Târgu Cucului Neighbourhood

After 1830, this area came alive along with the waves of Jewish immigrants. This quarter united people through belief, and the large number of synagogues is proof. This is where the artisans, the skilful merchants, and the poor lived. It became a space for trade, walks or shows, like a second city centre. On the streets there were traditional Hasidic Jews with kaftan, hat, and sideburns, admirably depicted in the paintings of Octav Băncilă. Everything changed in the 1940s when the war, the Pogrom, the deportations and then the exodus to Israel left the neighbourhood empty. There were five synagogues on Synagogue Street, but only one survived to the present day. The communist regime demolished most of the buildings in the Quarter in the 1970s-1980s in order to make room for a wide boulevard flanked by blocks of flats. (PHOTO : Mihai BULAI)