Iași, historically referred to as Jassy, stands as Romania's third-largest city and the seat of Iași County. Nestled within the historic region of Moldavia, it has long been a centre of Romanian social, cultural, academic, and artistic endeavour. From 1564 to 1859, the city was capital of the Principality of Moldavia, subsequently becoming the capital of the United Romanian Principalities from 1859 to 1862, and later serving as the capital of the Kingdom of Romania during the Great War, between 1916 and 1918.

Celebrated as the Cultural Capital of Romania, Iași embodies a profound connection to the nation’s storied past. The illustrious historian Nicolae Iorga once remarked that “there should be no Romanian who does not know of it”. Reverently dubbed “The Moldavian Capital”, Iași is also the foremost economic and business hub of the Moldavian region. In 2018, it was formally declared the Historical Capital of Romania and was also granted the title of Royal City from the Royal House of Romania, both befitting its rich heritage.

As of the 2021 census, the city proper recorded a population of 271,692, while its metropolitan area was home to 423,154 souls. Expanding further to include its peri-urban region, the population exceeds half a million. In 2018, the Iași urban area was noted to encompass 500,668 residents, making it Romania's second most populous urban expanse, surpassed only by Bucharest.

Iași boasts an illustrious academic tradition as home to the oldest Romanian university and the nation’s first engineering school, cementing its role as a beacon of education and research. More than 60,000 students attend its five distinguished public universities. The city's vibrant social and cultural fabric is woven around venerable institutions such as the Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre—the oldest of its kind in Romania—the Moldova State Philharmonic, the Opera House, and the Iași Athenaeum. The city also proudly houses the Botanical Garden, the most expansive and ancient in the country, as well as the Central University Library, itself a monument to learning and history.

Iași's cultural richness is further enhanced by its museums, memorial houses, religious and historical landmarks, cultural centres, and an array of festivals. Each October, it plays host to Romania’s largest pilgrimage, drawing the faithful in their tens of thousands.

Iași’s History

Archaeological investigations affirm the presence of human communities within the present-day boundaries of the city and its environs as early as the prehistoric era. Subsequent settlements included those of the Cucuteni culture, a remarkable late Neolithic civilisation.

Evidence of human habitation in the Iași region extends to the 6th and 7th centuries, particularly around the site of the Princely Court, as well as from the 7th to the 10th centuries. These early settlements featured rectangular dwellings equipped with semicircular ovens. Moreover, numerous vessels dating from the 9th to 11th centuries discovered in Iași bear the symbol of a cross, a detail that suggests the inhabitants were likely adherents of Christianity.

In 1396, Iași was referenced by the German crusader Johann Schiltberger, who participated in the Battle of Nicopolis. The city's name appears officially for the first time in a 1408 document—a charter issued by the Moldavian Prince Alexander the Good, granting specific commercial privileges to Polish merchants from Lviv. Nevertheless, the existence of structures predating 1408, such as the Armenian Church, believed to have been originally constructed in 1395, confirms that the city’s history extends beyond its earliest surviving written mention.

Around 1564, Prince Alexander Lăpușneanu relocated the capital of Moldavia from Suceava to Iași. Earlier, between 1561 and 1563, the Greek adventurer and ruler Prince Jacob Heraclid established a school and a Lutheran church in the city.

In 1640, under the enlightened rule of Prince Basil Lupu, Iași witnessed the founding of its first school where Romanian supplanted Greek as the medium of instruction. Lupu also established a printing press within the magnificent Byzantine Three Hierarchs Monastery, constructed between 1635 and 1639. From 15 September to 27 October 1642, Iași served as the venue for the Synod of Iași. The following year, the first book to be printed in Moldavia was produced in the city.

  • View of Iași, 17th century

Despite its cultural and scholarly advancements, Iași endured frequent devastation. The city was repeatedly burned and plundered: by the Tatars in 1513, 1574, 1577, and 1593; the Ottomans in 1538; and the Cossacks and Tatars together in 1650. Additionally, the Poles ravaged the city in 1620 and 1686. Epidemics such as the plague of 1734 and periods of famine in 1575, 1724, and 1739–1740 inflicted further suffering. Fires, often exacerbated by the prevalence of wooden structures, caused widespread destruction in 1725, 1735, 1753, 1766, and 1785.

In 1792, the Treaty of Iași brought an end to the sixth Russo-Ottoman War. Decades later, the city was occupied in 1821 by Alexander Ypsilanti and the Filiki Eteria during the early stages of the Greek War of Independence, an action that prompted a Turkish assault in 1822. The city was also afflicted by a major conflagration in 1844, which devastated large portions of its territory. In 1848, during the Springtime of the Peoples, Moldavia’s young aristocrats—who studied in Paris—tried bringing the revolutionary ideas to their home. Their ideals would not take hold, as the Russian army, called by Prince Michael Sturdza, swiftly ended the Moldavian Revolution of ‘48.

  • The Habsburg Army Attacks Besieges Iași, 1788

From 1859 to 1862, Iași shared the role of de facto capital of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia alongside Bucharest. In 1862, with the formal recognition of the union of the two principalities under the name Romania, Bucharest was designated as the national capital.

  • Views of Iași, 19th century

During the Great War, Iași once again became the capital of Romania for two years, following the occupation of Bucharest by the Central Powers on 6 December 1916. The capital returned to Bucharest after the defeat of Germany and its allies in November 1918. In late 1918, during November and December, Iași hosted the Iași Conference, a gathering of anti-Bolshevik political figures that met in the city.

In May 1944, the Iași region became a theatre of intense combat as Romanian-German forces clashed with the advancing Soviet Red Army, leaving the city partially destroyed. The German Panzergrenadier Division “Großdeutschland” achieved a defensive victory at the Battle of Târgu-Frumos, near Iași—a conflict that later became the subject of several NATO studies during the Cold War. By 20 August, however, Iași had fallen to Soviet forces.

Iași endured severe damage from aerial and artillery bombardments. Soviet airstrikes in June and July 1941, and again in June 1944, were compounded by American airstrikes in June 1944. On 20 August 1944, Soviet bombing and shelling caused the deaths of more than 5,000 civilians and devastated two-thirds of the city.

  • Aerial view of Iași, 1916

  • Scottish officers in front of a hospital in Iași, 1917

  • King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iași, 1918

  • Aerial view of Iași, 1944

  • Traffic controler in Iași, 1944

  • Soviet troops enter Iași, 1944

During the period between 1955 and 1989, Iași underwent significant industrialisation. The Communist era saw a considerable influx of migrants from rural areas, leading to an expansion of the urban landscape. Under Communist rule, Iași experienced a dramatic 235% growth in population and a 69% increase in area. The systematisation of the old city commenced in 1960 and continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s as part of the broader national urban planning programme. However, this development was often marked by arbitrary planning decisions and subsequent inefficiencies, as many historical landmarks were torn down to be replaced by Soviet-style blocks.

By 1989, Iași had evolved into a heavily industrialised city, with 108,000 individuals—47% of the total workforce—employed across 46 major state-owned enterprises. These enterprises spanned a wide range of industries, including machine building and heavy equipment, chemicals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, metallurgy, electronics, food production, energy, construction materials, and furniture manufacturing.

Following the fall of the Communist regime and the transition to a free market economy, the private sector began to flourish, although much of the former industrial base gradually fell into decline.