Zimnicea

Zimnicea
Town
Coat of arms
Zimnicea Location of Zimnicea
Coordinates:
Country	Romania
County	Teleorman County
Status	Town
Government
• Mayor	Petre Pîrvu (Social Democratic Party)
Area
• Total	131.31 km2 (50.70 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	14,058
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://orasulzimnicea.ro/

Zimnicea (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈzimnit͡ʃe̯a]) is a town in Teleorman county, Romania (in the historic region of Wallachia), a port on the Danube opposite the Bulgarian city of Svishtov.

Geography

Zimnicea is situated on the left bank of the Danube river. It is the southernmost place and harbour on the Danube river in Romania. The distance between the Zimnicea and Bucharest is 122 kilometres (76 miles), and the distance to Alexandria (capital of Teleorman County) is about 39 kilometres (24 mi).

Zimnicea is served around the clock by the Svishtov-Zimnicea ferry — a regular operation Ro-ro ferryboat across the Danube between Zimnicea and Svishtov, Bulgaria. The ferry shortens the road path to and from Turkey to Central and Western Europe by 140 kilometres (87 miles) when compared to the traditional route over the Danube Bridge at Ruse-Giurgiu and allows a time gain of nearly 4 hours thus avoiding the traffic in and around the city of Bucharest.

History

Zimnicea developed near a Geto-Dacian fortress (about 1,200 metres (3,937 feet) west of town centre). Traditional agriculture, fishing, iron processing, carpentry, pottery, tissue exchange of products were the occupations of the people throughout the town's existence.

The natives of Zimnicea sell grain, cattle, sheep, fish, butter, salt, honey, wax, timber and bought cloth, oriental fabric, carpets and spices.

In 1838, the settlement Zimnicea was passed in the fairs, with the general population census of that year 551 families and 3046 inhabitants. In the years 1837-1839 Zimnicea became the capital of Teleorman county.

Near Zimnicea there are ruins of several ancient fortresses and fortifications from the 4th to the 1st century BC. The oldest are believed by some scholars to have been built to defend the town from Alexander the Great's general, Lysimachus.

The name of the town was first mentioned in 1385 in the travel logs of Christian pilgrims on their way home from their trip to Jerusalem. The Byzantines called it Demnitzikos and later on Dzimnikes or Dzimnikos. The town flourished as a trade post on the trade routes that linked Central Europe to the Balkans.

In 1835, it had 531 households, being the twelfth largest market town in Wallachia. For a short time in 1837 to 1838, it was the capital of Teleorman county, but due to internal dissent between the landowners and merchants, it was replaced by Alexandria.

During the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878), it was the headquarters of the Russians troops fighting in Bulgaria against the Ottoman Empire. During World War I, German Empire troops crossed the Danube in the Zimnicea sector, effectively bringing down the Romanian front in Muntenia.

During the 1977 Romanian earthquake not many buildings have been destroyed. Most of the destruction was actually done after the natural disaster by bulldozer, being ordered by communist authorities, as a means to create a town from scratch on a new design. Ten years later, the newly built infrastructure was falling apart due mainly to poor workmanship;

Local industry has declined since the fall of the communist regime, as did the population.

Politics

The mayor of Zimnicea Municipality is Petre Pârvu, he is in his second mandate and is chosen from the list of the coalition For Zimnicea that includes PNL, PD-L, PC and PSD.

Interbelic coat of arms

Economics

In the communist era Zimnicea has undergone forced industrialization, and the new industres suffered a strong decline after the fall of the communist regime.

Education and culture

In Zimnicea there are 5 kindergartens, 3 elementary schools with primary and secondary education and one high school. The high school has 15 classrooms, a gym and a school workshop. Classes are attended by 511 students, with two shifts and evening school hours. Zimnicea High School has a library with 20,578 volumes and a science laboratory equipped with 30 computers.

School No.1, Miron Radu Paraschivescu has 15 classrooms, including 3 laboratories (physics, chemistry, biology), 5 cabinets teachers (mathematics, geography, design, religion, Romanian), a gym, a workshop school and a library.

The three elementary schools are: Miron Radu Paraschivescu Primary and Secondary School, School no. 2 and School no. 3

Culture

Zimnicea does not have any artistic events held occasionally or permanently. The budget allocated for cultural activities are insufficient for a cultural life. Cultural institutions operating in Zimnicea are: the cultural centre and the town library.

The city library was founded in 1952 and after December 1989 received the name of local poet Miron Radu Paraschivescu.

Tourism

The „Dunărica” children camp has a capacity of 200 accommodation places, with a football field and a tennis court, a kayak-canoe base and a cafeteria with 250 places.

"Zimtub SA" Zimnicea Hotel has a capacity of 48 rooms, a restaurant with 100 seats and a nightclub with 80 seats.

The amusement and recreation base "Disko - Hope" is situated on the Danube riverside and has a beach with, as well as an outdoor dancing club with a capacity of 1,200 places; There is also an amusement base at the beach from Cheson.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1834	3,000	—
1912	7,563	+152.1%
1930	10,879	+43.8%
1948	11,056	+1.6%
1956	12,445	+12.6%
1966	13,231	+6.3%
1977	13,964	+5.5%
1992	17,128	+22.7%
2002	15,672	−8.5%
2011	14,058	−10.3%
Source: Census data

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Romania

Twin towns – Sister cities

Zimnicea is twinned with:

Svishtov, Bulgaria (since 2001) Nikopol, Bulgaria (since 2001) Belene, Bulgaria (since 2001)

Pieve Emanuele, Italy (since 2003) Bouaké, Cote d'Ivoire (since 2004) Nikopol, Ukraine (since 2004)