Iasi is the most important political, economic and cultural centre of the province of Moldavia as well as one of the oldest cities in Romania. Located in the northeastern part of the country, Iasi was for many centuries the crossing point of the most important commercial routes linking Poland, Hungary, Russia and Constantinople.

Deeply rooted in history, Iasi has been the main centre of Moldavian culture since 1408. The city prides itself with publishing the first Romanian newspaper and establishing the first Romanian university. Today, Iasi is home to five universities.

Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iaşi has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1564 to 1859, then of the United Principalities from 1859 to 1862 and the capital of Romania from 1916 to 1918. Known as The Cultural Capital of Romania, Iaşi is a symbol in Romanian history. The historian Nicolae Iorga said "There should be no Romanian who does not know of it". Home to the first Romanian university and to the first engineering school, it is the second largest university centre in the country and accommodates over 75,000 students in 5 public and 7 private universities. The social and cultural life revolves around the Vasile Alecsandri National Theater (the oldest in Romania), the Moldova State Philharmonic, the Opera House, the Tătăraşi Athenaeum, a famous Botanical Garden (the oldest and largest in Romania), the Central University Library (the oldest in Romania), the high quality cultural centres and festivals, an array of museums, memorial houses, religious and historical monuments.

Around 1564, Prince Alexandru Lăpuşneanu moved the Moldavian capital from Suceava to Iaşi. Between 1561 and 1563, a school and a Lutheran church were founded by the Greek adventurer Prince, Ioan Iacob Heraclid. In 1640, Vasile Lupu established the first school in which the mother-tongue replaced Greek, and set up a printing press in the Byzantine Trei Ierarhi Church (Church of the Three Hierarchs; built 1635–39). In 1643, the first volume ever printed in Moldavia was issued in Iaşi. The city was burned down by the Tatars in 1513, by the Ottomans in 1538, by the Imperial Russian troops in 1686. In 1734, it was hit by the plague. Between 1564 and 1859, the city was the capital of Moldavia; then, between 1859 and 1862, both Iaşi and Bucharest were de-facto capitals of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1862, when the union of the two principalities was recognized under the name of Romania, the national capital was established in Bucharest. 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. During World War I, Iaşi was the capital of a severely reduced Romania for two years, following the Central Powers' occupation of Bucharest on 6 December 1916. The capital was returned to Bucharest after the defeat of Imperial Germany and its allies in November 1918. In November–December 1918 Iaşi hosted the Jassy Conference.

Over the past 500 years, history, culture and religious life have molded the city's unique character. Iasi boasts an impressive number of Orthodox churches, almost 100, most of them located in the so-called Golden Plateau (Platoul de Aur). The oldest, the Princely Saint Nicholas Church, dates from the reign of Stephen the Great (Stefan cel Mare, 1457-1504). The finest, however, are the 17th century St. Paraschiva Metropolitan Cathedral and Trei Ierarhi Church, the last a curious example of Byzantine art, erected in 1635-1639 by Vasile Lupu. Its outer walls and twin towers are intricately carved in what many think of as stone lace.

The Golden Plateau represents the nucleus of the city, around which the entire settlement developed over the centuries. With the Palace of Culture at one end and the Union Square (Piata Unirii) at the other, the Golden Plateau features churches and princely palaces on both sides of Stefan cel Mare si Sfant Boulevard, which runs right through its centre. Many other important sites can be found on nearby streets.

The beginnings of higher education in Iasi date from the reign of Vasile Lupu (1634-1653). In 1640, Lupu founded an academy at the Three Hierarchs Monastery.

In the 18th century, a Royal Academy was established in one of the buildings attached to the Metropolitan Cathedral. The institution was closed down by the Ottomans after the Greek Revolution of 1821, but Gheorghe Asachi reopened it under the name of The Vasilian Gymnasium seven years later. In 1835, it was renamed The Mihailean Academy and had three sections: Philosophy, Law and Theology, as well as two special courses, Polytechnic Sciences and Economy.

In 1860, Alexander Ioan Cuza founded the University of Iasi. Today, this university is comprised of 26 colleges and eight research institutes of the Romanian Academy.

In the 19th century, Iasi was one of the great Eastern European centres of Jewish learning, famous for its scholarly rabbis, intellectuals and skilled craftsmen, as well as for its Jewish schools, hospitals, publications and other organizations.

In 1855, the city was the home of the first-ever Yiddish-language newspaper, Korot Haitim, and was the birthplace of the Israeli national anthem. The world's first professional Yiddish-language theatre was opened here in 1876 by Avram Goldfaden, who later founded New York's first Jewish theatre. From 1949 to 1964, Iasi was also home to a second company of the State Jewish Theatre.

Jewish merchants from Poland settled here in the 15th century and their numbers swelled with further waves of Russian-Jewish and Galician-Jewish immigration into Moldavia. By 1930, there were over 30,000 Jews and some 127 synagogues. Today, only two synagogues remain open.

During the early years of World War II, Iasi was the scene of a pogrom by the Iron Guard, a nationalist Fascist organization. The majority of the city's Jewish population was killed or deported. A monument to the victims of the 1941 pogrom was erected outside the Great Synagogue.

Iasi is easily accessible from Bucharest (Bucuresti) by plane (1 hour), train (approximately 6 hours) and car (approximately 6 ½ hours).

Iasi International Airport (IAS)
Tel: (232) 271.570
Web: www.aeroport.ro

Airlines with service to Iasi:

Austrian Airlines - www.aua.com
Direct flights from/to: Vienna

Carpat Air - www.carpatair.ro
Direct flights from/to: Timisoara
Connecting flights (via Timisoara) from/to: Romania (Bucharest, Bacau, Cluj, Constanta, Craiova, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava); France (Paris); Germany (Dusseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart); Greece (Athena); Hungary (Budapest); Italy (Bari, Bergamo/Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome/Fiumicino, Venice, Verona, Torino); Republic of Moldova (Chisinau); Ukraine (Kiev, Lvov, Odessa)

Tarom - www.tarom.ro
Direct flights from/to: Romania (Bucharest, Constanta); Austria (Vienna); Germany (Frankfurt); Italy (Bologna); Spain (Madrid); Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich).