Turnu Magurele

Turnu Măgurele is a municipality in Teleorman County, Romania (in the informal region of Wallachia). Developed nearby the site once occupied by the medieval port of Turnu, it is situated north-east of the confluence between the Olt River and the Danube.

A ferry plies across the Danube to the Bulgarian city of Nikopol. There are some vestiges of a Roman bridge across the Danube, built in 330 by Constantine the Great. It is build in the Danube plain in a fertile land called Burnas plain. At 4 km south-west from it the river Olt joins the Danube. Its medium altitude is 33m above sea level.

The name of the city means "Hill Tower" in Romanian, in reference to the defense-wall tower of a fort built on the spot by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in 6th century (ruins of the facilities can still be seen).

The town was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in 1417, towards the end of Prince Mircea I's rule, and, like Giurgiu and Brăila, constituted a kaza on the left bank of the Danube.
With short interruptions during the anti-Ottoman rebellions of Vlad III Dracula and Michael the Brave, destroyed by Iancu Jianu's hajduks in their campaign against Osman Pazvantoğlu and his successor (1809) and never rebuilt under Turkish rule, Turnu, like the other two kazas, was due to be returned to Wallachia through the 1826 Akkerman Convention - and was ultimately ceded in 1829, through the Treaty of Adrianopole. It became the capital of Teleorman County in 1839.
Avenue in Turnu Măgurele

The village of Islaz, nearby Turnu Măgurele, was the initial center of the 1848 Wallachian revolution (see Proclamation of Islaz). During the Romanian War of Independence, the town served as a base for the campaign in Bulgaria. After the administrative reform of 1968, it became a municipality.

The major tourist attraction is Saint Haralambios Cathedral in the center of the town. Built by Greek farmers at the beginning of the 20th century, the cathedral is based on the plans of Curtea de Argeş Cathedral and constructed in a late renaissance style. Another beautiful landmark is the independence monument. It was constructed due to the major role that Turnu Măgurele played in the Independence War (1877-1878).

A chemical and textile industry (MTM, Manufactura Turnu Măgurele) center in the past, the city has more recently been diversifying its economy (ElectroTurris - a diesel engine factory, and ConservTurris - a food processing plant).

The chemical plant is notorious for the air pollution (issued gases contain ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in times above the norms), and it quite possibly does not meet the EU ecological (air pollution) requirements.