The city
Craiova — the city itself
Reference pages on the place rather than the trip: Kronstadt and the Saxons who built it, the walls and bastions the guilds defended, Șchei and the first Romanian school, the years it was called Orașul Stalin, and the mountain that stands over all of it.
Amza Pellea — the man who gave Oltenia a faceBorn 7 April 1931 in Băilești, 65 km from Craiova. A serious actor of historical epics who invented Nea Mărin — and became the national shorthand for Oltenia.15 September 2026 · 4 min read
Avioane Craiova — the works that built jetsFounded 1972 at Ghercești. The IAR-93 flew in 1974, the IAR-99 Șoim in 1985 and is still built — and no, it is not the same company as IAR near Brașov.11 September 2026 · 4 min read
The Bania, and the moneyFor centuries the second most powerful man in Wallachia lived in Craiova, held his own court, judged Oltenia and raised its army. Mihai Viteazul held the office before his reign. And the Romanian word for money is connected to the title — though not in the direction most people assume.7 September 2026 · 6 min read
How Craiova's districts got their namesFour layers: an ancient earthwork, old landscape features, roads out of town, and a regime's calendar. Craiovița means „little Craiova” and is now one of the largest.22 August 2026 · 4 min read
Craiova Maxima and the 1983 semi-final0–0 at Benfica in Lisbon, 1–1 at home, out on away goals without losing a match — the first Romanian club to reach a UEFA Cup semi-final, from a provincial city. Forty years on it is still the reference point.15 June 2026 · 5 min read
Craiova and the rest of OlteniaOltenia is five counties and Craiova is in one of them. Brâncuși, Horezu, Tismana and the Transalpina are all one to two and a half hours away.22 May 2026 · 4 min read
Why is it called Craiova?From the Slavic root for king — crai — giving roughly „the king's place”. Probably right, not the only account, and tidily matched by the office of the Ban.26 April 2026 · 4 min readThe grain road — how wheat built central CraiovaWheat left through the Danube ports and the money stayed in Craiova. That is why the centre is so handsome — and why it stops dead in 1914.22 April 2026 · 4 min read
Electroputere — the works that built the cityOpened 1 September 1949. Over 2,400 diesel locomotives, around 1,050 electric ones, and more than 12,000 workers — which is why Craiovița Nouă is the size it is.16 April 2026 · 4 min readOltenian speech — the tense that gives them awayIn Oltenia the simple past is a living tense: făcui means „I did” — today, just now. Everywhere else in Romania it only exists in novels.12 April 2026 · 4 min read
A short history of CraiovaRoman Pelendava, a first document in 1475, and the Bania — the office of the Ban of Oltenia, the highest in Wallachia after the prince, seated here. Then one enormous generation of grain money that built everything you came to look at.6 April 2026 · 6 min read
The Jiu, the plain and the heat — Craiova's geographyFlat, low, on the Jiu at the plain's northern edge — one of Romania's hottest cities in July and foggiest in December. Everything else follows from that.4 April 2026 · 4 min readMarin Sorescu — the poet the theatre is named afterBorn 1936 in Bulzești, Dolj. Iona in 1968, the La Lilieci cycle from 1973, minister of culture 1993–95 — and the name Craiova's National Theatre carries.27 March 2026 · 4 min readMichael the Brave was Ban of CraiovaHe held the office of Great Ban of Craiova in 1593 and took the Wallachian throne that September, backed by the Oltenian Buzești boyars. The square is his, properly.21 March 2026 · 4 min readNicolae Romanescu — the mayor who bought a park in ParisMayor from 1898. He hired the French landscape architect Édouard Redont, sent the plan to the 1900 Paris Exposition, won gold — and opened the park in 1903.15 March 2026 · 4 min readThe palaces of Craiova — built on grain, in forty yearsThe Belle Époque centre is essentially 1880–1914 — one generation of grain money. Most palaces are offices now, so walk the street and look up.5 March 2026 · 4 min readCraiova's parks, as a systemThe green is inside the city, not around it — a municipal habit that starts in 1903 and was repeated by the planned districts sixty years later.1 March 2026 · 4 min read
The National Theatre — 175 years, and a world reputationFounded 1850, renamed for Marin Sorescu after 1989, 175 years old in October 2025 — and internationally known because of Silviu Purcărete and Emil Boroghină.5 February 2026 · 4 min readThe University of Craiova — 1947, and why it mattersCreated by Law 138 on 25 April 1947, opening with a single faculty — agronomy. Full university status came in 1965 or 1966, depending on the source.26 January 2026 · 4 min readThe car plant — Oltcit, Daewoo, Ford, Ford OtosanCars have been built here since 1976, under four owners. Around 248,000 vehicles and 6,500 employees in 2025 — the one piece of Craiova's industry that survived the 1990s.24 January 2026 · 4 min read
