Bucharest | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | Romania |
Capital | |
Population | 1883425 |
Bucharest (UK: BOO-kə-REST, US: -rest; Romanian: București [bukuˈreʃtʲ] (listen)) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial center. It's in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km (37.3 mi) north of the Danube River and the Bulgarian border.
Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the center of Romanian media, culture, and art. Its architecture is a mixture of historical (Neoclassical and Art Nouveau), interbellum (Bauhaus, and Art Deco), communist era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the elegance of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of'Paris of the East' (Romanian: Parisul Estului) or'Little Paris' (Romanian: Micul Paris). Although buildings and districts in the historic city center were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes, and even Nicolae Ceaușescu's program of systematization, many lived and have been renovated. In recent years, the town has been undergoing an economic and cultural boom. It's one of the fastest-growing high-tech cities in Europe, according to Financial Times, CBRE, TechCrunch, and many others. UiPath, a global startup based in Bucharest, has reached over $10 billion in valuation. Since 2019, Bucharest hosts the biggest high tech summit in Southeast Europe (Romania Blockchain Summit).
Krakow | |
---|---|
State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 758992 |
Kraków (, also US: , UK: , Polish: [ˈkrakuf] (listen)), written in English as Krakow and traditionally known as Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Province, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town was declared the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world.
The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second-most-important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was reported as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of about 780,000, with approximately 8 million additional people living within a 100 km (62 mi) radius of its main square.After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, the newly defined Distrikt Krakau (Kraków District) became the capital of Germany's General Government. The Jewish population of the city was forced into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto, from which they were sent to German extermination camps such as the nearby Auschwitz, and the Nazi concentration camps like Płaszów.