The Brück House

  Centrul absolut al localității este piața mare, al cărui front de nord-vest este asigurat de câteva clădiri publice, între care și Primăria. Fronturile pieței sunt dens construite și în general P+1. Este concentrarea maximă de dotări, în special comerciale.  Zona pieței și a Culei reprezintă focarul concentrării relativ radiale a rețelei stradale majore dinspre sud și dinspre est și câteva străzi dinspre est-nord-est. Piața Cetății, care stă în umbra Culei, poartă stigma pluralistică a locuitorilor ei. Este punctul central în care și pe lîngă care se petrece viața localității. Negustori de toate naționalitățile și-au avut prăvăliile aici în perioada interbelică.   Piața exista cu siguranță în sec. XVIII, dar originile ei pot fi mai vechi, coborând chiar și în perioada otomană. Are formă dreptunghiulară, laturile de est și de sud fiind mai lungi decît laturile de nord și sud. Așa cum se poate vedea pe un desen din anul 1850, clădirile de pe laturile de est și de vest prezentau arcade boltite deschise, sub forma unui coridor, de la un capăt la altul al celor două laturi, clădiri care dovedeau în mod clar stilul turcesc oriental. Toate aceste arcade au dispărut în jurul anului 1900, la o singură clădire, pe colțul de nord-vest, fiind redeschise, în anii 60-70 ai secolului trecut. Majoritatea clădirilor sunt construite, într-o primă fază, în sec. XVIII, dar au suferit mai multe transformări de-a lungul timpului. Laturile de est și vest erau înțesate de prăvălii, latura de nord este compusă din case de locuit, fosta primărie, construită într-un parc frumos. La est, tot într-un părculeț frumos s-a construit în anul 1936 Spitalul dr. Avram Imbroane, de către arhitectul ciacovean Franz Keller. În fața vechii primării s-a ridicat în anul 1924, după planurile arhitectului Franz Brandeisz, monumentul eroilor din Primul Război Mondial. Desigur, piața este dominată de cele două monumente reprezentative, ridicate în centrul acesteia: statuia Fecioarei Maria, datând din anii 1800-1802 și crucea ortodoxă de marmură, ridicată în anul 1805. A purtat diverse denumiri, în funcție de perioada respectivă: Hauptplatz, Piața Franz Josef, Piața Regina Maria, Piața Republicii, Piața Cetății. sursa foto (aici)

Sediul Consiliului Judeţean Timiş este situat în clădirea de pe bulevardul Revoluţiei 1989 nr. 17 din municipiul Timişoara. Clădirea a fost reşedinţa rezidentului regal răspunzător de administrarea ţinutului Timiş (judeţele Timiş-Torontal, Arad, Caraş-Severin şi Hunedoara), creat în anul 1938, apoi sediul prefecturii Timiş-Torontal. Clădirea a fost destinată prin proiect şi apoi executată pentru a funcţiona ca şcoală de menaj, în perioada anilor ’30, fiind finanţată de la bugetul de stat. Datorită crizei economice din anii 1929 -1933, care a avut influenţă asupra economiei României dar şi asupra părţii de vest a ţării, nu a putut fi terminată, a fost ridicată în roşu, acoperită şi a stat nefinisată până în anul 1938. Odată cu înfiinţarea ţinutului administrativ Timiş şi a numirii rezidentului regal în fruntea acestui ţinut, se punea problema găsirii unui sediu adecvat acestuia, astfel s-a ajuns la soluţia schimbării destinaţiei acestei clădiri, din şcoală în palat administrativ. Fiind însă o clădire cu destinaţie şcoală, au fost necesare mai multe modificări în toată structura clădirii. Reproiectarea clădirii, pentru a fi funcţională ca sediu administrativ, s-a făcut de renumitul profesor universitar de la Politehnica timişoreană, arhitectul Victor Vlad, în colaborare cu arhitectul Corneliu Liuba. Lucrările de reamenajare la clădire au început în anul 1938 şi s-au încheiat la începutul anilor ‘40. Aşa cum ni se înfăţişează astăzi, clădirea Palatului Administrativ este o construcţie monumentală în stil modern. În exterior dominante sunt însă elementele clasice, într-o realizare cu materiale moderne. Clădirea impune prin proporţii, volum şi elemente decorative. Coloanele clasice cu capitel corintic decorează faţada, la care fusul este finisat în terasit, restul fiind lucrat în piatră artificială. Din orice parte ai privi-o, ţi se arată maiestuoasă, reprezentativă, în care specificul naţional este pus în evidenţă fără ostentaţie într-o judicioasă compoziţie de volume simple, agrementate cu elemente plastice de origine locală. De-a lungul timpului, clădirea a suferit o serie de modificări interioare prin recompartimentarea spaţiilor şi redistribuirea funcţiunilor, menţinându-se profilul administrativ. În perioada anilor 1968-1989, clădirea a fost folosită şi de către Comitetul Judeţean Timiş al PCR şi UTC, Uniunea Judeţeană a Cooperativelor Agricole de Producţie şi Gărzile Patriotice. În prezent clădirea este folosită ca sediu pentru Consiliul Judeţean Timiş şi Instituţia Prefectului Judeţului Timiş, fiind în proprietatea publică a judeţului Timiş şi administrarea Consiliului Judeţean Timiş. Pentru a face faţă activităţilor administraţiei publice judeţene, cât şi în perspectivă pentru Regiunea de Vest, s-a hotărât extinderea actualei clădiri pe latura nordică a construcţiei existente, mărginită de străzile Leonte Filipescu şi Tulnicului şi Piaţa Eftimie Murgu. Noua clădire are o arie desfăşurată de 3167 mp., pe patru tronsoane de diferite niveluri, fiind inaugurată în anul 2010.

The Old Town Hall building is located at 1 Liberty Square. It was built between 1731 and 1734, after the conquest of Timișoara by the Austrians, when the German settlers in town demanded they have a town hall of their own. Thus appeared the Town Hall of the German community or the New Town Hall. On the site of the current building there had been a Turkish public bath. Proof of this is the plaque mounted on the wall on the right side of the main entrance, with an Arabic inscription on it, dating back to the time of the Ottoman rule: "This public bath was erected in the times of terror of Ibrahim Ehan Hedja 1053". Throughout the centuries, the building has gone through several phases and undergone various changes: - in 1781 it was called the Town Hall of the Free Royal City of Timişoara; - in 1782 it was rebuilt by Josef Aigner, who also changed the coat of arms on the façade; - in 1849, the building was damaged after the artillery shelling during the revolution; - between 1848 and 1849, the Austrian commander of the fortress, Rukavina von Vidovgrad installed two loaded canons in front of the Town Hall, to intimidate the revolutionaries; - the project for the new façade is dated 1853; - the building was repaired in 1935; - in 1949, the Town Hall moved into its current headquarters. In terms of architecture, the building was designed in Eclectic style, but in also includes Classicist elements specific for the second half of the nineteenth century. It is structured on three levels: ground floor and two floors. Above the gate there is a balcony and four arched windows. The surface of the building is interrupted by panels bordered by pilasters, each one containing two windows arranged vertically. The frontispiece of the building illustrates a piece of the wall of Turkish Timişoara, a palisade wall interrupted by the Prince Eugene gate. Text source: https://timisoara.eventya.eu/

The Statue of the Holy Trinity is located in the centre of Union Square in Timişoara and it was built in the memory of the victims of the plague of 1738-1739, during which 1,300 people died. This is the reason for which it is also known as the Plague Column. The statue was built in Baroque style in Vienna and then shipped to Timişoara on the Danube, Tisza ad Bega Rivers. The cornerstone of this monument was laid on November 23, 1740, by the councilor of the governor, Johann Anton Deschan von Hannsen, the commissioner of the monument, whose wife has died during the plague. The statue was exhibited for 12 months in front of the Deschan Palace, on the site of the present day Bega Shopping Centre, and then moved to Union Square, when the land underneath it was bought. The monument is shaped as a tall, triangular column, at the top of which the Holy Trinity, the Holy Saint, the Son and the Father, all hold the heavenly crown above the head of the Virgin Mary, suggesting thus the connection between heaven and earth. At the bottom of the column stands the statues of St.John of Nepomuk, patron of Banat, King David and St. Barbara, the patron saint of the miners. The pedestal of the monument included the statues of other saints: Saint Roc, with his wounded leg, protector against the plague and other diseases, Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows, another protector against the plague, and Saint Charles Borromeo, patron saint of love. More bas-reliefs can be seen on the three sides, representing the three calamities that hit the area of Banat in the eighteenth century: war, famine and the plague. Text source: https://timisoara.eventya.eu/

The Statue of the Virgin Mary and St. John of Nepomuk is located in Liberty Square of Timișoara. It was made in Vienna between 1753 and 1756 by sculptors Blim and Wasserburger. The statue was placed in front of the Old Town Hall in 1756. The monument depicts St.John of Nepomuk, the patron of Banat, and the Virgin Mary, with a crown of stars above her head and holding lilies in her hand. In the foreground stand the statues of saints Roc, Borromeo and Sebastian. The three-side base portrays scenes from the events leading to the death of St. John of Nepomuk, including the confession of Queen Johanna, King Charles' questioning, curious to find out the secret of the confession and the Saint's death, after being thrown from the bridge into the river Vltava in Prague. The monument was damaged during the revolution of 1989, and consequently restored between 1992-1993. Text and photo sources: http://www.radiotimisoara.ro/; https://timisoara.eventya.eu/

The Monument of the Lupa Capitolina is located in central Victory Square, on top of a Roman column, about 5 meters high. It is a replica of the Lupa Capitolina, also called Lupa Romana, the Etruscan bronze statue probably cast in the 5th century B.C., somewhere on the valley of the River Tiber, that depicts the two siblings, founders of Rome – Romulus and Remus, fed by a she-wolf. The original statue is kpt in the "Museo Nuovo" inside the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Roma. A copy is exhibited outdoors in Piazza Del Campidoglio. The statue found nowadays in Victory Square was presented to Timișoara in 1926 by the City of Rome, as a symbol of the Latin origin of the Romanian people. The inauguration of the monument took place on April 23, 1926, in the presence of 10,000 people; Dr. Samuil Șagovici, mayor of Timișoara, Vasile Goldiș, the Minister of Religious Affairs, Grigore Trancu-Iași, The Labour Minister, as well as delegates of Mussolini, the Italian head of state at that time, participated in the event. The reception was done by Codecca, the Italian Consul in Timișoara. Two such copies were also given to the towns of Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest. Text source: https://timisoara.eventya.eu/

The Palace of the Reformed Community is located in the vicinity of the Virgin Mary Square in Timişoara, at 1 Timotei Cipariu St.. The building houses the parsonage and the reformed church, and it was built in 1902 in Neo-Gothic style, based on the projects of Budapest architects Nagy Károly and Jánosházi László. The architecture of the building is a special one. It highlights the sharp-shaped roofs, similar to the medieval towers from the Gothic period. The organ of the Reformed Community Palace was manufactured in Lipót Wegenstein's workshop, and the pulpit is the work of Jakab Fischer. In front of the Reformed Community Palace, on December 15, 1989, the Romanian anti-communist revolution began, with the manifestation against the deportation of the Reformed pastor, László Tökes. Text and photo sources: http://www.timisoara-info.ro/; http://timisoara.eventya.eu/

The Baroque Palace is one of the representative buildings of eighteenth century Timișoara. It is located centrally, at 1 Union Square. Also known as the Palace of the Old Prefecture, the building of the Baroque Palace had over time several functions: - in 1733 it housed the Judicial Mining Office; - in 1735 the treasury of the military garrison was here; - in 1752 it was the old administrative office of the region; - in 1754 the building became the residence of the president of the civil administration, Count Vilana Perlas, and, thus, known as the Palace of the President; - until 1849 it used to be the seat of the County Administration; - between 1849-1860, the administration of the Banat of Temeschwar and Serbian Vojvodina was established here; - in 1861 the seat of the Timiș County was restored here; - in 1919 it became the seat of the Prefecture of Timiș - Torontal County; - mid-twentieth century, the Baroque Palace housed the Agronomy Institute; - in 1979 it was arranged for it to accommodate a museum; - in 1984 it starting housing the Art Section of the Banat Museum, which on January 1, 2006 became the Art Museum. From the architectural point of view, the palace was built in Baroque style, with some rococo elements. Between 1885 and1886, the attic and the ironware were restored, based on architect Jacques Klein's project. This is when the baroque decoration elements were removed, especially from the façade. The palace is especially elegant inside, and in the basement there is an eighteenth century fountain. Text source: http://timisoara.eventya.eu/

The Water Palace is one of the most valuable buildings in Timișoara, located at the entrance to the Iosefin Neighbourhood, immediately after Traian Bridge. The Water Palace or the House of the House of the Timiș Bega Hydro-Improvement Company, as it was originally called, was built between 1900 and 1902 by Karl Hart, based on architect Baumhorn Lipót's plans, after Bega became navigable. The building was designed in the architectural style typical of the 1900s, and decorated with Neo-Baroque and Ionic elements. Since originally it had been a single-storey building, it was later raised by Artur Tunner, without, however, losing its architectural harmony. The heightened roof of the central part of the building and the double columns of the façade can be noted, both highlighting the pediments. The decorations are extremely rich, while one may distinguish representations of fish and other water-inspired figures, as well as anthropomorphic ones. Text and photo sources: http://www.radiotimisoara.ro/; http://timisoara.eventya.eu/