What happened in Oradea since my last visit? Well… good things. Compared to other places, things seem to move in a positive direction, something I rarely acknowledge when in comes to Romania in general.
First, finally, the Finance Directorate Palace has been renovated. The façade is beautiful and a lot of people stopped to take photos. I simply love this architecture! The palace was built in year 1900, was originally owned by the Brothers of Mercy who built it as a tenement to finance the care of the destitute patients, then it hosted the Public Finance Office.
Then, the Independence Square (Piața Independenței), which was an enormous hole because sub-terrain passageways were being built, is finally completed. The typical Oradea grass-covered tram trails are back again.
And the tram runs again. The grass needs some time to grow.
The communist buildings do stay, reassuring me that I am still in East-Europe, but Thanks God that something does function in the end and there was at least some sense in the chaos that was here a couple of months ago…
The square is a some sort of bridge between the main park of the city and the Orthodox Cathedral and the Oradea Fortress behind it.
The equestrian statue of Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul) is back in its place.
The entire place – quite empty now – can therefore retake its traditional name as Mihai Viteazul Square (Piața Mihai Viteazul).
As you probably feel, I am not a lover of the orthodox or byzantine architecture. The building of the cathedral was started in 1995 and was finished in 2020… imagine the “behinds” of this lengthy project…
Beneath the square there is a network of tunnels, which is “the pride” of the current local administration. By Romanian standards, it is exceptional that something managed to be built in this country despite the overarching corruption… By international standards, this is squarely nothing…
The southern exit.
The northern exit.
Another detail of the exit towards Cluj-Napoca.
The Dacia Bridge nearby, across the Crișul Repede River (Sebes-Körös in Hungarian, the “rapid/fast Criș” in translation).
The photos are taken from the The White Lily (Crinul Alb) restaurant, where they make the best pizza in the world I know.
My other articles about Oradea on this blog:
Nagyvárad: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/18/nagyvarad/
Aerial Oradea: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/31/aerial-oradea/
Die Häuser von Großwardein: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/31/die-hauser-von-groswardein/
Oradea Mushroom Hill: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/30/oradea-mushroom-hill/
The Churches of Oradea: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/20/the-churches-of-oradea/
The Jews of Oradea: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/22/the-jews-of-oradea/
Oradea Freemasonry Temple: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/27/oradea-freemasonry-temple/
Oradea Medieval Festival: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/09/oradea-medieval-festival/
Black Eagle Passageway: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/25/black-eagle-passageway/
Oradea Soviet Mosaic: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/09/18/oradea-soviet-mosaic/
Oradea Slovakian Consulate: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/28/oradea-slovakian-consulate/
The Oradea Storm: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/30/the-oradea-storm/
The Aesthetics of the Ugly: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/07/11/the-aesthetics-of-the-ugly/
Fool’s Paradise: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/09/05/fools-paradise/
Sunset in Oradea: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2023/09/27/sunset-in-oradea/
Oradea Railway Station: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2024/03/11/oradea-railway-station/
Oradea, revisited: https://cezar.vivaldi.net/2024/03/12/oradea-revisited/
