Rozelor Park, formerly called the Rose Park, Rosarium, Ștefan Plavăț Culture and Leisure Park is one of the parks in Timișoara, arranged in the Cetate extra muros neighborhood.
Rozelor Park, formerly called the Rose Park, Rosarium, Ștefan Plavăț Culture and Leisure Park is one of the parks in Timișoara, arranged in the Cetate extra muros neighborhood.
Mihai Demetrovici, the head of the horticulture service of the Timișoara City Hall, took care of the landscaping of the park, starting in 1929 and continuing between 1932-1934. The park, situated on the banks of the Bega river, was arranged in English style, with alleys, canopies and rose bushes; in the interwar period, there were over 1200 varieties of roses, labelled. During the same period, the open-air theatre was arranged. Destroyed during the bombings of 1944, the park was rebuilt after World War II, with outdoor performances and a sports base.
In 2012, the park underwent a redevelopment process. At the main entrance from Alexandru Borza Street, the bust of Wilhelm Mühle (1845–1908), the owner of famous plantations, greenhouses and gardens in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the bust of his son, the landscape architect Árpád Mühle (1870–1930), were placed for their contribution to Timișoara's reputation as a city of roses.
Bibliography:
- Mihai Opriș, Mihai Botescu, Historical Architecture from Timișoara, Tempus Publishing House, Timișoara, 2014
The Roses Park
Robert Șerban
I was a freshman at Poli
and wanted to impress a student from U
so one night
I sneaked into Roses Park
at the Michelangelo bridge
I pretended to be walking
I spotted them at a few glances
I slowly took out my blade
between the first two fingers
and got closer
I remember I looked at the moon
and suddenly used a little optics and the geometry of space:
its rays should not fall on the small steel spot
and betray me like in Indian movies
when I bent over
I was so bewildered by their smell and beauty
not only did I not cut them
but I took out of the gift bag
the bottle
I opened it swiftly with the lighter
and watered
the rose bush
all around
June 2022
"The Roses Park Roses – a word that wavers between a certain charm and kitch. The Knight of the Roses, the Wars of the Roses, Roza Lang.” (Livius Ciocârlie, The Sunken Bell, Cartea Românească, 1988, p. 172)
I also played tennis and football. It was hard to find a rocket. I even played football on the curbs, on Petre Carp Street, called the Roses Street today, where the boys with the transformed villas were not around, but the people who have been living there for a lifetime… under the pressure of that time, they had to leave this splendid boulevard that suffered a series of metamorphoses. Loga was an elevated neighborhood with consulates. There were two top high schools on Loga. Loga Boys' High School was called Loga High School, Nicos Beloianis High School and finally returned to its traditional name. So was Carmen Sylva High School, a girls' high school. These high schools had a certain standard, not everyone was admitted into this high school, with formidable, demanding teachers - teachers who left something behind. The whole neighborhood was a combination of Jews, Romanians, but also Italians. I had Jewish friends: Baruch, Langer, Herzog. As I said, there were also Italians, such as, for example, Fosatti, who were the directors or owners of some textile companies that existed in Timişoara. There is a very interesting society here, with a lot of doctors, lawyers.
Of course, when we were caught in the moment of communism, we had to be thrown out in twenty-four hours - thrown in the cellar, as best as we could. Before that, we had the Russian wave, when everyone used a word that meant "requisition." That meant the space commission was coming from the People's Council, looking at how many rooms you had and putting Soviets in them. Above us, even during the war, we had a platform, there was a machine gun there… and "our boys", the Russian cavalry stationed in Timișoara, were jumping in the Rose Park from bush to bush. This park of roses that is not called the Rosebud Park ... Timişoara is not of rosebuds, it is of roses, rose means something else, as if it has another nobility. Nor is it the Park of "culture and hodina", which is a one hundred percent Soviet production. It was a park that had a splendid collection of roses that were placed in bush diamonds. Each species was cantoned. The Russians rode in the alleys of the park and jumped around. It was the first sign of destruction. Then this project, called the "Culture and Hodina" Park, followed and they permanently ruined it. The rose park has kind of disappeared because the street name suffered all sorts of name changes and then it disappeared. It's called the Rosebud Street now.*
Nicolae Diminescu . b. 1939 interviewed by Adrian Onica in 2005 Timişoara (Archive of the Group of Oral History and Cultural Anthropology, Third Europe, BCUT)
* The street has meanwhile regained the name of Petre Carp
For the general public, this is simply a beautifully landscaped park surrounded by the magic of roses. A place to take pictures in spring and summer. But for students Timișoara, this is where we started a new chapter in our lives. And I'm talking about graduation day. Whether we're talking about an undergraduate or a master's student, graduation day will always have a special place in everyone's hearts. And Polytechnic University of Timisoaraalso Western University, decide to organise these festivities in the Rose Park. A moment of pride, a moment of sadness, and a moment that makes you forget the fear of the unknown and become ready for anything. A sunny day, full of excitement, when you take heart and step on this stage, you are surrounded by colleagues, teachers and all your loved ones, a fairytale landscape.
Cristina Ecobici, UPT Student, 2023
One summer evening, after an overwhelming day, my fiancé and I decided to go for a walk in Rose Park. This is a special place for us, which we consider an oasis of peace and beauty. As we were walking, we noticed a gentleman in his 70s sitting on a bench, but quite agitated. Once we approached, he flinched, and with a gentle look asked us if his shirt looked wrinkled. We replied that it was fine and even beautiful, then noticed that he had an impressive bouquet of flowers on the bench.
Seeing us smiling, he confessed that he is waiting for his wife, in the place where they met 50 years ago, and wants everything to be perfect. We didn't talk for long because his wife had appeared next to us, so we slowly walked away.
But for us, the happiness we saw in his eyes made us realize that the irreversible passage of time cannot override true love.
That's why I think this place guides you to contemplate on the beautiful and romantic.
Paulescu Oana Iasmina, Student UPT, 2023
I chose to write a short story about The Roses Park because it's one of the first places I've visited since coming to town.
Here, together with my colleague Lorena I took part in 2018 in the Street Food Festival a festival dedicated to food from all over the world where we could try any food we always wanted to taste.
Both Lorena and I decided to buy some Mexican-style potatoes, which we were pleasantly surprised by and will order again every chance we get.
This festival took place right around the time I started my first year of college and was a new and different dining experience that left a good impression.
At the same time this is where we had our graduation ceremony in 2021.
Eduard M, Student UPT, 2023
Timisoara I have always found it a divine city, full of culture and history. That's exactly why I chose to come here to university and discover more and more of this magnificent city. Of course I also ended up in The Roses Park, a place that I find one of the most beautiful in Timisoara, a place where nature comes alive in spring and everything becomes more charming.
It also happens to be where I have my fondest memory from my years in this town - graduation. I couldn't help but rejoice upon hearing this news, as that was my favorite place in the entire city. Graduation brought us all together after a hard year, and the reunion was with much more intense feelings than other times, having been away from each other for so long.
I can say that graduating from college was and still is the best moment of my life so far, a moment full of excitement and immense joy in my heart. It made me think that during college I met new people, people with whom I shared the best memories. Rose Park in Timisoara will remain a "soul" place for me for a long time, and whenever I go there I will fondly remember my college years as well as my graduation, a unique moment in my life.
Lungu Lorena Ioana, Student UPT, 2023
Rose Park in Timisoara is one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen in my life. It is located in the central area of Timisoara and it is really special because of the flower arrangements that please the eye, because of the elegant white canopies that are perfect for photos, of course here are also organized various outdoor events such as plays, sports games and last but not least graduation parties.
I'm constantly going to Rose ParkI like it best in spring when everything is in bloom, when the sun is not too strong and I can enjoy quiet moments in a fabulous landscape, but a certain experience has made me even more attached to this park: the graduation of the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the Polytechnic University.
We had our graduation ceremony in July 2021, July 1st to be exact, and I can say it was a superb day from A to Z. Since early morning I arrived at the park, excited to see my colleagues and we put on our robes and hats to prepare for the event. I remember we had already started socialising and taking lots of photos to keep as memories of the wonderful day.
On the park of the day, we began to sit down and get organized so that the ceremony was set up in every way. On stage our teachers and the dean came in and started talking about our experiences and then I began to realize even more that this chapter was ending and adult life, as we used to say then, was beginning.
The weather was perfect, the park was full of friends, parents of all the students, everything was carefully arranged, and the fact that this location was chosen as the ceremony presentation couldn't help but make me so happy. After the ceremony, after being shouted at in turn, with tears in my eyes I looked out over the park and saw everyone hugging and wishing each other wonderful things, we had the future in front of us and were curious as to what lay ahead.
In conclusion, leaving aside my personal story, Rose Park is a magical one, a park worth visiting and one I always recommend when you want to get away from the city, right in the city. I'll leave a few pictures below from that day that I hope you'll enjoy viewing too.
Toader Iasmina, UPT student, 2023
