On May 6, 1990, the iron curtain between the USSR and Romania fell, and Romanians from both banks of the Prut – separated for 50 years – reunited and threw flowers on the river water to mark the event. That’s why the action bears the symbolic name “Flower Bridge”, and today marks 34 years since that moment.
More than a million people participated in the first “Bridge of Flowers”, organized on May 6, 1990, when the border to Bessarabia could be crossed without documents.
The bridge signifies brotherhood, the desire for closeness, the common history of the population on the two banks of the Prut. This first opening of the borders between Romania and the Republic of Moldova materialized in thousands of flowers thrown into the water of the Prut from both banks.
On that day, between 13:00 and 19:00, Romanian residents were allowed to cross the Prut without a passport or visa. Along the 700 km border on the Prut, eight crossing points were created: Miorcani – Pererita, Stânca – Costesti, Iaşi – Sculeni, Ungheni – Pod Ungheni, Albiţa – Leuşeni, Fălciu – Ţiganca, Oancea – Cahul and Galati – Giurgiulesti.
The second “Flower Bridge” took place on June 16, 1991.
Even if the goal of reunification was not achieved then, the moment of the “Flower Bridges” reactivated many people’s awareness of the fact that regardless of which part of the Prut they live in, they belong to one nation.
