The row of palaces in Victory Square was built in the extra-muros area of the Cetate neighborhood, which is located on the former Esplanade, the 948-meter-wide plain around the fortress, on which it was forbidden to build.
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The row of palaces in Victoriei Square was built in the extra-walled area of the Cetate neighborhood, which is located on the former Esplanade, the 948-meter-wide plain around the fortress, on which it was forbidden to build. In 1868 the esplanade around the fortress was reduced from 948 meters to 569 meters.
In 1892, the character of a military fortress of the fortress was annulled and the demolition of the fortifications began (after 1899). The General Plan for the Development of the City from 1893-1895, drawn up by the architect Lajos Ybl and the engineer Aladar Kovács Sebestyén, provided for the construction of a boulevard the size of the current market.
The western pediment of Victoriei Square is furnished with monumental buildings between the Opera and the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral. This pediment includes the palaces: the palace of the Weisz company (architect Adalbert Szladek, sponsored by Dr. Frigyes Hajdu, building connected to the sewerage on October 19, 1926 and to the water network on November 4, 1926), Lloyd's palace (headquarters of the Polytechnic University, Victoria Square no. 2, architect Lipót Baumhorn, builder Arnold Merbl, building permit of 29 August 1910, building opening on 29 September 1912), Ernö Neuhausz Palace (architect László Székely, building permit 26 October 1910), Arnold Merbl Palace (architect and builder Arnold Merbl, building permit March 8, 1911), György Dauerbach Palace (Dr. N. Paulescu Street no.1 - J.W. Goethe Street no.2, architect László Székely, building permit July 12, 1911), Lajos Hilt Palace (Square Victory Square No. 6, architect László Székely, building permit December 2, 1911, work completed in year 1913) and Széchenyi Palace (Victory Square no. 8, sponsored by Antal Vogel, architect László Székely, building permit 26 October 1911, work completed in 1913).
The eastern pediment includes the Jakab Löffler Palace (Victoriei Square no. 1, architect Henrik Telkes, building permit March 18, 1912, work completed May 1, 1913) and the Palace of Commerce and Industry (Victoriei Square no. 3, architect László Székely, building connected to the water supply on March 13, 1925 and to the sewerage on November 27, 1925), along with blocks of flats built between 1961-1963.
The built fronts of the buildings on the western side of the square belong to the style of the 1900s (Secession).
From the Opera to the Cathedral the promenade on the right is called Corso, and the one on the left is called Surrogate.
The two ends of the perspective, the Municipal Theater and the Metropolitan Cathedral, close compositionally, on the north and south sides, Victoriei Square and its promenade area, generating a refined and balanced urban space.
The Lupoaica sculpture with the twins Romulus and Remus, located on a 5 meter high pillar, is a replica of the work Lupa Capitolina offered to Timișoara by the city of Rome in 1926. The fish fountain was built after the Second World War, in 1957.
Bibliography:
- Mihai Opriș, Mihai Botescu - Historical Architecture in Timișoara, Tempus Publishing House, Timișoara, 2014
The row of palaces in Victory Square
The 3D Crucifixion Monument
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Robert Șerban
pigeons eat the plaster
cries a white-haired gentleman
pointing his cane at the scarred palace
we both turn our heads at once
all we see are empty swallow nests
up
under the eaves
and an open window
through which stick out like a tongue
the drapes
the old man stomps his foot in anger
loses balance and falls
we take flight
every which way
June 2022
“Timişoara, with its crowded ‘Corso’... […]
Timişoara with its wide, clean, well-paved, bright and endless boulevards, occasionally lined with prestigious businesses and large, sometimes stylishly adorned display windows... Timişoara with its shops ‘zarva’ after six o’clock in the evening, with fine, polished, often uncomfortable or crowded trams, with the patched looks of a fashionable city – imagine, in the heart of Banat, a map drawn by a geographer with lapses of memory... […]
The factory chimneys with their elegant silhouettes, from which today hardly comes out a tiny thread of smoke, which mocks ... life ... they say, once intense ... the bridges that connect the five small cities ... ‘Lloyd’ , ‘Palace’, ‘Loffler’, ‘Ferdinand’, and a courthouse set in four streets, with over 200 rooms and 13 corridors... Mild climate […].Lloyd", "Palace", "Loffler", "Ferdinand" and a courthouse stuck in four blocks, with over 200 rooms and 13 corridors... Indulgent climate [...].
An exotic Timişoara for travelers from other parts of the country, whom the city with the appearance of a ‘work’ of an engineer strikes at once.
Urban street life…” (Camil Petrescu, Three Springs, Timișoara, Facla Publishing House, 1975, p. 148-149)
(…) Later, when I grew up, there was a very good bookstore, the "Niculescu" bookstore, on the opposite side of today's "Eminescu" bookstore (replaced today by the Cărturești Bookstore n.n.) on the ground floor of the Löffler Palace, close to the CEC agency, from McDonalds to the Cathedral.
(…) Then there were the Meinl stores, a network throughout the country, branches of a German company, where it always smelled terribly good like coffee. There was one on Corso, where the "Helios" gallery and the gelateria next to it are now.
Radu Ciobanu (born 1935), interviewed by Simona Adam in 2002 in Deva. Third Europe Archive, BCUT.
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Two people from different corners of the world "found in" Timisoara.
With fear of the new, deep emotions, anxiety and shyness, this is how the first year of college was to begin for us. We knew from the start that we were more different, it would have been hard for us to fit in if we hadn't found the courage to talk to each other. But, Victoria Square would bring us closer, that's where our friendship would bind. We were in the first semester of our first year at university, a project we had to do for an exam made us get to know each other and, at the same time, to "get lost" in Timișoara. It was a project in which we had to make a video promoting Timisoara. Since neither of us knew the city, we decided to go and film different shots of the city. Victoria Square, but also from other nearby areas we discovered that day. The first shot I filmed was to feature the Cathedral and the pigeons flying in tandem. Our attention was drawn to the aisle of coloured umbrellas, which led us to the Liberty Square.
After managing to get enough material for our project, we chose to stop by Symphony Cafe, where we were going to discuss how we were going to mount the frames we made. Naturally the discussion degenerated and we completely forgot about the project, and Symphony Cafe became the place where Friday nights and Saturday mornings began. In Victoria Square we'd have to meet every time to have coffee before class. That's where our friendship was cemented one spring.
Elena R & Christine G, UPT Student, 2023
