Adapted from a feature that first appeared in September 2025 on Londonist: Time Machine, our much-praised history newsletter. To be the first to read new history features like this, sign up for free here.
Today, I’m delighted to publish what might be the first account of London from a Romanian traveller. And I’ll give you a spoiler up front: you’re in for a treat.
A Continental Amazed by London gives us the impressions of Ion Codru Drăgușanu (1818-1884), who visited our city in 1840 while still a young man. It’s a sparkling account of the city (mostly the West End) in the early Victorian period, from a rare east-European perspective.
The text was translated and sent to me by Mihai Risnoveanu, formerly of the Romanian Cultural Centre in London, and includes a short introduction by Ramona Mitrica. It was first published in the Cultural Centre’s newsletter in 2008, but is not available online. I have reproduced it exactly as sent, and included my own comments beneath each section, to offer further context.
By coincidence, this article goes out on 10 September 2026, the 186th anniversary of Ion Codru-Drăgușanu’s journey from Paris to London.
