Timeline / 1830 to 1900 / ROMANIA Date Country Theme 1830 Romania Migrations The beginning of Greek immigration into Br#ila. Many Greeks emigrate to Wallachia and settle in the Romanian ports on the Danube after the liberalisation of commerce on the Danube and Black Sea (1828). 1832 Romania Fine And Applied Arts Gheorghe Asachi founds in Ia#i a lithographic printing press called Institutul Albinei (The Bee Institute). 1833 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces Copou, one of the first public gardens in Romania, is laid out in Ia#i, Moldavia, at the initiative of Prince Mihail Sturdza. 1837 Romania Reforms And Social Changes Based on the Organic Regulations adopted in 1831, the National Assembly of Wallachia includes for the first time, apart from its traditional categories (the clergy and the aristocracy), representatives of the middle classes. 1837 Romania Rediscovering The Past Two peasants find a Gothic hoard (4th–5th centuries AD) – the Pietroasa Treasure – near a village from Buz#u county (Wallachia). Unfortunately, only 12 of the 22 golden pieces – jewellery and vases – were preserved. 1840 Romania Economy And Trade Austrian engineers Karol and Rafael Hoffmann and Carol Maderspach initiate the extraction of coal in the Jiu Valley (south Transylvania), which was and still is the main coal-mining region of Romania. Middle of the 19th century Romania Migrations The mid-19th century is the beginning of Italian immigration in the Romanian countries. For 1868, the presence of approximately 600 Italian workers in Romania is documented. Italian intellectuals and artists also settle in Romania, such as composer, director and music professor Alfons Castaldi. 1840 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion Top hats begin to be worn in the United Principalities, where they were called joben, from the name of Jobin, the French merchant who first sold them in Bucharest. 1843 Romania Fine And Applied Arts Date Country Theme Carol Popp de Szathmari, the most important Romanian photographer of the 19th century (born in Cluj, Transylvania), moves to Bucharest, where he opens a photo studio. 1846 Romania Economy And Trade The rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia, Mihail Sturdza and Gheorghe Bibescu, sign a convention that stipulates the abolishment of the customs between the two countries. The convention becomes effective in January 1847. 1847 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century The construction of a road to link Wallachia and Transylvania, crossing through the Predeal Pass in the Southern Carpathians, is begun during the reign of Prince Gheorghe Bibescu. 1848 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion The premiere at the National Theatre in Ia#i of the first Romanian operetta, Baba Hârca, with a script by poet Matei Millo and music composed by Alexandru Flechtenmacher. 1848 - 1849 Romania Political Context Revolution in the Romanian countries: in Wallachia and Moldavia revolutionaries demand their countries’ right to self-determination, while in Transylvania Romanians want equal rights to those of the Hungarians and Germans. 1850 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion January: the birth of Mihai Eminescu, who is considered to be the most important Romanian poet of the 19th century. 1851 Romania International Exhibitions Wallachia and Moldavia participate in the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, organised at the Crystal Palace in London. Their products are exhibited in the Ottoman pavilion. 1853 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century 14 February: installation of the first electric telegraph lines in the Romanian territories, connecting Ia#i with Cern#u#i. 1854 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century 20 August: inauguration of the first railway of Romania, linking Bazia# to Oravi#a (in Banat). Used at first to transport coal, it was opened for passenger transportation in 1856. In the United Principalities, the first railway line, built by the British company J.T. Barkley and J. Staniforth, was inaugurated 31 October 1869. 1855 - 1856 Romania Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme In Moldavia (22 December 1855) and then in Wallachia (20 February 1856) a law for the emancipation of the gypsy slaves of private owners is passed. Gypsies belonging to the church and to the state had already been liberated. 1856 Romania Political Context At the Congress of Paris peace conference, Wallachia and Moldavia are put under the collective guarantee of the Great Powers (Austria, Russia, Prussia, Piedmont, the UK and France), while remaining under Ottoman sovereignty. The Russian protectorate over the Romanian countries is ended. Moldavia receives the southeast of Bessarabia. 1856 Romania Economy And Trade The internationalisation of the Danube through the Treaty of Paris has a positive influence on the development of Romanian commerce. 1857 Romania Economy And Trade March: the first oil refinery in Romania is built by Teodor Mehedin#eanu at Râfov, Prahova. 1858 Romania Political Context 19 August: the Ottoman Empire, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Piedmont, the UK and France sign the Paris Convention marking the creation of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, with separate rulers, legislative and executive powers, and only two institutions in common (Supreme Court of Appeals and central legislative commission). The convention replaces the Organic Regulations, becoming the new constitution of the United Principalities. 1858 Romania Reforms And Social Changes Through the Paris Convention signed in August 1858 by Russia, the UK, France, Piedmont, Prussia, Austria and the Ottoman Empire the privileges and ranks of the Romanian aristocracy in Moldavia and Wallachia are abolished. 1859 - 1861 Romania Political Context Union of Moldavia and Wallachia. In January 1859 Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected ruler of both Moldavia and Wallachia, the double election being recognised by the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. In November 1861 the sultan issues a ferman approving the political and administrative union of Moldavia and Wallachia during Cuza’s reign. The United Principalities could now have a single government and parliament. 1860 Romania Fine And Applied Arts 7 November: on the initiative of painter Gheorghe Panaitescu-Bardasare, a School of Fine Arts and an art gallery are founded in Ia#i. 1863 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion Date Country Theme The literary society Junimea, which had an important role in promoting Romanian literature, is founded in Ia#i. In 1867 it begins publishing a periodical in which the works of Romanian writers appear and also translations from worldwide literature. 1863 Romania Reforms And Social Changes December: the National Gathering of the United Principalities adopts the law through which the land owned by monasteries (more than a quarter of Romania’s surface) becomes property of the state. 1864 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces 19 August: establishment of Bucharest’s city hall. Bucharest had been the United Principalities’ capital since 1861. 1864 Romania Fine And Applied Arts Dimitrie Bolintineanu, the Minister of Religion and Public Instruction, organises in Bucharest an exhibition displaying works of contemporary Romanian artists, the most important of the time being painters Theodor Aman, Gheorghe Tattarescu and Carol Popp de Szathmari. 1864 Romania Reforms And Social Changes 26 August: Alexandru Ioan Cuza promulgates the first Romanian land reform, which transforms peasants into owners of the land on which they had been working on the estates of the aristocracy. Peasants are also freed from the duties they had to perform for the nobility. 1864 Romania Political Context 14 May: coup d’état of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who dissolves parliament and proposes a new constitutional project, which is voted the same month and ratified by the Ottoman Empire and the guaranteeing Powers in June 1864. The Statute Expanding the Paris Convention assigned greater power to the prince and the government. 1864 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces 14 April: the Commune Law is adopted by which cities and towns become urban communes, led by a mayor and a council. All urban communes must have a fire department and a hospital. 1864 Romania Fine And Applied Arts 14 November: a School of Fine Arts (which today is the National University of Art) is founded in Bucharest by painters Gheorghe Tattarescu and Theodor Aman. 1864 Romania Economy And Trade 27 October: foundation of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 1864 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Date Country Theme 4 August: establishment of the General Directorate of the Post and the Telegraph in the United Principalities. 1864 Romania Reforms And Social Changes December: the law of public instruction establishes free, compulsory primary education. 1865 Romania Fine And Applied Arts The first showing of the “Living Artists Exhibition” (for painters and sculptors), organised by painter Theodor Aman, takes place in Ia#i. The annual organisation of such an exhibition is established by a decree issued in December 1864. 1866 Romania Political Context 14–20 April: plebiscite leading to German Prince Carol de Hohenzollern- Sigmaringen being elected ruler of the United Principalities and recognised by the Ottoman Empire in October. On 13 July a new constitution is adopted, based on the Belgian one from 1835. 1866 Romania Political Context February: because of his authoritative regime, Cuza is forced to abdicate by a coalition of conservative and liberal-radical politicians. 1867 Romania Rediscovering The Past The Pietroasa