The oldest public park in Bucharest, laid out in 1847 by the German landscape architect Wilhelm Mayer on a marshy stretch of land that had until then been used by a dervish to gather drinking water — cișmea being the Turkish word for fountain. The result is a romantic, English-style park of winding paths, ornamental bridges, and a serpentine lake where in summer Bucharestians rent rowing boats and in winter they skate.
It is the city's living room. Old men play chess in the eastern corner, students sprawl on the grass, and street musicians perform near the kiosk. The Rotonda of the Writers, a small clearing surrounded by busts of Romanian literary figures, is on the southern side. The park makes a good escape from a long day on Calea Victoriei or Bulevardul Magheru.