Iasi County

Description:

Geographical  position

Eastern Romania,centre of Moldavia

Neighbours

On the north: Botosani county,on the north-west; Suceava county, on the south-west: Neamt County, on the south.Vaslui County, on the east: Prut River and the Republic of Moldavia

Surface:5.476 sq km.

Population: 822 000 inhabitants.

Towns: Iasi ,the county capital,with 345 000 inhabitants,"The City on the Seven Hills" has a lot of great material and spiritual assets,numerous medieval architecture monuments,buildings of historical and architectural value.Other towns: Harlau, Pascani, Targu Frumos.

Touristic sights

Preserved reservations and natural monuments of nature

David's Valley,floral reservation situates at 5-6 km of iasi,where have discovered a lot of the rare plants of Romania.

Repedea Hill, paleontologic reservation,(near Iasi).Uricani Forest,forest reservation(at 8 km of Iasi), near Uricani Village,of a beautiful secular forest with different species of oak,witch is also a leisure area for the city of Iasi .

Dealu mare Forest ,reservation situated near Deleni,an interesting secular beech forest.

Historical monuments

Vestiges of the Princely Court in Iasi(near the Palace of Culture) is the oldest uilding of this kind in Moldavia and has been existing since the ruling of Alexander the Kind(1431).

Ruins of the Princely Court in Cotnari that was the temporary residence of several rules during the 15^th century among which Stephen the Great.

Vestiges of a Neolithic Settlement in Cucuteni (3^rd-2rd cent BC).

The Palace of Culture ,impressive building built between 1906-1925 in a Flamboyant Neo-Gothic style,by the designs of the architect I. D. Berindei.It has been founded on the place of the old palace of the Moldavian ruler.This palace hostes in its 365 rooms,The "Gheorghe Asachi" Library and four museums:the Moldavian History Museum,the Moldavian Ethography Museum, Art Museum and Polytechnic Museum.

Palace of Ruler A.I.Cuza in Ruginoasa (10 km far from Pascani and 62 km from Iasi),luxurious palace built in Neo-Gothic style(1811) used to be the summer residence of ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza.The Palace hosts an interesting museum.

Religious buildings

"Trei Ierarhi"Church in Iasi", one of the most interesting and peculiar religious buildings in Europe",as the French architect Lecomte de Nouy used to depict. Golia Monastery in Iasi,built between 1650-1660 by Vasile Lupu. Cetatuia Monastery in Iasi,erected by ruler Gheorghe Duce(1669-1672), forms an original and interesting architectural complex(fortified princely houses,cells,the church,the Gothic hall that hosts a museum of feudal art). Galata Monastery in Iasi, "mother of Moldavian churches",built between 1579-1584 by ruler Petre the Cripple.

Metropolitan Cathedral in Iasi,is a massive building founded between 1840-1880 in Baroque and Neo-Cassical styles.

Dobrovat Monastery in Dobrovat,built in 1504, has paintings since the ruling of Petru Rares.

Aroneanu Church in Iasi ,built in 1594 by ruller Aron the Tyrant,whose exterior adornment is one of the most beautiful in Iasi.

Cultural Buildings

"Vasile Alecsandri" National Theatre in Iasi ,an elegant building ,among the modt beautiful in Romania, was built between 1894-1896 in Baroque style.

"Dosoftei House in Iasi", hosted,  at the end of the 17^th century the printing press of Mitropolite Dosoftei who printed the first books in Moldavia.

"Vasile Pogor House in Iasi", built in an authentic Romanian style between 1855-1858 used to host the famous literary circle "Junimea".

"Mihai Eminescu " Central Library in Iasi,the brilliant Mihai Eminescu and the historian B.P.Hasdeu were two of its directors.

"Cantacuzino Manor in Cepelnita" (18^th-19^th centuries), important architectural example of Neo-Classical style in Moldavia,beautifully decorated.

"Union Museum in Iasi", located in a beautiful palace built in 1860 in Empire style.Inside this palace there lived(between 1859-1862) the ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza.In the museum there may be found earious personal objects of the ruler as well as many documents regarding the Romanian`s unity in terms of ethnicity , language and territory.