Cetate ("the citadel") is the historic centre of Timisoara — the area inside the line of the former Habsburg fortifications, demolished in the 1890s to make room for the modern boulevards. The three main squares, the cathedrals, most of the museums and almost all the central restaurants and bars are in Cetate.
The street pattern is the original 18th-century Habsburg grid laid out after the demolition of the Ottoman-era town in 1716 — straight wide streets meeting at right angles around the central squares. Building heights are remarkably uniform (mostly three to five stories), the architecture is mostly Baroque, Eclectic and Secession, and the whole district is best explored on foot.