Bucharest (Bucuresci), the capital of the former principality of Wallachia and of the present kingdom of Roumania, stands 265 feet above sea-level, in the fertile but treeless plain of the small sluggish Dambovitza. By rail it is 716 miles SE. of Vienna, 40 N. of Giurgevo on the Danube, and 179 NW. of Varna on the Black Sea. A strange meeting-point of East and West, the town as a whole is but meanly built, but the streets are now mostly paved, and lighted with gas. An elaborate system of fortification was undertaken in 1885. The royal palace was rebuilt in 1885; and the Catholic cathedral is a fine edifice of 1875-84. The number of cafes and gambling-tables is excessive; and altogether Bucharest has the unenviable reputation of being the most dissolute capital in Europe, with all the vices but few of the refinements of Paris. There is, however, a university (1864). The corso, or public promenade, is a miniature Hyde Park. Bucharest is the entrepot for the trade between Austria and the Balkan Peninsula, the chief articles of commerce being textile fabrics, grain, hides, metal, coal, timber, and cattle. Bucharest has been several times besieged; and between 1793 and 1812 suffered twice from earthquakes, twice from inundations, once from fire, and twice from pestilence. Pop. (1866) 141,754; (1901) 282,100.