Timeline / 1870 to After 1930 / ROMANIA

Date Country Theme

1871 Romania Rediscovering The Past

Alexandru Odobescu sends an archaeological questionnaire to teachers all over the country, who have to return information about archaeological discoveries or vestiges of antique monuments existing in the areas where they live or work.

1873 Romania International Exhibitions

Two Romanians are members of the international jury of the Vienna International Exposition: agronomist and economist P.S. Aurelian and doctor Carol Davila.

1873 Romania Travelling

The first tourism organisation from Romania, called the Alpine Association of Transylvania, is founded in Bra#ov.

1874 Romania Rediscovering The Past

18 April: decree for the founding of the Commission of Public Monuments to record the public monuments on Romanian territory and to ensure their conservation.

1874 Romania Reforms And Social Changes

Issue of the first sanitation law in the United Principalities. The sanitation system is organised hierarchically and a Superior Medical Council, with a consultative role, is created.

1875 - 1893 Romania Political Context

Creation of the first Romanian political parties: the Liberal Party (1875), the Conservative Party (1880), the Radical-Democratic Party (1888), and the Social- Democratic Party of Romanian Labourers (1893).

1876 Romania Reforms And Social Changes

Foundation of the Romanian Red Cross.

1876 Romania Fine And Applied Arts

19 February: birth of the great Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncu#i, author of sculptures such as Mademoiselle Pogany, The Kiss, Bird in Space, and The Endless Column. His works are today exhibited in museums in France, the USA and Romania.

1877 - 1881 Romania Political Context

After Parliament declares Romania’s independence (May 1877), Romania participates alongside Russia in the Russian-Ottoman war. The Congress of Berlin (1878) recognises the independence of Romania, which receives the greater part of Dobruja, but cedes the south of Bessarabia to Russia. In March 1881 Romania Date Country Theme is proclaimed a kingdom. Prince Carol and his wife Elizabeth are crowned as King and Queen of Romania in May in Bucharest.

1877 - 1882 Romania Fine And Applied Arts

Ion Georgescu, considered to be the first Romanian modern sculptor, studies in Paris, where he exhibits his first works.

1879 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

18–20 January: the National Theatre of Bucharest premieres the comedy A Stormy Night by Ion Luca Caragiale, the greatest Romanian playwright. It is Caragiale’s first staged play and is a great public success.

1880 Romania Rediscovering The Past

Grigore Tocilescu’s book Dacia before the Romans is awarded the grand prize of the Academic Society, for the best work on the history of Dacia before the Roman conquest.

1880 Romania Economy And Trade

29 April: promulgation of the law for the founding of the National Bank of Romania.

1882 Romania Rediscovering The Past

Grigore Tocilescu begins to research the remains of the Roman town Tropaeum Traiani (modern Adamclisi in Dobruja).

1882 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces

In Bucharest the first electric generators are installed and used to illuminate some important buildings of the city (the Royal Palace, the Cotroceni Palace, the National Theatre), Victory Avenue and Ci#migiu Park.

1882 - 1888 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces

Swiss engineers Carl Culmann and Arnold Burkly-Ziegler are contracted to develop a water supply network for Bucharest.

1883 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

6 June: the death of Romanian composer Ciprian Porumbescu, at the age of only 29. One of the melodies he composed will be adopted for Albania’s national anthem in 1912.

1883 (18 October) - 1883 (30 Romania Political Context October)

30 October: by signing a treaty with Austro-Hungary, to which Germany adheres the same day and Italy in 1888, Romania becomes part of the Triple Alliance.

1884 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Date Country Theme

The inauguration of the first railway line (Buz#u–M#r##e#ti) designed and built by Romanian engineers.

1884 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces

12 October: Timi#oara is the first European city where electric street lighting is introduced not only on some streets, but also across the entire city. An electric plant is built and 731 incandescent lamps with coal filament installed, covering an area of 10 km2.

1885 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

8 May: The renowned Romanian soprano Hariclea Darclée makes her debut at the Paris Opéra, as Marguerite in Charles Gounod’s Faust.

1889 - 1900 Romania Rediscovering The Past

Archaeologist Alexandru Odobescu publishes in France a book about the Pietroasa Treasure (a historical description and a study on antique silver work).

1889 Romania International Exhibitions

The two Romanian pavilions at the International Exposition in Paris – a restaurant and a pavilion for wine tasting – are built by architect Ion Mincu, who uses elements of traditional rustic Romanian architecture.

1890 - 1892 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces

In Bucharest a fire tower is built from the plans of the chief architect of the city, George Mandrea. It is both a watchtower, used by firemen to keep the city under observation to rapidly intervene in case of a fire, and a reservoir for water distribution in the eastern part of Bucharest.

1892 - 1895 Romania Political Context

In 1892 a delegation of 237 Romanians sends Emperor Franz Joseph a Memorandum protesting against the discriminatory effects of the union of Transylvania with Hungary (1867). In 1893 the signatories of the petition are sent for trial at the end of which, in May 1894, they are sentenced to prison. However, in 1895 the Emperor amnesties them.

1895 Romania Economy And Trade

Promulgation of the Mining Law, which stipulates separation between the ownership of land and of the subsoil resources, which, except for oil, belong to the state. Concessions of oil exploitation by the state (in cases where the owner of the land did not want to do it) are regulated.

1895 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

The Romanian Maritime Service, the first civil naval institution of Romania, is founded. It is intended to buy and build ships and it ensures passenger and freight transportation on the route Br#ila–Constan#a–Istanbul, later extended to Date Country Theme Alexandria and to ports on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean: Pireu, Smyrna, Haifa and Beirut.

1895 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

9 December: the first electric tramway is introduced in Bucharest.

1897 Romania Fine And Applied Arts

The National School of Architecture is founded as a section of the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest. It becomes an independent institution in 1904, under the name the Superior School of Architecture.

1897 - 1899 Romania Travelling

Romanian biologist and speleologist Emil Racovi## participates in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, the first winter research expedition in the Antarctica region.

1898 - 1899 Romania Travelling

Bazil G. Assan is the first Romanian to go on an expedition around the world, taking the route Constan#a–Istanbul–Cairo–Ceylon–China–Japan–Pacific Ocean– USA–Europe.

1900 Romania International Exhibitions

At the International Exposition in Paris, Romania has four pavilions, the central one designed by French architect Jean-Camille Formigé.

1900 Romania Travelling

Al. Saabner-Tuduri publishes a book on the Mineral Waters and the Spas of Romania, the first paper about Romanian balneology, which used to be a very important component of Romanian tourism.

1905 - 1907 Romania Travelling

The construction of the seaside resort Mamaia, on the shore of the Black Sea, which became and remains one of the most popular Romanian resorts.

1906 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

18 March: Romanian pilot and inventor Traian Vuia tests in France (near Paris) his heavier-than-air, fully self-propelled, fixed-wing aircraft. The plane leaves the ground and flies at a height of 1 m for a distance of about 12 m, but the engine cuts out and it comes down.

1910 Romania Rediscovering The Past

27 April: the establishment of the Historical Commission of Romania, which is intended to publish critical editions of the Romanian medieval chronicles.

1913 Romania Political Context Date Country Theme

In 1913 Romania participates in the Second Balkan War and under the Treaty of Bucharest receives the south of Dobruja from Bulgaria.

1914 Romania Political Context

Death of King Carol I. As he only had one daughter, who died at the age of three, Ferdinand, his fraternal nephew, had been designated heir to the Romanian throne in 1880.

1914 Romania Rediscovering The Past

Vasile Pârvan initiates archaeological digs at Histria (Dobruja), the earliest documented city in the territory of Romania, and in 1915 discovers the ruins of the ancient Greek city Istros.

1916 - 1918 Romania Political Context

After two years of neutrality, Romania fights in the World War I on the side of the Triple Entente. At the end of the war, following the dissolution of the Austro- Hungarian monarchy and of the Russian Empire, the national gatherings of Bessarabia, Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina vote for their union with the Romanian kingdom. Greater Romania is thus created.