Iași


Iași, also referred to as Jassy, is the second largest city in Romania, and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1564 to 1859, then of the United Principalities from 1859 to 1862, and the capital of Romania from 1916 to 1918.
Known as The Cultural Capital of Romania, Iași is a symbol in Romanian history. The historian Nicolae Iorga said "There should be no Romanian who does not know of it". Still referred to as The Moldavian Capital, Iași is the main economic and business centre of the Moldavian region of Romania. In December 2018, Iași was officially declared Historical capital of Romania.
At the 2011 census, the city proper had a population of 290,422. With 500,668 residents, the Iași urban area is the second most populous in Romania, whereas more than 500,000 people live within its peri-urban area.
Home to the oldest Romanian university and to the first engineering school, Iași is one of the most important education and research centres of the country, and accommodates over 60,000 students in 5 public universities. The social and cultural life revolves around the Vasile Alecsandri National Theater, the Moldova State Philharmonic, the Opera House, the Iași Athenaeum, a famous Botanical Garden, the Central University Library, the high quality cultural centres and festivals, an array of museums, memorial houses, religious and historical monuments. The city is also known as the site of the largest Romanian pilgrimage which takes place each year, in October.

Etymology and names

Scholars have different theories on the origin of the name "Iași". Some argue that the name originates with the Sarmatian tribe Iazyges, one mentioned by Ovid as "Ipse vides onerata ferox ut ducata Iasyx/ Per media Histri plaustra bubulcus aquas" and "Iazyges et Colchi Metereaque turba Getaque/ Danubii mediis vix prohibentur aquis".
A now lost inscription on a Roman milestone found near Osijek, Croatia by Matija Petar Katančić in the 18th century, mentions the existence of a Jassiorum municipium, or Municipium Dacorum-Iassiorum from other sources.
Other explanations show that the name originated from the Iranian Alanic tribe of Jassi, having same origin with Yazyges tribes Jassic people. In medieval times the Prut river was known as Alanus fluvius and the city as Forum Philistinorum. From this population derived the plural of town name, "Iașii".
Another historian wrote that the Iasians lived among the Cumans and that they left the Caucasus after the first Mongolian campaign in the West, settling temporarily near the Prut. He asserts that the ethnic name of Jasz which is given to Iasians by Hungarians has been erroneously identified with the Jazyges; also he shows that the word jasz is a Slavic loan word. The Hungarian name of the city literally means "Jassic Market"; the antiquated Romanian name, Târgul Ieșilor, and the German Jassenmarkt, may indicate the same meaning.

History

Ancient times

Archaeological investigations attest to the presence of human communities on the present territory of the city and around it as far back as the prehistoric age. Later settlements included those of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, a late Neolithic archaeological culture.
There is archaeological evidence of human settlements in the area of Iași dating from the 6th to 7th centuries and 7th to 10th centuries; these settlements contained rectangular houses with semicircular ovens. Also, many of the vessels found in Iași had a cross, potentially indicating that the inhabitants were Christians.

Early development

The name of the city is first found in a document from 1408. This is a grant of certain commercial privileges by the Moldavian Prince Alexander to the Polish merchants of Lvov. However, as buildings older than 1408 still exist, e.g. the Armenian Church believed to be originally built in 1395, it is certain that the city existed before its first surviving written mention.

Capital of Moldavia

Around 1564, Prince Alexandru Lăpușneanu moved the Moldavian capital from Suceava to Iași. Between 1561 and 1563, a school and a Lutheran church were founded by the Greek adventurer Prince, Ioan Iacob Heraclid.

In 1640, Vasile Lupu established the first school in which the Romanian language replaced Greek, and set up a printing press in the Byzantine Trei Ierarhi Monastery. Between 15 September - 27 October 1642, the city hosted the Synod of Jassy. In 1643, the first volume ever printed in Moldavia was published in Iași.
The city was burned down by the Tatars in 1513, by the Ottomans in 1538, and by Imperial Russian troops in 1686. In 1734, it was hit by the plague.
It was through the Peace of Iași that the sixth Russo-Turkish War was brought to a close in 1792. A Greek revolutionary manoeuvre and occupation under Alexander Ypsilanti and the Filiki Eteria led to the storming of the city by the Turks in 1822. In 1844 a severe fire affected much of the city.

Mid–19th century to 20th century

Between 1564 and 1859, the city was the capital of Moldavia; then, between 1859 and 1862, both Iași and Bucharest were de facto capitals of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1862, when the union of the two principalities was recognised under the name of Romania, the national capital was established in Bucharest. For the loss caused to the city in 1861 by the removal of the seat of government to Bucharest the constituent assembly voted 148,150 lei to be paid in ten annual instalments, but no payment was ever made.
During World War I, Iași was the capital of a much reduced Romania for two years, following the Central Powers' occupation of Bucharest on 6 December 1916. The capital was returned to Bucharest after the defeat of Imperial Germany and its allies in November 1918. In November–December 1918 Iași hosted the Jassy Conference.

Jewish community

Iași also figures prominently in Jewish history, with the first documented presence of Sephardi Jews from the late 16th century. The oldest tomb inscription in the local cemetery probably dates to 1610. By the mid-19th century, owing to widespread Russian Jewish and Galician Jewish immigration into Moldavia, the city was at least one-third Jewish.
In 1855, Iași was the home of the first-ever Yiddish-language newspaper, Korot Haitim, and, in 1876, the site of what was arguably the first-ever professional Yiddish theatre performance, established by Avraham Goldfaden. The words of HaTikvah, the national anthem of Israel, were written in Iași by Naftali Herz Imber. Jewish musicians in Iași played an important role as preservers of Yiddish folklore, as performers and composers.
According to the 1930 census, with a population of 34,662, Jews were the second largest ethnic group in Iași. There were over 127 synagogues.
After World War II, in 1947, there were about 38,000 Jews living in Iași. Because of massive emigration to Israel, in 1975 there were about 3,000 Jews living in Iași and four synagogues were active.
Currently, Iași has a dwindling Jewish population of ca. 300 to 600 members and two working synagogues, one of which, the 1671 Great Synagogue, is the oldest surviving synagogue in Romania.

World War II

During the war, while the full scale of the Holocaust remained generally unknown to the Allied Powers, the Iași pogrom stood as one of the known examples of Axis brutality toward the Jews. The pogrom lasted from 29 June to 6 July 1941, and over 13,266 people, or one third of the Jewish population, were massacred in the pogrom itself or in its aftermath, and many were deported.
In May 1944, the Iași area became the scene of ferocious fighting between Romanian-German forces and the advancing Soviet Red Army and the city was partially destroyed. The German Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland won a defensive victory at the Battle of Târgu Frumos, near Iași, which was the object of several NATO studies during the Cold War. By 20 August, Iași had been taken by Soviet forces.

Post-World War II era

Iași experienced a major wave of industrialisation, in 1955–1989. During this period of time, it received numerous migrants from rural regions, and the urban area expanded. In the communist era, Iași saw a growth of 235% in population and 69% in area. The local systematization plans of the old city started in 1960 and continued in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the larger national systematization program; however, the urban planning was sometimes arbitrary and followed by dysfunctions. By 1989, Iași had become highly industrialised, with 108,000 employees active in 46 large state-owned enterprises, in various industries: machine building and heavy equipment, chemical, textile, pharmaceutical, metallurgical, electronics, food, energy, building materials, furniture.
After the end of communist rule and the transition to a free market economy, the private sector has grown steadily, while much of the old industry gradually decayed.

Geography

Topography

Located in the North-East of Romania, at the contact between the Jijia Plain and the Bârlad Plateau, Iași used to be the crossroads place of the historic trade routes that passed through Moldavia coming from the Kingdom of Poland, Habsburg Monarchy, Tsardom of Russia, and Constantinople.
The city lies on the Bahlui River valley, a tributary of the Jijia River. The surrounding country is one of uplands and woods, featuring monasteries and parks. Iași itself stands amid vineyards and gardens, partly on hills, partly in the in-between valley.
The central part of the city is located on the fluvial terrace of the Bahlui River. From this nucleus, the city evolved after the medieval times toward south and north on the Bahlui River floodplain and on the adjacent hills. The southern part of the city lies on the Iași Ridge . Considering the present day extension of the administrative boundaries, the city territory has an altitudinal extension of, between the 34.5 m a.s.l. in the Bahlui River floodplain, at the Holboca bridge, and 354.77 m a.s.l., at the edge of the Repedea Hill.
It is a common belief that Iași is built on seven hills : Breazu, Bucium, Cetățuia, Copou, Galata, Repedea and Șorogari, thus triggering comparisons with Rome.

Climate

Iași has a humid, continental-type climate with four distinct seasons. Summers are warm with temperatures sometimes exceeding while winters are cold and windy with moderate snowfall and temperatures at night sometimes dropping below. Average monthly precipitation ranges from about in October to in June.

Cityscape

Architecture

Iași features historical monuments, 500-year-old churches and monasteries, contemporary architecture, many of them listed on the National Register of Historic Monuments. Notable architecture includes the Trei Ierarhi Monastery, part of the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Site, or the neo-Gothic Palace of Culture, built on the old ruins of the mediaeval Princely Court of Moldavia.
During World War II and the Communist era many historical buildings in the old city centre were destroyed or demolished, and replaced by International style buildings and also a new mainly Mid-Century modern style Civic Centre was built around the Old Market Square.
The mid-1990s to early-2000s brought the first non-industrial glass curtain walled buildings, while in 2012, in close proximity to the Palace of Culture, the Palas shopping mall and office complex was inaugurated.
Other significant buildings include:
Iași is the seat of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina, and of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Iași. The city and the surrounding area house more than 10 monasteries and 100 historical churches. Among the oldest is Princely Saint Nicholas, dating from the reign of Stephen the Great, and the Metropolitan Cathedral is the largest of its kind in Romania. The Trei Ierarhi Monastery, a unique monument, considered to be an architectural masterpiece, was erected in 1635–1639 by Vasile Lupu, and adorned with gilded carvings on its outer walls and twin towers.
Other examples of historic churches and monasteries include: Socola, Galata, Saint Sava, Hlincea, Aroneanu, Bârnova, Barnovschi, Golia, Cetățuia, Frumoasa, Saint Spiridon, Old Metropolitan Cathedral, Bărboi, Bucium.

Pilgrimage

The city has become a major Christian pilgrimage site since the early modern period. In 1641, the relics of Saint Parascheva were brought to Iași. Each year, around 14 October, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gather to commemorate Saint Parascheva, while the city itself established its Celebration Days at the same time. The October pilgrimage is one of the largest in Europe, drawing people all over Romania as well as from neighboring Orthodox countries.
During the entire year, pilgrimages to Iași can also involve visits to a large number of religious sites, both within and around the city.

Gardens, parks and natural landmarks

Iași has a diverse array of public spaces, from city squares to public parks.
's statue and his Linden Tree in Copou Park
Begun in 1833, at the time when Iași was the capital of Moldavia, by Prince Mihail Sturdza and under the plans of Gheorghe Asachi and Mihail Singurov, Copou Park was integrated into the city and marks one of the first Romanian coordinated public parks. The oldest monument in Romania stands in the middle of the park, the Obelisk of Lions, a tall obelisk, dedicated to the Regulamentul Organic, the first law on political, administrative and juridical organisation in Romanian Principalities.
Founded in 1856, the Botanical Garden of Iași, the first botanical garden in Romania, has an area of over 100 hectares, and more than 10,000 species of plants.
Iași Exhibition Park was opened in 1923 and built under the co-ordination of the architect N. Ghica Budești.
The Ciric Park, located in the north-eastern part of Iași, consists of parkland and four lakes.
Eminescu's Linden Tree is a 500-year-old silver lime situated in Copou Park. Mihai Eminescu reportedly wrote some of his best works underneath this lime, rendering the tree one of Romania's most important natural monuments and a notable Iași landmark. The Odd Poplers Alley, in Bucium neighbourhood, is another spot where Mihai Eminescu sought inspiration. In 1973, the 15 white poplars still left were declared natural monuments.
Iași County has 387 centuries-old trees, of which 224 were declared monument trees and 160 got the Romanian Academy's approval and are proposed for such a classification. Most of them are oak or linden trees. The oldest tree in the county is the 675-year-old hybrid lime tree located in the courtyard of Bârnova Monastery, in the vicinity of Iași. When the lime was about 57 years old and about in diameter, Iași was mentioned as an urban settlement, during the reign of Prince Alexander the Good.

Demographics

, Iași is the country's second most populous city after Bucharest with 378,954 residents registered within the city limits, and with a population of 500,668 residents, the Iași urban area is also the second largest in Romania.
At the 2011 census, Iași was the fourth most populous Romanian city with a population of 290,422. The metropolitan area association had a population of 382,484, while Iași County, with its 772,348 inhabitants, was the most populous county in Romania. Additionally there were 60,000 more residents and thousands of daily commuters.
According to the 2002 census, in Iași there were 109,357 housing units and 320,888 people living within the city proper. Of this population, 98.5% were ethnic Romanians, while 0.59% were ethnic Romani, 0.13% Jews, 0.13% Greeks, 0.13% Lipovans, 0.08% Hungarians, 0.05% Germans and 0.39% others. In terms of religion, 92.5% of the population were Christian Orthodox, 4.9% Roman Catholic, other religious groups 2.6%. There are currently almost 10,000 Roman Catholics living in Iași. There is a debate between historians as to whether the Catholics are originally of Romanian or Hungarian descent.

Economy

Iași is an important economic centre in Romania. The local and regional economy relies on industry and service sector institutions and establishments. The most important service sectors are related to education, health care, banking, research, culture, government and tourism.
The city is an important information technology sector centre, with the presence of several large multinational companies and many other local and foreign companies such as Bentley Systems, Bitdefender, Comodo, Endava, Ness, Pentalog, SCC or TiVo, as well as two universities which offer specific degree programs. Industry forecasts expect the Iași ITC workforce to grow from the current 16,000 employees to more than 33,000, by 2030.
An estimated workforce of more than 35,000 employees is active in Iași's industrial manufacturing sector, particularly in automotive, pharmaceutical industry, metallurgical production, aerospace, industrial equipment, energy, textiles and clothing, home appliances, building materials, food.
Located in an area recognised for its vineyards and wines, Iași is part of a traditional wine region with viticultural centres surrounding the city: Copou, Bucium, Uricani, Comarna, Plugari, and Probota. Iași County is also home to renowned Cotnari and Bohotin vineyards.
With large shopping malls and commercial centres located in the area, Iași also has a well-developed retail business.

Largest employers

Sources:

Politics and administration

The city's current local council has the following multi-party political composition, based on the results of the ballots cast at the 2016 Romanian local elections:

Culture

Major events in the political and cultural history of Moldavia are connected with the name of the city of Iași. The great scholars of the 17th century, Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin and later Ion Neculce, wrote most of their works in the city or not far from it and the famous scholar Dimitrie Cantemir known throughout all Europe also linked his name to the capital of Moldavia.
The first newspaper in Romanian language was published in 1829 in Iași and it is in Iași where, in 1867, appeared under literary society Junimea, the Convorbiri Literare review in which Ion Creangă’s Childhood Memories and the best poems by Mihai Eminescu were published. The reviews Contemporanul and Viața Românească appeared in 1871, respectively in 1906 with great contributions to promoting Romanian national cultural values.
Many great personalities of Romanian culture are connected to Iași: the chronicler Nicolae Milescu, the historians and politicians Mihail Kogălniceanu and Simion Bărnuțiu, the poets Vasile Alecsandri and George Topârceanu, the writers Mihail Sadoveanu, Alecu Russo, and Ionel Teodoreanu, the literary critic Titu Maiorescu, the historian A.D. Xenopol, the philosophers Vasile Conta and Petre Andrei, the sociologist Dimitrie Gusti, the geographer Emil Racoviță and the painter Octav Băncilă, only to name a few.

Theatres and orchestras

The Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre, opened in 1840, is the first National Theatre in Romania. The building, designed according to the plans of the Viennese architects Hermann Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner, was raised between 1894 and 1896, and also hosts, starting 1956, the Iași Romanian National Opera.
Iași is also home to:
Iași is home to many museums, memorial houses, art galleries.

First memorial museum from Romania opened in Iași in 1918, as the Ion Creangă Memorial House, and today the owns fourteen memorial houses. The Mihai Eminescu Museum, situated in Copou Park, is dedicated to the great poet's life and creation; other museums are dedicated to: Dosoftei, Mihail Kogălniceanu, Vasile Pogor, Nicolae Gane, Petru Poni, Mihai Codreanu, Mihail Sadoveanu, George Topîrceanu, Otilia Cazimir, Radu Cernătescu, Cezar Petrescu, Dimitrie Anghel.
The Theatre Museum, opened in 1976, at the celebration of 160 years since the first theatrical performance in Romanian, illustrates the development of the theatrical phenomenon since the beginning, important moments of the history of Iași National Theatre, the foundation, in 1840, of the Philharmonic-dramatic Conservatoire, prestigious figures that have contributed to the development of the Romanian theatre.
The Union Museum, includes original pieces and documents which belonged to prince Al. I. Cuza and his family.
The Natural History Museum, founded on 4 February 1834, is the first museum of this kind in Romania with over 300,000 items, the most valuable being the collections of insects, mollusc, amphibians, reptiles, birds, plants and minerals.
Four other museums are located in the Palace of Culture: with its roots dating back to 1860, the Iași Art Museum is the oldest of its kind in Romania, and, with more than 8,700 works, has the largest art collection in the country; the Moldavia's History Museum, offers more than 48,000 objects from various fields, archaeology, numismatics, decorative art, ancient books, documents; the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia owns more than 13,000 objects depicting the Romanian advance through the ages; the Science and Technology Museum's collection has more than 11,200 objects in five distinct sections and one memorial house.

Foreign culture centres

Iași hosts six cultural centres: French, German, British, Latin American & Caribbean, Hellenic, and Arab.

Cultural events and festivals

Live music and different other artistic events are a habitual occurrence in the various bars and coffee shops the city has to offer.

Education

The first institute of higher learning that functioned on the territory of Romania was Academia Vasiliană founded by Prince Vasile Lupu as a "higher school for Latin and Slavonic languages", followed by the Princely Academy in 1707.
The first high education structure in Romanian language was established in the autumn of 1813, when engineer Gheorghe Asachi laid the foundations of a class of engineers, its activities taking place within the Greek Princely Academy.
After 1813, other moments marked the development of higher education in Romanian language, regarding both humanities and the technical science. In 1835, Academia Mihăileană founded by Prince Mihail Sturdza is considered first Romanian superior institute in the country.
In 1860, three faculties part of the Academia Mihăileană formed the nucleus for the newly established University of Iași, the first Romanian university.
The Physicians and Naturalists Society, founded in Iași, has existed since the early part of the 19th century, and a number of periodicals are published. One of the oldest medical universities in Romania, founded in 1879, is located in Iași. It is now known as the Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy.
In 1937, the two applied science sections of the University of Iași became departments of the newly created Gheorghe Asachi Polytechnic School. In the period before and after World War II, the later extended its domain of activity, especially in the field of engineering, and became known as Gheorghe Asachi Technical University in 1993.
Public universities include:
There are also some private higher education institutions including Petre Andrei University, the largest private university in the historical region of Moldavia.
The Central University Library of Iași, where the chief records of Romanian history are preserved, is the oldest and the second largest in Romania.
, Iași has 74 public schools, coordinated by the Iași County School Inspectorate. The city is also home to 19 private schools.
Notable high schools:
is a week long festival organised every year in April for high school and grade school students to get be able to observe and take part in scientific experiments and be given detailed tours of the scientific and technical universities and research labs in Iași. Over 200 experiments were performed and over 10,000 students took part in the 2014 edition, from throughout the Moldavia region.

Media

Sports

In 2012, Iași was selected as one of the European Cities of Sport.

Current teams

SportLeagueClubFoundedVenue
BasketballMen's Divizia APolitehnica IașiSala Polivalentă
BasketballWomen's Divizia APolitehnica Național IașiSala Polivalentă
FootballLiga IFC Politehnica Iași 16 August 2010Emil Alexandrescu Stadium
HandballWomen's Liga NaționalăTerom IașiSala Polivalentă
RugbySuperLigaPoli Agro Unirea Iași1964Agronomia Stadium
VolleyballWomen's Divizia A2ACS Penicilina IașiSala Polivalentă

Former teams

Public transport

Iași's public transportation system is served by the CTP Iași which operates an extensive network using 126 trams and 150 buses. In 2014, the CTP carried 50,358,000 passengers, an average of 140,000 passengers per day.

Air

Iași is served by the Iași International Airport located east of the city centre. The airport is the 4th busiest in Romania and offers direct domestic, European, and Middle Eastern scheduled or charter connections. After extensive modernisation works, the number of connections and traffic volumes have seen a significant increase, in 2015.

Rail

Iași-Pașcani railway was opened on, Iași-Ungheni on 1 August 1874 and Iași-Chișinău railway was opened on 1 June 1875 by the Russian Empire in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War.
Nowadays, three railway stations, Great Railway Station, Nicolina International Rail Station and Socola Rail Station serve the city and are operated by Romanian Railways. Moldovan railway also serves these stations for travel into Moldova.
The Great Railway Station, located about from the city centre, provides direct rail connections to all the major Romanian cities and to Chișinău. The rail stations are very well connected to all the parts of the city by the trams and buses of the local public transport companies.

Road

Iași is connected by European routes E583/E85 with Bucharest through a four lane road, by European route E58 with Central Europe and Chișinău in Moldova, and by DN National Roads with all major cities of Romania. A planned East–West freeway would connect the city to the A3 Transylvania Motorway.
The Iași Coach Station is used by several private transport companies to provide coach connections from Iași to a large number of locations from all over the country.

Health care

Iași is home to 14 public hospitals, including the St. Spiridon Hospital, the second largest and one of the oldest in Romania, St. Maria Clinic Children's Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Regional Oncology Institute, and Socola Psychiatric Institute. The public system is complemented by numerous private clinics.

Air pollution concerns

Iași has the second-worse air quality in Romania, after Bucharest. In 2014, the European Commission started environmental law infringement procedures against Romania, citing Bucharest, Iași, and Brașov cases as examples. In 2015, atmospheric particulate matter has repeatedly reached and exceeded legal thresholds for PM10. Pollution from vehicular traffic, construction works, and a lack of green spaces make up some of the reasons behind these problems.

Monuments and history

Twin towns/sister cities

Iași is twinned with:

  • Irbid, Jordan
  • Isfahan, Iran
  • Jericho, Palestine
  • Kozani, Greece
  • Monterrey, Mexico
  • Morlupo, Italy
  • Nazzano, Italy
  • Netanya, Israel
  • Padua, Italy
  • Peristeri, Greece
  • Poitiers, France
  • Sant'Oreste, Italy
  • Torrita Tiberina, Italy
  • Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
  • Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
  • Xi'an, China

    • Consulates in Iași

  • Moldova – Consulate-General
    • Honorary Consulates: