47 Unknown & Interesting Facts About Romania

Romania is a lesser-known country. Ceausescu’s communism, Dracula’s legend, and… that’s about the whole extent of some people’s knowledge of Romania. But here are 47 unknown & interesting facts about Romania.

It’s fair to say that most people don’t know too much about Romania, let alone what Romania is known for. Ceausescu’s communism, Dracula’s legend, and… that’s about the whole extent of some people’s knowledge of Romania.

But there is more than meets the inexperienced eye in this fantastic country. Here are no fewer than 44 interesting facts about Romania that make it a surprising and unique country.

Fascinating, Cool, Fun, And Weird Facts About Romania

1. UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Seven Romanian landmarks are declared UNESCO patrimony. These locations are the Danube Delta, the painted churches in the north of Moldavia, the Dacian Fortresses of the Orastie Mountains, the historic center of Sighisoara, the Horezu Monastery, the villages with the fortified churches in Transylvania, and the wooden churches in Maramures.

The churches in Moldavia are adorned with beautiful frescoes, and Voronet Monastery is also known as the Romanian version of the Sistine Chapel.

2. Highest Wooden Church

The highest wooden church globally and the second-largest wooden structure in Europe is Peri Monastery, located in Maramures, Romania. The church is 78 meters high, and it has a 7-meter-high cross.

3. The Martisor

One of the most important traditions in Romania, the Martisor, has been included in the UNESCO patrimony’s cultural heritage. The name Martisor is the diminutive of the word March. This object symbolizes spring and looks like a little talisman tied with a red and white string. It is believed that the person who wears it will be strong and healthy for the year to come.

4. Calusul Ritual Dance

Romania is on the UNESCO List of Immaterial Cultural Heritage with its ritual dance, named Calusul. This dance is extremely old and is believed to represent both the galloping of a horse and dances with the fairies.

The dancers belong to a secret, men-only society, and they are known for “their ability to create the impression of flying in the air.” Dancers can cure the victims of the fairies through their dance performed in the two to three weeks preceding Easter. Although perhaps a bit bizarre, this is also one of the cool things in Romania.

5. Danube Delta

Being the second-largest delta in Europe, after the one on the Volga River, the Danube Delta is the best-preserved in Europe. It has 3,540 square kilometers of rivers, canals, swamps, lakes, reed islands, and 23 natural ecosystems with unique flora and fauna.

6. Brown Bears

Another fun Romania trivia fact is that the country has more than 60% of the brown bear population in Europe. Here the tourists can also find the largest mammal in Europe – the bison. This animal was hunted almost to extinction, but now it can be found running free in several European countries, including Romania.

7. Scenic Transfagarasan Road

The British newspaper The Telegraph considers the Transfagarasan to be the most beautiful road in the world. Built in the ’70s as a strategic military route, the road is an extraordinary piece of engineering that challenges your driving skills.

Transfagarasan has 90 kilometers of tunnels, viaducts, bridges, and breathtaking landscapes. This phenomenal road is exactly why Romania is superb as a travel destination, especially for road trippers.

8. Europe’s Last Virgin Forests

You can find the largest virgin forests in the Carpathian Mountains in Europe. They are also home to over 400 unique mammal species, including the black goat.

9. A Paranormal Forest

Baciu Forest in Cluj Napoca is considered the most paranormal area on the planet. The place is eerie, and if you are a fan of getting spooked, even being near it will be enough. If this isn’t one of the most random facts about Romania, we don’t know what is!

10. Second-Largest Underground Glacier In Europe

The Scarisoara Cave Glacier is the second-largest underground glacier in Europe. It is located at the foot of the Bihor Mountains; it has a volume of 75,000 cubic meters and is more than 3,500 years old.

11. One Of The World’s Largest Buildings

Another one of those super-cool facts about Romania is that it’s home to the world’s second-largest administrative building for civilian use. Only the Pentagon is bigger!

The construction is 270 meters wide and 86 meters tall, has 1,100 rooms, most of which are empty, eight underground levels, and a nuclear bunker linked to other government buildings through tunnels. This construction contains 3,500 tons of crystal, 480 chandeliers, and 700,000 tons of steel and bronze.

Guinness Book has ranked the Palace of Parliament as the most expensive administrative building and the world’s heaviest one. 

12. Triumphal Arch

Here’s one of several interesting facts about Bucharest, Romania: the country’s capital has a Triumphal Arch like the one in Paris.

13. Huge Wine Production

Romania is ranked 13th in the world in terms of wine production. This has to be one of the least known and possibly most interesting Romania facts out there!

14. An Amazing Bookstore Chain

One of the Romanian bookstore chains, called Carturesti, has been shortlisted for the Bookstore of the Year Award at the 2018 Excellence Awards of the London Book Fair. Carturesti has more than 20 bookstores across the country, and each location has its own unique design concept.

Located in Bucharest, Carturesti Carusel is probably, one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. It holds over 10,000 books, 5,000 albums and DVDs, and a top-floor bistro.

15. The Setting Of Famous Novels

The most famous novels inspired by places in Romania are “Dracula” by Bram Stoker and “The Carpathian Castle” by Jules Verne.

16. Home Of Dracula

Bram Stoker created his character, Count Dracula, having as inspiration the fictional version of Vlad the Impaler’s reign. Dracula was said to live in Bran Castle, which can still be visited and is one of Romania’s numerous old castles. This might not be among the most surprising Romanian history facts, but it is arguably the most well-known fact about Romania.

17. The Setting Of Movies And TV Shows

The movie “Cold Mountain,” starring Nicole Kidman, was filmed in Romania. The American series “Hatfields & McCoys,” starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton, was filmed.

18. Borat’s Hometown

The scenes from Sacha Baron Cohen’s movie in which Borat’s hometown is presented were filmed in the Romanian village called Glod. Is this one of the amazingly cool things about Romania, or what?

19. Prince Of Wales Training Center

Charles, the Prince of Wales, is involved in the rehabilitation program of several old Transylvanian Saxon villages from the 12th century, part of which is UNESCO patrimony.

The Prince even bought several old houses in Romania that tourists could rent. In Viscri, Transylvania, Prince Charles opened the “Prince of Wales Training Center,” which hosts the first course of traditional fabrics for apprentices from various regions of the country.

20. Europe’s Tallest Sculpted Rock

The tallest sculpted rock in Europe is in the west part of Romania. It represents King Decebal, the last ruler of Dacia; it is 55 meters tall and 25 meters wide. Similar to Mount Rushmore, this attraction is only visible from the Danube.  

21. Gold, Gold, And More Gold

A super-fascinating fact about Romania is that it’s the wealthiest country in Europe in terms of gold resources. Also, it has the only museum in Europe dedicated to gold. This museum exhibits over 2,000 pieces from all over the world. The most valuable exhibit is pure gold, identical to the one that can be found in the mountains of Romania.

22. Second-Largest Open-Air Museum In The World

The Astra Museum, located in Sibiu, is the second-largest open-air museum in the world. This museum has works of traditional, pre-industrial folk civilization. The houses and the buildings are located around the lake. The whole museum has approximately 1,000 square meters, 15,000 exhibits, 300 homes and buildings, including watermills and windmills, huge wine presses, hydraulic forks, and much more.

23. Romanian Is Eastern Europe’s Only Latin Language

The Romanian language is 1,700 years old and is the only Latin language spoken in Eastern Europe. 

24. World’s Longest Love Poem

In 2009 World Records Academy officially declared Luceafarul as the longest love poem in the world. It has 98 stanzas, and a Romanian poet, Mihai Eminescu, wrote it. This poem is considered a masterpiece and one of the last milestones in Europe’s Romantic poetry. This is easily one of the most exciting facts about Romanian culture.

25. Oldest Oven In The World

The oldest oven in the world was discovered in Campeni, Romania. It was established it has approximately 6,000 years. When you’re looking to impress your friends with fun facts about Romania, just throw this one at them. They’ll be left wondering how on Earth you could possibly know this.

26. Europe’s Oldest Humanoid Fossils

Another one of the many amazing Romanian historical facts is that the oldest humanoid fossils in Europe were discovered in southwestern Romania. The fossils were dated 35,000 years ago or 45,000 years ago if using calibrated data.

27. Timisoara Introduced Europe To Horse-Drawn Trams And Street Lighting

Romania facts and history go hand in hand. In 1869, Timisoara, Romania, became the first European city to introduce a horse-drawn tram. Twenty years later, Timisoara became the first city in Europe to introduce street lighting.

28. Third-Narrowest Street In Europe

The city of Brasov, Romania, has the third narrowest street in Europe, after Spreuerhofstraße in Germany and Parliament Street in England. Its width varies between 1.11 and 1.35 meters and is 80 meters long.

29. A Record-Holding Church

Brasov also has the largest church in Romania, called the Black Church. This is one of the country’s most representative monuments of gothic architecture, dating back to the 14th – 15th centuries.

The Black Church has a length of more than 89 meters and, due to its size, when it was finished, it was awarded the title of the most incredible church between Vienna and Constantinople. The church also has the largest organ in Europe (4,000 tubes) and the heaviest bell in Romania. 

30. Super-Fast 4G Speed

According to OpenSignal, Romania occupies 4th place out of 78 regarding 4G speed.

31. An Extensive Railroad Network

The rail network is also impressive in Romania: even though it is the 81st largest country globally, the Romanian 22,298 kilometers rail network is the 15th largest on Earth.

32. Lots Of Romanian Inventions

The Romanians invented many essential things, which makes this section one of the most important facts about Romania.

• In 1910, Paris hosted the second edition of the International Aeronautics Exhibition, where Henri Coanda participated with his airplane powered by the first modern reaction engine. Wanting to check the engine, Henri Coanda also accidentally demonstrated how it worked and actually flew by plane for a short distance.
• Nicolae Paulescu discovered insulin and demonstrated the effectiveness this substance has in reducing hyperglycemia. He used it to treat diabetes.
• Ioan Cantacuzino, an academician and microbiologist, has conducted extensive research on cholera, and he invented the anticholinergic vaccine.
• Petrache Poenaru invented the pen in 1821, while Romanian Anastase Dragomir designed the ejectable chair, which is now used worldwide.
• Additionally, Lazar Edeleanu was the first person to discover and synthesize amphetamines. He also invented the modern oil refining method. 

33. 4 Romanian Nobel Laureates

Romania also has 4 Nobel laureates: George Emil Palade (Medicine), Elie Wiesel (Peace), Herta Muller (Literature), and Stefan Hell (Chemistry).

34. A 14-Year-Old Record-Breaking Gymnast

The first Olympic gymnast to ever score a perfect 10 was the 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci.

35. Oldest Athlete To Win A Marathon

In 2008, at the Beijing summer Olympics, 38-years-old Romanian athlete Constantina Dita became the world’s oldest athlete to win a marathon. 

36. Sense Of Self-Deprecating Humor

Looking for facts about Romanian people? Here’s a great one for you! Romanians are known for facing troubled times by making fun of themselves and the situation. So, visiting the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, Maramures County, shouldn’t be a surprise.

The cemetery is full of brightly painted wooden crosses that give its merry look. The paintings represent scenes of the deceased’s life. Also, on some of the crosses, some epigraphs describe the deceased’s life with humor or reveal a dirty secret.

37. Europe’s First Castle Lit By Electricity

Peles Castle was the first one in Europe entirely lit by electricity. The castle’s own facility produced electricity, and its heating system (built in 1888) is still functional today.

38. Third-Longest Canal On Earth

The Danube-Black Sea Canal is the third-longest human-made navigation path, after the Suez and Panama Canals. During communism, several tens of thousands of political prisoners worked on its excavation, and many of them even died on this site. You can find this and more travel tour ideas here. 

39. The Source Of The Unitarian Faith

The Unitarian faith emerged in Transylvania, Romania, in the middle of the 16th century. Today, this religion is spread in Hungary, Scotland, the Netherlands, and the United States of America.

40. (Possibly) The Oldest Writings In The World

Some archaeologists believe that the three clay tablets discovered in the village of Tartaria, Romania, might be the oldest form of writing in the world. This could prove the existence of writing from the early Neolithic (about 6600-5500 BC), but the tablets are still the subject of controversy.

41. Europe’s Only Whole Papyrus

The only whole papyrus in Europe was discovered in Romania. It dates back to the 4th century BC and is written in ancient Greek.

42. The Only Natural Bridge Open To Traffic In The World

Romania also has a natural bridge and is the only one in the world open to road traffic. It is called God’s bridge, and it is a vestige of the Bridge Cave that resulted from the collapse of its ceiling.

43. The Small Canyon Of Romania

The Red Ravine, located in Alba County, is considered the Small Canyon of Romania. It is a natural monument and a geological and botanical reserve because many rare and endemic plants are in the area. Its walls rise to a height of 80-100 meters, and the rock formations are naturally carved with shapes of columns, towers, and pyramids over centuries of erosion by rainwater.

44. Smallest National Banknote Into Circulation

If you ever need Romanian fun facts and information for a quiz or to impress friends or family, here’s another great one. The smallest national banknote put into circulation was the Romanian 10-bani note in 1917. It measured 27.5 X 38 mm.

45. Romania’s Roman Roots

The word ‘Romania’ is derived from ‘Romanus,’ which is Latin for ‘member of the Roman Empire. Romania may stand on its own these days, but it clearly has plenty of Roman roots, even in its name! 

46. Heaviest Building on The Planet

While many impressive buildings focus on soaring high into the sky, The Parliament Palace in Bucharest has another claim to fame – it is the heaviest building on the planet at 4.10 million tonnes. 

47. Paris in Bucharest?

In some circles, Bucharest is also known as ‘little Paris.’ This is because the Arcul de Triumf found in the center of the city was, as the name suggests, based on the Arc de Triomphe found in Paris itself.