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49-548: During the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza , the need for a modern Army Arsenal arose. Initially, the Arsenal, together with the Army Pyrotechnics were to be located at Malmaison. Soon however, it was decided to place them on Dealul Spirii , which gave the hill its alternate name of Dealul Arsenalului (Arsenal Hill). Work on the main building and gate of the Arsenal began in 1860, and was completed in 1861. The building

98-631: A de facto union of the two principalities. The Powers backtracked, with Napoleon III of France remaining supportive, while the Austrian ministry withheld approval of such a union at the Congress of Paris (18 October 1858); partly as a consequence, Cuza's authority was not recognized by his nominal suzerain , Abdülaziz , the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire , until 23 December 1861. Even then,

147-654: A historical monument since 2004. Administration of the park is undertaken mostly by the Bucharest City Hall , whereas monuments are in the care of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs . The park was designed by French landscape artist Édouard Redont  [ fr ] in 1900 on Filaret Hill, under the supervision of Constantin Istrati , then president of the Romanian Academy. It

196-629: A modern, European-style Romanian Army, under a working relationship with France. He is the founder of the Romanian Naval Forces. Cuza failed in his effort to create an alliance of prosperous peasants and a strong liberal prince, ruling as a benevolent authoritarian in the style of Napoleon III. Having to rely on a decreasing group of hand-picked bureaucrats, Cuza began facing a mounting opposition after his land reform bill, with liberal landowners voicing concerns over his ability to represent their interests. Along with financial distress, there

245-531: A prisoner, where he made his escape with British support. Returning during the reign of Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica , he became Moldavia's minister of war in 1858; he also represented Galați in the ad hoc Divan at Iași . Cuza was acting freely under the guarantees of the European Powers in the eve of the Crimean War for recognition of a Prince of Moldavia. Cuza was a prominent speaker in

294-473: A single national assembly and a single government . Alexandru's reform policies alienated a large coalition of conservatives and radical liberals, for the most part landowners and business owners. On 22 February 1866, he was forced to abdicate and leave the country. Today, he is often considered one of the founders of the modern Romanian state and a national hero of Romania. Born in Bârlad , Cuza belonged to

343-488: A vote of 682,621 to 1,307. This was an imperfect solution, still catering to the wealthy, and would be added onto with a constitution revision in 1866 after his abdication. He consequently governed the country under the provisions of Statutul dezvoltător al Convenției de la Paris ("Statute expanding the Paris Convention"), an organic law adopted on 15 July 1864. With his new plenary powers, Cuza then promulgated

392-459: Is a public park in Bucharest , Romania , named after King Carol I of Romania . A French garden located in the southern-central area of Bucharest, partly on Filaret Hill, originally capable of hosting various exhibitions, it suffered considerable modifications during the communist regime , including a name change to Parcul Libertății (Liberty Park). The park has officially been listed as

441-768: The Battle of Plevna . The cannon was kept in the Museum of the Arsenal, then moved to the National Military Museum . With the establishment of the Order of the Crown of Romania , it was specified that the small crown from its center was to be made from the steel of the same gun as the crown. In 1909, Aurel Vlaicu was commissioned by the Ministry of War to build his aircraft at the Army Arsenal. The A Vlaicu I

490-737: The Liberal Party in the overthrow of Cuza, he remained a hero to the radical and republican wing, who, as Francophiles , had an additional reason to oppose a Prussian monarch; anti-Carol riots in Bucharest during the Franco-Prussian War ( see History of Bucharest ) and the coup attempt known as the Republic of Ploiești in August 1870, the conflict was eventually resolved by the compromise between Brătianu and Carol, with

539-795: The Mausoleum of Mărășești . The mausoleum and the monument in front of it were dedicated to the Unknown Soldier . The rotunda remains closed to the public, and guards are stationed to prevent the approach of visitors. In 2005, 1.97 billion old lei from the state budget were allocated to refurbish the monument, even though it was removed from the list of historic monuments in 2004. World first technical interactive museum. Concrete bridge in Carol Park, Bucharest, designed by George Constantinescu and erected in 1906. The two Giants' Statues ( Statuile Giganții  [ ro ] ) flank

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588-586: The Moldavian Army and rose to the rank of colonel . He married Elena Rosetti in 1844. During the Revolutions of 1848 , Moldavia and Wallachia fell into revolt. The Moldavian unrest was quickly suppressed, but in Wallachia the revolutionaries took power and governed during the summer. Young Cuza played a prominent enough part to establish his liberal credentials . He was shipped to Vienna as

637-481: The Romanian Principalities , he supported a political and diplomatic activity for the recognition of the union of Moldavia and Wallachia by the suzerain Ottoman Empire and achieved constitutional and administrative unity between Moldavia and Wallachia in 1862, when the Romanian Principalities officially adopted the name Romanian United Principalities with a single capital at Bucharest ,

686-743: The "shoemaker poet" Dumitru Theodor Neculuță (by Emil Mereanu  [ ro ] ), which remain today. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier , inaugurated in 1923 in memory of Romanian soldiers fallen in World War I , was dismantled and moved in 1958 to Mărășești , being replaced by the Mausoleum of the Communist Heroes (see below). In 1991 it was returned to the park, to be moved again in 2007, closer to its original location. Aside from its beautiful vegetation and panoramic views,

735-511: The Agrarian Law of 1863. Peasants received title to the land they worked, while landlords retained ownership of one third. Where there was not enough land available to create workable farms under this formula, state lands (from the confiscated monasteries) would be used to give the landowners compensation. Despite the attempts by Lascăr Catargiu 's cabinet to force a transition in which some corvées were to be maintained, Cuza's reform marked

784-796: The Antiochian Metochion in Bucharest, Cuza exiled its proistamenos the Metropolitan Ioannikios of Palmyra and arrested its hegumen Seraphim, later Metropolitan of Irenopolis in Isauria. He offered compensation to the Greek Orthodox Church , but Sophronius III , the Patriarch of Constantinople , refused to negotiate; after several years, the Romanian government withdrew its offer and no compensation

833-609: The Military Museum ( Muzeul Militar ), with the fountain in front of the latter museum. The mausoleum was built in honour of revolutionary socialist militants. Designed by architects Horia Maicu  [ ro ] and Nicolae Cucu  [ ro ] , it was inaugurated on 30 December 1963, the 16th anniversary of the Romanian People's Republic . The base is circular and plated with black granite . Above rise five narrow arches covered with red granite. Inside

882-627: The Ministry of Agriculture and Domains ceded the Arts Palace  [ ro ] and two other nearby buildings from the Carol Park to the Ministry of War. The exhibitions of the future National Military Museum were to be housed there. Alexandru Ioan Cuza Alexandru Ioan Cuza ( pronounced [alekˈsandru iˈo̯aŋ ˈkuza] , or Alexandru Ioan I , also Anglicised as Alexander John Cuza ; 20 March 1820 – 15 May 1873)

931-677: The Pyrotechnics, and the Powder Factory. Between 1928 and 1936, an apprenticeship school functioned at the Arsenal. In 1939, the school was re-established as the "School of Master Armorers and Artificers" ( Școala de Maiștri Militari Armurieri și Artificieri ) located near the Arsenal. On 1 July 1943, the Bucharest Army Arsenal was evacuated and merged with the Târgoviște Army Arsenal . The buildings of

980-806: The Romanian Academy . The Carol Park Mausoleum ( Mausoleul din Parcul Carol ), known during the Communist régime as the "Monument of the Heroes for the Freedom of the People and of the Motherland, for Socialism" ( Monumentul eroilor luptei pentru libertatea poporului și a patriei, pentru socialism ), is located on a plateau. Formerly, it was the site of the Arts Palace ( Palatul Artelor ) and later of

1029-564: The Romanian government agreed to allot 52,700 m (567,000 sq ft) to the Romanian Orthodox Church for the People's Salvation Cathedral project. The cathedral, although popular among the citizenry and supported by the government, drew criticism because it was to be placed on the site of the mausoleum. Symbolically, replacing the mausoleum with a church was seen by some as a removal of painful memories, similar to

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1078-749: The adoption of the Criminal Code and the Civil Code based on the Napoleonic code (1864), a Law on Education, establishing tuition-free, compulsory public education for primary schools (1864; the system, nonetheless, suffered from drastic shortages in allocated funds; illiteracy was eradicated about 100 years later, during the communist regime). He founded the University of Iași (1860) and the University of Bucharest (1864), and helped develop

1127-716: The arrival of a prolonged and influential Liberal cabinet. Cuza spent the remainder of his life in exile, chiefly in Paris, Vienna and Wiesbaden, accompanied by his wife and his two sons. He died in Heidelberg on 15 May 1873. His remains were buried in his residence in Ruginoasa, but were moved to the Trei Ierarhi Cathedral in Iași after World War II. Carol Park Carol I Park ( Romanian : Parcul Carol )

1176-1376: The base there is a rotunda covered in red granite plates; the ceiling is decorated with a golden mosaic . Prior to the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the rotunda contained the crypts of Communist leaders Petru Groza , Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej , and Constantin Ion Parhon . In the semicircle around the monument were crypts containing the remains of a number of socialist militants, such as Ștefan Gheorghiu , Ion C. Frimu , Mihail Gheorghiu Bujor , Leontin Sălăjan , Dumitru Petrescu, Alexandru Moghioroș , Gheorghe Cristescu , Gheorghe Stoica  [ ro ] , Petre Constantinescu-Iași , Ștefan Voitec , Gheorghe Petrescu, Teohari Georgescu , Chivu Stoica , Gheorghe Vasilichi , Ion Pas , Constantin Doncea , Petre Borilă , Athanase Joja  [ ro ] , Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (after his rehabilitation), Ioan Gheorghe Olteanu, Grigore Preoteasa , Lothar Rădăceanu , Iosif Rangheț , Alecu Constantinescu , Gheorghe Petre, Ilie Pintilie , Bela Breiner  [ ro ] , Leonte Filipescu , and Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea . To

1225-515: The border. His successor, Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , was proclaimed Domnitor as Carol I of Romania on 20 April 1866. The election of a foreign prince with ties to an important princely house, legitimizing Romanian independence (which Carol came to do after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 ), had been one of the liberal aims in the revolution of 1848. Despite the participation of Ion Brătianu and other future leaders of

1274-412: The complexity of the task. Thus, he was regarded as the political embodiment of a unified Romania. Assisted by his councilor Mihail Kogălniceanu , an intellectual leader of the 1848 revolution, Cuza initiated a series of reforms that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and of state structures. His first measure addressed a need for increasing the land resources and revenues available to

1323-587: The debates and strongly advocated the union of Moldavia and Wallachia. In default of a foreign prince, he was nominated as a candidate in both principalities by the pro-unionist Partida Națională (profiting of an ambiguity in the text of the Treaty of Paris ). Cuza was finally elected as Prince of Moldavia on 17 January 1859 (5 January Julian ) and, after "street pressure" changed the vote in Bucharest , also Prince of Wallachia, on 5 February 1859 (24 January Julian), effectively uniting both principalities . He received

1372-434: The disappearance of the boyar class as a privileged group, and led to a channeling of energies into capitalism and industrialization ; at the same time, however, land distributed was still below necessities, and the problem became stringent over the following decades – as peasants reduced to destitution sold off their land or found that it was insufficient for the needs of their growing families. Cuza's reforms also included

1421-574: The firman from the Sultan on 2 December 1861 during a visit to Istanbul. He was a recipient of the Order of Medjidie , Order of Osmanieh , Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus , and Order of the Redeemer . Although he and his wife Elena Rosetti had no children, she raised as her own children his two sons by his mistress Elena Maria Catargiu-Obrenović : Alexandru Al. Ioan Cuza (1864–1889), and Dimitrie Cuza (1865–1888 suicide ). Thus Cuza achieved

1470-550: The former Arsenal were demolished to build the People's Palace in the 1980s. The first initiative of forming a military museum happened during Alexandru Ioan Cuza 's reign when flags, uniforms, and weapons of the Romanian Army were stored at the Army Arsenal. The Artillery Museum ( Muzeul Artileriei ) was founded at the Arsenal in 1893. In 1914, it became a part of the National Museum of Antiquities. In 1919,

1519-468: The giants. The former was done in marble ; the latter are in Rousse stone. The Roman Arena, an open-air theater built by architect Leonida Negrescu and engineer Elie Radu , were originally intended for sporting as well as cultural events. After renovation in 1968, they can host c. 5,000 spectators, and are currently used as a venue for occasional concerts. The park drew national attention in 2003 when

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1568-543: The land they worked was defeated. Then the Conservatives responded with a bill that ended all peasant dues and responsibilities, but gave landlords title to all the land. Cuza vetoed it, then held a plebiscite to alter the Paris Convention (the virtual constitution), in the manner of Napoleon III. His plan to establish universal manhood suffrage , together with the power of the Domnitor to rule by decree, passed by

1617-525: The mausoleum was built, an eternal flame burned on an upper terrace near the monument, in a granite amphora . This was intended to preserve the memory of those who had fought on behalf of the working class . In 1991, the mausoleum acquired a new purpose when the Communists were exhumed and interred in other cemeteries. They were replaced by the remains of soldiers fallen in World War I, brought from

1666-407: The other statue, a young man leans his head toward his left shoulder, his torso is twisted and he supports himself on his left hand, while the right is behind his back. At first the statues were located before the Arts Palace and of the artificial cave in front of it. The grotto was called "The Giants' Grotto" ( Grota cu Giganți ) or "The Enchanted Grotto" ( Grota fermecată ) as it was watched over by

1715-755: The park also includes several monuments, such as a Mausoleum, the Cantacuzino Fountain (built in 1870), another fountain, Fântâna Minelor și Carierelor (1906), the Giants' Statues, the Zodiac Fountain (1934), the Technical Museum (first opened in 1909), a monument in the shape of a small mosque built in 1923 as a sign of reconciliation. Also in the park are the open-air Roman Arena, and the Astronomical Institute of

1764-413: The park's main walkway near the 11 June Square ( Piața 11 iunie ) entrance. 3.5 m (11 ft) tall and 50 m (160 ft) from one another, they form a line perpendicular to the walkway and depict two nude youths. One of them shows a young man with a strained look. His head is bowed, his right shoulder twisted, he leans on his left hand, the right he keeps behind his back, and the legs are bent. In

1813-565: The proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania in 1881, Carol I ordered that a steel crown from one of the cannons captured during the War of Independence should be manufactured at the Army Arsenal for himself. Designed by Theodor Aman , the Steel Crown of Romania was forged by the students and professional soldiers of the Arsenal from the front part of the barrel of a Krupp gun captured during

1862-464: The right of the monument was a hemicycle containing the funeral urns of Communist leaders, such as Vasile Luca , Ștefan Foriș , Iosif Chișinevschi , Ana Pauker , Mihail Roller , and Remus Koffler , and Communist militants, including Gheorghe Vasilescu-Vasia  [ ro ] , Constantin David , Ada Marinescu , Panait Mușoiu , Barbu Lăzăreanu , Simion Stoilow , and Mihail Macavei . When

1911-416: The state, by nationalizing monastic estates in 1863. Probably more than a quarter of Romania's farmland was controlled by untaxed Eastern Orthodox " Dedicated monasteries", which supported Greek and other foreign monks in shrines such as Mount Athos and Jerusalem, presenting a substantial drain on state revenues. Cuza got his parliament's backing to expropriate these lands. During the secularization of

1960-711: The traditional boyar class in Moldavia, the son of Ispravnic Ioan Cuza (who was also a landowner in Fălciu County ) and his wife Sultana (or Soltana), a member of the Cozadini family of Phanariote and Genovese origins. Alexander received an urbane European education in Jassy , Pavia , Bologna , and Athens ; after a brief period of military service, he was also educated in Paris from 1837 to 1840. He became an officer in

2009-499: The two giants and a Sleeping beauty ( Frumoasa adormită ). The three statues showed the characters of a legend where twins, in love with the same woman, were turned into stone due to their unrequited love, while the object of their love became a waterfall. At that time, the giants were displayed one before the other, with the sleeping beauty lying down in the middle. Filip Marin  [ ro ] sculpted Sleeping beauty ; Dimitrie Paciurea and Frederic Storck were responsible for

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2058-428: The union was only accepted for the duration of Cuza's rule. The union was formally declared three years later, on 5 February 1862, (24 January Julian), the new country bearing the name of Romania, with Bucharest as its capital city. Cuza invested his diplomatic actions in gaining further concessions from the Powers: the sultan's assent to a single unified parliament and cabinet for Cuza's lifetime, in recognition of

2107-448: Was an awkward scandal that revolved around his mistress, Maria Catargiu-Obrenović , and popular discontent culminated in a coup d'état. Cuza was forced to abdicate by the so-called " monstrous coalition " of Conservatives and Liberals. At four o'clock on the morning of 11 February 1866, a group of military conspirators broke into the palace, and compelled the prince to sign his abdication. On the following day they conducted him safely across

2156-411: Was assembled at the Arsenal, and once the engine was mounted in 1910, the aircraft was also tested there. Before Vlaicu, Henri Coandă also worked at the Arsenal, constructing a model of a rocket-powered airplane . During the First World War , in 1916, a number of 45 Model 1880 75 mm Krupp guns were modified for anti-aircraft use at the Arsenal. The Arsenal was also evacuated to Moldavia together

2205-399: Was constructed in the neogothic style, and according to some researchers, designed by Luigi Lipizer . On 23 November 1861, the Artillery Material Establishments Directorate ( Direcția Stabilimentelor de Material de Artilerie ) composed of the Army Arsenal, the Army Pyrotechnics, and the Powder Factory which was located in Târgșor near Ploiești , was established. In 1873, the Pyrotechnics

2254-412: Was ever paid. State revenues thereby increased without adding any domestic tax burden. The land reform , liberating peasants from the last corvées , freeing their movements and redistributing some land (1864), was less successful. In attempting to create a solid support base among the peasants, Cuza soon found himself in conflict with the group of Conservatives . A liberal bill granting peasants title to

2303-625: Was inaugurated in 1906, on the 40th anniversary of the coronation of King Carol I . The park had an initial surface area of 36 ha (89 acres), including the 20,000 m (220,000 sq ft) Lake Filaret. It hosted the 1906 Bucharest Exhibition, and included many pavilions and buildings, of which only the Technical Museum and the open air Roman Arenas survive. The park once contained busts of Ioan Lahovary and Constantin Istrati , but these were replaced after 1948 with busts of George Coșbuc , Alexandru Sahia , Nicolae Bălcescu (these three by Constantin Baraschi  [ ro ] ), and

2352-433: Was separated from the Arsenal and moved to Cotroceni . Within the Arsenal, construction started on a Weapons Factory ( Manufactura de Arme ) in July 1863. The machines used in this factory were acquired from Belgium . In 1865, Colonel Henrich Herkt, who helped establish the Arsenal and the Pyrotechnics, presented an "artillery musketoon ", and a "spahis rifle " manufactured at the establishments to Domnitor Cuza. After

2401-465: Was the first domnitor (prince) of the Romanian Principalities through his double election as Prince of Moldavia on 5 January 1859 and Prince of Wallachia on 24 January 1859, which resulted in the unification of the two states . He was a prominent figure of the Moldavian Revolution of 1848 . Following his double election, he initiated a series of reforms that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and of state structures. As ruler of

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