Braila
Webpages concerning "Braila"
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Wikipedia-Article "Braila"
| Brăila | |
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| Facts | |
| County | Brăila County |
| Status | County capital |
| Mayor | Constantin Sever Cibu since 2004 |
| Area | km² |
| Population |
236,000 inh/km² |
| Geographical coordinates | 45° N / 27° E |
| Web | City Website |
Brăila (pronunciation in Romanian: /brə'i.la/) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of the Brăila County, in the close vecinity of Galaţi. Brăila currently has a population of 216,929.
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History
A settlement at this location on the left bank of the Danube (in Wallachia) appears with the name Drinago in a circa 1350 Spanish Libro de conoscimiento ("Book of knowledge") and in several Catalan portolan charts (Angelino de Dalorto, 1325/1330 and Angelino Dulcert, 1339). This may have been an erroneous transcription of Brillago. In Greek documents of roughly that time the city is referred to as Proilabum or Proilava.
As a kaza, the town and its surrounding area was controlled by Ottoman Turks from 1538-1540 until 1829 (it was restored to Wallachia through the Akkerman Convention); the Turks called it Ibrail or Ibraila. The town was attacked, plundered, and burned by the forces of Ştefan cel Mare February 2, 1470, while the Moldavian ruler was repressing the forces of Radu cel Frumos, who had allied himself with the Turks. Also, it was briefly ruled by Michael the Brave, prince of Wallachia, in 1595-1596.
During the 19th century, the port became one of the three most important ports on the Danube in Wallachia, the other two being Turnu and Giurgiu. The city's greatest period of prosperity was at the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, when it was an important port for most of the merchandise coming in and going out of Romania. After the 1989 Revolution, the town entered a period of economic decline.
Landmarks
The most important monuments are:
- The Greek Church, erected at 1865 by the Greek community
- Sfinţii Arhangheli Church, former jāmi during the Ottoman rule
- Sfântul Nicolae Church, also from the 19th century.
- Maria Filotti theater.
The old centre of the town has many 19th century buildings, some of them beautifully restaured. An important touristic site is the Public Garden, a park situated above the bank of the Danube with a nice view over the river and the Măcin Mountains.
The old Water House is here, with a restaurant at the top, which has a rotation system (360° in one hour). Brăila features one of the oldest electrical tram line in Romania, inaugurated at the end of the 19th century and still in use.
Persons
External links
- braila.net (mostly in Romanian, but with some English language content) includes a Romanian-language a timeline of the city's history.
- braila.org (in Romanian) is also an extensive site about the city.