(in ,
Romania . It covers a land surface of 41km&
2 and has an estimated population of 210,469.
The city is situated in the foothills of the
Carpathian Mountains , and on the
Bistriţa River , which meets the
Siret River about 8
Kilometre s (5
Mile s) to the south of Bacău. The
Ghimeş Pass links Bacău to
Transylvania .
The earliest known reference to the city dates from
1408 during the rule of
Alexandru Cel Bun . The etymology is unclear, but one possibility is being derived from the name of a dark-age Hungarian warlord, ''Bakó'', which also gives the Hungarian name of the city.
During
WWI and the occupation of
Wallachia by the Germans, Bacău was the headquarters of the
Romanian Army .
The city is about 300 km north of
Bucharest .
The city of Bacău is served by
Bacău International Airport which provides daily direct links with Romanian cities Bucharest and
Timişoara , and international links with 11 cities in
Italy and
Germany .
The Bacău railway station (''Gara Bacău'') is one of the busiest in Romania; it has access to the Romanian railway main trunk number 500. Thus the city is connected to the main Romanian cities; the railway station is an important transit stop for international trains from
Ukraine ,
Russia ,
Bulgaria .
The city has access to the
DN2 road (
E85 ) that links it to the Romanian capital, Bucharest (to the south) and the cities of
Suceava and
Iaşi (to the north). The
European Route ''E574'' is an important access road to Transylvania and the city of
Braşov . Also the city is located also at the intersection of several national roads of secondary importance.
The city of Bacău is disputing with Iaşi the unofficial position of
Moldova 's most important economic centre. The city benefits from the existence of an airport and it has access to several European roads.
Although not a traditional educational centre in Romania, Bacău has a public university and several colleges.
The ''Bacău Athenaeum'' and a philharmonic orchestra are located here, as well as ''Bacovia Dramatic Theatre''.
Bacǎu is also the birthplace of some of Romania's most important writers,like Vasile Alecsandri and George Bacovia.
The local football team
FCM Bacău plays in the first Romanian championship,
Divizia A , being a team with moderate and respectable results.
