Cernavodă

The Cernavoda Town is located in the South Dobrudja Plateau, at the junction of the Danube with the Danube – Black Sea Channel, 59 km far from the Constanta Municipality and 165 km far from the Capital City of Romania, the Bucharest City. The town can be reached by travelling on DN22C Cernavoda-Constanta national road, DN3A national road (the future Bucharest-Constanta motorway) and the Danube-Black Sea Channel (64.2 km). 

The ancient settlement, called Axiopolis, was founded by Greek colonists in the IV^th century B.C. as a centre of trade with the native population. In the I^st century A.C., Romans rebuilt the settlement in the days of Constantin the Great. Old documents mention the presence of an episcopate in the town and ruins of IV^th century basilicas the have been discovered. At present, the ruins of the fortress are an important tourist attraction of the town.

Starting with the XV^th century, the settlement included in the Dobrudja Region was under Ottoman Empire domination for four centuries. Following the Independence War of 1878, the Kingdom of Romania regained the rule of the Cernavoda Town, a fact that increased the importance of the town, as the Dobrudja Region was the access route of the country to the Black Sea. Consequently, the Cernavoda Bridge was built in order to ensure a direct connection by rail with the other parts of the country and thus the Cernavoda Town became a main transit point on the rail route to the Constanta Municipality, as a major port at the Black Sea.

In the XIX^th century and further on in the XX^th century, after the regain of the Romanian control over the town, the Cernavoda Town underwent a dynamic economic development. A number of factories and an oil refinery were built. The Cernavoda Port was extended and the Harbour Master’s Office and a hydrometeorological station were established.

In the recent decades, the development of the town was closely dependent on the construction of the Danube-Black-Sea Channel and the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Station. As a matter of fact, the defining element of the town and its administrative territory is the Danube – Black Sea Channel. This functions as an axis for urban organization of the settlement, which is thus divided into two distinct zones: the north zone, where the actual town and the major economic operators are located, and the south zone including the most of the farming lands and the Bucharest – Constanta road and rail communication ways.

The town is considered a transport crossing of national interest, taking into account the major transport lines (road, rail and river) that pass through the Cernavoda Town. The other sectors of the economy present in the town are construction, commerce and service provision. A town hospital and a number of outpatient centres offer health caring services and there are educational institutions starting from kindergarten to high-school education. The main cultural and historical attractions of the town include the Museum of History and Archaeology, which displays an important collection of Neolithic Art, the Axiopolis Fortress, an the ancient fortress, whose ruins are 4 km far from the Cernavoda Town, the Capidava Fortress, which is one of the Roman camps and fortifications built at the beginning of the II^nd century A.C., the Orthodox “Church of Emperor Saint Constantine and Empress Helena”, built in Byzantine style in 1882-1895 and regarded as a historical monument, and the Mosque, a Muslim church built in the XVIII^th century and also declared a historical monument.

Other representative tourist attractions include the “Anghel Saligny” Bridge, inaugurated in 1895, the longest bridge in Europe and one of the major metal large-span bridges in the world at that time, the esplanade of the Danube – the Black-Sea Channel and the Lock on the Channel not far from the junction with the Danube.

As regards the nature protected areas, a representative geological and paleontological nature monument present in the Cernavoda Town is the Fossiliferous Site, covering a surface of 3 ha and situated at the south-east of the Danube – the Black Sea Channel on the Danube bank. It consists of calcareous deposits as old as the Lower Cretacic and can be seen from the lower level of the Danube waters up to the abutment of the “Anghel Saligny” Bridge for several tens of metres. The particular geological importance of the Cernavoda Fossiliferous Site results from the fact that it is the single site in the Southern Dobrudja where deposits of Lower Cretacic can be seen in the open, including a rich fossil fauna and allowing clear separation of the Lower Cretacic layers and correlation of such deposits with European similar ones.

The Cernavoda Town has a number of sporting spaces including sports playgrounds and halls.

Several representative sporting events and feasts are organized all the year round. They include “The International Painting Camp” at the beginning of August, the “Cernavoda Town Days”, also in August, consisting of prize contests, parades, food shows, and concerts, the “Harvest Days” in October, where fresh vegetables and fruits, traditional hand-made objects and souvenirs are offered, folklore concerts and food cooking contests, the “Steaua Dunarii” (the Star of the Danube) Festival of Light Music in November and the “I.D. Chirescu” National Festival of Choral Music in December.

The Cernavoda Town has also accommodation capacity in hotels and guest houses and food service establishments including restaurants and coffee houses.                 

Source: www.primaria-cernavoda.ro,   ro.wikipedia.org,  www.cernavoda.wordpress.com