Gropeni

The Gropeni commune is located on the left bank of the Danube, 24 km south-east of the city of Braila, on the county road 212, on a promontory of the Danube terrace, on a flooded meadow, now drained and restored to agriculture. The commune comprises Gropeni village, consisting of two parts: the village Gropeni and the former village Gropenii Noi.

 The Gropeni commune is one of the oldest fishing settlements on the Danube in Braila county. It is supposed to have been part of political and organizational system in which the fishing villages were organized on this territory, between sec. X-XIV. Here was discovered a hoard from the times of Emperors Justinian and Justin I.

The first documentary attestation of the commune is in 1777, on a map published in Venice and on a famous austrian map of 1879 reffering to Braila turkish region, Gropeni village being part, at that time, from this former region. In 1828, the local tradition mentions that the village is burned completely, Gropeni being restored later, after the return of some residents.

The village school Gropeni worked since 1830, and in 1873 it was established a school for girls, both schools merged in 1893 and becomed mixed. In 1893 in the commune was established a library, and in 1903 a popular bank.

The administrative territory of the commune has a very favorable offer for fishing and agricultural development with a complex profile, dominated by the production of grain crops, vegetables and livestock breeding. The Danube meadow offers excellent conditions for beekeeping. On the commune territory there are family associations which operate and comercial societies with agriculture and livestock breeding profile and, to a lesser extent, with industrial activity.

In Gropeni there is a crossing point with ferry over the Danube in the Big Island of Braila, where is the widest passing across the Danube, exceeding 2 km wide.

One important local events is the celebration of Ascension.                                                            

Source: http://www.primariagropeni.kvs.ro, ro.wikipedia.org, http://www.infozonemedia.eu/articole/eurocomuna-2/gropeni-2