University of Bucharest

The University of Bucharest (in Romanian: Universitatea din București), in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest. It is the second oldest modern university in Romania.

In 1694 Constantin Brâncoveanu, ruler of Wallachia, had founded the Princely Academy of Saint Sava in Bucharest with lectures delivered in Greek. In 1776, Alexander Ypsilantis, ruler of Wallachia, reformed the curriculum of the Saint Sava Academy, where courses of French, Italian and Latin were now taught. In 1859, the Faculty of Law was created. In 1857, Carol Davila created the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy. In 1857, the foundation stone of the University Palace in Bucharest was laid.

On July 4/16 1864 Prince Alexander John Cuza created the University of Bucharest, bringing together the Faculties of Law, Sciences and Letters as one single body. In the following years, new faculties were created: 1884 – the Faculty of Theology; 1906 – the Institute of Geology; 1913 – the Academic Institute for Electrotechnology; 1921 – the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; 1923 – the Faculty of Pharmacy, 1924 – the Mina Minovici Institute of Forensic Medicine.

In 1956, student leaders, mainly from this university, planned a peaceful protest against Romania's Communist regime but were forcibly prevented from carrying it out. (See Bucharest student movement of 1956)

For a while (1950s-early 1960s), it was called the "C. I. Parhon University", after C. I. Parhon.