June 3, 2015

1629 ROMANIA (Bucharest) - Calea Victoriei

1629 Bucharest - Victory Avenue on the Interwar years

Calea Victoriei (Victory Avenue) is a major avenue in central Bucharest (the capital city of Romania), and probably the most loaded with history. It leads from Splaiul Independenţei (which runs parallel to the  Dâmboviţa River) to the north and then northwest up to Piaţa Victoriei (Victory Square), where Şoseaua Kiseleff (Kiseleff Road) continues north. Initially known as Uliţa Mare (Large Street) or Drumul Braşovului (Braşov Road), being part of the trade route between Bucharest and the city of Braşov, in Transylvania, in 1692 was named Podul Mogoşoaiei (Mogoşoaia Wood-Paved Road), because it connected the Bucharest's center with Mogoşoaia Palace of the Wallachian Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu, who paved the road with wood and partly regularized it.

The road was one of the most important construction works of the area and a source of pride to Bucharesters, so the area surrounding the road became the most fashionable part of Bucharest (35 boyar houses were located on the road itself in 1775). The wood wasn't a very sturdy material and often it was in a bad state, despite being repaired several times. Podul Mogoşoaiei was the first street in Bucharest to be illuminated with candles during the night, starting 1814. The road, in the meantime paved with cobblestone, was renamed Calea Victoriei on October 12, 1878, following the Romanian victory in the Independence War of 1877-1878. In 1882 were placed the first electric installations in Bucharest, in front of the Royal Palace on Calea Victoriei.

In the Interwar years, Calea Victoriei was Bucharest's showpiece street. After roughly half a century of decline, in the communis era, it has recently been returning to this role. Today is lined with new fashion shops, art boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants, making it an upmarket shopping strip in Bucharest. Major buildings and monuments along the street include (from north to south): The Cantacuzino Palace (hosting The George Enescu Museum), Ştirbey Palace, Romanian Athenaeum, National Museum of Art of Romania, Kretzulescu Church, Bucharest Telephone Palace, Capşa House, The Palace of the National Military CircleNational Museum of History of Romania, CEC Bank.

About the stamp


The stamp was issued on September 12, 2014, to honour the Romanian Olympic Movement. Named 100 Years of Olympism in Romania, it illustrates the ROCS anniversary logo.

References
Calea Victoriei - Wikipedia

Sender: Mihnea Răducu and the Romanian postcrossers who participated to the meet-up which held on Bucharest on March 1st, 2015
Sent from Bucharest (Bucharest / Romania), on 01.06.2015

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