Trajan's Monument, Brăila, Bezoekersgids & wat te doen in de buurt

Trajan's Monument stands in Piața Traian, one of the central squares of Brăila, a Danube port city in eastern Romania. It honours the Roman emperor Trajan, a figure Romanians link to the Roman roots of their language and history. The square around it also holds a theatre and a small church with an unusual past, so it works as a compact lesson in the city's layered story.

The story behind it

Trajan conquered Dacia, the land that is now much of Romania, in the early second century. For Romanians he became a symbol of Latin heritage. Monuments to him went up in several towns, and the one in Brăila expresses the same gratitude for that Roman inheritance. It was put up in the early twentieth century, when Romania was keen to celebrate its Latin identity.

The square itself tells more than one story. The small church beside it is one of the rare Orthodox churches in Romania that began life as a mosque. Brăila, then known as Ibrail, was under direct Ottoman rule for nearly three centuries, and the building became a Christian church after the Ottomans left. Close by is the theatre named after the actress Maria Filotti. Its stage has been linked to the history of Brăila's cultural life, which also produced the soprano Hariclea Darclée, born in the city. In the nineteenth century the city's Greek community was an important part of its commercial life.

What to look for

• Look at the figure of Trajan and the sculpted details around its base, which present the emperor as a symbol of the Roman heritage Romanians claim.
• Study the small church next to the square and ask yourself how a former mosque became an Orthodox place of worship.
• Inside the church, if it is open, look up at the painted ceiling, where guides point out traces of the building's earlier life.
• Take in the theatre facade across the square, a reminder of how much music and drama mattered to merchant-era Brăila.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 20 to 30 minutes for the square, longer if you want to step inside the church or look at the theatre building.
• Morning or late afternoon light is kinder for photographs and the square is calmer then.
• Entry to the monument is free as it stands in an open public square. Check current opening hours if you want to visit the church or attend a performance.
• The square sits close to the old centre, so it combines easily with a longer walk through Brăila's historic streets.

See it on a quest

The Time Traveller: A Braila Mystery Story is a good way to see this square. You reach it on foot as one stop of a longer route through the city, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle right in front of what you are looking at. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join, and one ticket covers the whole group.