


Fabric Tour
Around the year 1850, over half of the population in
Fabric district’s past was directly influenced by the
The Fabric developed as a suburb outside the fortress, but not close to it, as the limit of 950 meters required by the military administration of the city of
We start at 1 Decebal Bridge – (1909-1910, Engineer Mihailich Győző, architect Körössy Albert K.) originally called the “park street bridge”. Being built in the authentic Secession style, this is the most elegant and well preserved bridge in
Close by there are the 2 Neptun Baths (initially Hungaria Baths, 1912-1914), a beautiful head of perspective for those coming from the bridge. The building was built by the famous architect Szekely.
On the right is the oldest park in the city – the People’s Park and Regina Maria (Queen Mary) Park. The entrance is under a 3 gate built in the same style as the bridge, even the park’s fence matching this Secession ensemble. In the park there is also the former Apollo Cinema, which was recently modified, preserving however the façade from the middle of the 20th century..
We continue with the splendid buildings on the left side of 3 August 1919 Bd. This area is an architectural reserve of the “1900s style”. Near the Neptun Baths there is 4 Szekely Palace, built by the architect for his mother – surprisingly he left out here many of his favorite forms, so that the building falls well into the “Viennese Secession” – much more reserved in decorations and more geometric.
The next section abundantly fulfills all our expectations for elegant decorations – these buildings belong to different movements of the 1900s style. At no. 2 there is 5 Karl Kunz Palace (1902-1903). Although the lion and the female sculptures that used to ornate the house’s corner have disappeared, it still preserves some beautiful women heads. At 6 Haymann Palace (no. 5) we can see the female figures and the golden lyres on the 2nd floor, while the architecture betrays the Viennese Secession’s influences. The building was very modern for its time. In contrast, at 7 Anheuer Palace (no. 7) the style is rather “outdated” having Neo-Baroque elements. Despite obvious differences between them, both “palaces” were finished in 1901.
The most ornate is however 8 Miksa Steiner Palace (no. 9), on which one can hardly find an area with no decorations – on the upper floors you can even see a boat’s bow and stern. To be notices is also the tower on the corner towards
At no. 11A we find 9 the Archduke’s House, which truly belonged to a young nonconformist royal of the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, disciplinary moved from
At the end of the park, in a small square on the right, the 11 Synagogue in Fabric is seen. It was built between 1897 and 1899 (architect Lipot Baumhorn, builder Josef Kremer) in Secession style with Moorish, neo-Gothic and neo-Roman elements. Since the Mosaic community has few members in
On I.L. Caragiale
We can go on walking from the Synagogue to the 3 August 1919 Bd. This part is 20-30 years older than the high Secession palaces up to here, most buildings having more restrained and classicist architectural expressions; the Secession’s unconstrained is missing; however, we can see a few more discreet angels and some beautiful portals, larger than those of Secession palaces.
As we go to the east, the district has less and less “big city” look, but its picturesque degree is increased.
On the right we soon enter the Romanilor (Romans) Square, dominated by 13 Millennium Church. The monumental Church was built to celebrate 1,000 years of Hungarian settlement in the Pannonian Plain, between 1896 and 1901 by architect Ludwig von Ybl. The style is eclectic-historicist, with neo-Gothic and neo-Roman elements.
The towers on the façade measure 65 meters. The stained glass windows are special, the altar painting is signed by Vastagh György and organ is created by the famous
Close by there is 14 Ştefania Palace, recognizable because of its corner tower, on which there is a halberdier in armor. The building is very elegant, on the façade facing the boulevard one seeing representations of bears and gorillas, reason for which it was known as the “house with monkeys”. It was built by the City Hall between 1909 and 1910 (architect Szekely L.) as a tenement house. The term “tenement house”, no longer used, designated a rental apartment building. Built so the revenue from rentals would to serve the “Town’s Asylum”, building, which also housed the Fabric “Citizens’ Club”, was sold in 1918 to Rudolf (Rezsõ) Totis, general manager of “Industria Lânii S.A.” factory. He named the building “
We finish our walk on 3 August 1919 Bd. with 15 “
Next place is Fabric’s district current center:
Traian Square is a
Always present were the restaurants and inns – some very famous. Fabric was extremely popular on weekends. Since in the Cetate district the Catholic Church was very influential and banned drinking and playing cards in taverns, while the weekly service was held, every Sunday morning a small procession going to the Fabric taverns was formed, where the fun was at home. Most of them were anonymous, scattered around the alleys of ground floor houses beyond
The square’s most important element is 17 the
The building next to the church, beautifully decorated in
Linked to the church is the obelisk with a cross on the opposite side of the square. This was the focus of the feast of Epiphany. On the massive marble pedestal you can see an inscription in Serbian, but also an ammonite (a spiral shell fossil) with a diameter of about half a meter on the side facing the church. The bell which is now in front of the church is not connected with it; is one of the monuments commemorating the revolution of December 1989.
The tallest building on the left front of the market is 19 Mercur Palace (1908-1909) or “House with Mercur” (Mercur – Hermes, Mercury) because of the Roman commerce god representation on the corner of the building.
From
Across the street from the Brewery there is a short street to the left, towards 21 the Greek Catholic Church in Fabric dedicated to St. Mary. The Austrian provincial Baroque church, small and sober, saw the beginnings of the district (1765). Originally it was a Roman Catholic parish church, being donated to the Greek Catholics after the construction of the “millennium dome”.
From the Greek Catholic Church we go back to
Onwards you can go to the East Railway Station, through an area with many 1900s style buildings, including some old factories. On
If we however choose to continue walking through Fabric, we can go alongside
Search the site
Fotografii din Timișoara
Fotografii din Banat
Exchange rate
- 1