Iasi
Iasi is the second most populous city in Romania, located in the northeast Romania, on the border with Moldova. Located in the historical Moldavia region, the town of Iasi has traditionally been one of the leading centers of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life. According to some resources, the town got its name after the Sarmatian tribe of Iazyges that had inhabited the area around the Prut River. There is another historical record on the Iasi tribe which lived together with the Cumans in the Caucus region. After their movement campaign towards the West they have settled the area around the Prut River, along with other regions of the Balkans.
The city of Iasi was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1564 to 1859, then of the United Principalities from 1859 to 1862 and the capital of Romania from 1916 to 1918. Home to the first Romanian university and to the first engineering school, Iasi is the second largest university center in Romania which accommodates over 75,000 students in 5 public and 7 private universities.
Iasi was for many centuries the crossing point of the most important trading routes linking Poland, Hungary, Russia and Constantinople. Featuring rich history, Iasi has been the main center of Moldavian culture since 1408 and boasts nearly 100 Orthodox churches, most of them located in the so-called Golden Plateau. The oldest, the Princely Saint Nicholas Church, dates from the reign of Stephen the Great (Stefan cel Mare, 1457-1504). The finest, however, are the 17th century Saint Paraschiva Metropolitan Cathedral and Trei Ierarhi Church, the last a curious example of Byzantine art, erected in 1635-1639 by Vasile Lupu. Its outer walls and twin towers are intricately carved in what many think of as stone lace.
Cultural life of Iasi gravitates around the Palace of Culture and the National Theater (the oldest in Romania), the Opera House, the Iași State Philharmonic, the Tătărași Atheneum, the famous Botanical Garden (the oldest and largest in Romania), the Central University Library (the oldest in Romania), an array of museums and memorial houses, an independent theater and several student organizations. This remarkable construction (1906-1925), built in flamboyant Neo-gothic style, stands partly on the ruins of a medieval royal court mentioned in documents dating from 1434. Today, the 365-room palace houses the Gheorghe Asachi Library and four of the city’s museums: the Moldavian History Museum, the Ethnographic Museum, the Museum of Art and the Museum of Science and Technology.
Saint Paraschiva Metropolitan Cathedral of Iasi is the largest Orthodox church in Romania. Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans (also known as: Petka of Bulgaria, Petka of Serbia, Paraskeva of Serbia, Paraskeva the Serbian, Paraskeva of Belgrade, Parascheva the New, Parascheva and Света Петка / Sveta Petka or Петка Параскева / Petka Paraskeva, Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, Parascheva of Tirnovo) was an ascetic female saint of the 10th century. Saint Paraskeva – Sveta Petka is highly venerated in the Balkans as protector of embroiderers, needle workers, spinners and weavers. In-corrupted relics of Saint Petka were transferred to several holy places in the Balkans – in 1238, the relics were transferred from Kallikrateia to Veliko Tarnovo capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In 1393, the relics were transferred to Belgrade and kept in the particularly built Ruzica Church in Kalemegdan Fortress. When Belgrade fell to Ottoman forces in 1521, the relics were transferred to Constantinople. In 1641, the Holy relics of Saint Paraskeva – Sveta Petka were transferred to Tri Ierarhi Monastery in Iasi, and in 1881 they were transferred to the Metrpolitan Cathedral of Iasi since when they are kept there and exposed to the faithful people during Orthodox Holidays.
