Piata Victoriei, or Victory Square, is the grand civic heart of Timisoara, a long landscaped pedestrian promenade running between the neo-baroque National Opera House and the towering Metropolitan Cathedral. Lined with cafes, shops and Secession-era buildings, it was the epicentre of the 1989 revolution that began the fall of Romanian communism. Strolling the square, taking in its monuments and history, is essential to understanding the character and recent past of the city.