Cișmigiu Gardens

After the noise of Calea Victoriei, breathe: you are in Cișmigiu, the oldest public garden in Bucharest, some 16 hectares of trees, paths and water. But it was not always a pleasant place.

1From marsh to garden

The name comes from the Turkish çeşme, fountain. A cișmegiu was the official in charge of the city's fountains, and one of them, Dumitru Siulgi-bașa, lived beside a marshy pond that ended up bearing his nickname. In 1779 Prince Alexandru Ipsilanti had two fountains built here, but the pond remained a source of disease.

The Russian general Pavel Kiselyov, who governed the principalities after the war of 1828–1829, ordered it drained. Work on the garden began in 1847 under Prince Gheorghe Bibescu, with the gardener Wilhelm Mayer, and the park officially opened in 1854 in the English landscape style: winding paths, an irregular lake and trees brought from afar. In 1883 the city bought land from the Crețulescu family to enlarge it.

2Writers and legends

In 1943 the Writers' Rotunda was created, a circle of busts of great Romanian authors. In the area called La Cetate there are remains of a monastery founded in 1756, and a local legend tells of a secret tunnel linking it to the bank of the Dâmbovița. For generations the lake has filled with rowing boats in summer and with skaters in cold winters.

3What to look for

• The lake and its fountain, the heart of the park.
• The Writers' Rotunda, with its circle of busts.
• The old trees lining the paths.