Scornicești

Scornicești
—  Town  —
Country	Romania
County	Olt County
Status	Town
Government
– Mayor	Constantin Nedelea (Social Democratic Party)
Area
– Total	168.77 km2 (65.2 sq mi)
Population (2002)
– Total	12,80244°34′12″N 24°33′0″E / 44.57°N 24.55°E / 44.57; 24.55
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.primariascornicesti.ro/

The house in which Nicolae Ceauşescu was born in 1918

Scornicești (Romanian pronunciation: [skorniˈt͡ʃeʃtʲ]) is a town in Olt County, Romania with a population of 12,802. The town administers 13 villages (Bălțați, Bircii, Chițeasca, Constantinești, Jitaru, Mărgineni-Slobozia, Mihăilești-Popești, Mogoșești, Negreni, Piscani, Rusciori, Șuica and Teiuș) and has a total area of 170 km², being the locality with the largest area in the county of Olt, surpassing even its capital Slatina.

Scornicești was the birthplace of communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, who lived here until the age of 11, when he left for Bucharest to become a shoemaker. During his dictatorship, Ceaușescu wanted to make Scornicești a "model town" to house the newly-created "Socialist Man". So, in 1988, he began his plan by demolishing the traditional village houses and replacing them with apartment buildings, and changed the status of the place from "village" to "city" (however, the bulldozers did not destroy the leader's birth home, which is now one of the local attractions - see on WikiMapia).

Ceaușescu also built a large stadium (with a capacity of 30,000 spectators) for the local football team, FC Olt, which, with the help of the Ceaușescus, was promoted to Divizia A. Nowadays, the team plays in the Olt County Championship.

Dinel Staicu, a Romanian millionaire, announced that he is building a museum in Scornicești dedicated to Ceaușescu.

References

• (Romanian) Florian Bichir, "Scorniceşti, oaza de capitalism", Evenimentul Zilei, 25 January 2004
• (Romanian) Alex Nedea, Catalin Pruteanu, "Scorniceşti, again a village", Jurnalul Naţional, 21 July 2005