Slatina, Romania

Main	Births etc

Slatina
Coat of arms
Location of Slatina in Olt County
Slatina Location of Slatina in Romania
Coordinates: 44°25′47″N 24°21′51″E
Country	Romania
County	Olt County
Status	County capital
Subordinated villages	List Cireaşov
Government
• Mayor	Darius Bogdan Vâlcov (Democratic Liberal Party)
Population (2002)
• Total	79,171
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.primariaslatina.ro/

Slatina (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈslatina]) is the capital city of Olt county, Romania, on the river Olt.

The city administers one village: Cireaşov.

History

The town of Slatina was first mentioned on January 20, 1368 in an official document issued by Vladislav I Vlaicu, Prince of Wallachia. The document stated that merchants from the Transylvanian city of Braşov would not pay customs when passing through Slatina. The word Slatina is of Slavic origin, stemming from Slam-tina, "salted land" or "salty water".

Economy

Alro Slatina, the largest aluminum producing factories in Southeastern Europe, is located in the city. Other companies based in Slatina include ALPROM (which, like ALRO, is a subsidiary of VIMETCOGROUP), Altur (engine set manufacturer), Pirelli Tires Romania (tire-manufacturer), Cord Romania (steel cord for tires), and Benteler.

One of the oldest private businesses in Romania is the Slatina-based pastry shop La atletul albanez ("The Albanian Athlete").

Cultural and historic heritage

Clocociov Monastery

The oldest historic monuments of Slatina are churche, however the city also has many other buildings of historic and cultural values.

The monasteries of Slatina are:

• Clocociov Monastery, built under Neagoe Basarab, rebuilt by Michael the Brave în 1594 și again by boyar Dinicu Buicescu in 1645.
• Strehareți Monastery, whose construction started in 1665 and was completed in 1672.

The main churches of the city are:

• “Sfânta Treime” (1645, with frescoes of 1851);
• “Sfântul Nicolae” din deal (1700);
• “Adormirea Maicii Domnului” (1736);
• “Sfinții Împărați” (started in the 18th century, with fresoes of 1899);
• “Sfântul Ion Botezătorul” (1796);
• “Nașterea Fecioarei Maria” (1802);
• “Fecioara Maria” (1802-1806 with frescoes painted in 1831);
• “Sfântul Nicolae” Cemetery (1820-1821);
• “Sfântul Gheorghe” Ionașcu (1872-1877], with frescoes painted by Gheorghe Tattarescu);
• “Sfântul Nicolae” (1937).

Street of the historic center of the city

The main buildings are located on both sides of Lipscani Street and Mihai Eminescu street. There are a total of 81 buildings of various styles, built between 1860 and 1938. Most of them have commercial spaces on the ground flour and residences on the first floor.

Worth mentioning are:

• the Radu Greceanu high school (1891),
• the Slatina City Hall (1905),
• the Ethnographic Section of the Olt County Museum Casa Caracostea (1902)
• the House of the Professors (1899)
• the old building of the National Bank of Romania in Slatina (1908).

Bridge over the Olt River

An important structure is the bridge over the Olt River, built in 1888-1891 by Alexandru Davidescu the first metalic bridge built over a river in Romania.

Other important monuments are:

• The “Ecaterina Teodoroiu” monument, built in 1925 by Dumitru Mățăoanu.

• The "Slatina 600" obelisk, built by Ion Irimescu to celebrate 600 years of documentary evidence of the city.

Beach on the bank of the Olt River

Sport

There is an association football club in Slatina, Alro Slatina, that plays in Liga II (the second league of Romania).

The city is also home to KZN Slatina, a women's team handball club which plays in the second handball league of Romania.

Notable natives

• Eugen Ionescu - playwright
• Ion Minulescu- poet, writer and journalist
• Nicolae Titulescu - diplomat, Foreign Affairs minister and President of League of Nations
• Spiru Vergulescu - painter
• Monica Niculescu - tennis player
• Aurelia Brădeanu - handball player
• Adriana Ţăcălie - handball player
• Larisa Popa - Miss Universe Romania 2011

External links

• Media related to Slatina, Olt at Wikimedia Commons