Cişmigiu Gardens

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Cişmigiu, winter 2002

Cişmigiu, summer 2004

The Cişmigiu Lake

The Cişmigiu Gardens are a public park near the center of Bucharest, Romania, the oldest and largest park (17 hectares) of the city center. The main entrance is from the Elisabeta Blvd, near the Bucharest City Hall; there is another major entrance at the Ştirbei Vodă Boulevard, near the Creţulescu Palace.

[edit] 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 Eminescu, Alexandru Odobescu, Titu Maiorescu, Ion Luca Caragiale, George Coşbuc, Ştefan Octavian Iosif, Ion Creangă, Alexandru Vlahuţă, Duiliu Zamfirescu, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Nicolae Bălcescu and Vasile Alecsandri.

Monumentul Eroilor Francezi (The Monument of French Heroes) commemorates the French soldiers who died fighting in Romania during World War I.

Izvorul Sissi Stefanidi, created by Ioan C. Dimitriu Bârlad (1890-1964), represents a mother, aggrieved by the death of her daughter, pouring water from a pitcher.

Other statues located in Cişmigiu are the one of journalist Gheorghe Panu sculpted by Gheorghe Horvath and of writer and women's rights activist Maica Smara (1854-1944), sculpted by Mihai Onofrei.

[edit] History

The park was built in 1847, on land bequeathed to the city in 1845 by a Turkish water inspector. It was designed by German architect Carl F. W. Meyer, and predates similarly-designed parks in many United States cities, such as those of Frederick Law Olmsted.

The word cişmigiu comes from Turkish: a cişmea is a public fountain and a cişmigiu used to be the person responsible for building and maintaining public fountains.

At the southeast corner of the park is the Gheorghe Lazăr High School, famous in the city.