The Inventory of the Objectives Bucharest Fortification Belt for Tourism Arranging Purposes

Abstract

Built over 100 years ago, at the initiative of King Carol I, the belt of fortifications of the Romanian capital, a remarkable achievement of the national military architecture, has currently reached an advanced state of decay. The analysis of successful European models (Hollandse Nieuwe Waterlinie forts of Utrecht - Holland, Vesting Antwerpen line - Belgium or fortified line of Essex - United Kingdom) demonstrates that such objectives can be successfully converted into museums, cultural centres, urban parks, recreation centres or even accommodation units, with a great potential in this regard. Their tourist arrangement is required both to stop degradation of valuable cultural-historical objectives (recently classified as historical monuments) and to diversify the out of town cultural recreational opportunities, in order to strengthen one of the most important and fastest growing national tourist destination. This material proposes an inventory of the fortified objectives around Bucharest, to identify those that are best suited to be arranged for tourism.