During this tour of Bucharest you will discover the intricate history of the city as well as other trivia facts about its inhabitants over the ages. You will be picked up from a convenient place for your, then we`ll drive around the city. We will have several stops for a better view and understanding of the touristic objectives. Here is a list of some of the places you`ll see during the tour:
The Romanian Atheneum - C. Esarcu, V.A. Ureche and N. Kretulescu founded in 1865 the institution of the Athenaeum with the aim to "endow people with useful knowledge". To raise the founds for the construction the municipality organized a public collection with the motto "Give a penny for the Athenaeum". In 1886 the construction began by the plans of the French architect Albert Galleron and it was inaugurated on 14 February 1888. The Bucharest Filarmonica "G. Enescu" headquarters are here, and here performed some of the most important conductors and soloists singers of the twentieth century: Erich Kleiber, Sergiu Celibidache, Ionel Perlea, Herbert von Karajan, Dinu Lipatti, Arthur Rubinstein, Pablo Casals, Yehudi Menuhin a.s.o.
The Opera House - Although manifestations of the lyric genre in Romania date back to the nineteenth century, The Romanian Opera House is relatively new, built in 1953 by the architect Octav Doicescu. It has a capacity of 2200 seats. On the top floor there is the Opera Museum where there are exhibited documents, photographs, costumes depicting the development of this artistic genre in Romania. In front of the building there is a statue of the great musician George Enescu, a bronze sculpture by Ion Jalea.
Cismigiu Garden - On the site of the present park, there was a large pond called Dura the merchant's pool. It gained its current name from the ruler of the city`s wells and fountains (cismigiu) who lived near by. In 1847 under the guidance of Carl F.W.Meyer, a Viennese landscaper, the planning work began and in 1854 the garden was officially opened. Cismigiu Garden impresses today through the floral arrangements, the special collection of arboretum material, here being present some specimens declared protected trees. Cismigiu is never desert, being searched for coolness in summer, vegetation and the lake dotted with boats, which becomes a natural ice skating rink during the winter.
Stavropoleus Church - Hidden among some higer buildings, Stavropoleos church lies behind the former Post Office Palace (nowadays the National Museum of History). This small and very beautiful church was built by a Greek monk named Ioanichie. It is a place showing some of the most representative influences of the late Brincovean architectural art. The stone columns, the pedestals, the capitals, the porch with railing enchants the eye through the sculptures craft with motifs of animals and plants. Some earthquakes over the years, especially the "big one" in 1802 and then the 1838 caused great damage, destroying the tower above the nave. The restoration begins only in 1900, under the direction of the architect Ion Mincu. He diligently worked until the year of his death in 1912; completion of his work is done by one of his students, arch. Alexander Zagoritz.
The Old Princely Court - (Curtea Veche), today a complex of ruined fortifications, rooms and medieval foundations is probably one of the most important and oldest monument of Bucharest. Often ignored due to the disrepair state and abandonment, the entire historical center of Bucharest suffering of the same, the Old Court has long been neglected except for some archaeological research. Currently, however, this situation began to improve starting with the renovation projects and rehabilitation of the old Bucharest. The visiting of the Old Court gradually becomes a fascinating journey into the tortuous and hidden past of Bucharest.
The Metropolitan Church - The Patriarchal church building was started by Constantin Serban Basarab ruler in 1656, but will be finished much later by one of his his successors, Radu Leon, only in 1668 and is dedicated to "St. Constantine and Helena". After this year, the prince hailed it the country Metropolitan Church and because of it`s location on a mound, the people of Bucharest calls it the Metropolitan Hill. From the high monastic settlements at the same time with the church, only a beautiful and imposing bell tower remained, built by Constantin Brancoveanu at the beginning of his reign, in 1698. The Metropolitan Church is a larger copy of the Neagoe Basarab`s church from Curtea de Arges. It has a note the simplicity, robustness, balance.
The Parliament Palace - (aka the People's House) was built in the '80s on the so called Spirea Hill (named after a famous doctor of the area), when the "urbanization" of the entire neighborhood was started following the "genius founder indications" – this refferes to the las communist dictator of Romania before the `90s – Nicoale Ceausescu. Built on an artificial hill, the People`s House has a height of 84m (12 floors) has a dominant, imposing note, and with its area of 330,000 square meters, is the second largest administrative building in the world, after the Pentagon. Ceausescu wanted to be the residence of the presidency, the Central Committee of the Communist Party and some other ministries. The palace is built in the shape of a pyramid without a top (there were tested several domes, but the idea was dropped) and contains large halls, long corridors, numerous huge rooms. The largest hall is called the Union Hall, with a height of 16 m and an area of 2200 square meters, here appears the largest chandelier of the building, weighing three tons. It has 7000 light-bulbs.
The Triumphal Arch - was built in 1922 of wood and stucco, in honor of the proclamation of the Union, after the victory of the Roman armies in World War One. This one will be replaced with one made of stone, designed by the architect Petre Antonescu, between 1935-1936.
The south facade is beautifully adorned with two bronze medallions, depicting the faces of King Ferdinand and Queen Mary, which replace the originals destroyed by the communist regime after the '80s. In their place they were applied two large stone flowers, which were taken down after 1989 and restored the royal portraits instead.
The Village Museum - In the spring of 1936 the Romanian Village Museum was founded, a collective creation of the Romanian Sociological School, founded and led by Professor Dimitrie Gusti. The first one who thought of a collection of folk art, types of farms and their presentation as an exhibition, was the writer Al. Odobescu, long time ago.
Since its opening, the museum covered an area of 5 hectares and only 30 peasant houses, characteristic of different parts of the country. To their relocation took part men of culture, specialists, 1,100 workers of various trades and 130 craftsmen from the villages of the selected homes. Over the years, the area museum grown to about 15 ha, while the number of building located exceeds the number of 300, out of which over 4 ha are equipped with all the essentials of a peasant home-stead (workshops, outbuildings, churches, etc.).
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