8 DAYS – 7 NIGHTS

Short History

The Jewish community used to be the largest minority community in Bucharest.
Bucharest jews are mentioned for the first time in a rabbinical correspondence dating back to the 16th century.

Jewish quarter Bucharest 19century

The first documented evidence of a jewish presence in Bucharest, from 1550, names 8 jews, two of whom, Isac Rufus and Habib Amato, ‘have a shop’.

In 1930, 69.885 jews lived in Bucharest, representing 11% of the population.

The events of the second world war and then of the emigration to Israel caused a great drop in the jewish population in Bucharest. Today it stands at less than 10,000 jews. In the place of the old jewish center today stands Bucharest’s commercial center. Even still, some of the houses are reminiscent of those that once stood in that area. A state-run jewish theatre still shows productions today.

The tour

Visit the  Romanian Holocaust Memorial was unveiled on Thursday, October 8, 2009, in Bucharest.

The monument is a five-sculpture ensemble – “The Column,” “Via Dolorosa,” “The Roma”s Wheel,” “The Star of David,” and “Epitaph” arranged around a central memorial precinct.
The programme for the creation of a Romanian Holocaust Memorial was initiated in 2006 upon the recommendation of the International Commission for Romanian Holocaust Studies, known as the Wiesel Commission, after talks with public luminaries, officials for the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, men of culture and artists as well as Holocaust survivors.

We will visit  inside  The Great Synagogue & The Holocaust Museum.

The Great Synagogue was raised in 1845 by the Polish-Jewish community. It was repaired in 1865, redesigned in 1903 and 1909, repainted in Rococo style in 1936 by Ghershon Horowitz, then it was restored again in 1945.

Visit  inside the Choral Temple, which was restaured in the last couple of years and now looks fantastic.

This is certainly the most important Bucharest’s synagogue , it dates back from 1856.

Located downtown from 1827 and totally renovated in 2007, this is the city’s oldest synagogue. It still serves the local Jewish community.

We will visit   The Jewish Theatre has a tradition of 120 years in Romania.

Jewish Theatre in Romania has a tradition dating back 130 years. Documents show that in 1876 the writer and artist Avram Goldfaden started the first professional Jewish theatre in the world, in a public park in the Romanian town of Iasi. A few months later, Goldfaden moved with his theatre company to Bucharest.

The Civic Center and the Palace of Parliament

In 1971 Ceausescu visited North Korea and returned full of admiration for the grandiose avenues of Kim Il Sung’s capital city.

Thirteen years later, inspired by what he had seen in Pyongyang, Ceausescu set out to re-model Bucharest as “the first socialist capital for the new socialist man” and to create a new administrative center which was to be a “symbolic representation of the two decades of enlightenment we have just lived through.”

Implementing this megalomaniac vision entailed the demolition of a quarter of Bucharest’s historic centre, containing 9,000 19th century houses, whose 40,000 inhabitants were relocated in new developements on the outskirts of the city.

The PALACE OF PARLIAMENT – we will visit the Palace interior and enjoy an extensive guided tour.

Peles Castle  – is one of the best-preserved royal palaces in Europe and one  of the most beautiful castles in all Europe. It was the  final resting place for several Romanian monarchs including King Carol I, who died here in 1914.

We arrive at the  famous Bran Castle situated in an old village of the same name. Visit the Famous Bran Castle, called the Dracula Castle.

Arrive Brașov, overnight at the Bella Muzica Hotel 3*, Brașov downtown.

During the second half of the 14th century it was confirmed as the administrative and ecclesiastic center of  Barsei Land  “the free royal town,” one of the economic and cultural centers of Transylvania. It is one of the most spectacular cities in Romania.

Visit the Brasov synagogue and the local Jewish Community.

Depart  Cluj, via Tîrgu Mureș.

Visit the Tirgu Mures   synagogue –The Synagogue of Tîrgu-Mureş, also known as the “Large Temple”, was built between 1899 and 1900 at the initiative of the Jewish community “Status Quo” and is considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings of its kind in Romania.

Depart Cluj, arrive Cluj, overnight at the Beyfin Hotel 4*, Cluj downtown.

Visit Cluj city, one of the most beautiful cities in Romania.

Depart Simleul  Silvaniei

Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum is located in Șimleu Silvaniei,  and was opened September 11, 2005.

The museum is operated and maintained by the Jewish Architectural Heritage Foundation of New York and Asociata Memoralia Hebraica Nuşfalău – a Romanian NGO, with the support of the Claims Conference, Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania, among other philanthropic and pedagogical partners.

Visit the Holocaust Museum and the Synagogue

Arrive Oradea, overnight at the hotel Astoria 4*

Depart Timisoara with a break in Arad where we will visit the Arad Neologue Synagogue.

Arrive Timișoara, overnight at the Hotel Timisoara 4*.

Walking  visit at your own Timișoara downtown (the hotel is downtown located) the most beautiful city in Western Romania.

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