...