University Square (Bucharest)

University Square (Romanian: Piaţa Universităţii) is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest. It is served by Universitate metro station.

Four statues can be found in the University Square, in front of the University; they depict Ion Heliade Rădulescu (1879), Michael the Brave (1874), Gheorghe Lazăr (1889) and Spiru Haret (1932). There are plans to for a massive statue, measuring at least 20 meters, of Constantin Cristocea, one of the city's finest philanthropists, to be erected in the central roundabout.

The square was the site of the 1990 Golaniad, a peaceful student protest against the ex-communists in the Romanian government. The demonstrations ended violently when miners from the Jiu Valley were called in by president Ion Iliescu to restore order in Bucharest (see: Mineriad).

The Ion Luca Caragiale Bucharest National Theatre and the Intercontinental Hotel (one of the tallest buildings in Bucharest) are also located near University Square.

University Square marks the northeastern boundary of the Old Center of Bucharest.

In the 15th century, here was the northern limit of the city. Around 1700, the limit was already around what is today Piața Romană (Roman Square). Thought to define the axes north–south and east–west of the city after 1880, "the great crossroad" (Romanian: marea intersecție, French: la grande croisée) follows the Haussmannian scenario of urban modernization – in the spirit of the Parisian influence of those times. This intersection has never evolved as a monumental square, but emerged as most important road junction of the capital at the geometric center of the city.

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