The Huniade Castle and Orthodox Cathedral Leaving behind the Saint Catherine church, we go on the Pietrosu and Bocsei Streets, and we enter Piata Huniade, or the Huniade Square. On the corner, the building, of the former school of the nuns from Notre-Dame, remodeled with two stories today, houses the Industrial High School. At the beginning of the school year 1864/1865, in this building used to be a girl school with four gymnasium classes led by the nuns from Notre-Dame; in 1881, after the finishing of the new monastery from Josefin, the school was moved into the so called "mother-house" building; the whole instructive-educational program amplified [28]. Another school resides also in the Huniade Square; the Professional and Electrotechnical School, designed by Albert Vigh and built between 1899-1900 by Eduard Reiter; in 1901, a state institution was opened here, the Art and Trade School. In front of the school there is the bust of Emanuil Ungureanu (1846-1929), a passionate fighter for the Romanians civil rights from Banat. He founded the bank "Timisana", led the newspaper "Dreptatea", or "The Justice", and, in 1912, created a foundation to help the Romanian schools and churches. He is also the author of a historical study about Timisoara. Let s stop a little now at the Huniade Castle, edifice initiated by the king Carol Robert of Anjou, who, as a result of the visit made to Timisoara in 1307, decided to establish his residence here. Probably, the building was done by Italian construction workers, finished in 1315, because in 1316 the king was already established in his new castle, where he lived eight years, the last paper he signed in Timisoara dating from June 1323. There not too many things known about the castle shape and surface; it is supposed was placed on the actual Huniade Castle place, having a rectangular shape, on the north side being a fortress also of rectangular shape, around which the mediaeval town developed later. A lot of engravings from the XVI century and the beginning of the XVIII century represented Timisoara under the shape of two rectangles. As a result of the Turks incursions, Timisoara became the major bastion of the defense operations, the castle becoming the residence of the counts of Timis, often having the rank of Ban of Severin. The name of the castle belongs to Ioan of Huniade, who between 1441 and 1456, lived here with his family as a count of Timis; in 1443 he mandated the restoration of this edifice gravely damaged after an earthquake from that year. The castle was the pasha s residence during the Turk occupation. It was a garrison and artillery arsenal between the XVIII and XX centuries. In 1849, the building was entirely destroyed and it had to be completely rebuilt, its actual shape dating from 1856. The castle has a romantic tower, its facade is made out of red bricks, and is housing today the Museum of Banat. In front of the museum there are two antique street lights with inscriptions in several languages telling the readers that in 1884 Timisoara was the first town in continental Europe to use electricity for the public illumination. Going towards Piata Operei, or the Opera s Square, we pass by the National Theater building of whose history I talked in the beginning [29]. During the Revolution from December 1989, the balcony of this building had a historical importance. From its height we have the whole landscape of the Opera s Square, which was rightfully named the Victory Square. The assembly of edifices delineating this square is flanked on the southern side by the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral and on the northern side by the building of the National Theater. Among the monumental buildings of this architectural assembly there are Loffler palace, the Chamber of Commerce, Loyd palace (in secessionist style mostly). There is an artesian fountain in the middle of the square, and the statue of the She-Wolf with Romulus, and Remus, a copy of the renowned "Capitoline She-Wolf" from Rome, present given to Timisoara in 1926. The monument is placed on top of a Roman column of 4.96 meters tall, representing the symbol of the Latin origin of Romanian people, and is known as the "Lupoaica", or "The She-Wolf". The edifice of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Banat is rising majestically face to face with the Opera building. The land on which this edifice is rising used to be marshy and the foundation concrete plate, being a couple of meters wide, was poured having 1186 pillars as support. The construction has a length of 63 meters, is 31.98 meters wide, and the main tower is rising at 83.7 meters; its architecture is a successful combination between the Byzantine style, ornamental motifs similar with the one of former Saint Sofia Church from Constantinopol (today a mosque in Istanbul) and ornamental motifs typical to churches from Bucovina (Saint George from Harlau); the roof is covered with colored tile, and the stairs, the edifice's socle, the columns and the ornamental motifs from the gates and windows are sculptured in the natural stone coming from Banpotoc. The iconostasis has a surface of 135 square meters, is finished in 22 carat gold, and is ornated with typical Brincoveanian style motifs. The furniture was done by the sculptor ST.I. Gajo from Timisoara, his wife Ileana and his brother Ferdinand accomplishing the gold finishing of the iconostasis. The fresco, the water and oil paintings, occupying a 6300 square meter surface, were done by a group of painters under the leadership of the very appreciated iconographer Atanasie Demian (1899-1978); the bells, 8000 kilograms heavy, were tuned by the renown composer Sabin Dragoi (1894-1968) after one of his own works. An art museum was opened in the basement of the Cathedral. Glass and wood icons from the XVII and XVIII century, Orthodox cult objects (golden wood crosses ornated with silver, gemstones, silver and gold censers from the masters from Lugoj, or filigree censers done in 1658 in Macedonia) old books and manuscripts can be admired here.