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The Copou Hill is the most famous of the seven hills of Iaşi because many of the emblematic buildings or places filled with history are here.
The area was part of the Upper Hill People slum, inhabited mainly by aristocrats, boyars, but also by tradesmen and wealthy craftsmen. The line between Breazu and Copou hill is very subtle, but we can consider that the Mihail Sadoveanu Memorial House marks the separation between the two. “The House with Tower”, as it is known, was built by Mihail Kogălniceanu. Here also lived the great composer George Enescu. Between 1918 and 1936, Mihail Sadoveanu writer settled here and his main works were composed in this house. Since 1980, the building, which had been transferred to the Agricultural Institute, was set up as a memorial museum.
Copou is a renowned university district. Heading to the city, we pass by the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (Agronomia) with its monumental buildings. Descending on the left, one can see a brick church, St. Nicholas Copou, founded in 1937 by the historian Nicolae Iorga. “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, owns the “Târguşor” dormitory.
Copou Hill is also the heart of Iasi sport. Here are the football and rugby stadiums, but also the ski slope. The spirit of competition has increased lately, organizing cycling or running competitions, and the number of those who train in the evenings on the stadium or the Botanical Garden is on the rise. The latter extends from Copou to the Păcurari district. With an area of over 80 hectares, the Botanical Garden in Iasi is one of the largest in the world. This attracts thousands of visitors to the two exhibitions, “Autumn Flowers” and the Azalea and Camelli in the spring season, and also to the Rosarium, Greenhouses, Lake Area and other sections that bring a unique charm to this space.
Copou Hill is the “green lung of the city”. Copou Park and Exhibition Park gather hundreds of people who enjoy clean air, quiet alleys, sports venues or various exhibitions. Copou Park is a cultural symbol of the city, where poet Eminescu’s old Linden tree has been here for almost 500 years. The arts are present everywhere in the Copou Park: “The Newspaper on the Fence” and photo exhibition at the entrance, the bustle of the writers, the Mihai Eminescu Museum and the History of the Theatre collection, the House of Culture Mihai Ursachi with its film screenings, the Multicolour Festival, the annual “Cucuteni 5000” fair that gathers potters from all over the country. In the center of Copou Park – the oldest public garden in the country (1834), there is the Organic Regulation Monument (1841), known as the Obelisk with Lions. It symbolizes the first law of political-administrative and legal organization of the two Romanian Principalities, with the support of the two great powers: the Ottoman Empire as a suzerain and the Russian Empire as a protector.
Copou is also the army headquarters, with the majestic Palace of the Armies, which houses the mechanized Brigade 15. In the years of World War I (1916-1918), Iaşi became the War Capital of Romania, and Copou was transformed into a place of refuge for the members of the government and the combat commands. Now, in peacetime, this select district of the city attracts with its silence, fresh air and romance. The Copou Hill inspires not only through the rare collection of symbol buildings, but also through the presence of the cultural personalities that once lived here. Mihai Eminescu, Ion Creangă, Mihail Sadoveanu, Gheorghe Asachi, or Nicolae Iorga profoundly marked this place.
1. Palais de la Culture – Le Musée d’Histoire de Moldavie (Itinéraire de l’Union)