# Bucharest, piece by piece.

Metro and earthquakes, museums and specialty coffee, eclipses and storms. Each work starts from one question about the city.

## Start here

- [The night Bucharest fell down](https://mariuscomper.uk/cutremurul-din-1977/en/) — 4 March 1977, 21:22: 56 seconds, 32 fallen buildings, 1,578 dead. The map of the night street by street, the ledger of the blocks and the engineer's board that condemns or spares.

## Masterpieces

Six works chosen for visual power, depth and finish: maps, atlases and stories showing everything this page can do.

- [Which came first? Bucharest in order](https://mariuscomper.uk/bucuresti-in-ordine/en/) — A timeline game: place 20 moments from Bucharest's history in order, from the first document of 1459 to the metro and the Revolution. Three mistakes allowed.
- [The metro they built without asking Moscow](https://mariuscomper.uk/metroul-din-bucuresti/en/) — Rejected by Moscow in 1952, opened with 6 stations in 1979: the decision, the digging, the first train, today's network.
- [Bucharest Specialty Coffee: 193 Cafés and Roasteries on the Map](https://mariuscomper.uk/cafea-bucuresti/en/) — The complete Bucharest specialty-coffee map: 193 cafés and 19 roasteries, verified, with addresses, areas and sources. From Origo (2013) to world roasting champions.
- [Bucharest museums: Village, Antipa, Ceausescu House, MNAR, MNIR, Parliament — 2026 fares and hours](https://mariuscomper.uk/muzee-bucuresti/en/) — Six museums with official fares: Village, Antipa, Ceausescu House, MNAR, MNIR, Parliament. Hours and measured access.
- [Ceausescu Bucharest: House, Square, Palace in One Day](https://mariuscomper.uk/bucurestiul-ceausescu/) — Ceaușescu's House, Revolution Square and the Palace of Parliament in one day: booking rules, official tariffs, leg distances, four December 1989 dates and a trilingual glossary.
- [Dragonul Roșu: Bucharest's Chinese wholesale city](https://mariuscomper.uk/dragonul-rosu/en/) — Opened 2003, 10 pavilions, 3,713 shops (this page's sum): Dragonul Roșu is the on-the-ground form of trade with China. Imports from China, from $90m in 1995 to $8,509m in 2024 — 30 years, eight chapters, eight markers, each with a source.

## Selected

- [Bucharest Layover: OTP Transit, Entry, and City Connections](https://mariuscomper.uk/escala-bucuresti/) — Layover hours, documents, and arrival time give the verdict: stay airside, dash into the city, or overnight. Transit and entry rules plus measured train, bus, and taxi data.
- [Bucharest Filled Up First — the ceiling on Romania's license plates](https://mariuscomper.uk/placute/en/) — Every county code has a fixed ceiling: 1,422,234 possible plates. Bucharest reached it in January 2010 and quietly switched to three digits. Sixteen years later, no other county has passed 30% of the same ceiling — except one, which is growing differently. Look up your county on the dashboard.
- [The 1961 eclipse in Bucharest: two minutes under cloud](https://mariuscomper.uk/eclipsa-1961/en/) — The eclipse was total in Bucharest on 15 February 1961, but cloud hid totality from the ground. Newspapers, scientific reports and Romanian archives preserve observations made on the ground and from the aircraft.
- [The City That Learns Before the Next Storm](https://clima-urbana-bucuresti.mariuscomper.uk/en/) — An interactive matrix about heat, storms, extreme rain and the data that can guide Bucharest's response.

## All 11 works, newest first.

- [Which came first? Bucharest in order](https://mariuscomper.uk/bucuresti-in-ordine/en/) — A timeline game: place 20 moments from Bucharest's history in order, from the first document of 1459 to the metro and the Revolution. Three mistakes allowed.
- [The metro they built without asking Moscow](https://mariuscomper.uk/metroul-din-bucuresti/en/) — Rejected by Moscow in 1952, opened with 6 stations in 1979: the decision, the digging, the first train, today's network.
- [The night Bucharest fell down](https://mariuscomper.uk/cutremurul-din-1977/en/) — 4 March 1977, 21:22: 56 seconds, 32 fallen buildings, 1,578 dead. The map of the night street by street, the ledger of the blocks and the engineer's board that condemns or spares.
- [Bucharest Specialty Coffee: 193 Cafés and Roasteries on the Map](https://mariuscomper.uk/cafea-bucuresti/en/) — The complete Bucharest specialty-coffee map: 193 cafés and 19 roasteries, verified, with addresses, areas and sources. From Origo (2013) to world roasting champions.
- [Dragonul Roșu: Bucharest's Chinese wholesale city](https://mariuscomper.uk/dragonul-rosu/en/) — Opened 2003, 10 pavilions, 3,713 shops (this page's sum): Dragonul Roșu is the on-the-ground form of trade with China. Imports from China, from $90m in 1995 to $8,509m in 2024 — 30 years, eight chapters, eight markers, each with a source.
- [Bucharest Layover: OTP Transit, Entry, and City Connections](https://mariuscomper.uk/escala-bucuresti/) — Layover hours, documents, and arrival time give the verdict: stay airside, dash into the city, or overnight. Transit and entry rules plus measured train, bus, and taxi data.
- [Bucharest museums: Village, Antipa, Ceausescu House, MNAR, MNIR, Parliament — 2026 fares and hours](https://mariuscomper.uk/muzee-bucuresti/en/) — Six museums with official fares: Village, Antipa, Ceausescu House, MNAR, MNIR, Parliament. Hours and measured access.
- [Ceausescu Bucharest: House, Square, Palace in One Day](https://mariuscomper.uk/bucurestiul-ceausescu/) — Ceaușescu's House, Revolution Square and the Palace of Parliament in one day: booking rules, official tariffs, leg distances, four December 1989 dates and a trilingual glossary.
- [Bucharest Filled Up First — the ceiling on Romania's license plates](https://mariuscomper.uk/placute/en/) — Every county code has a fixed ceiling: 1,422,234 possible plates. Bucharest reached it in January 2010 and quietly switched to three digits. Sixteen years later, no other county has passed 30% of the same ceiling — except one, which is growing differently. Look up your county on the dashboard.
- [The 1961 eclipse in Bucharest: two minutes under cloud](https://mariuscomper.uk/eclipsa-1961/en/) — The eclipse was total in Bucharest on 15 February 1961, but cloud hid totality from the ground. Newspapers, scientific reports and Romanian archives preserve observations made on the ground and from the aircraft.
- [The City That Learns Before the Next Storm](https://clima-urbana-bucuresti.mariuscomper.uk/en/) — An interactive matrix about heat, storms, extreme rain and the data that can guide Bucharest's response.

Updated: 2026-09-25