did you know?

~The Palace of Parliament, located in Bucharest, ranks as the biggest office building in Europe and second-largest in the world, after the U.S. Pentagon?

The Palace of Parliment

~Voronet Monastery, located in northeastern Romania, is also known as
the ‘Sistine Chapel of the East’?

Interior of Voronet Monastery

~Romania has the second largest underground glacier in Europe (in terms of volume) ?

The 3500-year old Scarisoara glacier, located in the Bihor Mountains – 90 miles southwest of Cluj Napoca - has a volume of 2,649,000 cubic feet (75,000 cubic metres), making it the second largest European underground glacier, after the Eisriesenwelt ice cave in Austria. The 154 foot deep entrance shaft leads to some impressive ice structures, including spectacular 20 foot high ice stalagmites. Scarisoara ice-cave is open to the public.

~The city of Brasov (Transylvania) is home to the largest gothic church between Vienna and Istanbul ?

Brasov's famous landmark and Romania's leading gothic church, the Black Church was built between 1385 and 1477 and got its nickname after the Great Fire of 1689 blackened its the walls.

~The meaning of the word “Transylvania” is the land beyond the forest?

Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document dating from 1075 as Ultra Silvam (Ultra meaning "beyond" or "on the far side of …" and Sylva (sylvam) meaning "wood or forest").

~Romania has the second-largest outdoor museum in the world?

Astra Museum in Sibiu features more than 300 buildings as well as watermills and windmills, gigantic presses for wine, fruit and oil, hydraulic forges and structures representing village architectural styles from many parts of Romania.

~Hollywood’s original Tarzan was born in the city of Timisoara, Romania?

Considered by movie-makers “the only man in Hollywood who’s natural in the flesh and can act without clothes”, Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984) was a box-office hit in the 1932 Tarzan the Ape Man. The ship's roster from his family's arrival at Ellis Island lists his birthplace as Freidorf, now a district of the city of Timisoara. Freidorf maintains beautiful architecture, old German homes, and lots of green spaces.

~The first fountain pen was invented by Craiova-born Petrache Poenaru
(1799-1875)?

Mr. Poenaru's invention was patented in May 1827.

~The movie Cold Mountain was filmed on location in Romania?

Hollywood celebrities Jude Law, Renee Zellweger and Nicole Kidman relaxed in Poiana Brasov after shooting the film Cold Mountain on location in nearby fields and farms.

~The Romanian city of Timisoara was the first in Europe to have electric street-lighting?

Timisoara was the first European city to introduce horse-drawn trams (in 1869) and electrical street lighting (in 1889).

~The Bruckenthal museum in Sibiu opened its doors to the public three years prior to the Louvre Museum in Paris ?

Founded in 1790 by Samuel Brukenthal, the governor of Transylvania, the museum opened to the public in 1817. It is the oldest museum in Romania and one of the first museums in Europe. The art collection includes paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck and Teniers, as well as works of German, Austrian and Romanian masters.

~Insulin was discovered by a Romanian physiologist ?

Only after two Canadians received a Noble prize, some 50 years later, for the same invention Nicolai Paulescu’s precedence was finally recognized and he was rightfully acknowledged as the true inventor of insulin.

~The jet engine used by modern airplanes was invented by Bucharest-born inventor Henri Coanda ?

Romanian inventor and aerodynamics pioneer, Henri Coanda designed and built in 1910 the world's first jet powered aircraft, known as the Coandă-1910, which he demonstrated publicly at the second International Aeronautic Salon in Paris. Coanda died in Bucharest November 25, 1972 at the age of 86. Romania's main international airport, Henri Coanda, is named after the great inventor.

~Without a Romanian gymnast the computers wouldn’t have had the capability to display a perfect 10 ?

Nadia Camaneci got the first 10 in the history of gymnastics in Montreal in 1976.

~Universal literature found valuable sources of inspiration in Romania's
castles ?

The most famous novels written are "The Castle in the Carpathians" by Jules Verne, and "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.

~Romania features the youngest continental land (Danube Delta) in Europe ?

The mighty Danube River flows 1,788 miles from its springs in Germany’s Black Forest to the Black Sea. Just before reaching the sea it forms the second largest and best preserved of Europe's deltas: 2,200 square miles of rivers, canals, marshes, tree-fringed lakes and reed islands. The Danube Delta is a wildlife enthusiast’s (especially a bird watcher’s) paradise. Formed over a period of more than 10,000 years, the Danube Delta continues to grow due to the 67 million tons of alluvia deposited every year by the Danube River.

~Brasov is home to what is said to be the narrowest street in Europe ?

The Rope Street (Strada Sforii) is approximately four feet wide and links Cerbului Street with Poarta Schei Street. The street was initially used as an access route by firefighters.

~Ten U.S. cities have ‘sisters’ in Romania ?

Here is the active list from the 2008 Membership Guide of Sister Cities International:

Baia Mare - Hollywood, FL
Bistrita - Columbus, GA
Brasov - Cleveland, Ohio
Bucharest - Atlanta, GA
Cluj Napoca - Columbia SC
Contanta - Mobile, AL
Medias - Mineral Wells, TX
Pitesti - Springfield, OH
Sibiu - Columbia, MO