Iaşi: Encyclopedia II - Iaşi - History

Iaşi - History

Around 1564, Prince Alexandru Lăpuşneanu moved the Moldavian capital from Suceava to Iaşi. Between 1561 and 1563, an excellent school and a Lutheran church were founded by the Greek adventurer, Jacob Basilicus. In 1640, Vasile Lupu established the first school in which the mother-tongue replaced Greek, and set up a printing press in the Byzantine church of the Three Hierarchs (built 1635–39). In 1643, the first printed book published in Moldavia was issued. Iaşi was burned down by the Tatars in 1513, by the Turks in 1538, by the Russians in 1686, and in 1734, the city suffered from a plague.

By the Peace of Iaşi the second Russo-Turkish War was brought to a close in 1792. A Greek insurrection under Alexander Ypsilanti in 1821 led to the storming of the city by the Turks in 1822. In 1844 there was a severe conflagration.

For the loss caused to the city in 1861 by the removal of the seat of government to Bucharest the constituent assembly voted 148,150 lei to be paid in ten annual instalments, but no payment was ever made.

Its primitive houses of timber and plaster were mostly swept away after 1860, when brick or stone came into general use, and good streets were cut among the network of narrow, insanitary lanes.

During World War I, Iaşi was the capital of Romania for two years, following the German occupation of Bucharest on 6 December 1916. The capital was returned to Bucharest after it was liberated in November 1918.

In May 1944, Iaşi became the scene of ferocious fighting between the Romanian-German axis forces and the advancing Soviets. The elite German Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland won an impressive defensive victory at the Battle of Târgul Frumos, a location near Iaşi. The battle was the object of several NATO studies during the Cold War. By July, Iaşi had been taken by Soviet forces.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki