Bucharest is also called “Little Paris.” The city's Arcul de Triumf was constructed in 1935 to be modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. According to legend, Bucharest was named after a shepherd called Bucur who was in love with a young lady named Dâmboviţa, like the river that flows through the city.

Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture and art.

The city was founded in 1459 by voivode Vlad Tepes, on the shore of the Dâmbovita river. Later, the city became the principality's capital city. The legends say that the name of the city come from Bucur, a shepherd, or noble, or outlaw.

The Romanian fossils are among the oldest remains of Homo sapiens in Europe. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the western region of one of the earliest European civilizations, known as the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture.