| THE CELEBRATIONS OF THE CITY OF BUCHAREST 22/09/2008 |
| (2008-09-22) |
| Last updated: 2008-09-23 14:40 EET |
The people of Bucharest celebrated at the week-end almost 5 centuries and a half since the establishment of their city. Thousands of people stormed the centre of the town and parks to watch vintage carriage and costume parades, outdoor theatre performances, classical music and rock shows. Handicrafts people from across the country came to the capital to present their work, accompanied by folk music concerts, including from ethnic minorities. Romanians, Croatians, Germans, Russian Lippovans and Aromanians all enjoyed the celebrations dedicated to the city of Bucharest.
On September 20th 1459, the “locality of Bucharest” was first mentioned in an act of donation, which functions as the birth certificate of Romania's biggest city today. 549 years later, the people who walked the streets of the town's historical centre on Saturday and Sunday could relive the atmosphere of “Little Paris”, with horse-driven carriages and characters dressed in vintage costumes, fiddler music and lyrical songs, ginger bread and florists selling autumn flowers from their wicker baskets.
The celebrations split the inhabitants of Bucharest in two categories: those who did not forget the times when people dressed up to go to the theatre or to the museum and those who believe in urban art, urban sports and in reinventing the city through graffiti. What brought them all together was a celebratory mood that extended well into the night, as museums stayed open till dawn.
The people could also choose from a whole range of open-air concerts which gathered thousands and thousands of spectators. Two Canadian singers, Bryan Adams and Leonard Cohen, each gave a concert for the Bucharest public.
Costel Busuioc, the Romanian who became famous in Spain after competing in a Spanish TV contest called Hijos de Babel, also gave a concert on Saturday night in the centre of the town in front of an audience of 2,000 people.
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2025-04-03
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