Timisoara : Romania

Timisoara listen (Hungarian: Temesvar, German: Temeschwar / Temeschburg, Serbian: Temisvar, Turkish: Tamisvar) is a city in the Banat region of western Romania. With a population of 305,977 in 2004 (329,554 in 2000), it is the capital of Timis County. It is frequently known in English simply as Timisoara.
All of the variants of its name derive from the Timis river, known in Roman Antiquity as river Tibisis or Tibiscus. Timisoara is a multicultural city with influential minorities, primarily Germans, Magyars, and Serbs, as well as Italians, Palestinians, and Greeks. It was the birthplace of Johnny Weissmuller (an Olympic swimmer, best known for his role as Tarzan). Gustave Eiffel, the creator of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, built Timisoara’s foot bridge over the Bega. An industrial city with extensive services, it was the first European city to be lit by electric street lamps.

History
In 1019 Timisoara (as Dibiscos/Bisiskos/Tibiskos/Tibiskon/Timbisko/etc.) was mentioned for the first time in written documents by the Byzantine Emperor Basil II, although not all historians agree with this identification. The city is believed to have been annexed into the Kingdom of Hungary in 1010.
The first tobacco mill in today’s Romania was set up in Timisoara. The city was also the first town in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to have public lighting using suet candles and lamps with oil and grease. Timisoara was the first town to have an ambulance station in the Kingdom of Hungary and later the Kingdom of Romania.

In December 1989 a popular uprising began in Timisoara against the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. Townspeople supported pastor Laszló Tokes against efforts to deport him by the Securitate, or secret police. This was the beginning of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which ended the Communist regime a week later.

Landmarks: Timisoara Orthodox Cathedral