Petroşani

Petroşani is a city in Hunedoara County, Romania

The city of Petroşani was founded in the 17th century (around 1640). In 1720, an Austrian cartographer mentions that the entire Jiu Valley was intensly populated and settlements could be seen from one end to the other.

During the 1818 census, Petroşani had 233 inhabitants, while the entire Valley counted 2550. During this time, the main activity of the people was shepherding and no urban settlement had appeared yet.

Around 1840 coal surface mining began in Petroşani, Vulcan and Petrila. "Pietros" means "stony", "of stone" in Romanian.

The population encountered a massive increase only in the 20th century during the communist regime, as many workers were brought in from other parts of the country.

Petroşani is located in the Jiu Valley, which is the entrance to the Retezat National Park and provides access to the Vâlcan, Parâng and Retezat mountains.

Sights:

• Sfinţii Arhangeli Church ("Holy Archangels Church"), built in the 18th century.
• The "I. G. Duca" school, built in 1935
• The Hungarian school - built in 1873 by Germans and inhabited by a group of 50 catholic nuns from a monastery near München
• The Old Theater, built in 1886
• The Lutheran Church, built between 1892 and 1896
• The Mining Museum, built in 1900
• The actual Sports School building, built in 1919
• The "I. D. Sîrbu" Theater Hall, built in 1905
• The Justice Court building, built in 1910
• The actual Students theater, built in 1922
• The Unitarian Church, built between 1924 and 1928
• The University of Petroşani, built in 1948
• The Jiul Shopping Center , re-opened in December 2007 after rennovation, initially built in the early 1980's

The following social events take place in Petroşani:

• the Dramatic Theater offers a wide variety of performance every week
• the annual international folklore festival
• the Folk Music Festival Cântecul Adâncului... ("Song of the Deep")
• artistic summer camps organized by the Petroşani University
• art, numismatic and caricatures exhibitions
• piano and violin recitals, offered by the Music School
• the Petroşani Days festival, usually organized in autumn
• the annual Underground Valley Graffiti Fest