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Paper short abstract:

The present study tries to highlight the main characteristics of old parts of Craiova – some in ruin or renovated as they are valued today by local people, administration or cultural tourists. Some buildings are historical monuments, they got nationalized by the communists after the year 1947.

Paper long abstract:

The present study tries to highlight the main characteristics of old parts of Craiova – some in ruin or renovated as they are valued today by local people, administration or cultural tourists.

Craiova was called “the town of the 1000 millionaires” because of its high society members – aristocrats that were the owners of houses, commercial buildings, and land in the city and in the rural parts of Wallachia. The communist times and the earthquake from 1977 changed the configuration on the main streets in Craiova; many these houses got ruined. The ruins are still alive in the memory of the ’40-’50 generations, they remember and talk about the image of the old town as they kept it in their memories. The commercial center of Craiova got renovated and recuperates in part its own old charm from the XIXth Century’s atmosphere – reconstructed architecture, statues and pictures on the walls of the buildings representing chariots and old fashion clothes.

A characteristic of Craiova city are these old houses, many of them considered historical monuments of the national heritage.These buildings got nationalized by the communists after the year 1947. After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, the houses were given back to the heirs, but only few of them renovated and took care of them. Many heirs tried to sell them at an exorbitant price that they never received and the houses began to ruin. Some of them were bought by banks, or by local businessmen who opened fancy restaurants inside them.