The Golden Apple arrived in Romania, in Iași
The awarding ceremony took place in the Voivodes Hall of the Iași Palace of Culture, in the presence of the leadership of the International Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (FIJET) and numerous officials from the local community.
The "Golden Apple" trophy was given to Mr. Mihai Chirica, City Mayor of the Municipality of Iași in recognition of the efforts made in promoting and developing local tourism – efforts to which the City Hall of Iași has directly contributed, both through institutional involvement and through its quality as a founding member of the Destination Management Organization (OMD) Association of Iași County.
The candidacy was submitted and supported by the FIJET Romania Tourism Press Club.
Capital of Moldova for 3 centuries, Iași has an impressive collection of religious monuments, heritage buildings, as well as extensive green areas, also with historical and cultural significance. FIJET award is given to the municipality for "contribution to the preservation and enhancement of the natural, cultural and historical heritage of Iași".
The award ceremony in Iași is a valuable opportunity to promote the city and the county as a reference tourist destination at national and international level.
„This new positioning in the international rankings – for which I thank the Tourism Press Club - FIJET Romania! – confirms what we see with our own eyes: Iași has more and more guests from the country and abroad, as well as more and more favorable opinions about our city and its presence in various rankings and specialized studies!” declared Mihai Chirica, Mayor of Iași Municipality.
With a population of almost 400 thousand inhabitants, Iași is one of the largest cities in Romania. Attested in 1408, in a document of the ruler of Moldavia, Alexandru cel Bun, Iași became, over time, an important economic center, especially after, in 1565, ruler Alexandru Lăpuşneanu decided to confer on this settlement the status of capital of Moldavia, a status that would be maintained until 1862 when the administrative union of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia took place.
In the central area of the city today there are many tourist attractions, one of them, impressive in its size, being the Palace of Culture, built on the ruins of the former Princely Court. It was inaugurated a hundred years ago, more precisely on October 11, 1925, by the King of Romania, Ferdinand I. The area of the Palace of Culture was developed about 15 years ago, when office buildings and a mall, considered the largest in this part of Romania, were built.
The National Theatre building in Iași was inaugurated on December 1, 1896. The city hall hired the Viennese architects Hermann Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner, famous at the time for having already completed 23 similar projects. The theatre was also equipped with an electrical plant from which the first public lighting installations in Iași were powered.
Over the centuries, many buildings have been built in Iași that, over time, have become part of the cultural heritage. One of the objectives of a cultural-religious tour is the Metropolitan Cathedral, the place where pilgrims gather in mid-October, for the procession on the occasion of the Feast of St. Parascheva. The Metropolitan Cathedral was inaugurated at the end of the 19th century, in the presence of the King of Romania, Carol I. Nearby is the Church of the Three Hierarchs, an architectural gem. It was built between 1637-1639 by the ruler of Moldavia, Vasile Lupu, and restored at the end of the 19th century by the French architect Andre Lecomte de Nouy. On the outside, it has 30 registers of decorative motifs, which combine Turkish, Georgian, Arabic, Persian, Armenian and Romanian elements.
Participated in the closing conference was Fijet International guests Ludmila Novacka (Slovakia) and Frano Herendija (Croatia) on theme „Good Practice in Destination Management – How to build a competitive European Destination“ and Asma Jerbi Abouda (Tunisia) on theme „AI and Tourism“.
After several Golden Apple Awards, starting from the first "Golden Apple" trophy arrived in Romania in 1975, being awarded to Bukovina, and than Targu Jiu (2014), Oradea(2019) and Timisoara (2023), In 2026, the Municipality of Iasi is on stage!
