Address: Kiseleff Blv. nr. 1, Bucuresti, Sector 1 (locate on map)
Tel: (021) 312-88-26
Fax: (021) 312-88-63

Visiting program: Wed – Sun: 10.00 - 17.00


About it
The official mission of the Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History is to study bio-diversity, starting with its own collections, and to transfer specific knowledge to the public, aiming towards its education as well as its entertainment. The Museum’s target is to circulate information regarding both Romanian and worldwide fauna, and to turn the attention of a large audience towards contemporary issues related to the protection of natural environments and conservation of various habitats (e.g. global warming).
 
The Grigore Antipa Museum originates in the National Museum of Natural History and Antiques, initiated in 1834. The present edifice housing the museum collections was designed and built in 1914 by Grigore Antipa, a well known scientist, the inventor of the dioramas. The building is the first designed as a museum in the Old Romanian Kingdom, and it has been very modern in what concerned its role, facilities, and exhibition concepts as well. Ever since the opening, one can marvel at the first bio-geographical dioramas in the world: the Sahara desert, the African savanna, the American prairie and the Siberian tundra. These dioramas were taken as models by similar institutions in the world, including prestigious ones in Paris, Berlin, Sankt Petersburg. Even today, at the American Natural History Museum in New York one can see augmented replicas of some of the dioramas from the Grigore Antipa Museum.

Today the heritage counts more than 1.300.000 specimens grouped in 130 collections of the majority of the animal species. The following broad scientific collections are present: minerals and rocks; fossils; invertebrates; insects; fish; amphibians and reptiles; mammals; compared anatomy; ethnography and anthropology. The value of the collection is increased by more than 5,000 specimens, describing totally new species, some of them unique in the world.
The zoological collections of the museum - the most numerous and diverse in Romania - make possible a thorough documentation of biodiversity on the territory of this country and even beyond its borders; the geological and paleontological collections reveal the peculiarities of the evolution of the earth and of the fauna on the present Romanian territory; and the ethnographic collections emphasize one of the subtlest aspects of biodiversity: socio-cultural diversity. The museum owns property listed in the National Cultural Heritage Treasure.

Address: Kiseleff Blv, Sectorul 1, Bucuresti (locate on map)


About it

Raised in 1922 to commemorate Romania's World War I dead, the original construction was made of wood, and replaced by the actual one;
The first wooden Triumphal Arch (in Romanian: Arcul de Triumf) was built hurriedly, after Romania won its independence (1878), so that the victorious troops could march under it. Another temporary arch was built on the same site, in 1922, after World War I, which was demolished in 1935 to make way for the current triumphal arch, which was inaugurated in September 1936.

Petru Antonescu designed the concrete structure in 1935. Standing 27 meters high, the Arch has a staircase that allows curious visitors to climb to the terrace on the top of the monument. The sculptures that decorate the monument were created by leading artists of the day, including Ion Jalea, Dimitrie Paciurea, Constantin Medrea and Constantin Baraschi.

The Triumphal Arch in Bucharest is a little smaller than the one in Paris, but it is also located at the intersection of (six) boulevards. More precisely, it is located in the northern part of Bucharest, on the Kiseleff Boulevard.

Address: Blv. Ion C. Bratianu Nr. 2, Sector 3, Bucuresti (locate on map)
Tel: (021) 315 68 58; Fax: (021) 310 25 62

Visit schedule: Wed – Sun between 10:00 – 18:00

About it
The Great Costache Sutu, together with two Venetians architects had built the Sutu Palace in a neo-gothic style, which has encountered its true glamour in the beginning of the 19th century, due to the prestigious and luxuriant events held by the Sutu family. The building was well known in the last century for the balls and the dancing evenings organized here. The pomp of Sutu Palace was otherwise admired and envied by Bucharest high society. The museum settled in 1921, contains over 400.000 historical objects that give relevance of the city memory - facts, events and personalities.
The museum features some 300,000 artifacts, from coins, books, maps, engravings, paintings, arms and furniture to old traditional costumes. Among the most valuable exhibits is the document attesting for the first time the name of the city of Bucharest, issued by Vlad Tepes in 1459, and a sword set in precious stones that belonged to Prince Constantin Brancoveanu (1688-1714).

Address: Blv. Kiseleff nr. 28-30, sector 1, Bucuresti (locate on map)
Tel: +40 21 317 91 03
E-mail: contact@muzeul-satului.ro
Web: www.muzeul-satului.ro

Visit hours: Mondays 9:00 - 17:00; Tue – Sun 9:00 - 19:00
Entry fees: Adults - 6 Lei; Students and children - 1,5 lei
Transport: Metro Aviatorilor, or bus 331 or 131 to Herastrau Parc


About it

The Village Museum (in Romanian: Muzeul Satului), lying in a specific Romanian setting, on the Herãstrãu lake shore in Bucharest, is one of the biggest and the oldest outdoors museum in Europe. Its exhibits – genuine monuments including houses, barns, pens, wooden churches, water and wind mills, cloth mills, of great historic and artistic value - acquaint the visitors in two hours with the specific of the Romanian village. The objects inside the households - carpets, pottery, rugs, icons, furniture - point to the originality of the folk creation, the sensibility and care for the beauty of the rural people.

The Village Museum is an open-air ethnographic museum showcasing traditional Romanian village life. The museum extends to over 100,000 m2, and contains 272 authentic peasant farms and houses from all over Romania.
It was created in 1936 by Dimitrie Gusti, Victor Ion Popa, and Henri H. Stahl.
There are other "village museums" throughout Romania, including ASTRA National Museum (in Sibiu).

Traditionally dressed peasant workers portray life during the 16th and 17th centuries along with everyday tools and accessories. Traditional crafts are also for sale around the site.

Address: Blv. Mihail Kogalniceanu nr. 70-72, Sector 5, Bucuresti (locate on map)
Tel: +40 21 314 69 80
Fax: +40 21 310 26 60
Web: www.operanb.ro

Access: Subway –Eroilor station

About it

The city's artistic life stood up to its Parisian nickname in the 1930s and today, is as vibrant as ever. The Opera House, completed in 1953, is worth visiting, not only for its brilliant performances but also for the lavish interior design. The world-renowned Romanian Opera performs in Romanian as well as Italian and German. You will be able to enjoy the classic repertoire - Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, Mozart -, innovative staging, lavish costumes, seasoned performers and choreographers. The Romanian National Ballet also performs in this theatre.
Performances are held Wednesday through Sunday evenings, except during July and August.

The history of the Bucharest lyrical performance closely mirrors the evolution of the Romanian society over the last two centuries, more and more naturally integrated into the European civilization. Thus, the beginnings of professional music in the Romanian Principalities coincide with the staging of musical shows, the opera performances opening for the audience perspectives beyond imagination, on the cultural and knowledge levels of musical masterpieces.

At the time, the Romanian territory was crossed by a great number of foreign companies halting in the big cities, offering performances with Italian and German repertoires, as early as the end of the 17th century (the performing companies in Bucharest were led by Livio Cinti, Eduard Kreibig, Fourneaux brothers, Th. Gofrey.

After 1950, the Opera received, finally, a new location, meant to replace the former one which had been destroyed during the World War II bombardments of the capital. Thus, new better conditions were provided in order to stage top lyrical and choreographic productions. The inauguration of the new building of the Opera House was marked, on the 9th of January 1954, with the premiere The Queen of Spades by Ceaikovski, followed by the premiere of the ballet Coppelia (on the 10th of January 1954), in a production signed by the choreographer master Anton Romanowski. Naturally, a period of great artistic expansion followed, the repertoire including Romanian works of certain value. At that time, the role of the lyrical theater was undoubtedly imposing itself, as Opera artists participated in the national cultural events, the most famous of them being referred to according to their distinctions of “Merited Artist” or “Artist of the People”.

Address: Str. Izvor nr. 2-4, Sector 5, Bucharest (locate on map)
Tel: 021 402 14 28

Visit hours: daily, between 10:00 and 16:00


About it   

The Palace of the Parliament (in Romanian: Palatul Parlamentului) in Bucharest is a multi-purpose building sheltering both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building (The Pentagon building being the largest overall), most expensive administrative building, and heaviest building.
The Palace was designed and nearly completed under the Ceausescu regime as the seat of political and administrative power. Nicolae Ceausescu named it the House of the Republic (Casa Republicii), but many Romanians called it the People's House (Casa Poporului).

Description
The Palace measures 270 m by 240 m, 86 m high, and 92 m under ground. It has 1,100 rooms, 2 underground parking garages and is 12 stories tall, with four additional underground levels currently available and in use, and with other four in different stages of completion.
The structure combines elements and motifs from multiple sources, in an eclectic neoclassical architectural style. The building is constructed entirely of materials of Romanian origin. Estimates of the materials used include one million cubic meters of marble from Transylvania, most from Ruschita; 3,500 tones of crystal — 480 chandeliers, 1,409 ceiling lights and mirrors were manufactured; 700,000 tones of steel and bronze for monumental doors and windows, chandeliers and capitals; 900,000 m³ of wood (over 95% domestic) for parquet and wainscoting, including walnut, oak, sweet cherry, elm, and sycamore maple; 200,000 m² of woolen carpets of various dimensions (machines had to be moved inside the building to weave some of the larger carpets); velvet and brocade curtains adorned with embroideries and passementeries in silver and gold.

Construction
Built and rebuilt overnight, the haughty "Republic House" had swallowed tens of billions of lei and a huge volume of work before the Revolution.
Built on the site of a hill variously known as Spirii Hill, Uranus Hill, or Arsenal Hill, which was largely razed for this mega project, the building anchors the west end of Unirii Boulevard and Centrul Civic. Constructing the Palace and Centrul Civic required demolishing much of Bucharest's historic district, including 19 Orthodox Christian churches, six Jewish synagogues, three Protestant churches (plus eight relocated churches), and 30,000 residences.
Construction began in 1983; the cornerstone was laid on 25 June 1984. The building was intended to house all four major state institutions (similar to what the Houses of Parliament operated like): The Presidency of the Republic (today's Presidency), The Great National Assembly (today's Parliament), Council of the Ministers (today's Government), Supreme Court (today's The High Court of Cassation and Justice).

At the time of Nicolae Ceausescu’s 1989 overthrow and execution, the building's structure and design were complete. Subsequently, many of the furnishings were never installed, and the last three basement levels and a large clock tower (that would have displayed the official Romanian time) were never finished. During the regime change, the new leaders of Romania referred to the building as the House of Ceausescu, to highlight the excessive luxury in which Ceausescu would have lived, in stark contrast to the squalor and poverty endured by many people living in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Parts of the building (some of the west wing, some of the east wing, parts of the second floor, basement 3 and everything below) have yet to be completed. Currently, a new underground car-park is being built inside a former stadium, currently used as a warehouse, which was covered during the construction of the palace. Tunnels linking 13 Septembrie Avenue with the basement of the building will be built.
In 2003-2004 a glass annex was built, alongside external elevators. This was done to facilitate access to the National Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 2004 inside the west wing of the Palace of the Parliament, and to the Museum and Park of Totalitarianism and Socialist Realism, also opened in 2004.
In 2008, the Palace hosted the 20th NATO summit.

Address: Str. Franklin nr.1, Sector 1, Bucuresti (locate on map)
Tel: +40 21 315 68 75 (ticket booking)
E-mail: info@fge.org.ro
Ticket booking schedule: Monday closed; Tuesday – Friday 12:00 – 19:00;
Saturday – Sunday 16:00 – 19:00; Sunday Matinee 10:00 – 11:00
Web site: http://www.fge.org.ro


About it

The Romanian Athenaeum (in Romanian: Ateneul Român) is a concert hall in the very center of Bucharest, and a landmark of the Romanian capital city.
Inaugurated in 1888, the domed circular building is Bucharest's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international music festival.

History
The building was designed by the French architect Albert Galleron, and built on a property that had belonged to the Vacarescu family (one of the oldest noble families in Romania) and inaugurated in 1888, although work activities continued until 1897. A part of the construction funds was raised by public subscription in a 28-year long effort, of which the slogan is still remembered today: "Donate one leu for the Ateneu!”

On 29 December 1919, the Athenaeum was the host of the conference of leading Romanian personalities who voted to ratify the unification of Basarabia, Transylvania, and Bucovina with the Romanian Old Kingdom to constitute Greater Romania.
Extensive reconstruction and restoration works were conducted in 1992 by a Romanian construction company and restoration painter Silviu Petrescu, saving the building from collapse. The 9 million Euros required were contributed in equal shares by the government and the Council of Europe Development Bank.

Architecture
The overall style is neoclassical, with some romantic influences. In front of the building there is a small park and a statue of Mihai Eminescu, the Romanian greatest poet.

From the outside, the Romanian Athenaeum is formed from a peristyle of six columns in Ionic style, giving the impression of a Greek old temple, behind which there are, in medallions, the faces of five voivodes of Romania: Neagoe Basarab, Alexandru cel Bun, Vasile Lupu, Matei Basarab, and King Carol I.

The interior is, perhaps, even more impressive than the outside. In the entrance hall, there are four spiral staircases around the columns of marble from Carrara and decorative sculptures. The 8 ionic columns of the main entrance have similar proportions as Acropolis’s Erechteion.

Inside, the ground floor hosts an ornate conference hall as large as the auditorium above; the auditorium (28, 50 meters in diameter and 16 meters high), with great acoustics, has 600 seats in the stalls and other 52 at lodge. But what impresses especially is the Fresco, long by 70 feet and 3 feet tall, which decorates the inside of the circular wall.
Painted using the al fresco technique, the piece depicts the most important moments of Romanian history, starting with the conquest of Dacia by the Roman emperor Traian and ending with the unification of Greater Romania in 1918.

Recognized as a symbol of Romanian culture, the building has been inscribed in 2007 on the list of the Label of European Heritage sights.

During the Second World War, the Romanian Athenaeum building escaped by miraculously from the bombing that turned the buildings around into ruins. For over a century the Athenaeum has been hosting remarkable concerts of some of the greatest conductors and soloists of the world. At 1 March 1898, here were heard for the first time the famous agreements symphonic suite Poema Romane. The orchestra's conductor was George Enescu at the age of 17 year old.

Among the biggest names which have evolved on The Athenaeum stage, we have to remember: Sergiu Celibidache, Ionel Perlea, Herbert von Karajan, Dinu Lipatti, Arthur Rubinstein, Pablo Casals, Erich Kleiber, David Oistrah, Igor Strawinsky, Richard Strauss, Paul Robeson.

Address: Sos. Cotroceni nr 32, Sector 6, Bucuresti (locate on map)
Tel: 021 318 15 59
E-mail: gradinabotanicabucuresti@yahoo.com
Visit schedule: daily between 8:00 and 20:00
Web site: www.gradina-botanica.ro


About it

The Botanical Garden of Bucharest (in Romanian: Gradina Botanica) is on the current location since 1884 when, upon its third movement, it found its place chosen by two great lovers of beauty, Prof. Dr. Dimitrie Brandza and paysagist architect Fuchs, coming from Bruxelles.

The arrangement of the garden was finished in 1891, when the greenhouses were inaugurated (today old) and also the building of the Botanical Institute (bombed in 1944), important research and educational center of the Bucharest University. The garden suffered during the First World War, when the German occupying troupes were quartered here and also in the Second World War, when it was bombed, 96 bombs being dropped on its territory. Remade each time by the botanists, the Botanical Garden from Bucharest is now an oasis of peace, meditation and delight for the eye and spirit.
 
The Museum of the Botanical Garden is next to the entrance gates in a beautiful building in Brâncovenesc style. It has 20 rooms, where more than 5,000 plant species are displayed, including 1,000 exotic plants and many painted sketches, fruits, seeds, pieces of dried plants or conserved plants, exposed after ecological criteria, systematical and functional. One can visit the halls dedicated to: Danube Delta flora, plain, hill or mountain flora. Also there can be visited dioramas with aspects from Danube Delta and even a cave. There are also manuscripts, old botanical research devices, a collection of hand craft objects made of vegetal materials, a collection of wood pieces from trees or bushes, local or exotic.

The garden has: ornamental plants sector, geographical groups (rare plants from Romanian flora, Mediterranean plants), Dobrogea flora sector, water flow, Italian garden, rosarium, useful plants sector, "plants system" sector, bushes - dendrarium, and the greenhouse complex.

Greenhouse Complex is one of the most important buildings from the garden, which makes possible the cultivation of the exotic plants from the warmer parts of the earth. Many species, grouped after their life conditions, can be seen, during the visiting hours, by traveling through the 7-8 compartments having also indications about their scientific names, popular names and spreading area.
The Botanical Garden is located in the Cotroceni neighborhood of Bucharest; it has a surface of 17.5 hectares (including 4,000 m² of greenhouses), and has more than 10,000 species of plants.

Address: Str. Franceza nr.27-31, Sector 3, Bucuresti (locate on map)
Tel: 021 314 03 75

 About it

The oldest part of Bucharest lies around The Old Princely Court (Curtea Veche), at the end of Franceza Street. Archaeologists believe that this area was inhabited long before the 14th century because of pieces found here. But this area's time of glory came in the 15th century when the reigning prince of Walachia, Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepes) built his fortress here. Vlad's followers (like Prince Mircea Ciobanul - Mircea “the Shepherd” which ruled between 1545 and 1552 and his successors between 1545 and 1559 who also built the nearby church) continued the building, rebuilding, fortifying and modifying of the fortress to their needs.
After almost 4 centuries, in the 18th century the building was left to ruins and the rulers of Walachia moved to the New Court in Dealul Spirii. A museum was founded in 1972 when the archaeological diggings revealed the remains of the fortress. All that is left today is truncated pieces of wall and a few arcades.

The large scale researches initiated in 1953 have revealed vestiges of the ancient Voivodal court of Bucharest.
The first construction (with brick foundation) was enlarged and improved by Vlad Tepes, "the Impaler" (1448; 1456-1462; 1476), so that the surface reached up to 700 sq. m. It was Vlad Tepes who issued the document which first attested the name of the city of Bucharest (on September the 20th, 1459). Dracula's building underwent essential changes, in time.

For instance, Mircea Ciobanul (1545-1554; 1558-1559) turned the old fortress into a palace and asked for a princely church to be built near the palace. In his time, the court had reached a surface of 25.000 sq. m. New changes were made during Matei Basarab (1632-1654), Grigore Ghica, Gheorghe Duca, Serban Cantacuzino, Constantin Brancoveanu (1688-1714) and Stefan Cantacuzino (1714-1716), who embellished it with stone columns, marble stairs, paintings and surrounded it with beautiful gardens admired by the foreign travelers. The foreign travelers left written testimonies of their visitors' enchantments.
Yet, a series of fires, earthquakes, havocs have ruined the place, starting from the second half of the XVIII century, so that Alexandru Ipsilanti decided to have a new residence built on the Spirii Hill, not far from the Mihai Voda monastery. In 1798, Constantin Hangerli ordered the Court to be parceled out and put to auction so that urban works have covered the remains completely.

The cultural, historical, and scientific importance of the site make of the architectural complex of the Old Court a reference point of Bucharest.