Cismigiu Gardens
Encyclopedia
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
near the center of Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, spanning areas on all sides of an artificial lake. The gardens' creation was an important moment in the history of Bucharest
History of Bucharest
The history of Bucharest covers the time from the early settlements on the locality's territory until its modern existence as a city, capital of Wallachia, and present-day capital of Romania.-Ancient times:...
. They form the oldest and, at 17 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s, the largest park in city's central area. The main entrance is from Regina Elisabeta Boulevard, in front of the City Hall
Mayor of Bucharest
The Mayor of Bucharest , sometimes known as the General Mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania, which is responsible for city-wide affairs, such as the water system, the transport system and the main boulevards...
; there is another major entrance at the Ştirbei Vodă Street, near the Creţulescu Palace
Cretulescu Palace
Creţulescu Palace is a historic building near the Cişmigiu Gardens on the Ştirbei Vodă street nr. 39 in Bucharest, Romania...
. The southwestern corner of the park is adjacent to the Gheorghe Lazăr High School.
Landmarks
The Rondul Român ("Romanian Round") or Rotonda Scriitorilor ("Writers' Rotunda") is a circular alley which has stone busts of twelve important Romanian writers: Mihai EminescuMihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava College and, from 1850, a Paris lycée, he took the baccalauréat in 1853 and studied...
, Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
, Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
, George Coşbuc
George Cosbuc
George Coşbuc was a Romanian poet, translator, teacher, and journalist, best remembered for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life, its many travails but also its occasions for joy....
, Ştefan Octavian Iosif
Stefan Octavian Iosif
Ştefan Octavian Iosif was a Romanian poet and translator of Aromanian origin.-Life:Born in Braşov, Transylvania , he studied in his native town and in Sibiu before completing his education in Paris. While in France, he met Dimitrie Anghel, who would became a long-time friend...
, Ion Creangă
Ion Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
, Alexandru Vlahuţă
Alexandru Vlahuta
Alexandru Vlahuţă was a Romanian writer. His best known work is România pitorească, an overview of Romania's landscape in the form of a travelogue. He was also the main editor of Sămănătorul magazine, alongside George Coşbuc....
, Duiliu Zamfirescu
Duiliu Zamfirescu
Duiliu Zamfirescu was a Romanian novelist, poet, short story writer, lawyer, nationalist politician, journalist, diplomat and memoirist. In 1909, he was elected a member of the Romanian Academy, and, for a while in 1920, he was Foreign Minister of Romania...
, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Hasdeu is considered to have been able to understand 26 languages .-Life:...
, Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
and Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
.
Monumentul Eroilor Francezi ("The Monument of French Heroes") commemorates French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
soldiers who died fighting during the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Romanian Campaign
Romanian Campaign (World War I)
The Romanian Campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917, across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian...
. Izvorul Sissi Stefanidi, created by Ioan C. Dimitriu Bârlad (1890–1964), depicts a mother, aggrieved by the death of her daughter, pouring water from a pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
.
Other statues located in Cişmigiu are the one of journalist Gheorghe Panu sculpted by Gheorghe Horvath and of writer and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
activist Maica Smara (1854–1944), sculpted by Mihai Onofrei.
History
The park was built in 1847, at a time when Bucharest was the capital of WallachiaWallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, on a site formerly known as Lacul lui Dura neguţătorul (the "Lake of Dura the merchant"), or simply as Dura. The pool it replaced was a popular site for fishing from as early as the 17th century, and was inhabited by mallard
Mallard
The Mallard , or Wild Duck , is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia....
colonies. A part of the present-day gardens was occupied by a vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
, which was planted around a water source: the latter had been tapped during the bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
epidemic of 1795, when the two sons of Prince Alexander Mourousis
Alexander Mourousis
Alexander Mourousis was a Great Dragoman of the Ottoman Empire who served as Prince of Moldavia and Prince of Wallachia. Open to Enlightenment ideas, and noted for his interest in hydrological engineering, Mourousis was forced to deal with the intrusions of Osman Pazvantoğlu's rebellious troops...
took refuge in the largely uninhabited zone.
The decision to replace the lake was taken in 1846, during a period of Imperial Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
administration introduced by Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...
. It was based on an earlier proposal made by Russian governor Pavel Kiselyov
Pavel Kiselyov
Count Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselyov or Kiseleff is generally regarded as the most brilliant Russian reformer during Nicholas I's generally conservative reign.- Early military career :...
in 1830, and various small-scale works had first been undertaken in 1837. The initiative, countersigned by Prince Gheorghe Bibescu
Gheorghe Bibescu
Gheorghe Bibescu was a hospodar of Wallachia between 1843 and 1848. His rule coincided with the revolutionary tide that culminated in the 1848 Wallachian revolution.-Early political career:...
, was part of a series of major public works, and the plan dates back to 1844. On February 27, 1845, the area passed into public ownership through a princely decree.
In 1843, Bibescu had called on experts in horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
and planning to join in the effort to restructure the city gardens; as a result, two citizens of the German Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
, the horticulturist Wilhelm Friedrich Carl Meyer and his assistant, the gardener Franz Hörer, arrived in Bucharest, where their first work involved the floral arrangements on each side of Şoseaua Kiseleff
Soseaua Kiseleff
Şoseaua Kiseleff is a major road in Bucharest that runs as a northward continuation of Calea Victoriei. The road was created in 1832 by Pavel Kiselyov, the commander of the Russian occupation troops in Wallachia and Moldavia...
. They were to become involved in redesigning Dura area: Meyer was responsible for setting up the new lanes, for planting new floral species, as well as for setting up a Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
landscape with rocks leading down to the lake. The central lake was connected to the Dâmboviţa River
Dâmbovita River
Dâmbovița is a river in Romania. It has its sources in the Făgăraş Mountains, on the Curmătura Oticu. The upper reach of the rivers, upstream of the confluence with the Boarcăşu River is also known as Izvorul Oticului River or Oticu River....
through a canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
. The gardens were ultimately inaugurated on September 23, 1847, and Meyer was appointed their administrator in 1848.
The word cişmigiu comes from Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
: a Ceşme is a public fountain and a cişmigiu (or cişmegiu) used to be the person responsible for building and maintaining public fountains. The name replaced older references to Dura, and was coined by the public because, at the time, the administrator of Bucharest fountains was living on park grounds (in a house located between the central lake and Sărindar quarter).
Cişmigiu continued to be developed by Meyer long after its official inauguration: in 1870, the horticulturist laid out a plan to redesign the lanes, to introduce an artesian aquifer
Artesian aquifer
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. This type of well is called an artesian well...
, and to create a kiosk
Kiosk
Kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
for an orchestra. He also proposed to have gondola
Gondola
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian Lagoon. For centuries gondolas were the chief means of transportation and most common watercraft within Venice. In modern times the iconic boats still have a role in public transport in...
s carrying visitors over the lake. By 1851, new species of trees were brought in: chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
s from Gorj County
Gorj County
Gorj is a county of Romania, in Oltenia, with its capital city at Târgu Jiu.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 387,308 and its population density was 69/km².* Romanians – over 98%* Rromas, others.- Geography :...
, walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
s from Dâmboviţa County
Dâmbovita County
Dâmbovița ; also spelt Dîmbovița is a county of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 541,763 and the population density was 134/km²...
, and other plants from places such as Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
. At the same time, the lanes were reinforced with debris from the ruins of Curtea Nouă
Curtea Noua
Curtea Nouă was the residence of the Princes of Wallachia between 1776 and 1812.Located near the Mihai Vodă Monastery, on Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, it was built between 1775-1776 during the rule of Alexander Ypsilantis, and it meant to replace the old princely court at Curtea Veche.Curtea Nouă...
and Zlătari area. Works were completed despite Meyer's sudden death as a result of typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
(August 1852).
The park was clearly delimited after Bucharest became capital of the Romanian Kingdom
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
: in 1871, Academiei Boulevard was extended to its western side, and, in 1890, under Mayor Pache Protopopescu, Elisabeta Boulevard was created on its southern side. During the 1860s, Bucharest was visited by the socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
activist and philosopher Ferdinand Lassalle
Ferdinand Lassalle
Ferdinand Lassalle was a German-Jewish jurist and socialist political activist.-Early life:Ferdinand Lassalle was born on 11 April 1825 in Breslau , Silesia to a prosperous Jewish family descending from Upper Silesian Loslau...
, who argued that "Cişmigiu exceeds by far anything Germany has to offer".
In 1882, the gardens were fitted with electrical lighting. Seven years later, the Gheorghe Lazăr High School was built on its southwestern corner (it was to be extended during the 1930s). During the late 19th and early 20th century, Cişmigiu became noted for housing the Thierry Restaurant, kept by a Frenchman
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and various amateur photographers who made affordable portraits. The building in front of the park was assigned to the City Hall during the communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
.
Meyer was succeeded in his office of garden administrator by other Germans: Ulrich Hoffman, Wilhelm Knechtel
Wilhelm Knechtel
Wilhelm Knechtel was an ethnic German Austrian-Romanian gardener and botanist.-Biography:Born in Bohemia in a village now belonging to Nový Bor, Knechtel worked in Prague, then entered into the service of Archduke Maximilian in 1860 at Miramare Castle in Trieste, Italy...
, and Friedrich Rebhuhn. It was Rebhuhn who, after 1910, redesigned many parts of the gardens to their present-day appearance.
In fiction
Cişmigiu, a traditional meeting spot for Bucharesters, is referred to in several literary works. These notably include several sketch storiesSketch story
A sketch story, or sketch, is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a short story, and contains very little, if any, plot. The term was most popularly-used in the late nineteenth century. As a literary work, it is also often referred to simply as the sketch.-Style:A sketch is mainly...
by Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
, two of them involving the collective character Mitică
Mitica
Mitică is a fictional character who appears in several sketch stories by Romanian writer Ion Luca Caragiale, and whose name is a common hypocoristic form of Dumitru or Dimitrie...
, who has survived in common reference as a stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
of Bucharesters. In the eponymous 1900 sketch, the voluble Mitică notably refers to a friend of his having been laid off from his job, an event which he sarcastically disguises as a promotion to "chasing flies out of Cişmigiu". In another such piece, titled 1 Aprilie ("The First of April"), the gardens are the scene of a dramatic incident which involves the death of another or the same Mitică. A character named Caracudi, whom Caragiale invented as a caricature of inventive journalists, is shown to elaborate his sensationalist
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...
articles while relaxing in various locations of the city, one of which is Cişmigiu.
A novel by Grigore Băjenaru
Grigore Bajenaru
Grigore Popescu-Băjenaru was a Romanian writer. His best known novel is Cişmigiu et Comp., that presents his adventures as a student of Gheorghe Lazăr High School, situated near the Cişmigiu Gardens in central Bucharest, in the interwar period. It was a best-seller for several decades, and still...
, titled Cişmigiu et comp., traces events in the life of high school students who spend much of their time in the park.