Sinaia’s short history

Sinaia appears connected to the establishment of the Monastery in 1695. The first habitations were established around it. The quick rise of this settlement is connected to the development of the extractive and processing industry of oil in the Carpathian area. It is also connected to the building of the railway and the Peles Castle. All these have contributed to the turning of the settlement into a resort and beginning with 1880 Sinaia is declared a town, in this way being one of the oldest mountain settlements in the country.

Sinaia will be the name of the village (1st of December 1874) when the townhall of Busteni is also moved here, its territory covering the area from the Stream to Predeal. As Sinaia itself developed very rapidly in comparison with its other territories, in 1884 the village of Sinaia would split into the urban village Sinaia on the present territory and the rural village Predeal which included Poiana Tapului, Busteni, Azuga and Predeal.

Being the residence of the Royal Family, in 1901 Sinaia was conceived by Eforie as a luxury resort for holidays, offering its tourists 10 hotels, 55 big villas, 50 medium-sized villas, 60 peasant houses, 2 casinos, hydrotherapy baths, a zoo, carriages for walks, 3 horseback riding centers with schools, restaurants, beer houses, confectioneries and stores (most of them were seasonal), a promenade park and it was called “The Pearl of the Carpathians”.

[dcs_p]The development of Sinaia as a touristic resort grew rapidly beginning with the second half of the 19th century when the driveway Sinaia – Brasov (1847), the railway Bucharest – Sinaia (1879) and especially the Peles Castle were built, fact which transformed Sinaia into a centre of the political life and a privileged residential area.

An important number of private residences were built in the town, in picturesque areas, making use of a special interior and exterior architecture. The museum and architectural patrimony of Sinaia is an exceptional one. Sinaia Monastery, founded by the Spatar Mihail Cantacuzino, dates back from 1695. As the Sinaia Monastery was being raised, the settlement of Siania also started its formation, taking the same name.

Between 1875 – 1883 the Peles Castle was built and it became at that time the residence of Carol I, the first King of Romania. Sinaia is a resort whose main activity is the tourism. The attributes of permanent seasonal resort and its socio-economical development made an important contribution to the nourishing of the town: hotels, restaurants, hostels, the cable car, rest houses, cultural houses, school camps etc. all these leading to the powerful reestablishment of mountain tourism in the area. New school buildings, buildings with social purposes, sports centers, dwelling neighborhoods, commercial places were added, the modernization of the roads being also included. Sinaia’s capacity of hosting is now of 4273 beds, out of which 2590 in 16 hotels classified between 1 and 4 stars.