The Maria Theresa Bastion

  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)

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/

Considered the largest fortification of the Bronze Age in Europe, the Cornesti earthen fortification, also known as the Iarcuri or Turkish Hills, is located about 20 km north of Timisoara and occupies an area of ​​over 1700 ha. Drawing the attention of military topographers in 1720, the fortification was first researched by Ioachim Miloia in 1932 and then by Marius Moga in 1939. In the autumn of 2007, the research was resumed by a team of archeologists from Romania and Germany, led by Alexandru Szentmiklósi, the head of the Banat Museum's archeology department. At present, researchers from Austria and the United States also participate in the research. Unique in Europe's prehistory, the fortress was dated 1500-1000 BC, being built by the Cruceni-Belegiš communities. It consists of four concentric circles representing the walls of the settlement, being raised by means of wooden pillars, to which ground has been added. Inside the fortification there were discovered: an access gate provided with towers of defense 4 meters high, ruins of an ancient temple, Sarmatian tombs, ceramic manufactories and a settlement dating from the third or fourth century. It is believed that the Corneşti-Iarcuri fortress belonged to a population of farmers and livestock breeders who controlled the main access routes to various areas rich in raw materials (salt in Transylvania, gold in the Apuseni Mountains, copper in the Banat Mountains). From a strategic point of view, the fortification is halfway between the Timiş and Mureş river basins, the main access road to Transylvania. It is not excluded that this fortification is also a construction with a prestigious role for the warriors of the end of the Bronze Age in the north of Banat. The authorities intend to open a museum in the village to highlight the discoveries made in the area. Specialists are now preparing the necessary documentation to inscribe the fortification on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Information and photo sources: http://www.culturatimis.ro/, https://www.facebook.com/MuzeulBanatuluiTimisoaraOficial/

The Jdioarei Fortress was founded II - III centuries during Roman colonization. However, the first testimony about the existence of the locality are from 105-200 AD. The first document attestation of the city is from 1215, under the name Zsidovar. In X-XI centuries, the fortress was probably included in the principality of Glad. Today the ruins are part of the national historical heritage. Text and photo source: http://www.turismlugoj.ro/

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 Roman-Catholic Episcopal Church, located at 12 Union Square, is an emblematic building of Timișoara, also known as the St.George Cathedral. The construction was carried out between 1731 and 1774, by architect Josef Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. The cornerstone was laid on August 6, 1754 by the Bishop of Cenad, Adalbert von Falkenstein. The consecration of the Cathedral intended for the bishops of Cenad took place on April 24, 1803, and it was performed by Bishop Ladislaus Köszeghy de Remete. From the architectural point of view, the Roman-Catholic Church was built in Baroque style. Because of the marshland, the building is reinforced by wooden pillars. Its size is impressive: it has a length of 55 meters, width of 22, the height of the nave is 16.90 meters, and that of the towers is 35.5 meters. The first bells were cast in 1763, and the clock was installed in 1764. Nine altars may be admired once inside, all sculpted by Viennese artist Johan Müller, in Baroque and Rococo styles, as well as a painting of Michelangelo Unterberger, "St. George on horseback fighting the dragon", dating back to 1754; the icons and old statues, the oak carved doors, the side altars painted by German painter Johann Adam Schöpf and the organ in Louis XVI style. The first Baroque organ was built in 1767 by Viennese Paul Hanke, and the current one was manufactured in Timişoara, in 1908. In 1756, the Cathedral was raised to the rank of first church of Timişoara, by decree of Empress Maria Theresa. Over time, the Roman-Catholic Cathedral has undergone difficult times. Thus, between 1788 and 1790, during the battles between the Turks and the Austrians, the Cathedral was turned into a salt warehouse. During the siege of 1849, i.e. the Hungarian revolution, the building was seriously damaged. Currently, the mass is celebrated every Sunday and on important holidays, always in 3 languages: Romanian, Hungarian and German. The Holy Pontifical Mass, performed by the Bishop, also contain parts in Latin, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech and Slovakian. The Roman-Catholic Cathedral is open to visitors Monday through Sunday. Text and photo sources: https://www.facebook.com/Episcopia-Romano-Catolică-Timișoara; https://timisoara.eventya.eu/

The Military Casino is located in Liberty Square, and is the most valuable military building, dating back to the eighteenth century. The construction works were completed in 1775, and in time the building was superimposed and completed with a large terrace. In a refined decor, the great festivity hall of the Military Casino was where the officers' balls used to take place, so famous at that time. This highlights the important role that the building once played in the social life of the young locals in those days. In 1924 the Rose Exhibition was organised here, when black and blue roses were introduced for the first time. In 1996, the building of the Military Casino started housing the Military Museum and Club. Text source: https://timisoara.eventya.eu/