Galaţi

Galaţi or Galatz (both: gäläts'), city (1990 pop. 326,139), E Romania, on the lower Danube. It is a regional administrative and economic center and a major inland port, home of the Romanian Danube flotilla. Grain and timber are the chief exports. The city is also an important rail junction and has a large iron and steel plant and the nation's largest shipyard. Of medieval origin, Galaţi became an international trading center in the 18th cent. and was a free port from 1834 to 1883. It was the seat (1856-1939) of the European Danube Navigation Commission. In 1944, German troops devastated the town and killed more than half the population. Galaţi is the see of an Orthodox bishop and is a cultural center. An agricultural college and a technical institute are in the city. The 17th-century Cathedral of St. George contains the tomb of Ivan Mazeppa.