From the Unification s Square to the Dicasterial Palace


       Between the Dome and the Statue of the Holy Trinity, there is
    a mineral fountain; this spring was given to the public use in
    1894; the water has a curative effect on a series of gastric
    maladies, and, because very close, there is a place for bath
    therapy, Timisoara may be considered a bath resort.

       Going from the Unification s Square on Rodnei Street, at
    number 7, there is a building housing the Academy Library; built
    after the plans of the architect Johann Klein, initially
    functioned as a museum. The architectural style, both the
    interior and the exterior, belongs to the German Renaissance; on
    the top part, in a niche, a Minerva statue is placed and around
    it there are a lot of plates bearing the names of historians
    from Herodotus to Mommsen. You can get inside the building
    through a beautiful sculptured oak gate; the marble stairs are
    guarded by a banister and cast iron lamps. On the same street,
    at number 6 (Rodnei Street at the corner with Eugen of Savoy
    Street), across from the bishopric palace, there is the former
    inn "La Trompetar", or "At the Trumpeter". It was not a
    monumental building, but belonged to the important buildings
    from the town; its emblem, a golden trumpeter riding a horse,
    can be seen today at the Museum of Banat.

       During the last century that part of the street was called the
    Trumpeter Street; the person that built the house in the XVIII
    century was a trumpeter, fact for which he chose this emblem,
    then later he became the town s trumpeter and member of the
    German Council of the City Hall, founded in 1718. The inn housed
    renown people along its existence, among them the Emperor of
    Austria, Franz I, in 1807; the Principe Alexandru Ioan Cuza,
    forced to abdicate the thrown of the Romanian Principates, on
    his way to exile, slept here on March 8, 1866, accompanied by
    his wife Elena and kids, and his adjutant Pisoschi.
    Our stroll brings us in front of the imposing building of the
    Dicasterial Palace on the Doicesti Street number 1, monumental
    building of Timisoara from other times, occupying a good piece
    of land, of square shape, having; four stories, three interior
    yards with six gates, and with the exception of the basement,
    350 rooms. People say that this building has as many windo=
    ws as many days there are in a year, so probably 365.  Anyway,
    the Dicasterial Palace is considered the biggest building of the
    town. It was destined initially to the government of Serbian
    Voivodina and Timisan Banat, but this type of administration
    ended in 1860. The building was raised between 1850-1854, its
    name coming from the Greek "dikasterion"; in Latin "dikasteriu"
    defined in antiquity the judiciary court. The judiciary imprint
    was kept until the Mediaeval Era denoting a judge union, then
    later the name was given to the church court, and even today
    this building houses the majority of the judicial institutions.
    The building has the elements of the Italian Renaissance and is
    a copy of the Palazzo Strozzi from Florence, a perfect example
    of a Florentine palace. The architectural monument, of
    exceptional value, has a somber front with arched windows, at
    the first story, ending with capitals resembling coats of arms.
    Through the cutting of the Take Ionescu Boulevard, a part of the
    necessary perspective of enhancing the value of the beauty of
    this palace was created, the Fountain of the Cardinal Points,
    from the Dr. Russel Square, integrating and stressing the
    architectural ambiance.