The name "Romania" comes from the Latin word "Romanus", meaning "citizen of the Roman Empire".
The earliest Homo Sapiens fossils (in Europe) were discovered in southwestern Romania in 2002. The researchers estimated they date back 37800-42000 years. They were discovered in a cave with 12 galleries, later called "The Cave with Bones" located near the town of Anina in the karst area of Valley Minis.
The first European city with electrically illuminated streets was Timişoara in 1889. One hundred years later, Timișoara is linked to the Romanian revolution that would lead to the removal of the communist regime in Romania and of the leader Nicolae Ceausescu, becoming the first free city from Romania.
Peles Castle in Sinaia mountain resort was the first fully electric lighting castle in Europe. Electricity was produced by the castle's central heating and heating system, built in 1888, it is still used today.
The jet engine was invented in 1910 by the Romanian Henri Coanda. He built the first aircraft powered with reactive propulsion without propellers, which they called conventional "Coandă-1910" presented in 1910 at the International Aeronautical Salon from Paris.
"The Castle in the Carpathians" by Jules Verne and "Dracula" by Bram Stoker are the most famous novels inspired by the legend of Count Dracula from Transylvania, Romania.
Settlement Brad, in Hunedoara county, hosts a unique place in Europe. Gold Museum in Brad, founded in 1896, has gathered in time the largest collection of pieces of native gold in Europe, with currently more than 1,300 exhibits of native gold and more than 1,000 invaluable mineral samples. Among the most spectacular exhibits of native gold, stands out the Dacian flag, a pentagonal crystal, unique in the world, and the gold lizards, valued individually at more than $3 million.
Peri Monastery in Maramures is part of UNESCO World Heritage and is the tallest wooden church in the world. This fact is recorded in the Guinness World Records. Built in the Maramures style, the church was originally plated with 8.5 kg of gold. The cross is 7 meters tall, and it is also wrapped in 4 kg of gold.
The second largest underground glacier in Europe is in the Bihor Mountains in Romania. "Scărişoara Glacier" has a volume of 75,000 cubic meters. Its existence being discovered more than 3500 years ago.