Elisabeta Esplanade (Râpa Galbenă), Iași

The Elisabeta Esplanade lies in the area that locals call Râpa Galbenă (the Yellow Ravine, also Râpa Muntenimii or Râpa Mare), at the foot of Copou hill on Strada Râpa Galbenă, between the railway station area and the city centre. The ground here is clay, crossed by many underground springs running down from Copou towards the Bahlui plain, and for a long time clay for building and pottery was dug from the ravine. The opening of Iași railway station in 1870 and the growth of the area made it necessary to develop the ravine. Nicolae Gane, several times mayor of Iași, proposed a drainage project in 1897; the sewer plans were drawn up by the engineer Charles Chaugneau and the esplanade was designed by the architect Inginio Vignali. The project was approved by the town council on 3 March 1898, the wall and stairs were finished in November 1900, and final acceptance was signed on 7 March 1902 by Mayor Constantin B. Pennescu. A public garden was laid out on the drained land, later replaced by the Râpa Galbenă railway workers' housing estate, inaugurated in 1925. The ensemble consists of a semicircular central block with an upper terrace, framed by two monumental curved staircases. At the lower level the three structures enclose a small garden, with a little cascade on the façade of the central block. Each staircase has three small balconies on its inner side, overlooking niches. The stairs carry pedestrians between the station area, Copou hill and the city centre. The Elisabeta Esplanade is a historic monument, LMI code IS-II-m-B-04014, dated to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is a public space with free access.