At the end of the world,
on the shore of history.

The settlement's name derives from the medieval Greek κελλία (kellia), meaning "granaries" or "storehouses" — a reference to its commercial function in the Middle Ages, when the port housed large warehouses for grain and transit goods. The name's first documentary attestation appears around the 10th century, in Byzantine and Genoese chronicles.

Over time, the name took local forms in several languages:

The suffix "Veche" (Old) came later, when the settlement's centre of gravity shifted to the northern bank of the Chilia arm, where Stephen the Great built a new fortress in 1479 — which became the nucleus of what is today Chilia Nouă (Kilia, Ukraine).

Byzantine and Vlach-Bulgarian period (7th–14th centuries)

Chilia Veche was part of Thema Paristrion — the Byzantine province along the Danube — in the periods 680 and 915–1186. Between 1186 and 1394, the area came under the control of the Vlach-Bulgarian state. Intense commercial traffic and the natural conditions of the delta fostered the growth of prosperous settlements.

In the second half of the 14th century, Chilia became one of the Genoese commercial bases in the Black Sea region, with a colony led by a consul and its own defensive system at Licostomo. The area simultaneously fell under the influence of the Despotate of Dobruja, which recognised Ottoman suzerainty in 1388.

The battle for Chilia (15th century)

The fortress of Chilia was one of the most contested strategic points in south-eastern medieval Europe. Control of it meant control of the sea outlet through the Danube's largest arm:

Today Chilia Veche and Kilia (Chilia Nouă) face each other from opposite banks of the Chilia arm. The distance between them is a few hundred metres. There is a river crossing between them. Before Russia's 2022 invasion, the factory chimneys of Kilia were visible to the naked eye from Chilia Veche.

Since the outbreak of war, Kilia has become one of the Ukrainian cities subject to rocket and drone attacks. Fragments of Russian drones have fallen on Romanian territory, including in villages along the road to Chilia. This reality has suddenly transformed this forgotten edge of Europe into the NATO border that had to be defended.

The communist regime saw the Danube Delta not as an ecosystem to be protected but as a territory to be exploited. Dozens of lakes were drained, islands transformed into agricultural polders, and tens of thousands of hectares removed from the natural cycle.

At Chilia Veche, the plans included: a slaughterhouse (85% complete at the Revolution), a mechanical workshop, 13 crop farms and three ram-breeding complexes. Seventy-eight engineers passed through the area. None of it exists today.

Babina and Cernovca: destruction and rebirth

The islands of Babina (2,200 ha) and Cernovca (1,580 ha), embanked during communist decades, were abandoned after 1989. In 1993, the Danube Delta Research Institute, ARBDD and WWF launched a pilot rewilding project: the embankments were breached and the islands reconnected to the Danube. Within a few years, the area had returned to fish spawning habitat and waterbird feeding ground — a European-cited success story of ecological restoration.

The Chilia Veche commune area is one of the most hydrologically complex in the entire Delta. The main waterways in the area:

• Tătaru Arm (formerly "Tatomir") — the most important lateral arm in the area, forming the de-facto border with Ukraine along a significant stretch. Known for spectacular catches of wels catfish, carp, pike and pikeperch.
• Gotca Canal — silted up, sectioned, with no direct connection to the Chilia arm. Now crossed by earthen embankments.
• Mila 36 Canal and Stipoc Canal — secondary arteries crossed by bridges on DJ 222N.
• Pardina Canal — partially silted, without an outlet westward into the Chilia arm.

The network of channels, lakes and marshes offers exceptional fishing conditions. The Roșca-Buhaiova-Hrecișca Reserve (15,400 ha) surrounding Lake Matița hosts the largest pelican colony in Europe. Official tourist route No. 9 (Chilia Veche – Babina Arm – Lake Merhei – Lake Matița – Lake Babina) is one of the most spectacular in the Delta.