REVOLUTION SQUARE

Just like the University Square, the Revolution Square from Bucharest is the place where people fought and died for freedom. In November 8th 1945, when Romanian was under Soviet occupation, a national support meeting for King Michael took place in front of the formal Royal Palace, since King Michael refused to countersign the decisions of the communist government – the so-called “royal strike”. The statue of Iuliu Maniu, a state’s member and the leader of the anti-communist opposition, who died in the Sighet prison, reminds us of those days’ heroism.

44 years later, in this square, from the balcony of the former Central Committee, before running off with the helicopter, Nicolae Ceausescu was addressing for the last time in front of thousands of people who had come to protest. Many Romanians were killed in the chaotic fights from December 1989 and the walls of the buildings around the square are still bearing today the traces of the bullets. Before 1989 the people from Bucharest were not allowed to walk  the street in front of the Central Committee building. Still, in the Revolution Square there is a former headquarters of the awful Security.
The Revolution Square is surrounded by cultural edifices or monuments of great value: the Royal Palace, today the Romanian National Art Museum, the Romanian Athenaeum, the Central University Library and the splendid Kretzulescu Church, built in Brancovenesc style. A copy of the King’s Carol I statue can be found in the square, rebuilt in 2005, since the original one was demolished by the communists.