Timişoara, Romania

Timișoara sits on the Bega River in western Romania and is home to roughly 320,000 people. In 1869 it became the first mainland European city to operate a horse-drawn tram, and fifteen years later, in 1884, it was the first European city lit by electric streetlamps. Three Baroque squares — Victory, Liberty, and Union — anchor a largely pedestrian centre. On 16 December 1989 the Romanian Revolution began here, triggered by the attempted eviction of Reformed pastor László Tőkés, and in 2023 the city served as a European Capital of Culture.