Union Square, TimișoaraPiața Unirii, Timișoara
Part of Banat
Timișoara's Habsburg-era Baroque square, home to the first electrically lit streets in Europe.
History
After the Habsburgs took Timișoara from the Ottomans in 1716, they laid the city out on a strict rectangular grid and rebuilt its central square in Baroque style through the 18th century, ringing it with the Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, and the Baroque Palace — designed by Franz Anton Hillebrandt and completed in 1754, its grand hall later hosting visits from Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. In 1884, Timișoara became the first city in continental Europe to light its streets electrically, powered by a plant built specifically for the purpose, a detail still cited as a point of civic pride. The palace itself has held various roles since, including a stint as Soviet military command after World War II, before becoming Timișoara's National Museum of Art in 2006. The square remains the historic heart of a city whose old center is still largely intact.
