ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

THE URBANISTIC EVOLUTION OF THE CITYOF DROBETA - TURNU SEVERIN REFLECTEDIN THE PLANS AND DESIGNS OF THE 19 TH CENTURYGABRIEL CROITORUThe War between Russia – Turkey (1828-1829) that ended through thePeace from Adrianopole (1829, September 2 nd - 14 th ) had very important resultsin the social and economic evolution of the Romanian Principalities. Followingthis Treaty, the Danube would become an important thoroughfare for goods andproducts.The new conditions that followed The Adrianopole’s Peace will lead tothe revival of some old towns such as: Giurgiu and Brăila, and equally, to thesetting up of some new ones: Severin, Alexandria, Calafat, and so on 1 .Russia’s wish of counterattacking the influence of Austria to the LowerDanube (where sailing has already begun in 1830 with an Austrian shi called“Franz I” 2 ), together with the necessity of creating a harbor downstream Cazane(where there were smooth waters, and ships could spend their winter there) ledto the appearance of a new town in the Field of Severin 3 .Thus, in March 1833, the General Governor of the Romanian States,Pavel Kiseleff, visited the ruins from Drobeta and afterwards, another town,called Cerneţi. This town has been burnt down by the Turks in 1828, August, 6 thand has not been rebuilt. Moreover, it has also been struck by the floods of RiverTopolniţa each spring, for a few years in a row. The inhabitants welcomed theGovernor and asked him to displace the entire village on the field of Severin,surrounding the Roman Caster. Realizing the importance of building a town inthis area, General Pavel Kiseleff ordered through Order No. 19, from 1833,April, 22 nd , “the building of a new trade-town – Turnu-Severin by means ofdisplacing the inhabitants of Cerneţi to the Field of Severin, following their goodwish”. The Magistrate of Cerneţi together with local traders Gheorghe Opranand Ion Gărdăreanu dealt with the performing works. They had the revenues ofthe estate and fishery near the Danube of Small Valachia at their disposal. Also,the money resulting from the sales of the plots for houses from the inheritance ofSeverin were meant to be used for building a house for the Magistrate, a Law1 Nicolae Iorga, The History of Romanian People, Bucureşti, The Scientific andEncyclopedic Publishing House, 1981, p. 321.2 C. Pajură, D.T. Giurăscu, The History of the town of Turnu Severin, Bucureşti, 1933,p. 51.3 Nicolae Iorga, op.cit., p. 580.ARHIVELE OLTENIEI, Serie nouă, nr. 21, 2007, p. 45–50