RO 
FR 
IT 
Copou Park, situated on the hill with same name, is the oldest one in Iași and Moldavia, and is almost 10 hectares wide.
The park’s vegetation is mainly comprised of trees – linden tree, maple, ash tree – but visually and olfactory, linden trees offer uniqueness and distinction to the park. The charm of the perfume of linden tree flowers is invoked and loved by locals and visitors as well. The area has been popular as a strolling space, especially for the social elite of Moldavia ever since the second half of the 17th century. Copou Park has five entrances and in its centre, there are some of the most famous attractions of Iași: Eminesc’s Linden Tree, the Lion Obelisk and “Mihai Eminescu” Museum.
The arrangement of the park began in 1833-1834 during the ruling of Prince Mihail Sturza, as a place of relaxation for boyars. The building inside the park of an Oriental pavilion for relaxation and festive brass bands. The park is guarded by the busts of personalities who contributed to the cultural life of Iași: Mihai Eminescu, Ion Creangă, Veronica Micle, Costache Negruzzi, Nicolae Gane, grouped on the Junimea Alley, but also Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Ion Luca Caragiale, Ciprian Porumbescu, Octav Băncilă, Grigore Vieru on other alleys. The famous linden tree of Eminescu, one of the oldest and most important tree-monuments in Romania, is over 460 years old. The linden tree was loved by the poet Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889), who often came here, sometimes with his loved one, Veronica Micle, or his friend, Ion Creangă. In front of the linden tree we can see the poet’s bronze bust, made by sculptor Ion Mateescu, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Iași. Today Eminescu’s Linden Tree is a place of cultural pilgrimage for Romanians, preferred especially by lovers and poetry lovers.
Nearby, on the 15th of June 1989, on the occasion of 100 years from the poet’s death, “Mihai Eminescu” Museum was inaugurated. The museum offers documentary evidence on the life and work of the most important and loved poet and writer of Romanian, as well as his endless love for the poet Veronica Micle, shown through poems and love letters. The building’s architecture, made after the sketches of architect Virgiliu Onofrei, evokes the sizes of Eminescu’s life and creation. The two towers from the entrance are inspired from the shape of the ones at Putna Monastery, the entrance tower and the treasure tower where Mihai Eminescu spent the night on August 1871, during the National Great Celebration from Putna. These towers symbolise Love (Veronica Micle) and friendship (Ion Creangă). The museum is structured on three directions: Destiny, Art, and Friendship and presents book collections and plastic art. It is also a place of meeting of creators of literature, photography, theatre, cinema, ethnography.
In 1834, the central monument, the Lion Obelisk was built. It is also known as the Monument of the Organic Regulations because it celebrates the quasi-constitutional organic law issued in 1831-1832 by the Russian imperial authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia. Many engineers have contributed to the making of the monument: Johann Freywald, who also designed the Metropolitan Cathedral, Mihail Singurov, a Russian engineer, and then the scientist Gheorghe Asachi, the one who managed to finish it. The monument is made of stone blocks from Șcheia, near Iași.
Inside the park, many cultural-artistic events are organised, and one of the most important ones, the National Ceramics Fair “Cucuteni 5000” takes place each year, in the last weekend of June. Along the surrounding wall from the main entrance area, a gallery for artists and photographers called “At the fence”, was arranged a few years ago.
6. “Anastasie Fătu” Botanical Garden