Piteşti

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Piteşti

County	Argeş County
Status	County capital
Mayor	Tudor Pendiuc, Social Democratic Party, since 1992
Area	40.7 km²
Population (2002)	168,458 (2002 census) 171,498 (as of July 1, 2004)[1]
Density	4,136 inh/km²
Geographical coordinates	44°51′38″N, 24°52′4″E
Web site	http://www.primariapitesti.ro/

Piteşti (/pi'teʃtʲ/) is the capital city of Argeş County, Romania (in the informal region of Wallachia), situated on the Argeş River.

Piteşti, situated on the A1 freeway connecting it directly to Bucharest (the national capital), is an important commercial and industrial center.

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 3 Economy 4 Places of interest 5 Festivals 6 Natives 7 Sister cities 8 Trivia 9 References 10 External links 11 Notes

[edit] Geography

The city lies on the right bank of the Argeş, where the river meets its tributary, Râul Doamnei, and is an important railway junction, with a classification yard in nearby Bălileşti. It is situated 280m above sea level.

[edit] History

The earliest traces of human settlements in this area relate to the Paleolithic. Piteşti itself was first mentioned on May 20, 1386.

Piteşti was one of the temporary residences of Wallachian Princes. Due to its positioning on the junction of major European routes (and its proximity to the Saxon markets in Sibiu, Transylvania), the city had originally developed as an important commercial center.

In the 1950s, the city gained an ill notoriety, when the communist authorities used the local detention facility to subject political detainees to the infamous Reeducation, in which violence between inmates was encouraged to the point of being mandatory (see Piteşti prison). The purpose of the experiment was to psychologically destroy the capacity for outside attachment and outside loyalty, thus creating the brainwashed New Man meant to suit a Leninist society. The experiment was cancelled after five years. Twenty-two inmate/participants were condemned with sixteen being condemned to death for the experiments in a 1953-54 trial. A new trial in 1957 convicted certain members of the prison staff, who received light sentences. They were later pardoned.

[edit] Economy

Piteşti is one of the most industrialized cities in Romania. It is the center of the automotive industry in the country (the Automobile Dacia automaker is situated in the nearby town of Mioveni); several other automobile parts manufacturers are located here (Dräxlmaier, Lear Corporation and Valeo). The city also houses an oil refinery (Arpechim), part of the Petrom group.

[edit] Places of interest

• The ruins of the Princely court (1359).
• Church of the Martyr Saint Mina (1564).
• Church of Saint George (1656).
• The Trivale Hermitage (1674).
• Church of Saint John the Baptist (1728).
• The Town Hall (1933).
• The Argeş County Museum (Muzeul Judeţean Argeş).

[edit] Festivals

Each year during springtime, Piteşti is host to Simfonia lalelelor (the Tulip Festival).

[edit] Natives

• Ion Antonescu
• Mauriciu Blank
• Ion Brătianu
• Armand Călinescu
• Nicolae Comănescu
• Nicolae Dică
• Nicolae Dobrin
• Ruxandra Dragomir
• George Ionescu-Gion
• Alexandru Kiriţescu
• Marian Oprea
• Sebastian Papaiani
• Mircea Parligras
• Rudolf Schweitzer-Cumpăna
• Lavinia Stan
• Tudor Teodorescu-Branişte
• Teo Trandafir
• Lucian Turcescu
• Robert Turcescu
• Zavaidoc

[edit] Sister cities

• Borlänge
• Caserta
• Kragujevac
• Muntinlupa
• Springfield, Ohio

[edit] Trivia

The city is surrounded by hills, being the center of an area rich in wineries and plum orchards. The latter give one of the finest Romanian ţuicas: ţuica de Piteşti. The Ştefăneşti winery, situated on the opposite bank of the Argeş River, is one of the best known in Romania.

[edit] References

• (Romanian) Mircea Crăciun, "Relicve din perioada dictaturii comuniste în judeţul Argeş", in Memoria

[edit] External links

• Piteşti University
• Piteşti Prison at the Sighet Memorial

[edit] Notes