Brăila

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Brăila

County

Brăila County

Status

County capital

Mayor

Constantin Sever Cibu, National Liberal Party, since 2004

Population (2002)

216,929

Geographical coordinates

45°16′09.1″N, 27°57′26.9″E

Web site

http://www.primariabraila.ro/

Brăila (pronunciation in Romanian: /brə'i.la/, Turkish: Ibrail) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of the Brăila County, in the close vicinity of Galaţi. Brăila currently has a population of 216,929.

1 History
2 Landmarks
3 Natives
4 External links

[edit] History

A settlement at this location on the left bank of the Danube, in Wallachia, was mentioned with the name Drinago in a Spanish Libro de conoscimiento ("Book of knowledge", circa 1350) and in several Catalan portolan charts (Angelino de Dalorto, 1325/1330 and Angelino Dulcert, 1339). This may have been an erroneous transcription of Brillago. In Greek documents of roughly that time, the city is referred to as Proilabum or Proilava, a Greek language adaptation of its Slavic name, Brailov. In German language sources, it is mentioned as Uebereyl. The origin and meaning of the name is unknown.

As a kaza, the town and its surrounding area was controlled by Ottoman Turks from 1538-1540 until 1829 (it was restored to Wallachia through the Akkerman Convention); the Ototmans called it Ibrail or Ibraila. It was attacked, plundered, and set fire to by the forces of Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great on February 2, 1470, during the retaliation campaign against Wallachian Prince Radu the Fair, who had allied himself with the Ottomans. It was briefly ruled by Michael the Brave, prince of Wallachia (1595-1596).

Brăila in an early 1900s postcard

During the 19th century, the port became one of the three most important ports on the Danube in Wallachia, the other two being Turnu and Giurgiu. The city's greatest period of prosperity was at the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, when it was an important port for most of the merchandise coming in and going out of Romania.

After the 1989 Revolution, Brăila entered a period of economic decline.

[edit] Landmarks

The most important monuments are:

The Greek Church, erected at 1865 by the Greek community
Sfinţii Arhangheli Church, former jāmi during the Ottoman rule
Sfântul Nicolae Church, also from the 19th century.
Maria Filotti theatre.

The old centre of the city has many 19th century buildings, some of them beautifully restored. An important tourist site is the Public Garden, a park situated above the bank of the Danube with a nice view over the river and the Măcin Mountains.

The old Water House is here, with a restaurant at the top, which has a rotation system (360° in one hour). Brăila features one of the oldest electrical tram lines in Romania, inaugurated at the end of the 19th century and still in use.

Early in 2006 the municipality obtained European Union funds to renovate the old center of the city, aiming to transform Brăila into a major tourist attraction of Muntenia.