ON THE TRAIL OF BUCHAREST'S LOST GARDENSThe geography of our city was generous enough in the past. The Dâmboviţa River’s banks, which took care of any extra water, protecting nearby neighborhoods from floods, were often surrounded by forests. Fragments of this past richness managed to survive until about the mid XIXth century. They began to disappear once the city's population grew, bringing along with it the necessary new neighborhoods, industrial areas, etc.
In the western side of the old city, where the church of St. Elefterie the Elder is located, there used to be a vast forest area, which reached the Cotrocenilor Hill. After 1850, part of this green space became the Zdrafcu gardens, in a space where the monument of Sanitary Heroes can now be found. Towards 1870, a great dance hall was set up in the Zdrafcu gardens, a dance hall which also included a theatre. The gardens began their descent into non-existence after the end of the First World War, following initiatives to extend the city. Near Zdrafcu gardens, on the other side of the Dâmboviţa River, where the Law School is now, there used to be another garden, the Procopoaiei one, which extended onto Plevnei Avenue. At the crossing between Plevnei Ave. and Regia Boulevard was located the Scufa garden, which went through its golden age somewhere between 1850 and 1900. After the First World War it was abandoned and became an empty plot used for storage by the Escort Regiment, as the Army Storehouse was located nearby. One of Bucharest's largest vanished gardens was the Belvedere one, which used to be where the Mircea Vulcănescu Street (formerly Fracmazon) and the North Railway Station neighborhood currently are. It was among the first public gardens created ad hoc, a witness of the modernization of vestments and habits. Starting with 1870, the garden's area is rapidly taken over by the apparition of the Military Hospital and Museum, the North Railway Station, and its afferent quarters. Even less likely to be believed, there used to be small blots of color even in the city centre: the Sărindarului Gardens, near the Military Circle; the Slatter Gardens, which used to be located around the Valter Mărăcineanu Square of today; the Garden with Horses, not far away from the statue of Mihai Kogalniceanu; the Raşca Gardens, stood on what is today Edgar Quintet Street; the Universal Gardens of Young Heartbreakers, in what is today the University Square, where a famed clock used to be; the gardens of "Master Stavri" on Academy Street; the Oteteleşanu gardens formerly in the area of the Palace of Telephones; the Union Garden from Ion Câmpineanu Street, evoked by Caragiale in his play "A Stormy Night"; the widespread gardens of Heliad, formerly found in the area of today's Obor Market, where the ruins of Heliade Rădulescu's house were; Ivaşcu's gardens from the old Vergului barrier; the Orfeu gardens, formerly behind the Royal Palace If we descend even further through time, we may come across the existence of a beautiful garden, arranged according to "the principles of the Italian school" and which generously surrounded the Bărăţia of today. Or we may discover a garden set up in the style typical of England, which, during the XVIIIth century was a source of delight for Lady Craven, a guest of the Dudescu family. Sfinţii Apostoli Street used to run through this lovely Bucharest garden of old. The problem is not necessarily that these gardens have ceased to exist, but that the inhabitants of modern day Bucharest, unlike their 1900 counterparts, do not show the same care in protecting every square meter of green space, nor do they exhibit any signs of wanting to surround themselves in greenery, if only to delight the eyes of any who passed by. The exhibition Lost Gardens of Bucharest was assembled in partnership with the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism. |