#REDIRECT [[King Michael I Park]]
{{Infobox park
|name=Herăstrău Park
|native_name=Parcul Herăstrău
|native_name_lang=ro
|photo=Parque Herastrau, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-30, DD 04.jpg
|location=[[Bucharest]], [[Romania]]
|coordinates={{Coord|44|28|41|N|26|04|53.1|E}}
|area=187 hectares
|established=1936
|administrator=Administraţia Lacuri, Parcuri şi Agrement Bucureşti
|status=Open all year
|photo_caption=View from the park towards [[Casa Presei Libere]]
|photo_width=274
|map=Romania Bucharest
|map_width=274
|relief=1
|map_caption=Location of the park
|map_alt=Location of the park
|free_label=Designers
|free_data=Ernest Pinard, Rebhun. Fr. Rebhun and Octav Doicescu
|website={{URL|herastrauparc.ro}}
}}
'''Herăstrău Park''' ([[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''Parcul Herăstrău'') or '''King Michael I Park''' <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.romania-insider.com/bucharest-park-king-michael/|title=Bucharest’s Herastrau park renamed King Michael I park|date=19 December 2017|publisher=Romania Insider|accessdate=27 April 2018}}</ref>is a large [[park]] on the northern side of [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]], around Lake Herăstrău, one of the lakes formed by the [[Colentina River]].
==Geography==
The park has got an area of about 187 ha, of which 74 ha is the lake. Initially, the area was full of marshes, but these were drained between 1930 and 1935, and the park was opened in 1936. The park is divided into two zones: a rustic or natural zone (the [[Village Museum]]), which is left more or less undisturbed, and a public/'active' domain with open areas for recreation activities. Small boats are allowed on the lake.
==Name==
The park was initially intended to be called ''Parcul Național'', but it was renamed ''Parcul [[Carol II of Romania|Carol II]]'' during the period of the [[Carol II of Romania's cult of personality]]. Following World War II, it was renamed ''Parcul [[Joseph Stalin|I. V. Stalin]]'', featuring a statue of Stalin at its entrance. The park was renamed and the statue was torn down in 1956 as part of the [[De-Stalinization in Romania]].
The name ''Herăstrău'' refers to the Herăstrău lake, and has its origin in a dialectal version of the word ''ferăstrău'' in standard Romanian, meaning [[saw]] or [[sawmill]],<ref>{{DEX|herăstrău}}</ref> referring to the water-powered sawmills that were once found the [[Colentina river]] which flowed through it.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sragher |first1=Peter |year=2004 |title=Cum a devenit Rabindranath Tagore evreu |journal=[[Observator Cultural]] |volume= |issue=213 |pages= |publisher= |doi= |url=http://www.observatorcultural.ro/Cum-a-devenit-Rabindranath-Tagore-evreu*articleID_10529-articles_details.html |accessdate=April 21, 2013}}</ref>
The park was renamed to "[[Michael I of Romania|King Michael I]] Park" by a decision of the Bucharest General Council in December 2017. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.romania-insider.com/bucharest-park-king-michael/|title=Bucharest’s Herastrau park renamed King Michael I park|date=19 December 2017|publisher=Romania Insider|accessdate=27 April 2018}}</ref>
==History==
The area of the park has been inhabited since the [[Paleolithic]], traces of settlements being found at the Herăstrău sand quarry,<ref>Giurescu, p.25</ref> including [[flint tools]] made by the [[Mousterian]] culture,<ref>Georgescu et al., p. 21-22</ref> a culture generally associated with the [[Neanderthal]]s. During the [[quaternary glaciation]], the area was inhabited by large mammals such as the [[woolly rhinoceros]] and the [[mammoth]], bones of the latter being found in the Herăstrău sand quarry.<ref name="Giurescu26">Giurescu, p.26</ref>
During the [[iron age]], a settlement of the first part of the [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt era]] belonging to a [[Pastoralism|pastoral population]] was located in Bordei-Herăstrău (the area between Herăstrău and Floreasca lakes, today part of the Herăstrău Park<ref>Georgescu et al., p. 37</ref>), which gives the name of the culture ([[Bordei-Herăstrău culture]]).<ref name="Giurescu26"/> In the Dacian settlements of Herăstrău, which has been dated, with the help of the coins, to the 1st century BC,<ref>Georgescu et al., p. 44</ref> archeologists found a treasure containing silver fibulae, silver spiral bracelets, a silver bowl, as well as [[Ancient Greek coins]] (from [[Constanța|Tomis]] and [[Dyrrachium]]) along with Dacian imitations.<ref>Giurescu, p.33</ref>
[[Phanariote]] Prince of Wallachia [[Alexander Ypsilantis (1725–1805)|Alexander Ypsilantis]] built an Ottoman-style [[kiosk]] ([[summer house]]) on the banks of the Herăstrău Lake.<ref>Giurescu, p.104</ref> The plain along the lake was used in 1831, during the Russian occupation, for [[military exercise]]s by a joint force of the Wallachian and Russian militaries.<ref>Giurescu, p.124</ref> By the mid-19th century, Herăstrău was the main [[promenade]] area used by the Romanian élite for walks.<ref>Georgescu et al., p. 298</ref>
In 1936, the work began for the creation of the National Park (''Parcul Național'') in Herăstrău. For this, several dozen squalid houses, as well as an industrial plant were [[Expropriation|expropriated]] and torn down, being replaced with alleys and trees, being finally open for the public in May 1939, becoming Bucharest's largest park.<ref>Giurescu, p.199</ref>
==Buildings and facilities==
[[Elisabeta Palace]], the current residence of the [[Romanian Royal Family]], is located in the park, as an "island" inside the [[Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum in Bucharest|Village Museum]], near the Arch of Triumph ("[[Arcul de Triumf]]").
A number of buildings are found within the Herăstrău Park. The most notable is the [[Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum in Bucharest]], an open-air museum showcasing traditional life of the Romanian peasant and having hundreds of houses from across Romania.
Scattered across the park are an open-air theatre, a yacht club, a sports club, the Herăstrău Hotel and, adjunct to the park, the Diplomatic Club, featuring a [[golf course]].
==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" class="center">
File:Elisabeta Palace entrance far 1.jpg|[[Elisabeta Palace]] is the [[Bucharest]] residence of the [[Romanian Royal Family]]; it stands like an „island” inside the [[Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum|Village Museum]].
File:Romanian Royal Standard seen from Herăstrău Park 1.jpg|The personal flag of HRH Crown [[Princess Margareta of Romania]] flying over [[Elisabeta Palace]] in [[Bucharest]], as seen from the bridge inside Herăstrău Park (at the end of Insula Trandafirilor, near [[Arcul de Triumf]])
File:Gradina Japoneza, Herastrau 03.jpg|Japanese Garden
File:Parcul Herăstrău.jpg|Alley in Herăstrău Park in autumn
File:Pasare (monument) in Herastrau.jpg|''Steel wings'' monument
File:Parque Herastrau, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-30, DD 05.jpg|Lake Herăstrău
File:Parcul Herăstrău, Fantana.jpg|Fountain
File:Parcul Herastrau park Bucharest Bucuresti Romania.JPG|Sculpture
File:Evening at Lake Her-str-u in Bucharest, 2009 July 3.JPG|Herăstrău Lake in the evening
File:Herastrau Park B-II-a-A-18802 1.jpg|Panoramic view of Herăstrău Park
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[List of sculptures in Herăstrău Park]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* [[Constantin C. Giurescu]], ''Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre'', [[Editura Pentru Literatură]], Bucharest, 1966. {{OCLC|1279610}}
* Florian Georgescu et al. ''Istoria Orașului Bucureşti'', Muzeul de Istorie a Orașului București, 1965
==External links==
*{{ro icon}} [http://www.herastrauparc.ro/ Parcul Herăstrău]
{{Parks in Bucharest}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herastrau}}
[[Category:Parks in Bucharest]]
[[Category:Historic monuments in Bucharest]]
[[Category:1936 establishments in Romania]]
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