As we wrote in the foreword of the current edition of Bucharest In Your Pocket, the rehabilitation of Lipscani/Centru Vechi/Historic Bucharest as the city’s heart and soul continues apace. It is the one part of the capital that has the potential to become a worthwhile place to visit, a centre of nightlife and debauchery to rival anywhere in the region.
And, not wanting to miss an opportunity to say ‘we told you so’, we have been banging on about Lipscani for years. It is not quite a case of ‘we saw it first,’ but we have certainly been cheerleading for Lipscani longer than most. Quite often in the face of being told ‘don’t be ridiculous.’
There are – as we write – 59 pubs, bars, clubs, cafes, restaurants and hotels in the area: approximately 59 more than there were 10 years ago. Indeed, almost all of those venues have in fact appeared over the past two years, with many of them more or less brand new.
The latest are the brilliant Mojo, a genuinely outstanding live music venue that we are certain is set for great things, and the Grand Cafe Van Gogh, the latest adventure in cafe excellence from the man who brought you the Amsterdam Grand Cafe.
Though Mojo and Van Gogh are too good not to be raging successes, not all of the new places which have opened in Lipscani will survive. The law of averages means that a few will go by the wayside, but you can be sure that the vast majority will still be in business by the time the streets of the Lipscani area are finally repaved.
(And those that do get shuttered will be replaced by others).
Exactly when the Lipscani area will be fully paved is now a date so distant in the future that quite frankly nobody really cares.
And why should they?
Lipscani has proven that it can become a fantastic area even when the streets are muddy and barely passable. This was Strada Gabroveni last Thursday:
So the news yesterday that Bucharest’s mayor and would-be Romanian president Sorin Oprescu has cancelled the contract to repave Lipscani’s streets his predecessor had signed with Spanish firm Sedesa neither surprised nor particularly bothered anybody.
Why should it?
It would indeed be nice if you could stroll the whole area on paving stones or tarmac as opposed to makeshift wooden walkways placed perilously over sodden mud, exposed sewage pipes and the like, but if the resilience of those entrepreneurs who have thrown cash at venues – and the thousands of people who flock to them each night – is anything to go by, paved streets in Lipscani are an optional extra.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been in Bucharest every summer for the past 7 yrs and never managed to visit the Lipscani area *sigh* Always say “next year”…so there you have it: next year I’m checking out (someone please remind me b4 I go!)
To be honest I always feel that it adds something to the area, sure it will be nice in 2037 when it’s all paved over but right now I really like the makeshift shanty town Ewok style bridges they have going on.
I can’t see a lack of paving stopping the Lipscani area at the moment.
Craig,
What I meant was, was that if Bucharest officials leveled Lipscani and tried to rebuild it, they probably would not have the knowledge/appreciation to do it properly and to follow historical guidelines for how buildings should look etc. Many beautiful, historical buildings here are simply torn down and modern office buildings erected in their place.
@Craig: urban legends about Dumitru Dragomir – http://www.istorii.ro/?s=dragomir =))
Let it develop on it’s own. The great thing about Bucharest (and Romania in general) is that the authorities are so perplexingly bad at promoting it to outside audiences. Which means it stays Romanian (for better or for worse) and not the playground of stag parties, organised tour groups and other such irritations
@Parmalat: Dumitru Dragomir as mayor, a marvellous thought.
@Davin: Warsaw’s Old Town was entirely rebuilt in the 1950s (albeit under very special circumstances). It can be done. Point is, it does not need to be done. Give Lipscani another few years and it will happen, almost certainly without any help from the authorities. The area is proof that you do not need anything other than private enterprise and the power of the market to make great things happen.
Parmalat: Old Towns are just that–Old Towns. They are not meant to be bulldozed and built from scratch. Restored maybe, but not leveled and rebuilt a la Ceausescu’s tendencies. This is the problem, Bucharest officials/businessmen don’t seem to have any grasp of history or of culture.
I simply do not understand how the Old Town of a European capital city can be left unpaved for years like this? A few months, ok. But years? Isn’t it obvious the great potential the area holds to become a center for nightlife and to attract foreign visitors? There seems to be a curious tendency towards self-destructive decision making amongst Bucharest’s elites.
Only a major earthquake can rehabilitate the Lipscani area, I’ll tell you.
)
Dumitru Dragomir ran for mayor of Bucharest a few years ago and he had a very good plan when asked about the Lipscani area: bulldoze everything down and build again from 0.
Dumitru Dragomir is the current president of Liga Profesionista de Fotbal in case you didn’t yet know that from tv
If I remember correctly he ran for mayor in 2000 on behalf of PRM (Corneliu Vadim Tudor) against Basescu and Mircea Geoana and he came out 3rd while Basescu was elected as mayor. Everyone said back then that if he would have ran for PSD he would undoubtedly have been the winner.