Romania. Iași County. Iasi. Students standing at University Square outside the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University. The main building was built in 1897 in a mixture of Neoclassical and Baroque styles, The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza") is a public university. The University of Iași, as it was named at first, is the oldest higher education institution in Romania, founded one year after the establishment of the Romanian state, by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mihăileană was converted to a university. Iași (also referred to as Iasi, Jassy or Iassy) is the largest city in eastern Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, academic and artistic life. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1564 to 1859, then of the United Principalities from 1859 to 1862, and the capital of Romania from 1916 to 1918. 12.06.15 © 2015 Didier Ruef