Additional Information
The Congress Venue:
”Al. I. Cuza” University of Iași, Carol I, 11A.
Location: Copou Hill area.
You can reach it easily by trams (1, 8, 9, 13) or buses (28, 42, 36, 52) – station name: University(second from the center, Union PlaceStation).
From the Iași International Airport to the central part of the city: special express bus line 50 – station name: Union Place (Romanian name: Piața Unirii), city center area.
From the Railway station: bus line 36 (towards city center) – the Universitystation is the third.
For the city transport, you can pay by card inside the bus or trams (0.75 euro/ticket that you can use for 120 minutes, including if you change the tram or bus).
Taxi price (medium value): 0.85 euro/km.
Iași city and surroundings (more info: https://iasi.travel/en/)
Iași city represents the former capital of Moldavia (1564 - 1859) and the cultural capital of Romania, playing the role of capital of Romanian resistance during the First World War (1916 - 1918). Iași urban area is the second most populous area in Romania after the Bucharest. The Bahlui River cross the city built on seven hills.
The city shelters numerous architectural jewels and historical values:
ü Union House (1806, the Union Museum; served as residence for the ruler of the Romanian Principalities, Alexandru Ioan Cuza and for the Romania’s king Ferdinand I), Roznovanu Palace (1833, The City Hall), Pogor House (1850, the Museum of Literature), Palace of Culture (1925, the greatest museum in the city – collection of fine arts, ethnographic, Moldavia history, science and technology), Roset House (1811, the first Museum of Natural Sciences in the country – open in 1834), ”Vasile Alecsandri” National Theatre(1896), Moldova Philharmonic House (1815, Balș House), University Palace – ”Al. I. Cuza” University of Iași (1897, in the Hall of the Lost Footsteps – frescoes by the painter Sabin Bălașa), Central University Library (1839, the oldest in the country – the present building, 1934).
ü Religious and pilgrim sites (some 500 years old churches in the city): Metropolitan Cathedral (1866), Old catholic Cathedral (1782), Armenian Church (1395, the oldest church in the city), Saint Nicholas Princely Church(1491, with magnificent frescoes), Three Hierarchs Church (1639, Moldavia and Romania pantheon – three kings are buried here: Vasile Lupu, Dimitrie Cantemir and Alexandru Ioan Cuza; covered with gilded carvings), Barnovschi Church, Banu Church, the fortified-churches as Golia monastery (1564), Galata(1582), Cetățuia monastery (1668) or Frumoasa (1726), Grand Synagogue (1671, the oldest in Romania).
ü Five public universities.
Natural values:
ü Botanical Garden ”Anastasie Fătu” Iași located on the Copou Hill, is the oldest botanical garden in Romania, founded in 1856. Moreover, the Botanical Garden of Iași is the largest botanical garden in Romania and one of the largest in Europe, having a surface of 89 hectares, divided in 10 different sections: 9 outdoor sections and the Greenhouse Complex. At the present time, the plant collections of “Anastasie Fătu” Botanical Garden count approximately 10,000 taxa, including many rare, endangered and vulnerable plant species, protected by national, European and international laws and conventions, traditional varieties and economic and horticultural important taxa. The Rose Garden includes one of Europe’s largest collections of roses, over 800 taxa, counting both wild species, which represent the genitors of today’s varieties and representatives of noble roses, from Thea Hybrida, Floribunda or Polyantha groups.
ü Located about 40 – 50 km north-west from Iasi city and surnamed Moldavia Delta, the site Ramsar 2422 Jijia – Iași Wetlands covers a surface about 19000 hectares around the confluence of Jijia River with its tributaries Miletin and Jijioara Rivers. The site overlaps with two Natura 2000 sites: ROSPA0042 Ponds of Jijia and Miletin Rivers and ROSCI0222 Salty Meadows of Jijia and Prut Rivers. Jijia River is the main tributary of Prut River. From Iasi city, the access is possible by road and by train.
The suitable habitats for birds form a mosaic – open waters, wetlands and marshes, compact reed beds, submersed and floating vegetation, clusters of poplars and willows, dry and humid meadows, pastures with patches of shrubs, respectively, Catachi forest covering the southern slope of Miletin ponds, agricultural lands, vineyards and orchards.
The bird fauna’s list includes 222 bird species, 132 being regular or irregular breeding species in the area that represents the most significant birds breeding territory in the whole Romanian basin of Prut River. Between these, we mention the breeding presence of some protected bird species in Romania and not only as Tadorna tadorna, Tadorna ferruginea, Aythya nyroca, Microcarbo pygmaeus, Ardeola ralloides, Egretta garzetta, Ardea alba, Ardea purpurea, Platalea leucorodia, Plegadis falcinellus, Recurvirostra avosetta, Himantopus himantopus etc. The Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus) and the white-tailed eagle (Haliaaetus albicilla) that use the ponds’ perimeter as feeding territory, one pair of the eagle breeding in an old forest from neighbourhood. The Jijia Wetlands represent an important stop-over territory for resting and feeding recovery along the most important birds’ migration flyways in the eastern Romania. This perimeter shelters thousand waterfowls during the wintering time, too. We will visit the Moldavia Delta as the congress trip.
