Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Muzeul de Artă; 0256-491 592;
www.muzeuldeartatm.ro
; Old Prefecture Palace, Pi-
aţa Unirii 1; admission 5 lei; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun)
The museum displays a representat-
ive sample of paintings and visual arts over the centuries as well as regular, high-quality
temporary exhibitions. It's housed in the baroque
Old Prefecture Palace
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(Palatul Vechii Prefecturi), built in 1754, which is worth a look inside for the
graceful interiors alone.
MUSEUM
Permanent Exhibition of the 1989 Revolution
( 0256-294 936;
www.memorialulrevolutiei.ro
; Str Popa Sapcă 3-5; admission by
donation; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm Sat)
This work in progress is an ideal venue to
brush up on the December 1989 anticommunist revolution that began in Timişoara. Dis-
plays include documentation, posters and photography from those fateful days, capped by
a graphic 20-minute video (not suitable for young children) with English subtitles. Enter
from Str Oituz.
Great Synagogue
(Str Mărăşeşti 6)
Built in 1865, the synagogue acts as an important keynote in Jewish his-
tory - Jews in the Austro-Hungarian E mpire were emancipated in 1864, when permission
was given to build the synagogue. It was closed at the time of research for a multiyear
renovation, but the fine exterior is worth taking in.
JEWISH
DON'T MESS WITH TIMIŞOARA
Even at the height of his power, Nicolae Ceauşescu never liked Romania's westernmost metropolis. The dictator's
visits to the city were few and brief, and required surreptitious, dread-fuelled travel and sleeping arrangements to
allay his assassination concerns. So when the Romanian secret service, the Securitate, overplayed its hand in the
already truculent city by trying to deport popular Hungarian pastor and outspoken Ceauşescu critic László Tőkés,
the dictator should have sensed disaster looming; however, like most megalomaniacs, he didn't grasp the full scale
of his folly until he was being shoved in front of a firing squad, looking genuinely stunned, a little more than a
week later on Christmas Day 1989.
