The City of Roman

Roman-short review

• Roman Romanian pronunciation: (‘roman) is a city with the title of municipality located in the central part of Moldavia, a traditional region of Romania. It is located 46 km east of Piatra Neamt, in actual Neamt County at the confluence of the Siret and Moldova rivers.

• Its name was taken from Moldavian Voivode Roman I of Moldavia, believed to be its founder Roman's first son was Alexandru cel Buna.From here prince Roman has realized the centralization of Moldavia, Roman city being capital of Below Country of Moldavia (Romania: Tara de Jos) .

• The earliest mention of the city is in the Novgorod Chronicle (dated between 1387 and 1392). Five years later, the name appeared on a donation deed. The city is mentioned in a Moldavian document, signed by Moldavia's Voivode Roman I, on March 30. The document is one of the first of documents of the then-young state of Moldavia, being the first which holds a fully legible version of the Moldavia seal, bearing the aurochs, the moon, the star, and the flower, still in use on Coat of Arms of Moldova.

• Later on in the late 15th century, Stefan cel Mare build a new stone fortress on the left bank of the Siret river, to replace the old earthen one. Several documents from 1458, 1465 and 1488 during Ştefan's reign mention the Cathedral of Saint Paraskeva(Paraschiva) in Roman. In 1467, the fortress resisted the siege of the Hungarian army under King Matthias Corvinus, before the battle of Baia. In 1476, an Ottoman army, led by Mohamed II, besieged the new fortress again, with the Moldavians retreating after Battle of Valea Alba.

• Petru Rares ordered the • construction of a new episcopal • see on the same spot in 1542. • The old fortress was apparently destroyed by Dumitrascu Cantacuzino,

following Ottoman command, together with all other Moldavian fortresses.

– – In 1569, Ruxandra Lapusneanu built an orthodox church dedicated to the Holy Virgin (Precista Mare) on the same

spot the eponym church is placed today. In 1595, the church Sfinţii Voievozi is built. The current Armenian Orthodox Church was built in 1610.

•

Roman became a railway hub in the 19th century, when the second railway in Romania was opened in December 1869, from Roman to Suceava (Iţcani). One year later, on December 27, 1870, The Bucharest-Galaţi -Roman railway was also opened, linking Roman to the capital viaMarasasti,Tecuci, Galati, Braila and Buzau. Right after the inauguration, this railway was closed due to technical problems, but it was reestablished on September 13, 1872. At the same time, after a reluctant government gave its long-waited approval, the first high school of the city, Roman-Vodă, was opened on September 30 in the building that is still in use today as that of School No. 1.

The first hospital in Roman was built in 1798 on the place where the Municipal Hospital Precista Mare is located today. Talmud Torah, one of the first Jewish schools in Principality of Moldova, was inaugurated in 1817, an important event in itself as Moldova did not grant citizenship to Jews.

• In the communist era, the city lost the county capital status, being included, in 1950-52 and 1956-68, in Bacau Region, in 1952-56 in Iași Region, and then, in 1968, in Neamt County. It also became the target of industrialization: in 1957, the steel tubes factory started production. Roman became an important industrial center in Romania.

• After the fall of communism, most of the heavy industry, relying strongly on state subsidies, went bankrupt and Roman's economy struggled. The steel tubes factory was privatized, and it is now owned by the Mittal Steel Company N.V., and the economy started to recover.

• Geography and demographics• Roman is located in north-eastern Romania, in Neamt County,

in the historic region of Moldavia, at the mouth of the Moldova River, a tributary to the Siret. The nearest large city is Bacau, 40 km away on DN2 and on the Suceava-Bucharest railway; Piatra Neamt, the county capital, is 50 km away and Iasi, the historic capital of Moldavia, is 80 km away.

Local personalities• Literature:• Miron Costin (1633-1691) – chronicler• Cezar Petrescu (1892-1961) – writer• Otilia Cazimir (1894-1967) – poetess.• Calistrat Hogaş (1848-1917) - Professor and Director of the Gymnasium

„Roman-Vod㔕 Garabet Ibrăileanu (1871-1936) – writer, journalist and literary critic• Haralamb Zincă (Hary Isac Zilberman) – born in 1923 in Roman, writer• Savin Bratu (Barasch) (1925 – 1977) – literary critic and historian.• George Radu Melidon (1831-1897) – writer, journalist, founded the first

public library in Roman• Marcel Blecher (1909-1938) – Impressionist poet and writer• Dumitru Mărtinaş (1897-1979) – Professor, author of studies of Moldova

Csangos

Filmmaker, actor, TV:• Jean Mihail (1896-1963) – director, creator of Romanian

cinema.• Nae Roman (Nicolae Constantinescu) – actor magazine• Sandu Sticlaru – actor at ,,Nottara”, Romascani by birth.• Alexandru Hatmanu – actor• Filip Brunea - Fox (1898-1977) – Romanian reportage parent• Andreea Marin Bănică - TV host and UNICEF Goodwill

Ambassador, was born in Romania on 12/22/1974

Music: • Mihail Jora (1901-1971) – musicologist, composer brand• Paul Ciuntu (1866-1918) – teacher, conductor and musician

European class• Dumitru D. Botez (1904-1988) - Conductor and composer• Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996) - Internationally renowned

conductor• Mihai Burada (1841-1918) – physician, musician and

composer• Alexandru Zirra (1883-1946) – composer• Virgil Gheorghiu (1905-1977) - Avant-garde poet, musicologist

and pianist