THE SIOS MONUMENT

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At the end of the 19th century the elite of Sibiu thought of creating an association with the aim of arranging the dirty or old spaces of the town, the finality was the modernization and embellishment of the town of Sibiu. Therefore this initiative was called The Society for the Embellishment of the Town of Sibiu.

This society was responsible for the arrangement of the space between the medieval fortifications and their transformation into parks, the best known being the ASTRA Park of today. Another important and meaningful project was the arrangement of the SubArini Park, which turned the city limits into a beautiful promenade place loved by all the inhabitants of Sibiu of yesterday and today. The name has its origin in the alder tree (arin) which prevails in this park.

The park has 22 hectares and was established in 1856 through the decision of the Magistrate. The community hired the engineer Wolfgang Seifried. This organized the park around two alleys, one on the former channel of the swimming school and the other along the Sevis brook. In 1859 the dig which controls the water flux of the brook was built. The first construction appeared in 1865 when the “Bolta Rece” Restaurant which has resisted until today.

The company of the insurance bank financed the arrangement of the fish lake which was rapidly drained because it had become a malaria hotbed. From this moment the arrangement was taken over by the Society for Embellishment. They built the glass house, the artesian well, the music kiosk and financed the introduction of the street lightning.

In the period of the First World War a series of squad of Romanian soldiers reached this area and that was the closest point to the centre of the town. After the unification the Society for Embellishment continued the investments through the making of the rose collection and of the Alpine corner. The ASTRA Association erected in 1938 the statue of Mihai Eminescu made by the sculptor Radu Moga.

In the communist period the park underwent major transformations. Only after the year 2000 the jogging lane and the biking route were made.