The 1860?s are a good time for education, itself modernized as the Zeitgeist demanded: in the cityscape, highschools such as ?Gheorghe Lazar? or ?Matei Basarab? become notable landmarks, and from 1865 on, ?Mihai Viteazul? is as notorious. From their earliest days, highschool students added some colour to the streets of the city, even if they were easily told apart because of their rather sombre uniforms. It was bon ton to be seen as a student carrying around a pack of books from one of the city?s bookshops, be it Hachette, Socec or others; without a uniform, a student could also be seen on less respectable streets, or in public houses, but people were generally tolerant and would turn a blind eye on such off-track behavior that went with the young age.  The summer of 1865 welcomes the presence of the majestic building of the University, and the more and more active involvement of the teachers, professors and intellectuals in the cultural life of the time will lead to the establishment, in 1866, of the Literary Society ? the future Romanian Academy (starting 1878).

            In 1864, the ancient City Council will be replaced by the Municipality Hall (following the example of important European capitals); thereafter, the mayor will be a key character in urban life and the truth is that there were some remarkable mayors towards the close of the century, without whose determination the planning of major roads (going from East to West and from North to South, after 1890) would probably have been delayed. Mayor Pache Protopopescu was one of the keenest in these matters.

            When on May 10^th 1866, Carol I, the future king, arrived in Bucharest, Romania had officially adopted the International Standardization System for two years (so to say, people were growing accustomed to the meter,  the liter, the kilogram). Of course, old standard units were still in use in markets, as were unbalanced scales, never turning in favour of the customer. The calendar was a special issue ? it took several decades for the Gregorian calendar to be adopted, and the 13-day lag as to the Western calendar to be recuperated. To this day, there are people who claim that it was not days, but decades we lagged behind the West, and not simply in point of calendars, but in every way...

            Starting May 10^th 1877, in the context of new Russian and Turkish wars, Romania becomes independent from the Ottoman empire and, naturally, the jubilant capital could not neglect the event, in which the Romanian army had behaved in a quite honourable manner. On October 8^th 1878, the victorious Romanian troops marched on the Mogosoaia Bridge (hereafter to be known as the Victoria Road), while several streets were named in memory of the Independence War (for instance, Plevna Road, Grivita Road, Rahova Road, Dorobanti Road, Smardan Road, etc.)