Berceni,
Olteniței
Olteniței is a quarter in Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 ...
,
Giurgiului
Giurgiului () is a neighborhood in the southern part of the Romanian capital Bucharest, in Sector 5, near Berceni and Ferentari. Like Berceni, Giurgiului has many 10-storey blocks of flats that were built under Communist rule, starting wit ...
,
Progresul
Progresul is a district in southern Bucharest's Sectorul 4, Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary ...
,
Văcărești, Timpuri Noi, Tineretului
*
Sector 5
Sector 5 () is an administrative unit of Bucharest.
Quarters
* 13 Septembrie
* Cotroceni
* Ferentari
* Ghencea
* Giurgiului
* Odăi
* Rahova
* Sălaj
Politics
From 2020 until May 2022, the mayor of the sector was Cristian Popescu Piedo ...
(population 288,690):
Rahova
Rahova is a neighbourhood of southwest Bucharest, Romania, situated in Sector 5, west of Dâmbovița River. It is named after the Bulgarian town ''Rahovo'' (today Oryahovo), site of a battle in the Romanian War of Independence.
The neighborho ...
,
Ferentari
Ferentari is a neighbourhood located in the 5th Sector of Bucharest, Romania.
Etymology
The word "Ferentari" comes from the Latin word "Ferentarius" meaning "soldier in the old pedestrian army".
Area
It is located in the South-South-West of ...
,
Giurgiului
Giurgiului () is a neighborhood in the southern part of the Romanian capital Bucharest, in Sector 5, near Berceni and Ferentari. Like Berceni, Giurgiului has many 10-storey blocks of flats that were built under Communist rule, starting wit ...
,
Cotroceni
Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania, located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 5.
The nearest Metro stations are Eroilor, Academia Militară, and Politehnica.
History
The Hill of Cotroceni was once cove ...
, 13 Septembrie, Dealul Spirii
*
Sector 6
Sector 6 () is an administrative unit of Bucharest.
Quarters
* Crângași
* Drumul Taberei
* Ghencea
* Giulești
* Militari
* Regie
Politics
The sector's mayor is , from the National Liberal Party, having been elected for a four-year ...
(population 371,060):
Giulești
Giulești () is a neighbourhood in northwestern Bucharest, located in Sector 6. The Giulești Stadium, Giulești Theatre, Podul Grant are located in Giulești. Also, the Grivița Railway Yards and Lacul Morii are located nearby.
History
T ...
,
Crângași
Crângași is one of the smallest neighborhoods in the 6th Sector of Bucharest, Romania. It is situated on the west side of the city near the Dâmbovița River, where it flows into Lacul Morii. Its name means "people living in a young forest ...
,
Drumul Taberei
Drumul Taberei (, ''The Camp Road'') is a neighbourhood located in the south-west of Bucharest, Romania, roughly between Timișoara Avenue (south of Plaza România and the Cotroceni Railway Station) and Ghencea Avenue, neighboring Militari to ...
,
Militari
Militari is a district in the western part of Bucharest, in Sector 6. It is home to more than 100,000 inhabitants.
History Early history
Starting from the sixteennth century, this area was the site of several estates owned by boyars, and on it ...
, Grozăvești (also known as Regie),
Ghencea
Ghencea is a district of the Romanian capital city Bucharest, split between Sector 5 and Sector 6. It is home to the famous sports club CSA Steaua București. Nearby districts are Drumul Taberei and Rahova.
History
Construction of apartment ...
Each sector is governed by a local mayor, as follows: Sector 1 –
Clotilde Armand
Clotilde Marie Brigitte Armand (born 28 June 1973) is a French-born Romanian politician and businesswoman. Between October 2020 and November 2024, she was Mayor of Bucharest's Sector 1.
Armand first ran for Mayor of Sector 1 in the 2016 Roman ...
(
USR, since 2020), Sector 2 – Radu Mihaiu (
USR, since 2020), Sector 3 –
Robert Negoiță
Robert Sorin Negoiță (born 29 March 1972) is a Romanian politician and businessman. Placed on one of the top spots of ''Capital'' magazine's richest Romanians list, he is currently the mayor of Bucharest's Sector 3.
Life and career
Famil ...
(PRO B, since 2012), Sector 4 – Daniel Băluță (
PSD, since 2016), Sector 5 – Vlad Popescu Piedone (former mayor
Cristian Popescu Piedone
Cristian Victor Popescu Piedone (born 15 February 1963) is a Romanian businessman and politician who served as mayor of Bucharest's Sector 4 from 2008 until 4 November 2015, when he resigned following the Colectiv nightclub fire and the subsequ ...
's son) (PUSL, since 2024), Sector 6 – Ciprian Ciucu (
PNL, since 2020).
Like all other local councils in Romania, the Bucharest sectoral councils, the capital's
general council, and the mayors are elected every four years by the population. Additionally, Bucharest has a
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
, who is appointed by Romania's national government. The prefect is not allowed to be a member of a political party and his role is to represent the national government at the municipal level. The prefect is acting as a liaison official facilitating the implementation of national development plans and governing programs at local level. The prefect of Bucharest (as of 2024) is Mihai Mugur Toader.
City general council
The city's
general council has the following political composition, based on the results of the
2024 local elections:
Justice system
Bucharest's judicial system is similar to that of the Romanian counties. Each of the six sectors has its own local first-instance court (''judecătorie''), while more serious cases are directed to the Bucharest Tribunal (''Tribunalul Bucureşti''), the city's municipal court. The
Bucharest Court of Appeal
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
(''Curtea de Apel Bucureşti'') judges appeals against decisions taken by first-instance courts and tribunals in Bucharest and in five surrounding counties (Teleorman, Ialomița, Giurgiu, Călărași, and Ilfov). Bucharest is also home to Romania's supreme court, the
High Court of Cassation and Justice
The High Court of Cassation and Justice () is Romania's supreme court. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de Cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of cassation around the world.
Naming history
It held various names durin ...
, as well as to the
Constitutional Court of Romania
The Constitutional Court of Romania () is the institution which rules on whether the laws, decrees or other bills enacted by Romanian authorities are in conformity with the Constitution.
It consists of nine members serving nine-year terms which ...
.
Bucharest has a municipal police force, the Bucharest Police (''Poliția București''), which is responsible for policing crime within the whole city, and operates a number of divisions. The Bucharest Police are headquartered on Ștefan cel Mare Blvd. in the city centre, and at precincts throughout the city. From 2004 onwards, each sector city hall also has under its administration a community police force (''
Poliția Comunitară
The Local Police, (, ) of Romania is an institution of the Romanian Police that operates at a local level. The Local Police was established in 2011 by Law No. 155/2010. According to law, city councils can hire no more than one local policeperson ...
''), dealing with local community issues. Bucharest also houses the general inspectorates of the
''Gendarmerie'' and the
national police.
Crime
Bucharest's crime rate is rather low in comparison to other European capital cities, with the number of total offences declining by 51% between 2000 and 2004,
[Bucharest Crime Statistics 2000–2004](_blank)
, Bucharest Directorate-General of Police and by 7% between 2012 and 2013.
Bucharest, along with
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...
,
Timișoara
Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...
,
Brașov
Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County.
According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...
and
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...
, was ranked among the top 100 safest cities in the world in a list compiled by Numbeo.
The study found Bucharest to be very safe with regard to aspects such walking alone, home invasions, muggings, cars being stolen, assault, insults, assault due to skin color, ethnic origin, or gender, drug dealing, and armed robberies, with the only crimes in the high category being corruption and bribery.
In 2015, the
homicide rate
The list of countries by homicide rate is derived from United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data, and is expressed in number of deaths per 100,000 population per year. For example, a homicide rate of 30 out of 100,000 is presented in t ...
of Bucharest was 0,8 per 100,000 people.
Crime in Bucharest is combated by national forces, such as the
Romanian Police
The Romanian Police (, , ) is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it is led by a General Inspector with the rank of Secretary of State.
Duties
T ...
and
Romanian Gendarmerie
The ''Jandarmeria Română'' () is the national Gendarmerie force of Romania, tasked with high-risk and specialized law enforcement duties. It is one of the two main police forces in Romania (the other being the Romanian Police - a civilian fo ...
, and by local forces, such as the Local Police of Bucharest.
Although in the 2000s, a number of police crackdowns on
organised crime
Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some ...
gangs occurred, such as the Cămătaru clan, organised crime generally has little impact on public life. Petty crime, however, is more common, particularly in the form of
pickpocketing
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A th ...
, which occurs mainly on the city's public transport network.
Confidence trick
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irrespons ...
s were common in the 1990s, especially in regards to tourists, but the frequency of these incidents has since declined. Theft was reduced by 13.6% in 2013 compared to 2012.
Levels of crime are higher in the southern districts of the city, particularly in
Ferentari
Ferentari is a neighbourhood located in the 5th Sector of Bucharest, Romania.
Etymology
The word "Ferentari" comes from the Latin word "Ferentarius" meaning "soldier in the old pedestrian army".
Area
It is located in the South-South-West of ...
, a socially disadvantaged area.
Although the presence of
street children
Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...
was a problem in Bucharest in the 1990s, their numbers have declined in recent years, now lying at or below the average of major European capital cities.
[ , ]Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an American non-profit charitable foundation, established in 1944 by hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton. It remained relatively small until his death on January 3, 1979, when it was named the principal benefici ...
/Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...
Quality of life
As stated by the
Mercer
Mercer may refer to:
Business
* Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925)
* Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US
* Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...
international surveys for quality of life in cities around the world, Bucharest occupied the 94th place in 2001 and slipped lower, to the 108th place in 2009 and the 107th place in 2010. Compared to it, Vienna occupied number one worldwide in 2011 and 2009. Warsaw ranked 84th, Istanbul 112th, and neighbours Sofia 114th and Belgrade 136th (in the 2010 rankings).
Mercer Human Resource Consulting issues yearly a global ranking of the world's most livable cities based on 39 key quality-of-life issues. Among them: political stability, currency-exchange regulations, political and media censorship, school quality, housing, the environment, and public safety. Mercer collects data worldwide, in 215 cities. The difficult situation of the quality of life in Bucharest is confirmed also by a vast urbanism study, done by the
Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism
The Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning () is a public university for architectural and urbanism studies in Bucharest, Romania. The university was named after the architect and engineer Ion Mincu
Ion Mincu (; December 20, 18 ...
.
In 2016, Bucharest's urban situation was described as 'critical' by a Romanian Order of Architects (OAR) report that criticised the city's weak, incoherent and arbitrary public management policies, its elected officials' lack of transparency and public engagement, as well as its inadequate and unsustainable use of essential urban resources.
Bucharest's historical city centre is listed as 'endangered' by the
World Monuments Watch
World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training ...
(as of 2016).
Although many neighbourhoods, particularly in the southern part of the city, lack sufficient green space, being formed of cramped, high-density blocks of flats, Bucharest also has many
parks
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...
.
In 2024, Bucharest was ranked by the digital publication Freaking Nomads as the 9th best city in the world for
digital nomad
A digital nomad is a person who travels freely while working remotely using information and communications technology such as the Internet. Such people generally have minimal material possessions and work remotely in temporary housing, hotels, c ...
s, due to its elaborate and diverse architecture, an arts scene featuring some of the world's best galleries, museums, and theatres, and its tranquil parks.
Demographics
As per the
2021 census, 1,716,961 inhabitants lived within the city limits, a decrease from the figure recorded at the 2011 census.
This decrease is due to low natural increase, but also to a shift in population from the city itself to its smaller
satellite town
A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, subdivisions a ...
s such as
Popești-Leordeni
Popești-Leordeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, south of downtown Bucharest, although from the northern edge of the town to the southern edge of Bucharest the distance is less than . Most of its inhabitants commute to Bucharest ...
,
Voluntari
Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest.
The population ...
,
Chiajna
Chiajna () is a commune in the south-west of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, immediately west of the capital, Bucharest. It is composed of three villages: Chiajna, Dudu, and Roșu.
The mayor of Chiajna is currently Mircea Minea ( Social Democra ...
,
Bragadiru,
Pantelimon,
Buftea
Buftea () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, located north-west of Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Rom ...
and
Otopeni
Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, neighbouring the north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 21,750 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city.
H ...
. In a study published by the United Nations, Bucharest placed 19th among 28 cities that recorded sharp declines in population from 1990 to the mid-2010s. In particular, the population fell by 3.77%.
The city's population, according to the 2002 census, was 1,926,334 inhabitants, or 8.9% of the total population of Romania. A significant number of people commute to the city every day, mostly from the surrounding Ilfov County, but official statistics regarding their numbers do not exist.
Bucharest's population experienced two phases of rapid growth, the first beginning in the late 19th century when the city was consolidated as the national capital and lasting until the Second World War, and the second during the Ceaușescu years (1965–1989), when a massive urbanization campaign was launched and many people migrated from rural areas to the capital. At this time, due to Ceaușescu's decision to ban abortion and contraception,
natural increase
In demography and population dynamics, the rate of natural increase (RNI), also known as natural population change, is defined as the birth rate minus the death rate of a particular population, over a particular time period. It is typically expre ...
was also significant.
Bucharest is a city of high
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
: 8,260/km
2 (21,400/sq mi), as most of the population lives in high-density communist era
apartment blocks (''blocuri''). However, this also depends on the part of the city: the southern boroughs have a higher density than the northern ones. Of the European Union country capital-cities, only
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
have a higher population density (see
List of European Union cities proper by population density
The population, population density, and land area for the cities of the European Union listed below are based on the entire city proper, the defined boundary or border of a city or the city limits of the city.
See also
*List of cities by popu ...
). In addition to blocks of flats built during the communist era, there are also older interwar ones, as well as newer ones built in the 1990s and in the 21st century. Although apartment buildings are strongly associated with the communist era, such housing schemes were first introduced in Bucharest in the 1920s.
About 97.3% of the population of Bucharest for whom data are available is
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
. Other significant ethnic groups are
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin
** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities
** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom
* Romanians (Romanian ...
, Hungarians, Turks,
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
,
Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
(mostly
Regat Germans
Regat Germans or Old Kingdom Germans ( or ) are an ethnic German group of the eastern and southern parts of Romania. The Regat is a Romanian-language term ascribed for the initial territorial extent of the Kingdom of Romania before World War I ...
), Chinese, Russians, Ukrainians, and Italians. A relatively small number of Bucharesters are also
Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
, Armenians, Kurds, Bulgarians, Albanians, Poles, French, Arabs, Africans (including the
Afro-Romanians), Iranians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Nepalis, Afghans, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, and Indians. 226,943 people did not declare their ethnicity.
In terms of religious affiliation, 96.1% of the population for whom data are available is
Romanian Orthodox
The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...
, 1.2% is
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, 0.5% is
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, and 0.4% is
Romanian Greek Catholic. Despite this, only 18% of the population, of any religion, attends a place of worship once a week or more. The life expectancy of residents of Bucharest in 2015 was 77.8 years old, which is 2.4 years above the national average.
Economy
Bucharest is the centre of the Romanian economy and industry, accounting for around 24% (2017) of the country's GDP and about one-quarter of its industrial production, while being inhabited by 9% of the country's population. Almost one-third of national taxes is paid by Bucharest's citizens and companies. The living standard in the Bucharest–Ilfov region was 145% of the EU average in 2017, according to GDP per capita at the
purchasing power parity
Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a measure of the price of specific goods in different countries and is used to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currency, currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of a market bask ...
standard (adjusted to the national price level).
The Bucharest area surpassed, on comparable terms, European metropolitan areas such as
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
(139%),
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
(125%),
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
(118%),
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
(110%),
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
(102%), and
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
(79%), and more than twice the Romanian average.
After relative stagnation in the 1990s, the city's strong economic growth has revitalised infrastructure and led to the development of shopping malls, residential estates, and high-rise office buildings. In January 2013, Bucharest had an unemployment rate of 2.1%, significantly lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.8%.

Bucharest's economy is centred on industry and
services
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...
, with services particularly growing in importance in the past 10 years. The headquarters of 186,000 firms, including nearly all large Romanian companies, are located in Bucharest. An important source of growth since 2000 has been the city's rapidly expanding property and construction sector. Bucharest is also Romania's largest centre for information technology and communications and is home to several software companies operating offshore delivery centres. Romania's largest stock exchange, the
Bucharest Stock Exchange
The Bucharest Stock Exchange (, BVB) is the stock exchange of Romania located in Bucharest. In 2023, the BVB's market capitalization increased by 52.7% to $64.9 billion. , there were 85 companies listed on the BVB.
The capitalization of the Roma ...
, which was merged in December 2005 with the Bucharest-based electronic stock exchange
Rasdaq
The Bucharest Stock Exchange (, BVB) is the stock exchange of Romania located in Bucharest. In 2023, the BVB's market capitalization increased by 52.7% to $64.9 billion. , there were 85 companies listed on the BVB.
The capitalization of the Roma ...
, plays a major role in the city's economy.
Malls and large shopping centres have been built since the late 1990s, such as
Băneasa Shopping City
Băneasa Shopping City is a shopping center in the north of Bucharest, Romania, opened on 18 April 2008. Located in the Băneasa neighborhood of Sector 1, it is part of the Băneasa Developments owned by Aurel and Radu Timofte.
Besides the Bă ...
,
AFI Palace Cotroceni
AFI Cotroceni is a shopping mall in Bucharest, Romania. It is located in the western part of the city, between the city center and two of the largest residential districts, Militari and Drumul Taberei. With approximately of gross leasable area ...
, Mega Mall,
București Mall
București Mall (known locally as ''Mall Vitan'') is a shopping mall located in the Vitan neighborhood of Bucharest, Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeas ...
, ParkLake Shopping Centre,
Sun Plaza Sun Plaza may refer to:
* Sun Plaza (Bucharest), a shopping mall in Bucharest, Romania
* Sun Plaza, Singapore, a shopping mall in Sembawang, Singapore
* Sun Plaza, a tower in the Maslak district of Istanbul, Turkey
{{Disambiguation ...
, Promenada Mall and longest
Unirea Shopping Centre. Bucharest has
over 20 malls as of 2019.
The corporations
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
,
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
,
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...
, or
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
are all present in the Romanian capital. The top ten is also dominated by companies operating in automotive, oil & gas (such as
Petrom
OMV Petrom S.A. is a Romanian integrated oil company, controlled by Austria's OMV. It is one of the largest corporations in Romania and the largest oil and gas producer in Southeast Europe. Since 2004 it is a subsidiary of OMV. With 2022 reve ...
), as well as companies in telecommunication and
FMCG
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG) or convenience goods, are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, bevera ...
. The
Speedtest
Speedtest.net, also known as Speedtest by Ookla, is a web service that provides free analysis of Internet access performance metrics, such as connection data rate and latency. It is the flagship product of Ookla, a web testing and network dia ...
Global Index ranks Bucharest the 6th city in the world (after
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
,
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
,
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
,
Valparaíso
Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
, and
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
) in terms of fixed
broadband
In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...
speed, at 250
Mbps
In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mul ...
as of 2023.
File:2017 sediul IBM.jpg, IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
Bucharest
File:Skyscrapers in Bucharest.jpg, Floreasca City Center
Floreasca City Center is a multi-functional center with a shopping and entertainment complex as well as two office buildings in Bucharest. Floreasca City Center consists of a center for shopping, entertainment and business. The gross area amounts ...
(including SkyTower and Oracle
An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination.
Descript ...
headquarters)
File:Globalworth Tower Bucharest.jpg, Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
operates office space in the Globalworth Tower.
File:Petrom City.jpg, Petrom
OMV Petrom S.A. is a Romanian integrated oil company, controlled by Austria's OMV. It is one of the largest corporations in Romania and the largest oil and gas producer in Southeast Europe. Since 2004 it is a subsidiary of OMV. With 2022 reve ...
City
File:IMG-20171002-15321-romania-unirea-bucharest.jpg, Unirea Shopping Center
Unirea Shopping Center is a chain of two large shopping centres, the initial one being located in Unirii Square, Bucharest, Romania, and the second one in Brașov.
Bucharest
Opened in 1976 and enlarged in 1989, it was the largest department sto ...
File:Bucharest Day 4 - AFI Cotroceni (9434236245).jpg, AFI Cotroceni
AFI Cotroceni is a shopping mall in Bucharest, Romania. It is located in the western part of the city, between the city center and two of the largest residential districts, Militari and Drumul Taberei. With approximately of gross leasable are ...
Transport

Bucharest is crossed by two major international routes:
Pan-European transport corridor IV and
IX.
Public transport

Bucharest's public transport system is the largest in Romania and one of the largest in Europe. It is made up of the
Bucharest Metro
The Bucharest Metro () is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the larger Transport in Bucharest, B ...
, run by
Metrorex
The Bucharest Metro () is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the larger Bucharest public transpo ...
, as well as a surface transport system run by
STB
State Security (, ), or StB / ŠtB, was the secret police force in communist Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it dealt with any activity that was considered oppositio ...
(''Societatea de Transport București'', previously known as the RATB), which consists of buses,
trams
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
,
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es, and
light rail
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
. In addition, a private
minibus system operates there. , a limit of 10,000 taxicab licences was imposed.
The Bucharest Metro consists of five lines (
M1,
M2,
M3,
M4, and
M5) ran by
Metrorex
The Bucharest Metro () is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the larger Bucharest public transpo ...
, and is one of the fastest ways to get around the city. The oldest metro line is M1, which was opened in 1979. The newest metro line is M5, which was opened in 2020. A sixth metro line,
M6 line, is currently under construction.
Railways
It is the hub of Romania's national railway network, run by ''
Căile Ferate Române
Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first ra ...
''. The main railway station is
Gara de Nord ('North Station'), which provides connections to all major cities in Romania, as well as international destinations:
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
,
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
,
Varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city
** Varna Province
** Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
** Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
* Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
* Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia
Asia
* Var ...
,
Chișinău
Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...
,
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
,
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...
,
Lviv
Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
,
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
,
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
,
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
,
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, etc.
The city has five other railway stations run by CFR, of which the most important are Basarab (adjacent to North Station), Obor, Băneasa, and Progresul. These are in the process of being integrated into a commuter railway serving Bucharest and the surrounding
Ilfov County
Ilfov () is the Counties of Romania, county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but, after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, whi ...
. Seven main lines radiate out of Bucharest.
The oldest station in Bucharest is Filaret. It was inaugurated in 1869, and in 1960, the communist government turned it in a bus terminal.
Air
*
Henri Coandă International Airport
Henri is the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include:
People French nobles
* Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France
* ...
(
IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...
: OTP,
ICAO
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...
: LROP), located north of the Bucharest city centre, in the town of
Otopeni
Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, neighbouring the north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 21,750 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city.
H ...
, Ilfov. It is the busiest airport in Romania, in terms of passenger traffic: 12,807,032 in 2017.
*
Aurel Vlaicu International Airport Aurel may refer to:
Places
* Aurel, Drôme, France
* Aurel, Vaucluse, France
Other uses
* Aurel (given name)
* Aurel Awards, a Slovak music award
* AuRel, a dragon in E. E. Knight's '' Age of Fire'' series
See also
* Aurell, people ...
(IATA: BBU, ICAO: LRBS) is Bucharest's business and VIP airport. It is situated only north of the Bucharest city centre, within city limits.
Roads
Bucharest is a major intersection of
Romania's national road network. A few of the busiest national roads and motorways link the city to all of Romania's major cities, as well as to neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Ukraine. The
A1 to Pitești, and from Sibiu to the Hungarian border, the
A2 Sun Motorway to the Dobrogea region and Constanța, and the
A3 to Ploiești all start from Bucharest.
By road, Bucharest is located 182.5 km from Brașov, 202.9 km from Constanța, 407.6 km from Iași, 451.2 km from Cluj-Napoca, and 544.1 km from Timișoara.
A series of high-capacity boulevards, which generally radiate out from the city centre to the outskirts, provides a framework for the municipal road system. The main axes, which run north–south, east–west and northwest–southeast, as well as one internal and one external ring road, support the bulk of the traffic.
The city's roads are usually very crowded during rush hours, due to an increase in car ownership in recent years. In 2013, the number of cars registered in Bucharest amounted to 1,125,591. This results in wear and
pothole
A pothole is a pot-shaped depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affecte ...
s appearing on busy roads, particularly secondary roads, this being identified as one of Bucharest's main infrastructural problems. A comprehensive effort on behalf of the City Hall to boost road infrastructure was made, and according to the general development plan, 2,000 roads have been repaired by 2008. The huge number of cars registered in the city forced the Romanian Auto Registry to switch to 3-digit numbers on
registration plates in 2010.
On 17 June 2011, the
Basarab Overpass
The Basarab Overpass () is a road overpass in Bucharest, Romania, connecting Nicolae Titulescu blvd. and Grozăvești Road, part of Bucharest's inner city ring. A design by engineer Javier Manterola, its construction was undertaken by FCC and As ...
was inaugurated and opened to traffic, thus completing the inner city traffic ring. The overpass took five years to build and is the longest
cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...
in Romania and the widest such bridge in Europe; upon completion, traffic on the
Grant Bridge
Podul Grant (''Grant Bridge'') is a bridge that serves both motorway and lightrail transportation in Bucharest, Romania. It is named after Effingham Grant, the British consul in Bucharest during the mid-19th century. Initially, the bridge was ...
and in the Gara de Nord area became noticeably more fluid.
File:LaminoruluiStation2.jpg, Bucharest Metro
The Bucharest Metro () is an underground rapid transit system that serves Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It first opened for service on 16 November 1979. The network is run by Metrorex. One of two parts of the larger Transport in Bucharest, B ...
File:Tramvai Imperio Metropoltan (București) - Exterior, Față.jpg, Astra Imperio
File:405(2016.06.15)-1- Bucur LF-CH (27411159710).jpg, Bucur LF tram on Basarab Overpass
The Basarab Overpass () is a road overpass in Bucharest, Romania, connecting Nicolae Titulescu blvd. and Grozăvești Road, part of Bucharest's inner city ring. A design by engineer Javier Manterola, its construction was undertaken by FCC and As ...
File:STB S.A. Mercedes Citaro cu motor de propulsie Euro 6 sau HYBRID.jpg, Mercedes-Benz Citaro
The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia, ...
File:Bucharest Solaris Trollino 12M.jpg, Solaris Trollino
Solaris Trollino is a series of low-floor trolleybuses designed for public transport, produced since 1999 by the Polish company Solaris Bus & Coach. The power regulation electronics and traction motors are delivered by other companies, such as ...
File:Pasajul Basarab - Noaptea.jpg, Basarab Overpass
The Basarab Overpass () is a road overpass in Bucharest, Romania, connecting Nicolae Titulescu blvd. and Grozăvești Road, part of Bucharest's inner city ring. A design by engineer Javier Manterola, its construction was undertaken by FCC and As ...
File:Strada Buzesti.jpg, Buzești Street
Water

Although it is situated on the banks of a river, Bucharest has never functioned as a port city. Other Romanian cities such as
Constanța
Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...
and
Galați
Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...
serve as the country's main ports. The unfinished
Danube-Bucharest Canal, which is long and around 70% completed, could link Bucharest to the
Danube River
The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...
, and via the
Danube-Black Sea Canal, to the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
. Works on the canal were suspended in 1989, but proposals have been made to resume construction as part of the European Strategy for the Danube Region.
Culture
Bucharest has a growing cultural scene, in fields including the visual arts, performing arts, and nightlife. Unlike other parts of Romania, such as the Black Sea coast or
Transylvania
Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
, Bucharest's cultural scene has no defined style, and instead incorporates elements of Romanian and international culture.
Landmarks
Bucharest has landmark buildings and monuments. Perhaps the most prominent of these is the
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament (), also known as the House of the Republic () or the People's House (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The Palace reaches a height of , has ...
, built in the 1980s during the rule of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. The
largest Parliament building in the world, the palace houses the Romanian Parliament (the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
, and the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
), as well as the
National Museum of Contemporary Art. The building boasts one of the largest convention centres in the world.
Another landmark in Bucharest is
Arcul de Triumf
Arcul de Triumf (Romanian language, Romanian; "The Triumphal Arch") is a triumphal arch located on the Șoseaua Kiseleff, Kiseleff Road, in the northern part of Bucharest, Romania. The monument, designed by Petre Antonescu, was built in 1921– ...
("The Triumphal Arch"), built in its current form in 1935 and modelled after the
Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...
in Paris. A newer landmark of the city is the
Memorial of Rebirth, a stylised marble pillar unveiled in 2005 to commemorate the victims of the
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...
of 1989, which overthrew Communism. The abstract monument sparked controversy when it was unveiled, being dubbed with names such as 'the olive on the toothpick' (''măslina-n scobitoare''), as many argued that it does not fit in its surroundings and believed that its choice was political.
The
Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum () is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania, and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's most prestigious concert hall and home of the "Geor ...
building is considered a symbol of Romanian culture and since 2007 has been on the list of the Label of European Heritage sites. It was built between 1886 and 1888 by the architect Paul Louis Albert Galeron, through public funding.
InterContinental Bucharest
The Grand Hotel Bucharest is a 24-story high-rise five-star hotel situated near University Square, Bucharest, in Sector 1. Opened in 1971 as the Inter-Continental Bucharest, it is a city landmark.
History
Designed by Dinu Hariton, Gheorghe N� ...
is a high-rise five-star hotel near University Square and is also a landmark of the city. The building is designed so that each room has a unique panorama of the city.
House of the Spark (''Casa Scânteii'') is a replica of the
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...
. This edifice, built in the characteristic style of the large-scale Soviet projects, was intended to be representative of the new political regime and to assert the superiority of the Communist doctrine. Construction started in 1952 and was completed in 1957, a few years after Stalin's death in 1953. Popularly known as Casa Scânteii ('House of the Spark') after the name of the official gazette of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, ''Scânteia'', it was made for the purpose of bringing together under one roof all of Bucharest's official press and publishing houses. It is the only building in Bucharest featuring the
Hammer and Sickle
The hammer and sickle (Unicode: ) is a communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between industrial and agricultural workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing wo ...
, the Red Star and other communist insignia carved into medallions adorning the façade.
Other cultural venues include the
National Museum of Art of Romania
The National Museum of Art of Romania () is located in the Royal Palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest. It features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, as well as the international collection assembled by the Romanian r ...
,
Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History
The Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History () is a natural history museum, located in Bucharest, Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. I ...
,
Museum of the Romanian Peasant
The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant () is a museum in Bucharest, Romania, with a collection of textiles (especially costumes), icons, ceramics (art), ceramics, and other artifacts of Romanian peasant life. One of Europe's leading museums ...
,
National History Museum and the
Military Museum
A military museum or war museum is an institution dedicated to the preservation and education of the significance of wars, conflicts, and military actions. These museums serve as repositories of artifacts (not least weapons), documents, photographs ...
.
File:Arcul de triumf.jpg, The Triumphal Arch
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...
was inaugurated in 1936.
File:Sky Tower Bucharest - panoramio.jpg, With a price tag of $250 million, Floreasca City Center
Floreasca City Center is a multi-functional center with a shopping and entertainment complex as well as two office buildings in Bucharest. Floreasca City Center consists of a center for shopping, entertainment and business. The gross area amounts ...
opened in 2012.
File:Ansamblul de fântâni din Piața Unirii, București.jpg, Downtown Bucharest fountains in the Unirii Square
File:Libraria Carturesti Carusel - Interior ziua.jpg, Interior of the Cărturești Carusel Bookstore
File:Biblioteca Națională a României.jpeg, The New National Library of Romania
The National Library of Romania () is the national library of Romania, located at 22 Unirii Boulevard in central Bucharest. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in Romania. The construction cost was €110 million.
Histor ...
, with a price of €110 million.
File:Bucuresti, Romania. Bulevardul Magheru 2017.jpg, alt=Magheru Boulevard is one of the most expensive streets in the world, Magheru Boulevard is one of the most expensive streets in the world.
File:ThermeBucuresti.jpg, alt=Therme Bucharest spa is Europe's biggest urban beach, Therme Bucharest spa is Europe's biggest urban beach.
Visual arts
In terms of
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
, the city has museums featuring both classical and contemporary Romanian art, as well as selected international works. The
National Museum of Art of Romania
The National Museum of Art of Romania () is located in the Royal Palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest. It features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, as well as the international collection assembled by the Romanian r ...
is perhaps the best-known of Bucharest museums. It is located in the royal palace and features collections of medieval and modern Romanian art, including works by sculptor
Constantin Brâncuși
Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism ...
, as well as an international collection assembled by the Romanian royal family.
Other, smaller, museums contain specialised collections. The
Zambaccian Museum
The Zambaccian Museum in Bucharest, Romania is a museum in the former home of (1889 –1962), a businessman and art collector. The museum was founded in the Dorobanți neighbourhood in 1947, closed by the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime in 1977, an ...
, which is situated in the former home of art collector Krikor H. Zambaccian, contains works by well-known Romanian artists and international artists such as
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...
,
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...
,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
,
Camille Pissarro
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
, and
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
.
The
Gheorghe Tattarescu
Gheorghe Tattarescu (; October 1818 – October 24, 1894) was a Moldavian, later Romanian painter and a pioneer of neoclassicism in his country's modern painting.
Biography
Early life and studies
Tattarescu was born in Focşani in 1818. ...
Museum contains portraits of Romanian revolutionaries in exile such as
Gheorghe Magheru
General Gheorghe Magheru (; 8 April 1802, Bârzeiul de Gilort, Gorj County – 23 March 1880 Bucharest) was a Romanian revolutionary and soldier from Wallachia, and political ally of Nicolae Bălcescu.
A Pandur and radical conspirator
M ...
,
ștefan Golescu
Ștefan Golescu (; 1809–1874) was a Wallachian Romanian politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for two terms from 1 March 1867 to 5 August 1867 and from 13 November 1867 to 30 April 1868, and as Prime Minister of Romania betw ...
, and
Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu () (29 June 181929 November 1852) was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.
Early life
Born in Bucharest to a family of low-ranking nobility, he used his mother ...
, and allegorical compositions with revolutionary (''Romania's rebirth'', 1849) and patriotic (''The
Principalities' Unification'', 1857) themes. Another impressive art collection gathering important Romanian painters, can be found at the Ligia and Pompiliu Macovei residence, which is open to visitors as it is now part of the Bucharest Museum patrimony.
The
Theodor Pallady Museum is situated in one of the oldest surviving merchant houses in Bucharest and includes works by Romanian painter
Theodor Pallady
Theodor Pallady (; 11 April 1871 – 16 August 1956) was a Romanian painter.
Biography
Theodor Pallady was the son of Ioan Pallady and Maria Cantacuzino, the older sister of Romanian diplomat Neculai B. Cantacuzino. He was born in Iași, Roman ...
, as well as European and oriental furniture pieces. The
Museum of Art Collections contains the collections of Romanian art aficionados, including Krikor Zambaccian and Theodor Pallady.
Despite the classical art galleries and museums in the city, a contemporary arts scene also exists. The
National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), situated in a wing of the
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament (), also known as the House of the Republic () or the People's House (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The Palace reaches a height of , has ...
, was opened in 2004 and contains Romanian and international contemporary art. The MNAC also manages the Kalinderu MediaLab, which caters to multimedia and experimental art. Private art galleries are scattered throughout the city centre.
The palace of the
National Bank of Romania
The National Bank of Romania (, BNR) is the central bank of Romania and was established in April 1880. Its headquarters are located in the capital city of Bucharest.
The National Bank of Romania is responsible for the issue of the Romanian le ...
houses the national
numismatic
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects.
Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...
collection. Exhibits include banknotes, coins, documents, photographs, maps, silver and gold bullion bars, bullion coins, and dies and moulds. The building was constructed between 1884 and 1890. The thesaurus room contains notable marble decorations.
Performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...
are some of the strongest cultural elements of Bucharest. The most famous symphony orchestra is National Radio Orchestra of Romania. One of the most prominent buildings is the neoclassical
Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum () is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania, and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's most prestigious concert hall and home of the "Geor ...
, which was founded in 1852, and hosts classical music concerts, the George Enescu Festival, and is home to the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bucharest is home to the Romanian National Opera, Bucharest, Romanian National Opera and the I.L. Caragiale National Theatre. Another well-known theatre in Bucharest is the State Jewish Theater (Romania), State Jewish Theatre, which features plays starring world-renowned Romanian-Jewish actress Maia Morgenstern. Smaller theatres throughout the city cater to specific genres, such as the Comedy Theatre, the Nottara Theatre, the Bulandra Theatre, the Odeon Theatre (Bucharest), Odeon Theatre, and the revue theatre of Constantin Tănase.
Music and nightlife

Bucharest is home to Romania's largest recording labels, and is often the residence of Romanian musicians. Romanian rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s, such as IRIS (Romanian band), Iris and Holograf, continue to be popular, particularly with the middle-aged, while since the beginning of the 1990s, the hip hop music, hip hop/rapping, rap scene has developed. Hip-hop bands and artists from Bucharest such as B.U.G. Mafia, Paraziții, and La Familia (rap group), La Familia enjoy national and international recognition.
The pop-rock band Taxi (Romanian band), Taxi have been gaining international respect, as has Spitalul de Urgență's raucous updating of traditional Music of Romania, Romanian music. While many neighbourhood discothèque, discos play ''manele'', an Oriental- and Roma-influenced genre of music that is particularly popular in Bucharest's working-class districts, the city has a rich jazz and blues scene, and to an even larger extent, house music/trance music, trance and heavy metal music, heavy metal/punk music, punk scenes. Bucharest's jazz profile has especially risen since 2002, with the presence of two venues, Green Hours and Art Jazz, as well as an American presence alongside established Romanians.
With no central nightlife strip, entertainment venues are dispersed throughout the city, with clusters in
Lipscani
Lipscani is a street and a district of Bucharest, Romania, which from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century was the most important commercial area of the city and Wallachia. It is located near the ruins of the Curtea Veche, old Princely Court ...
and Regie, Bucharest, Regie.
Cultural events and festivals
A number of cultural festivals are held in Bucharest throughout the year, but most festivals take place in June, July, and August. The National Opera organises the International Opera Festival every year in May and June, which includes ensembles and orchestras from all over the world.
The Romanian Athaeneum Society hosts the George Enescu Festival at locations throughout the city in September every two years (odd years). The Museum of the Romanian Peasant and the Village Museum organise events throughout the year, showcasing Romanian folk arts and crafts.
In the 2000s, due to the growing prominence of the Chinese community in Bucharest, Chinese cultural events took place. The first officially organised Chinese festival was the Chinese New Year's Eve Festival of February 2005, which took place in Nichita Stănescu Park and was organised by the Bucharest City Hall.
In 2005, Bucharest was the first city in Southeastern Europe to host the international CowParade, which resulted in dozens of decorated cow sculptures being placed across the city.
In 2004, Bucharest imposed in the circle of important festivals in Eastern Europe with the Bucharest International Film Festival, an event widely acknowledged in Europe, having as guests of honour famous names from the world cinema: Andrei Konchalovsky, Danis Tanović, Nikita Mikhalkov, Rutger Hauer, Jerzy Skolimowski, Jan Harlan, Radu Mihăileanu, and many others.
Since 2005, Bucharest has its own contemporary art exhibition, art biennale, the Bucharest Biennale.
File:Ateneul Român - Vedere Frontala.jpg, Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum () is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania, and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's most prestigious concert hall and home of the "Geor ...
File:Violetta in concert. Bucharest Phylharmony.jpg, George Enescu Festival
File:Sala Radio Mihail Jora 1.jpg, Sala Radio, Mihail Jora Hall
Traditional culture

Traditional Romanian culture continues to have a major influence in arts such as theatre, film, and music. Bucharest has two internationally renowned ethnography, ethnographic museums, the
Museum of the Romanian Peasant
The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant () is a museum in Bucharest, Romania, with a collection of textiles (especially costumes), icons, ceramics (art), ceramics, and other artifacts of Romanian peasant life. One of Europe's leading museums ...
and the open-air Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum in Bucharest, Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum, in King Michael I Park. It contains 272 authentic buildings and peasant farms from all over Romania.
The Museum of the Romanian Peasant was declared the European Museum of the Year in 1996. Patronised by the Ministry of Culture, the museum preserves and exhibits numerous collections of objects and monuments of material and spiritual culture. The Museum of the Romanian Peasant holds one of the richest collections of peasant objects in Romania, its heritage being nearly 90,000 pieces, those being divided into several collections: ceramics, costumes, textiles, wooden objects, religious objects, customs, etc.
The Museum of Romanian History is another important museum in Bucharest, containing a collection of artefacts detailing Romanian history and culture from the prehistoric times, Dacian era, medieval times, and the modern era.
Religion
Bucharest is the seat of the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, one of the Eastern Orthodox churches in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Patriarch of Constantinople, and also of its subdivisions, the Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobrudja and the Archbishopric of Bucharest. Orthodox believers consider Demetrius of Basarabov to be the patron saint of the city.
The city is a centre for other Christian organizations in Romania, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest, established in 1883, and the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic, Romanian Greek-Catholic Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Bucharest, Eparchy of Saint Basil the Great, founded in 2014.
Bucharest also hosts six synagogues, including the Templul Coral, Choral Temple of Bucharest, the Great Synagogue (Bucharest), Great Synagogue of Bucharest and the Jewish Museum (Bucharest), Holy Union Temple. The latter was converted into the Museum of the History of the Romanian Jewish Community, while the Great Synagogue and the Choral Temple are both active and hold regular services.
A Grand Mosque of Bucharest, mosque with a capacity for 2,000 people was in the planning stages at 22–30 Expoziției Boulevard. The project was later abandoned due to financial problems and public protests. However, there are several smaller Sunni Islam, Sunni and Shia Islam, Shia mosques active in Bucharest.
File:Palatul Patriarhiei - panoramio.jpg, Palace of the Patriarchate, Palace of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate
File:Biserica greaca.JPG, Greek Church (Bucharest), Greek Orthodox Church of Bucharest
File:Catedrala Sfântul Iosif din București (2023-04).jpg, Saint Joseph Cathedral, Bucharest, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Cathedral
File:Detalii de arhitectura.JPG, Italian Church (Bucharest), Italian Roman Catholic Church
File:Biserica „Învierii" - Anglicană.jpg, Anglican Church (Bucharest), Anglican Church of the Resurrection
Architecture
The city centre is a mixture of Medieval architecture, medieval, neoclassical architecture, neoclassical,
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
, and Art Nouveau buildings, as well as 'neo-Romanian' buildings dating from the beginning of the 20th century and a collection of modern buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. The mostly utilitarian Communist-era architecture dominates most southern boroughs. Recently built contemporary structures such as skyscrapers and office buildings complete the landscape.
Historical architecture
Of the city's Middle Ages, medieval architecture, most of what survived into modern times was destroyed by communist Systematization (Romania), systematization, fire, and military incursions. Some medieval and renaissance edifices remain, the most notable are in the Lipscani area. This precinct contains notable buildings such as Manuc's Inn (''Hanul lui Manuc'') and the ruins of the Curtea Veche, Old Court (''Curtea Veche''); during the late Middle Ages, this area was the heart of commerce in Bucharest. From the 1970s onwards, the area went through urban decline, and many historical buildings fell into disrepair. In 2005, the Lipscani area was restored.
To execute a massive redevelopment project during the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the government conducted extensive demolition of churches and many other historic structures in Romania. According to Alexandru Budișteanu, former chief architect of Bucharest, "The sight of a church bothered Ceaușescu. It didn't matter if they demolished or moved it, as long as it was no longer in sight". Nevertheless, a project organised by Romanian engineer Eugeniu Iordăchescu was able to move many historic structures to less-prominent sites and save them.
The city centre has retained architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly the interwar period, which is often seen as the 'golden age' of Bucharest architecture. During this time, the city grew in size and wealth, therefore seeking to emulate other large European capitals such as Paris. Much of the architecture of the time belongs to a Modern (rationalist) Architecture current, led by Horia Creangă and Marcel Iancu.
In Romania, the tendencies of innovation in the architectural language met the need of valorisation and affirmation of the national cultural identity. The Art Nouveau movement found expression through new architectural style initiated by Ion Mincu and taken over by other prestigious architects who capitalised important references of Romanian laic and medieval ecclesiastical architecture (for example the Mogoșoaia Palace, the Stavropoleos Monastery, Stavropoleos Church or the disappeared church of Văcărești Monastery) and Romanian folk motifs. The
Romanian Revival architecture
Romanian Revival architecture ( Romanian National Style, Neo-Romanian, or Neo-Brâncovenesc art, Brâncovenesc; ) is an architectural style that has appeared in the late 19th century in Romanian Art Nouveau, initially being the result of the att ...
, which was born as the result of the attempts of finding a specific Romanian architectural style, is exemplified though buildings such as Nicolae Minovici Folk Art Museum and the Romanian Peasant Museum.
Another style of the 1930s is the Moorish-Florentine or Mediterranean Picturesque, which Eclecticism in architecture, eclectically uses Romanesque architecture, Romanesque, Gothic architecture, Gothic and Renaissance architecture, Renaissance elements in civic architecture, with a Mediterranean vibe, giving rise to Mediterranean Revival architecture.
Some buildings from the interwar era have a modernist brutalist look, such as the Tehnoimport Building, which was built in 1935, and may be mistaken as communist architecture. Modernist styles during the interwar period include
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
, Stripped Classicism,
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
and Rationalism.
Two buildings from this time are the Crețulescu Palace, housing cultural institutions including UNESCO's European Centre for Higher Education, and the Cotroceni Palace, the residence of the President of Romania, Romanian President. Many large-scale constructions such as the Gara de Nord, the busiest railway station in the city, National Bank of Romania's headquarters, and the Telephones Company Building date from these times. In the 2000s, some historic buildings in the city centre underwent restoration. In some residential areas of the city, particularly in high-income central and northern districts, fin-de-siecle, turn-of-the-20th-century villas were mostly restored beginning in the late 1990s.
Palacio CEC, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-29, DD 91-93 HDR.jpg, CEC Palace
The Cantacuzino Palace from Bucharest (Romania).jpg, Cantacuzino Palace
Palacio del Círculo Nacional Militar, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-29, DD 66.jpg, Palace of the National Military Circle
Bucuresti, Romania, Pasajul Macca-Vilacrosse; B-II-a-A-19837 (2).JPG, Pasajul Macca-Vilacrosse, Macca Villacrosse Passage
File:56,_Bulevardul_Dacia,_Bucharest_(Romania).jpg, Romanian Revival architecture
Romanian Revival architecture ( Romanian National Style, Neo-Romanian, or Neo-Brâncovenesc art, Brâncovenesc; ) is an architectural style that has appeared in the late 19th century in Romanian Art Nouveau, initially being the result of the att ...
(C.N. Câmpeanu/Alfred E. Gheorghiu House on Bulevardul Dacia)
File:14_Strada_George_Enescu,_Bucharest_(03).jpg, Window design on George Enescu street no. 14, an example of Mediterranean Revival architecture
File:37_Calea_Victoriei,_Bucharest_(01).jpg, The Telephones Company Building, an example of the Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
style
Communist era architecture
A major part of Bucharest's architecture is made up of buildings constructed during the Communist Romania, Communist era replacing the historical architecture with high-density apartment blocks – significant portions of the Ceaușima, historic centre of Bucharest were demolished to construct one of the largest buildings in the world, the
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament (), also known as the House of the Republic () or the People's House (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The Palace reaches a height of , has ...
(then officially called the House of the Republic). In Nicolae Ceaușescu's project of systematization, new buildings were built in previously historical areas, which were razed and then built upon.
Communist architecture broadly includes three stages: architecture that was built in the early years of communism, in the late 1940s and 1950s, which followed the Soviet Stalinist trend of Socialist Realism, an example being the House of the Free Press (which was named ''Casa Scînteii'' during communism); postwar Modernism in the 1960s and the 1970s; and the Systematization (Romania), systematization program of the late 1970s and 1980s, which included mass demolitions of historical buildings and their replacement with North Korean influenced buildings after Nicolae Ceaușescu visited East Asia in 1971, and was impressed by its Juche ideology.
The Communist regime installed after World War II took control over all aspects of life, including architecture, dictating a uniform bureaucratic vision of urbanism and architectural design. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who was premier of the Socialist Republic of Romania from 1947 until 1965, began the country's policies of industrialization, with infrastructure development for heavy industry, and construction for mass resettlement to new industrial and agricultural centers away from Bucharest and other principal cities. The architecture from this period is more or less easy to spot, by its use of Neoclassical elements and proportions, but in a simplified way. There are also some small 3-4 floors "Russian blocks" from this era, some of them built of red bricks.
Communist-era architecture from the 1960s and 1970s can be found especially in Bucharest's residential districts, mainly in ''blocuri'', which are high-density apartment blocks that house the majority of the city's population. Initially, these apartment blocks started to be constructed in the 1960s, on relatively empty areas and fields (good examples include Pajura, Drumul Taberei, Berceni and Titan), however with the 1970s, they mostly targeted peripheral neighbourhoods such as Colentina, Pantelimon, Militari and Rahova. Construction of these apartment blocks were also often randomised, for instance some small streets were demolished and later widened with the blocks being built next to them, but other neighbouring streets were left intact (like in the example of Calea Moșilor from 1978 to 1982), or built in various patterns such as the Piața Iancului-Lizeanu apartment buildings from 1962 to 1963.
The last years of communism were marked by major urban redevelopment schemes which changed dramatically the face of many cities, including Bucharest. One of the most singular examples of late stage communist architecture of the 1980s is
Centrul Civic
Centrul Civic (; "the Civic Centre") is a district in central Bucharest, Romania, which was completely rebuilt in the 1980s as part of the scheme of systematization under the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, which included the construction of new c ...
, a development that replaced a major part of Bucharest's historic city centre with giant utilitarian buildings, mainly with marble or travertine façades, inspired by North Korean architecture. The mass demolitions that occurred in the 1980s, under which an overall area of eight square kilometres of the historic centre of Bucharest were levelled, including monasteries, churches, synagogues, a hospital, and a noted
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
sports stadium, changed drastically the appearance of the city.
File:פרלמנט רומניה.jpg, The Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament (), also known as the House of the Republic () or the People's House (), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The Palace reaches a height of , has ...
(, formerly and alternatively still known as ''Casa Poporului'') is one of the List of largest buildings, largest buildings in the world
File:AcademiaRomana12rhd.jpg, Romanian Academy's building
File:View from the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest.jpg, Centrul Civic
File:Bathroom of Palatul Primǎverii - Spring Palace - in Bucharest Romania.jpg, Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
's residence is available to visitors.
File:Casa_Presei_Libere,_Bucuresti,_2016.jpg, The House of the Free Press, formerly Casa Scînteii "I. V. Stalin". It was built in the 1950s and it is an example of Stalinist architecture from the early communist period.
Contemporary architecture
Since Romanian Revolution of 1989, the fall of communism in 1989, several communist-era buildings have been refurbished, modernised, and used for other purposes. Perhaps the best example of this is the conversion of obsolete retail complexes into shopping malls and commercial centres. These giant, circular halls, which were unofficially called hunger circuses due to the food shortages experienced in the 1980s, were constructed during the Ceaușescu era to act as produce markets and refectory, refectories, although most were left unfinished at the time of the revolution.
Modern shopping malls such as the
Unirea Shopping Centre, Bucharest Mall, Plaza Romania, and City Mall, Romania, City Mall emerged on pre-existent structures of former hunger circuses. Another example is the conversion of a large utilitarian construction in Centrul Civic into a Marriott International, Marriott Hotel. This process was accelerated after 2000, when the city underwent a property boom, and many communist-era buildings in the city centre became prime real estate due to their location. Many communist-era apartment blocks have also been refurbished to improve urban appearance.
The newest contribution to Bucharest's architecture took place after the fall of communism, particularly after 2000, when the city went through a period of urban renewaland architectural revitalizationon the back of Romania's economic growth. Buildings from this time are mostly made of glass and steel, and often have more than 10 stories. Examples include shopping malls (particularly the Bucharest Mall, a conversion and extension of an abandoned building), office buildings, bank headquarters, etc.
During the 21st century, several high rise office buildings were built, particularly in the northern and eastern parts of the city. Additionally, a trend to add modern wings and façades to historic buildings has occurred, the most prominent example of which is the Bucharest Architects' Association Building, which is a modern glass-and-steel construction built inside a historic stone façade. In 2013, the Bucharest skyline enriched with a 137-m-high office building (SkyTower of Floreasca City Center, Floreasca City Centre), the tallest building in Romania. Examples of modern skyscrapers built in the 21st century include Bucharest Tower Center, Bucharest Tower Centre, Euro Tower (Bucharest), Euro Tower, Nusco Tower, Cathedral Plaza, City Gate Towers, Rin Grand Hotel, Premium Plaza, Bucharest Corporate Center, Bucharest Corporate Centre, Millennium Business Center, Millennium Business Centre, Phoenix Tower, Bucharest, PGV Tower, Charles de Gaulle Plaza, Business Development Centre Bucharest, BRD Tower Bucharest, BRD Tower, and Bucharest Financial Plaza. Despite this vertical development, Romanian architects avoid designing very tall buildings due to vulnerability to earthquakes.
Aside from buildings used for business and institutions, residential developments have also been built, many of which consist of high-rise office buildings and suburban residential communities. An example of a new high rise residential complex is Asmita Gardens. These developments are increasingly prominent in northern Bucharest, which is less densely populated and is home to middle- and upper-class Bucharesters due to the process of gentrification.
View top HQ NCaranf2020 0610 170246 (50247215752).jpg, Pipera Sky Tower
BucharestBRDTower.jpg, BRD Tower and Bucharest Tower Center in Victory Square
City Gate Towers.jpg, City Gate Towers office buildings
Asmita Gardens, București, Romania (Unsplash).jpg, Asmita Gardens
Bucharest - building 8.jpg, The Hotel Pullman Bucharest World Trade Center, World Trade Center in Bucharest
File:Financial_Plaza_Bucuresti_1.jpg, Bucharest Financial Plaza
Education
Overall, 159 faculties are in 34 universities. Sixteen public universities are in Bucharest, the largest of which are the University of Bucharest, the Politehnica University of Bucharest, the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, Technical University of Civil Engineering, the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, and the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest.
These are supplemented by nineteen private universities, such as the Romanian-American University. Private universities, however, have a mixed reputation due to irregularities.
In the 2020 QS World University Rankings, from Bucharest, only the University of Bucharest was included in the top universities of the world. The Politehnica University of Bucharest, Politehnica University disappeared from the ranking. Also, in recent years, the city has had increasing numbers of foreign students enrolling in its universities.
The first modern educational institution was the Princely Academy of Bucharest, Princely Academy from Bucharest, founded in 1694 and divided in 1864 to form the present-day University of Bucharest and the Saint Sava National College, both of which are among the most prestigious of their kind in Romania.
Over 450 public primary and secondary schools are in the city, all of which are administered by the Bucharest Municipal Schooling Inspectorate. Each Sectors of Bucharest, sector also has its own Schooling Inspectorate, subordinated to the municipal one.
File:Universitatea din Bucuresti din Piata Universitatii.jpg, University of Bucharest (UB)
File:Biblioteca Centrală Universitară - Vedere Frontala.jpg, Central University Library, Bucharest, Central University Library
File:Academia de Studii Economice.jpg, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (ASE)
File:Palatul Facultății de Medicină din București-1.JPG, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMFCD)
Media
The city is well-served by a modern landline and mobile network. Offices of Poșta Română, the national postal operator, are spread throughout the city, with the central post office () located at 12 Matei Millo Street. Payphone, Public telephones are located in many places and are operated by Telekom Romania, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom and successor of the former monopoly Romtelecom.
Bucharest is the headquarters of most national television networks and national newspapers, radio stations and online news websites. The largest daily newspapers in Bucharest include ''Evenimentul Zilei'', ''Jurnalul Național'', ''Cotidianul'', ''România Liberă'', and , while the biggest news websites are HotNews (with English and Spanish versions), :ro:Ziare.com, Ziare.com, and ''Gândul''. During the rush hours, Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspapers ''Click!'', ''Libertatea'', and ''Cancan'' are popular for commuters.
Several newspapers and media publications are based in House of the Free Press (), a landmark of northern Bucharest, originally named Casa Scânteii after the Communist Romania-era official newspaper ''Scînteia''. The House of the Free Press is not the only Bucharest landmark that grew out of the media and communications industry.
Palatul Telefoanelor ("The Telephone Palace") was the first major modernist building on Calea Victoriei in the city's centre, and the massive, unfinished communist-era Casa Radio looms over a park a block away from the Opera.
English-language newspapers became available in the early 1930s and reappeared in the 1990s. The two daily English-language newspapers are the ''Bucharest Daily News'' and ''Nine O' Clock''; several magazines and publications in other languages are available, such as the Hungarian-language daily ''Új Magyar Szó''.
''Observator Cultural'' covers the city's arts, and the free weekly magazines ''Șapte Seri'' ("Seven Evenings") and ''B24FUN'', list entertainment events. The city is home to the intellectual journal ''Dilema veche'' and the satire magazine ''Academia Cațavencu''.
Visit Bucharest Today is another online platform promoting Bucharest as a tourist destination. It serves as a comprehensive resource for local and international travelers seeking to learn about the capital city of Romania. The online platform showcases History of Bucharest, Bucharest's rich history, cultural landmarks, hidden gems, and exciting experiences.
Healthcare
One of the most modern hospitals in the capital is Colțea that has been re-equipped after a 90-million-euro investment in 2011. It specialises in oncological and cardiac disorders. It was built by Mihai Cantacuzino between 1701 and 1703, composed of many buildings, each with 12 to 30 beds, a church, three chapels, a school, and doctors' and teachers' houses.
Another conventional hospital is Pantelimon, which was established in 1733 by Grigore II Ghica. The surface area of the hospital land property was . The hospital had in its inventory a house for infectious diseases and a house for persons with disabilities.
Other hospitals or clinics are Bucharest Emergency Hospital, Floreasca Hospital, Floreasca Emergency Clinic Hospital, Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, and Fundeni Clinical Institute or Biomedica International and Euroclinic, which are private.
Sports
association football, Football is the most widely followed sport in Bucharest, with the city having numerous club teams, including, most notably, CSA Steaua București (football), Steaua București, FC Dinamo București, Dinamo București, FC Rapid București, Rapid București and FCSB.
Arena Națională, a new stadium inaugurated on 6 September 2011, hosted the 2012 UEFA Europa League Final, 2012 Europa League Final and has a 55,600-seat capacity, making it one of the largest stadiums in Southeastern Europe and one of the few with a roof.

Sport clubs have formed for team handball, handball, water polo, volleyball, rugby union, basketball and ice hockey. The majority of Romanian track and field athletes and most Artistic gymnastics, gymnasts are affiliated with clubs in Bucharest. The largest indoor arena in Bucharest is the Romexpo Dome with a seating capacity of 40,000. It can be used for boxing, kickboxing, handball and tennis.
Bucharest hosted annual races along a temporary urban track surrounding the Palace of the Parliament, called Bucharest Ring. The 2008 FIA GT Bucharest 2 Hours, Bucharest City Challenge race hosted FIA GT, FIA GT3, British F3, and Dacia Logan, Logan Cup races. Since 2009, Bucharest has the largest Ferrari Shop in Eastern Europe and the 2nd largest in Europe after Milan shop.
The capital also hosted the international tennis tournaments Bucharest Open, WTA Bucharest Open and Romanian Open, ATP Romanian Open. Ice hockey games are held at the Patinoarul Mihai Flamaropol, Mihai Flamaropol Arena, which holds 8,000 spectators. Rugby games are held in different locations, but the most modern stadium is Stadionul Arcul de Triumf, Arcul de Triumf Stadium, which is also home to the Romania national rugby union team, Romanian national rugby team.
Bucharest hosted the UEFA Euro 2020 championship at the Arena Națională or Bucharest National Arena. The championship took place in 2021, being postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twin towns – sister cities
Bucharest is Sister city, twinned with:
* Amman, Jordan
* Ankara, Turkey
*
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, Greece
* Atlanta, United States
*
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, China
*
Chișinău
Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...
, Moldova
* Damascus, Syria
*
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, Ukraine
* Lagos, Nigeria
*
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, Russia
* Nicosia, Cyprus
* Pretoria, South Africa
* Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina, Canada
* São Paulo, Brazil
*
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, Bulgaria
* Tbilisi, Georgia
In addition, Bucharest has a partnership with:
* Yerevan, Armenia (2013)
See also
* List of buildings in Bucharest
* List of people from Bucharest
References
Works cited
*
Further reading
Modern history of Bucharest City Hall of Bucharest
* Șerban Cantacuzino, ''Două Orașe Distincte''. Revista Secolul XX 4/6 (1997): 11–40
* Ernie Schoffham, Luminița MacHedon, Șerban Cantacuzino, ''Romanian Modernism: The Architecture of Bucharest, 1920–1940''
Romanian Tourist Office
* Tatiana Murzin
, 2005
Romanian Education Portal Site for the Ministry of Education containing lists of all educational establishments.
on the Museums from Romania web site.
* Bucica, Cristina. , 2000.
External links
*
{{Authority control
Bucharest,
Capitals in Europe
Cities in Romania
Capitals of Romanian counties
Localities in Muntenia
Market towns in Wallachia
Holocaust locations in Romania
1450s establishments in the Ottoman Empire
1459 establishments in Europe
Populated places established in the 1450s
1968 establishments in Romania
States and territories established in 1968