Vitan, Bucharest

Vitan is a neighborhood in southeastern Bucharest, Romania, along the Dâmboviţa River, located between Titan, Dristor, Centrul Civic, Olteniței and Berceni.

Vitan on the map of Bucharest

View in Vitan

Its name comes from the Romanian family name "Vitan", presumably a Transylvanian name. Though it is one of the oldest neighborhoods of Bucharest, it was for a long time notorious for its poverty. The Bucharest Mall is situated in the north side of the neighbourhood. The now drained Văcărești Lake is located on the right bank of the Dâmboviţa and the use of the 3.06 square kilometres of land owned by the state (evaluated to about $650 million) is still undecided. The neighborhood was mostly erased to allow for prefabricated apartment buildings to be constructed on their site between 1986 and 1992, with typical architecture of the era (buildings inspired from North Korean designs). Previously, the only new buildings in the area were the Vitan Post Office (1956) and Polyclinic (1967).