Brief information about the Iaşi
Iași Iași (UK: YASH-ee, US: YAHSH(-en), Romanian: [ˈjaʃʲ] ), also referred to as Jassy or Iassy (UK: YASS-ee, US: YAH-see), is the next largest city in Romania, along with the Chair of Iași County. Located in the historic region of Moldavia, Iași has been among the leading centers of Romanian cultural, social, academic and artistic life.
The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1564 to 1859, then of the United Principalities from 1859 to 1862, and the capital of Romania from 1916 to 1918. Known as The Cultural Capital of Romania, Iași is a sign in Romanian history. The historian Nicolae Iorga stated "There ought to be no Romanian who doesn't know of it".
Still called The Moldavian Capital, Iași is the primary economic and business center of the Moldavian region of Romania. In December 2018, Iași was officially declared a historical capital of Romania. In the 2011 census, the city proper had a population of 290,422 (which makes it the fourth most populous in Romania at the time).
With 474,035 inhabitants (as of 2015), the Iași metropolitan region is the next most populous in Romania (after Bucharest), whereas greater than 500,000 people live within its peri-urban area. Home to the oldest Romanian university and into the first engineering school, Iași is among the most important education and research centers of the nation, and accommodates over 60,000 pupils in 5 public universities.
The cultural and social life revolves round the Vasile Alecsandri National Theater (the earliest in Romania), the Moldova State Philharmonic, the Opera House, the Iași Athenaeum, a famous Botanical Garden (the earliest and largest in Romania), the Central University Library (the oldest in Romania), the high quality cultural centers and festivals, a range of museums, memorial homes, spiritual and historical monuments.
The city is also known as the site of the largest Romanian pilgrimage which takes place every year.