Slobozia

Main	Births etc

For other places with the same name, see Slobozia (disambiguation).

Slobozia
Coat of arms
Country	Romania
County	Ialomița
Government
• Mayor	Gabi Ionașcu, since 2000, PSD
Area
• Total	132.87 km2 (51.30 sq mi)
Sister cities: Silistra, Veles

Slobozia (Romanian pronunciation: [sloboˈzi.a]) is the capital city of Ialomița County, Romania, with a population of 52,710 in 2002.

Geography

Slobozia lies roughly in the middle of the county, on the banks of Ialomița River, at ca. 120 km (75 mi) east of Bucharest and 150 km (93 mi) west of Constanţa, important port at the Black Sea. The City is within 17 km of the Bucharest-Constanta A2 Motorway (Autostrada Soarelui).

The total area of the municipality is 132.87 km² (32,800 acres), of which 119.87 km² (29,600 acres) outside city limits and 13 km² (3,200 acres) in the city. In the present administrative form, Slobozia consists of Slobozia proper and the neighbourhoods of Bora and Slobozia Nouǎ.

Economy

The main activity in the area is agriculture, processing of the agricultural products and light industry.

Culture

In 1990 the Cultural Centre was inaugurated, bearing the name of the conductor and composer Ionel Perlea, a city native. The building houses exhibition and performance rooms, bookstores, cultural institutions. In 1999 the Cultural Centre Ionel Perlea entered the UNESCO circuit.

The city is the headquarters of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Slobozia and Călăraşi, established in 1993.

At the 2002 census, 97.6% of inhabitants were ethnic Romanians and 2.2% Gypsies. 98.6% were Romanian Orthodox, 0.4% Seventh-day Adventist and 0.2% Roman Catholic.

Etymology

Its name is from Romanian "slobozie", which meant a recently colonized village which was free of taxation. The word itself comes from the Slavic word "slobod" which means "free". As it is located in the middle of flat land (Bărăgan Plain), it was very vulnerable to Tatar and Ottoman incursions. To encourage peasants to settle there, they were exempted from some taxes, hence the name.

Tourism

The main tourist attraction consists of the nearby Lake Amara - 5 km away. Amara Resort is also a balneoclimateric resort. Access to Amara is by minibuses that leave every 15 minutes from the Slobozia Train Station.

As part of a private tourist complex, there is a small copy of the Eiffel Tower (54m).

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Romania

Twin towns — Sister cities

Slobozia is twinned with:

• Veles
• Silistra
• China Nanyang, Henan

People

• Mihai Ungheanu (1939 - 2009) Journalist and national politician.
• Cornel Cernea Goalkeeper with FC Victoria Brăneşti
• Mircea Dinescu Journalist and political satirist
• Petru Filip Member of the Senate of Romania
• Adrian Mihalcea National football player

External links

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Slobozia