Calafat

Calafat
Municipality
The monument commemorating the soldiers who fought in the War of Independence in 1877
Coat of arms
Calafat Location of Calafat
Coordinates: 43°59′09″N 22°57′27″E / 43.98583°N 22.95750°E / 43.98583; 22.95750Coordinates: 43°59′09″N 22°57′27″E / 43.98583°N 22.95750°E / 43.98583; 22.95750
Country	Romania
County	Dolj County
Status	Municipality
Government
• Mayor	Lucian Ciobanu (PSD (2016–present))
Population (2000)
• Total	21,227
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)

Calafat (Romanian pronunciation: [kalaˈfat]) is a city in Dolj County, Romania, on the river Danube, opposite the Bulgarian city of Vidin, to which it is linked by the Calafat-Vidin Bridge, opened in 2013. After the destruction of the bridges of late antiquity, for centuries Calafat was connected with the southern bank of the Danube by boat and later on by ferryboat.

The city administers three villages: Basarabi, Ciupercenii Vechi and Golenți.

It was founded in the 14th century by Genoese colonists, who employed large numbers of workmen (Calafatis) in repairing ships. This industry gave the town its name.

In January 1854, during the Crimean War, when Russian forces were headed up the Danube, Ahmed Pasha, commanding the Turkish forces at Calafat, made a surprise attack on the temporary Russian garrison nearby Cetate, which was under the command of Colonel Alexander Baumgarten. This diverted the initial Russian attack and allowed Ahmed Pasha to consolidate his forces in Calafat. On 28 January the Russians under the command of General Iosif Romanovich Anrep reached Calafat and began the siege which lasted until May. Riddled by disease and unable to take the town, Anrep withdrew.

Calafat lies on the river corridor VII-Danube and the pan-European corridor IV which starts in Germany and ends in Istanbul and Thessaloniki [2]. The city is at crossroads of DN56, DN56A, DN55A and E79. Between the city of Calafat and neighbour, Vidin (Bulgaria), stands links by bridge over the Danube in the area called Bașcov (Danube Bridge 2) by the Spanish company FCC. The project of constructing a bridge in the area Calafat-Vidin dates from the year 1925. Road traffic between Vidin and Calafat doubles every year, so it has become necessary to construct a bridge that will have four lanes of traffic road, a railway line, a lane two meters wide for bikes and a pavement for pedestrians. The bridge has a total length of 1,971 m and its costs are estimated about 200 million US dollars. It was officially opened on 14 June 2013.