The city that started the Romanian Revolution — art nouveau, Banat goulash, and European Capital of Culture
Timișoara is Romania's westernmost major city and the capital of the historical Banat region — a city of Habsburg art nouveau buildings, an underground river, and the most multicultural food culture in Romania. The Banat historically sat at the crossroads of Hungarian, Serbian, German, and Romanian cultures, and the cuisine reflects it: goulash with paprika and sour cream, Hungarian lángos (fried dough), Serbian ćevapi alongside Romanian sarmale (stuffed vine leaves) and cozonac (sweet bread). Timișoara was European Capital of Culture in 2023.
Timișoara (Temesvár to the Hungarians, Temeschburg to the Germans) was the first city in Europe to have electric street lighting (1884) and the first city in continental Europe to have horse-drawn trams. It was under Ottoman rule (1552–1716), then Habsburg Austrian and Austro-Hungarian rule until 1918 when it became part of Romania. Most critically, Timișoara was the starting point of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 — the first city to overthrow Communist rule, when protests against the Hungarian Reformed pastor László Tőkés sparked the demonstrations that spread to Bucharest and bro…