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Alexandru Ioan Cuza (20 March 1820 – 15 May 1873) was a Romanian politician
who ruled as the first Prince of the United Principalities of
Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866. He remained in our history as an important figure also for the series of reforms he initiated
that contributed to the modernization of Romanian
society and of state structures.
Cuza was elected independently by popular vote in both Moldavia (on the 5th January 1859) and
Wallachia (on the 24th, which is celebrated today as the day of the Union of the
two Principalities). The name of the new country became Romania and the
capital was set in Bucharest. This became the basis for
the Romanian nation-state.
Cuza’s name can be associated with a series of reforms realized among the seven years under his
reign that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and state structures.
The 1864 Land Reform was the first one in Romania. It came on the heels of the secularization of monastery estates, achieved in December 1863
at Mihail Kogălniceanu's initiative and taking over a quarter of the land owned by the Orthodox Church. The question of Land Reform was an essential point
of Cuza's political program, and he and Kogălniceanu had wider aims: the abolition of
compulsory labour and the establishment of private small holdings.
Cuza's reforms also included the adoption of the Criminal Code and the Civil Code based on
the Napoleonic code (1864), a Law on Education -establishing tuition-free-,
compulsory public education for primary schools (1864; the system, nonetheless,
suffered from drastic shortages in allocated funds). He founded the University of Iaşi (1860)
and the University of Bucharest (1864), and helped the development of a modern
European-style Romanian Army, under a working relationship with France. His reforms
had a modern and European character.
There are two pictures by Theodor Aman, The Union of the Principalities (1857) on the left side and Proclamation of the Moldo-Wallachian union on the right side.
In our city, we have a museum known as Cuza Voda House. It’s a memorial house hosting a permanent exhibition dedicated to the prince, which has the
quality of reconstructing the Galati ambience at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th
century. Alexandru Ioan Cuza lived in this building between 1844 and 1859, while he was the president
of the Court of Justice.
Cuza remained in the conscience of his epoch not only due to his qualities, his
dedication, skills and patriotism shown in
administrating the country and fulfillment of the national program, but mostly because of the
importance of the Union , and of the period which,
beyond doubt, ranks among the most beautiful
pages of the national history.
Project made by:• Ciocan Andra-Elena• Teodor Solca• Balaban Claudia • Bancescu Ana-Maria• Ghintuiala Raluca• Toma Vlad Florin• Stan Cosmin • Penes Diana• Negoita Ovidiu• Baban Angelin• Mihalcea Irena• Rosca Mirela• Dragomir Catalina