Palace Square and Palas Garden, Iași

Palace Square, officially named Piața Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt, lies in the centre of Iași in front of the Palace of Culture, built between 1906 and 1925 in Neo-Gothic style to designs by Ion D. Berindey, which today houses the Moldova National Museum Complex. The palace and the square occupy the site of the old Princely Court of Iași, recorded from 1434. The ruins of the court, uncovered in 1907 when the palace was built, belong to the same ensemble listed as a historic monument (LMI code IS-II-m-A-03957.02). The square holds the equestrian statue of Stephen the Great by the French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet, unveiled on 5 June 1883 in the presence of King Carol I. The statue is flanked by two Krupp cannons made in 1871, captured from the Ottoman army in the War of Independence and donated by Carol I at the unveiling; in 2025 the cannons underwent their first restoration. Beneath the square lie remains of the Princely Court and of the Hotel Petersburg, where a memorial plaque records that the 1848 Proclamation was drafted here. Nearby stands the Princely Church of St Nicholas, founded by Stephen the Great in 1491-1492. East of the palace is the Palas complex, developed by Iulius Group and opened on 31 May 2012, which combines a shopping centre, office buildings, a hotel and a public garden. Palas Garden, at 3 Strada Palat, is laid out on the site of the former gardens of the Princely Court and has artesian fountains, lawns and wide promenades.