View source for Giurgiu

{{short description|City in southern Romania}}
{{Other uses}}
{{expand Romanian|topic=geo|otherarticle=Giurgiu|date=February 2013}}
{{use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{stack begin}}
{{Infobox Romanian subdivision
|type                = municipality
|county              = Giurgiu
|image_flag          =
|image_shield        = ROU GR Giurgiu CoA1.png
|image_skyline       = {{multiple image
| border             = infobox
| total_width        = 300
| image_style        = infobox
| perrow             = 1/1/2
| caption_align      = center
| image1             = Ateneu_giurgiu.JPG
| caption1           = Atheneum building
| image2             = Primaria giurgiu.JPG
| caption2           = Town Hall
| image3             = 20140625_Rousse_043.jpg
| caption3           = [[Danube Bridge]]
| image4             = Turn giurgiu.JPG
| caption4           = Giurgiu Clock Tower
}}
|image_map          = Giurgiu city.png
|map_caption        = Location in Giurgiu County
|leader_name        = Adrian-Valentin Anghelescu<ref>{{cite web |url=https://primariagiurgiu.ro/personal/adrian-valentin-anghelescu/|title=Adrian-Valentin Anghelescu |language=ro|publisher=Giurgiu City Hall |website=primariagiurgiu.ro| access-date=March 27, 2025 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|leader_party       = PNL
|term               = 2024&ndash;2028
|coordinates        = {{coord|43|54|03|N|25|58|26|E|region:RO|display=inline,title}}
|elevation          = 25
|elevation_min      = 
|elevation_max      = 
|area_total         = 46.94
|area_footnotes     = 
|population_as_of   = 
|population_total   = auto
|population_footnotes = 
|postal_code        = 080011–080882
|area_code          = (+40) 02 46
|website            = {{URL|https://primariagiurgiu.ro/}}
}}
{{stack end}}

'''Giurgiu''' ({{IPA|ro|ˈdʒjurdʒju|-|Ro-Giurgiu.ogg}}; {{langx|bg|Гюргево|Gyurgevo}}; {{langx|tr|Yergöğü}}) is a city in southern [[Romania]]. The seat of [[Giurgiu County]], it lies in the historical region of [[Muntenia]]. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the [[Danube]] facing the [[Bulgaria]]n city of [[Ruse, Bulgaria|Ruse]] on the opposite bank. It is one of six Romanian county seats [[List of cities and towns on the river Danube|lying on the river Danube]]. Three small islands face the city, and a larger one shelters its port, Smarda. The rich grain-growing land to the north is traversed by a railway to [[Bucharest]], the first line opened in Romania, which was built in 1869 and afterwards extended to Smarda. In the past, Giurgiu exported timber, grain, salt and petroleum, and imported coal, iron, and textiles.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Giurgevo|volume=12|page=54}}</ref>

The [[Danube Bridge|Giurgiu-Ruse Friendship Bridge]], in the shared [[Bulgaria]]n-Romanian section of the Danube, crosses the river in the outskirts of the city.

==History==
{{Multiple image|align=left|direction=vertical|image1=Raffet - Foire de St. Pierre a Giourgevo.jpg|caption1=|image2=Giurgiu1848.jpg|caption2=Giurgiu in 1837}}
The area around Giurgiu was densely populated at the time of the [[Dacians]] (1st century BC) as archeological evidence shows, and [[Burebista]]'s capital was in this area (it is thought to be in [[Mihăilești|Popești]] on the [[Argeș (river)|Argeș River]]). During [[Roman times]] this was the site of [[Theodorapolis]], a city built by the Roman emperor [[Justinian]] (483–565).

The city of Giurgiu was probably established in the 14th century as a port on the [[Danube]] by the [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] merchant adventurers, who established a bank and traded in silks and velvets.<ref name="EB1911"/>

One theory is that they called the city after the patron saint of Genoa, San Giorgio ([[Saint George]]), however [[Nicolae Iorga]] disputes this theory, arguing that Giurgiu is just an old Romanian form of George.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iorga |first=Nicolae |date=1928 |title=Istoria Românilor prin călători |trans-title=History of Romanians through travellers |url=https://ro.wikisource.org/wiki/Istoria_românilor_prin_călători/Înainte_de_întemeierea_domniilor |language=ro |location=Bucharest |publisher=Casa Școalelor |page=18}}</ref>

It was first mentioned in [[Codex Latinus Parisinus]] in 1395, during the reign of [[Mircea the Elder]], and was conquered by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] in 1420 as a way to control the Danube traffic. The Ottomans named the city ''Yergöğü'', as if from ''yer'' 'earth' + ''gök'' 'sky,' but the name was probably given because of the similarity between the pronunciations of "(San) Giorgio" and "Yergöğü".

As a fortified city, Giurgiu figured often in the wars for the conquest of the lower Danube. It was the site of the October 1595 [[Battle of Giurgiu (1595)|Battle of Giurgiu]], and figured in the struggle of [[Michael the Brave]] (1593–1601) against the Turks and in the later [[Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)]]. It was burned in 1659. In 1771, the Ottomans built the [[monument istoric|historic]] [[Giurgiu Clocktower]] as a surveillance tower for [[Danube]] traffic. In 1829, its fortifications were finally razed, the only defence left being a castle on the island of Slobozia, connected to the shore by a bridge.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1952–1954, during the [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Communist regime]], the [[Soviet Union]] helped build the bridge between Giurgiu and [[Rousse|Ruse]], [[Danube Bridge|The Friendship Bridge]], a bridge on the Danube linking Romania and [[Bulgaria]].

===Jewish history===
[[Sephardi]] Jewish merchants came to Giurgiu from the Balkans in the 1820s and [[Ashkenazi]] Jews settled later, leading to communal disputes. A 70-member Zionist group was formed in 1899. A joint Jewish school opened in 1878, with 60 pupils in 1910. The Jewish population by that point was 533, or 4% of the total.<ref name="spector"/> By 1930, their number had fallen to 207, or 0.7%.<ref>{{citation | title = Recensământul populației din 1930 |page=512 | work = Populația pe Neamuri | publisher = Institutul Central de Statistică }}</ref> Jews were forced to forfeit their property to the [[Iron Guard]] in 1941 and at least half of the 113 Jews living there that year left. A community existed after World War II.<ref name="spector">Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder (eds.), ''The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A—J'', p. 432. [[New York University Press]], 2001, {{ISBN|0-8147-9376-2}}</ref>

==Demographics==
{{Historical populations
|align=left
|source = Census data, 1930–1948.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://sas.unibuc.ro/storage/downloads/analize-regionale-9/AG48a.RECENSAMANT48.pdf |title=Populația RPR la 25 ianuarie 1948, p. 14 |access-date=11 April 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410172753/https://sas.unibuc.ro/storage/downloads/analize-regionale-9/AG48a.RECENSAMANT48.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|1859 |10557
|1900 |13977
|1912 |20629
|1930 |31016
|1941 |26551
|1948 |30197
|1956 |32613
|1966 |39199
|1977 |51544
|1992 |74191
|2002 |69587
|2011 |54655
|2021 |54551
}}
{{clear left}}
According to the [[2021 Romanian census|2021 census]], Giurgiu had a population of 54,551; of those, 81.5% were [[Romanians]] and 4.05% [[Romani people in Romania|Roma]].<ref name="RPL2021">{{cite web|url=https://www.recensamantromania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Tabel-1.03_1.3.1-si-1.03.2.xls|title=Populaţia rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Romania)|INSSE]]|language=ro|date=31 May 2023}}</ref>

==Notable natives==
* {{ill|Constantin Artachino|ro}} (1870–1954), painter
* [[Ioan A. Bassarabescu]] (1870–1952), writer
* [[Narcis Coman]] (b. 1946), former Romanian football international
* [[Nicolae Dărăscu]] (1883–1959), painter
* [[Toma Ghițulescu]] (1902–1983), engineer, politician, and Olympic bobsledder
* [[Emil Gulian]] (1907–1942), poet
* [[Gino Iorgulescu]] (b. 1956), former Romanian football international
* [[Dumitru Iuca]] (1882–1940), politician
* [[Petre Crăciun]] (born 1962), best known as children's writer
* [[Theodor Anton Neagu]] (1932–2017), paleontologist
* [[Miron Nicolescu]] (1903–1975), mathematician, President of the Romanian Academy
* [[Eugenia Popescu-Județ]] (1925–2011), dancer
* [[Paraskev Stoyanov]] (1876–1940), Bulgarian physicist and surgeon
* [[Constantin Teașcă]] (1922–1996), football coach and writer
* {{ill|Alexandru Vianu|ro}} (1903–1936), writer and translator
* [[Tudor Vianu]] (1898–1964), literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator
* [[Ion Vinea]] (1895–1964), poet, novel, journalist, literary theorist, and political figure
* {{ill|Vasil Zlatarov|bg|Васил Златаров}} (1869–1932), Bulgarian aviation pioneer

==International relations==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Romania}}

===Twin towns – Sister cities===
Giurgiu is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:
* {{flagicon|BUL}} [[Ruse, Bulgaria|Ruse]], [[Bulgaria]]<ref name="Rousse twinnings">{{cite web|url=http://www.ruse-bg.eu/bg/pages/200/index.html|title=МЕЖДУНАРОДНО СЪТРУДНИЧЕСТВО НА ОБЩИНА РУСЕ - Побратимени градове|access-date=2013-08-12|work=Община Русе [Municipality Ruse]|language=bg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805182628/http://www.ruse-bg.eu/bg/pages/200/index.html|archive-date=2013-08-05}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|HUN}} [[Dunaújváros]], [[Hungary]]

== See also ==
{{Portal|Romania}}
* [[FC Astra Giurgiu]], the city's professional [[Association football|football]] club

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Giurgiu}}

{{Giurgiu County}}
{{RoJudCapitals}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Giurgiu| ]]
[[Category:Populated places on the Danube]]
[[Category:Territories of the Republic of Genoa]]
[[Category:Port cities and towns in Romania]]
[[Category:Cities in Romania]]
[[Category:Capitals of Romanian counties]]
[[Category:Populated places in Giurgiu County]]
[[Category:Localities in Muntenia]]
[[Category:Bulgaria–Romania border crossings]]