39 Interesting Facts That I Learned about Romania

39 interesting facts that I learned about Romania!

1. The most famous novels, inspired by Romania, are The Castle in the Carpathians by
Jules Verne, and Dracula by Bram Stoker.
2. Romania is the ninth largest wine producer in the world
3. Romanias 10-bani note issued in 1917 is the smallest paper money ever printed
(dimensions: 1.08 x 1.49 in).
4. The modern jet engine was invented by the Bucharest-born
inventor Henri Coanda in 1910.

5. Bucharests mass transit network is the fourth largest in Europe.

6. Soprano Alma Gluck the first lyrical artist to sell one million records was born in Bucharest, Romania on May 11, 1884.
7. The city of Brasov is home to the largest Gothic church between Vienna, Austria and
Istanbul, Turkey.
8. Peles Castle was the first European castle entirely lit by electrical current. The electricity
was produced by the castles own plant.The castles central heating system, built in 1888, is
still functional and in use today.
9. Europes second largest underground glacier, the Scarisoara glacier, is found underneath
the Bihor Mountains in Romania. It has a volume of 75,000 cubic meters and has existed for
more than 3,500 years.
10. The archetypal vampire Count Dracula, created by Bram Stoker, was inspired by the
Romanian prince Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler because he was fond of
impaling his enemies and standing them along the roads.
11. In 1889 the Romanian city of Timisoara became the first in Europe to have electric street
lighting.

12. Timisoara was also the first European city to introduce horse-drawn trams, also in 1869.

13. The fountain pen was invented by Craiova-born Petrache Poenaru

in 1799-1875, and was patented in May 1827.
14. The tallest wooden church in the world, and the second tallest wooden structure in
Europe, can be found in Sapanta Peri, Maramures of northwestern Romania. It has a 23 foot
tall cross that weighs 1,000 lbs, on top of the 257 foot tall church.
15. The American mini-series Hatfields & McCoys starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton
was filmed in Romania.
16. The scientist who discovered insulin was Nicolae Paulescu, a Romanian, who originally
called it pancreine. Although two Canadian scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923
for their study of insulin, Paulescus pioneering work in the field of diabetic medicine was
duly accredited.
17. The movie Cold Mountain was filmed on location in Romania.
18. The Danube to Black Sea canal in southeast Romania, is worlds third longest man-made
navigation route, after the Suez and the Panama Canals.
19. The earliest homo sapiens fossils, up to now, were discovered in 2002 in southwestern
Romania, in the Cave of Bones. The fossils age is estimated at 37,800 to 42,000 years old.
20. The Unitarian Church was founded in Transylvania, Romania, where Francis David was
born in 1510 .

21. Present-day Constanta has been associated with the legend of Jason and the Argonauts,
who embarked on a long voyage from Greece to Kolchis, Georgia on the Black Sea coast in
search of the Golden Fleece.

22. The Carpathian Mountains are home to one of the largest virgin
forests in Europe. 400 unique species of mammals, including the Carpathian chamois, call the
Carpathian Mountains home. 60% of European brown bear population lives in the Carpathian
Mountains.
23. The Romanian language is 1,700 years old.
24. The Black Church in Brosov, has the largest organ in Europe, with 4000 tubes. It also has
the largest bell in Romania, weighing 41,000 lbs (6.3 tons).
25. Bucharest is known for being home to thousands of stray dogs. Annually, there is an
estimated number of 9,000 people being bitten by these abandoned dogs. When I was there,
the government was trying to kill some of the stray dogs, causing the dog protests by many
dog lovers. I call them the dog-poop riots, because there is poop everywhere.
26. The Danube River flows 1,788 miles from its springs in Germanys Black Forest to the
Black Sea. Just before reaching the sea it forms the second largest and best preserved of
Europes deltas: 2,200 square miles of rivers, canals, marshes, tree-fringed lakes and reed
islands.
27. The actor who first played the role of Tarzan was Romanian born Johnny Weissmuller,
who starred in Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932.
28. The statue of Dacian king Decebal, carved in the rocky bank of the Danube river, is the
tallest rock sculpture in Europe (135 feet tall).

29. Romania is known for having one of the largest gypsy populations in Europe.
30. Romanian inventor Traian Vuia was the first European to build and fly a fully selfpropelled, fixed-wing automobile airplane in March 18, 1906.
31. The first ever first perfect 10 in the Olympic Games was given to Romanian gymnast
Nadia Comaneci. She bagged the score after her performance in Montreal, Canada in 1976.

32. The name Romania comes from the Latin word Romanus which means citizen of
the Roman Empire.
33. The Voronet Monastery in Moldavia is dubbed as the Romanian counterpart of the Sistine
Chapel.
34. Three clay tablets, dated to around 5300 BC, discovered in the village of Tartaria in
central Romania, have been the subject of considerable controversy among archaeologists,
some of whom claim that the symbols represent the earliest known form of writing in the
world.
35. The Romanian Palace of Parliament in Bucharest is the second largest building in the
world, next only to the Pentagon in the United States.

36. In 2005, the Romanian currency, the leu, dropped four of its zeroes, such that what used
to be 10,000 lei became printed as just 1 lei. They also started making them out of plastic
instead of paper. Legend has it that the banks were advised that they should start using more

plastic (credit cards) systems, and they took it literally and started making the Lei out of
plastic.
37. Romanias Astra Museum in Sibiu is the second-largest outdoor museum in the world.
It features more than 300 buildings as well as watermills and windmills, gigantic presses for
wine, fruit and oil, hydraulic forges and more.
38. It also is Europes richest country in gold resources.
39. Ten U.S. cities have sisters in Romania.
Here is the active list from the 2012 Membership Guide of Sister Cities International:

Baia Mare

Hollywood, FL

Bistrita

Columbus, GA

Brasov

Cleveland, Ohio

Bucharest

Atlanta, GA

Cluj Napoca

Rockford IL

Contanta

Mobile, AL

Medias

Mineral Wells, TX

Pitesti

Springfield, OH

Sibiu

Columbia, MO