From Traian Square to the Green Forest


      The main square from Fabric is called today Piata Traian, or
   the Traian Square. This is where you can see the Romanian
   Orthodox Church, built in the XVIII century in the downtown of
   those times; the church was blessed under the Saint George
   patronage; it was restored several times and is a historical
   monument. The architectural style is Roman; the paintings and
   the iconostasis were done in the Byzantine-Serbian style and the
   own style of the painter Stefan Tenetchi - Ponerchin from Arad
   (in the second half of the XVIII century). Very valuable are the
   paintings of the Lord s Mother and the Holy Trinity. The Lord s
   Mother was done by Constantin Daniel (1798-1873; he used his
   beautiful wife Caroline Josefine Dely as a model).

      The Holy Trinity is the masterpiece of the renown painter
   from Izvin Sava Petrovici (1794-1857).  This church was the
   meeting place of all Orthodox Christians from the town when the
   Orthodox church from the City was burned [36]. The church became
   Serbian (in the second half of the XIX century) after the
   Romanian and Serbian churches split. In front of the church, an
   obelisk with a cross is rising; it was built in 1773 and was
   financed by the Orthodox believers from the parish. Every year,
   ever since, on January 6, the day when Jesus was christened, and
   on the day of Saint George, the day the church was blessed, the
   believers come and prey in front of this cross.

      The Romanian and Serbian population had an old Greek
   Orthodox church. It was entirely burned by the Turks, in 1522,
   when they conquered Timisoara.
      Today, when you cross the bridge over the Bega channel,
   between the Traian and "Badea Cartan" Square (also called "Piata
   de Fin", or "The Straw Square"), a cross can be seen on the spot
   where the church used to be.

      The actual Romanian Orthodox Church from Fabric (at number
   12 on Belinski Street) was built between 1911 and 1912. The
   plans and the architecture belonged to the architect Ion Niga
   [37]; the Byzantine style church was finished by the builder
   Josef Ecker Jr. The towers and the interior are similar with the
   Orthodox Cathedral from Sibiu; the paintings are the
   masterpieces of the renown master from Banat Ion Zaicu (1868-
   1914). Nistor Busuioc (a peasant painter from Beliste, a village
   from Caras-Severin) restored recently the iconostasis [38]. The
   exterior of the church was restored during the summer of 1992.
      The Green Forest (Padurea Verde) may be considered an oasis
   of greenery and a refuge for Timisoara s habitants, along with
   the numerous parks for which is called the town of the parks.
   Long ago, this forest belonged to the royal domains and was used
   for hunting pheasants, deer and elks. Today, there is a natural
   reserve for these animals here. In 1954, the Romanian state gave
   150 hectares ( from the 720 total) to the municipality to create
   a natural reserve and entertainment area for the town's
   population. The Ethnic Village Museum, similar with the one in
   Bucharest, was opened here.

      Part of the land was given to specialty schools, located in
   the middle of the forest; sport terrain, a theater, and a modest
   zoo are the reasons the people from Timisoara spend free time in
   the Green Forest.