If you’ve just arrived in the city, the Classic Tour is the best start you can get! Book it like a private tour or join one of the scheduled tours and start learning about this beautiful city.
The tour is a chronological one. The path we take follows the historical events starting with the Mongol invasion (1241) and ending in contemporary times with the revolution against the communist regime (1989). Starting in the mid-16th century, for 164 years, Timișoara was a Turkish city. We’ll visit the sites of the hammam (Turkish public bath), bazaar (marketplace), Central Mosque, and cemetery. At the beginning of the 18th century, Austrian imperial troops led by Prince Eugene of Savoy conquer the place, and everything changes after that. New streets, new houses, new churches, and a new fortification system were built. The baroque style was still fashionable here during the 18th century. 150 years later, Timisoara became a well-developed urban center. The Secession style was used for the new buildings; one of the first trams in the world connected the city center with the Fabric and Iosefin neighborhoods; and the streets were enlightened by electric light for the first time in continental Europe in 1884. The city walls were demolished, and a new downtown was built (Piata Victoriei).
Timisoara became part of the Romanian Kingdom at the end of World War I. The development of the city continued, but the Second World War came, and by the end of it, Romania was forced to become a communist country. In 1989, the world was changing again. Romania didn’t seem to follow this course until the 16th of December, when, in Timisoara, the first person had the guts to cry “Down with Communism.” A few days later, on the 20th of December, Timisoara was proclaimed the first city in Romania free of communism. A great victory, but a sad one, since more than 100 people died in those days.
