PHOTO GALLERY! Statue of Liberty, Tour Eiffel and 136 year old Traian hotel in Iasi have the same builder: Gustave Eiffel

The Traian Hotel in Iasi is one of the most important buildings of the city. On auction now, after the last owner, Turism Moldova SA company, went bankrupted, the initial theater was built in 1882 by the well known french engineer Gustave Eiffel, the builder of Statue of Liberty and Paris Tower.

The construction works were carried out between 1879-1882, being executed by the Eiffel-led firm. As a result of the very large construction costs, Scarlat Pastia – the first owner – was ruined. In order to cover his debts, he had to give the building to one of his creditors, Urban Credit and the new owner turned the property into a hotel that brought more income than a theater. Subsequently, the hotel was owned by the Jewish family Theitler.

In 1942, the property was expropriated from the heirs of Adolf Theitler and in 1943, the Iasi City Hall renovated the hotel with its own funds. Even worst, Hotel Traian was nationalized in 1950.

After the Revolution, Hotel Traian was transferred to Turism Moldova SA, a state capital company. In 2001, after the Law no. 10/2001, Israeli citizen Carol Theitler (born in Pascani in 1924 and emigrated to Israel in the 1960s) claimed 36 nationalized properties, including the Traian, Astoria and Continental hotels. But in the same year, businessman Danut Prisecariu, the owner of Alimentara SA, purchased from Rasdaq the stock packages held by SIF Transilvania, SIF Banat-Crişana and SIF Moldova at Turism Moldova SA.

In January 2002, after a capital increase, to which Prisecariu participated with ROL (old lei) 25.6 billion, thus reaching 60.04 percent of the company’s share capital. One year later, Prisecariu acquired 30.4 percent of the company share capital from the Ministry of Tourism and became the owner of 90 percent of the share capital of the company that had Traian Hotel’s patrimony.

In 2006, after an EUR 4 million investment, Hotel Traian received the classification of 4 stars, and now, 12 years later, the Tutism Moldiva company went bankrupt, so its actives are on sale.

The Grand Hotel Traian has 68 rooms (Royal Suite, Eiffel Suite, 2 studios, 17 single rooms, 45 double rooms and 2 rooms for disabled people), equipped with classic-style furniture and modern amenities.