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Rahova is a neighbourhood of southwest Bucharest, Romania, situated in Sector 5, west of Dâmbovița River. It is named after the town Rahovo (today Oryahovo), site of a battle in the Romanian War of Independence.
The neighborhood stretches from between Antiaeriană and Drumul Sării Avenues to Panduri Square (in the west), Panduri and 13 Septembrie Streets in the north, George Cosbuc Avenue, Viilor and Sălaj Streets in the east and Bucharest City Limits in the South. Roughly, the neighbourhood is organized alongside two important arterial streets (13 Septembrie and Rahovei Streets, and the streets linking them). It neighbors Drumul Taberei, Centrul Civic (at Izvor), and Ferentari. Roughly, Rahova is situated on the Uranus and Viilor hills.
The inhabitants of the neighbourhood split it further in "zones", partially based on the naming and numbering of the block of flats (a specificity of Rahova is that house numbering and postal addressing is not done based on actual street numbers but rather on block numbers - a letter of the zone and an index number). As such, there are seven zones (east to west and north to south): Drumul Sării (DS), Petre Ispirescu (P), Mārgeanului (M), Panduri, 13 Septembrie/Sebastian (S), Rahova (R) and Alexandriei (A).
According to the Local Tax Direction of The 5th District, the population of this area is around 180,000.
Since the 1950s, Rahova entered a period of long urban decay, because it was, until the 1960s, the furthest district from the city centre, had a lack of infrastructure and contained the Rahova Penitentiary, the largest jail in Bucharest. In the early 1970s the area was also the headquarters of the infamous Barbugiu clan, the first organized crime gang to be recognized by the authorities. Calea Rahovei was also known as The Florists' Way ( Drumul Florăreselor), because it was (and to some amount still is) the location of Bucharest's flower markets and flower gardens. Beginning with 1979, much of the old neighborhood was demolished to allow for construction of apartment blocks (the oldest in the area are 3-4 storey apartment buildings, from the early 1960s, and more recent ones from the mid 1970s).
Starting in 1997, various efforts were made to urban renewal the area. Rahova is currently undergoing modernization. Rahova is now linked to city center by a light metro line, upgraded from the existing tram line, with trains running as frequently as every minute. New façades have been built for the apartment buildings along Calea Rahovei (renovation using thermical insulation techniques), as well as significant improvements in the neighborhood high school (including a new swimming pool) and a complete overhaul of the parks, the Flower Market ( Piața de Flori) and Rahova Market. This was done with the support of both the Bucharest City Hall and Sector 5 Mayor (where Rahova is located) and has resulted in the gentrification of the district.
In the morning hours of 17 October 2025, a gas explosion from a faulty heater occurred in Block 32 next to the Dimitrie Bolintineanu Highschool, leading to the deaths of 3 people and injuries to another 14 people.
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