Bucharest
has numerous exquisite galleries, museums,
churches and architectural wonders
but its political legacy also provides a wealth of sights,
where visitors can relive the events of the 1989 revolution and
the emotions leading up to it. The city offers a moving
sequence of time capsules, from Ceausescu’s Centru Civic,
stirring up mixed feelings of awe and outrage, to his highly
publicised downfall in Piata Revolutiei, as well as the
memorials on Piata Universitatii, where revolutionaries
fell.
For a cultural romp, Bucharest
offers a number of superb museums – from
those that celebrate peasant art’s contribution to modern
masters such as Brancusi, in the Romanian
Peasant Museum, to those that celebrate Romania’s
contact with European master work, such as the National
Art Museum, KH Zambaccian’s Museum,
and the former home and now dedicated museum of painter
Theodor Aman. Most museums are closed on Monday and some
on Tuesday as well. Beautiful churches, such as
Patriarchal Cathedral, Stavropoleos Church,
and the Russian-style St Nicholas Students’ Church,
sit like precious jewels in the crown of the city’s skyline.
Visitors should note that Romanians are extremely religious
and devoted to the healing powers of icons – these
beliefs should always be respected. After hours
of sightseeing, there are few places more pleasant to relax in than
one of Bucharest’s beautiful parks.
Tourist
Information
There is no tourism office in Bucharest. Neither hotels nor travel
agents can be of much help since there are scarcely any brochures
published in foreign languages. The government office listed below
can be visited by appointment only.
Romanian Tourism Ministry
Strada Apolodor 17
Telephone: (01) 410 0422. Fax: (01) 410 0820.
E-mail: turism@kappa.ro
Opening hours: Daily 0800-1630.
Passes
There are no tourist passes currently available in Bucharest.
Key Attractions
Palatul
Parlamentului (Parliament Palace)
Ceausescu’s greatest foolishness, begun in 1984, initially
took 20,000 workers, 7000 architects and uncountable billions of
Lei to build. But when the dictator passed away only the exterior
and three rooms had been finished. Work continues on it to this
day. What is seen from street level on Bulevardul Unirii is a monolith
rising 84m (276ft) above ground level but it is nearly as deep under
ground, rumoured to hold a nuclear bunker big enough to contain
the entire government, although its actual functions have not been
revealed. Enthused by North Korean Communist architecture, which
reflected Ceausescu’s political leanings, it is 330,000m2
(3,552,090ft2) in area and the second-largest administration building
in the world (after the Pentagon). Intended to house Communist Party
offices, ministries and state rooms, it is now the seat of Romania’s
Parliament and headquarters of the International Conference Centre,
although it has also been used as a film set, imitating the Vatican.
Visitors now enter on the north side, from Bulevardul Natiunile
Unite, where regular 45-minute guided tours are offered in English.
However, by telephoning ahead, tours can also be arranged in French,
German, Italian, Spanish and Hungarian. The lobby’s centrepiece
is a magnificent crystal chandelier – only one of the palace’s
2800. At the far end, a pink marble staircase leads to shimmering
stained-glass windows.
The tour focuses on ten rooms, including those used by the Senate
– if it is not in session – decorated in plush mosaics,
pink carpets, rich oak panelling and marble work carved by the country’s
most talented craftspeople. The largest room, the 16m (52.5ft) high
and 2200sq-metre (7218sq-foot) Sala Unirii, has a sliding ceiling,
wide enough for a helicopter to enter – one of the many details
indicative of the president’s paranoia. Vast sums were lavished
on these rooms and stairways and the guides love to recount how
often they were reconstructed or redecorated, as Ceausescu and his
wife Elena kept changing their minds. The opulent Alexandru Ioan
Cuza Room, where Ceausescu was to have signed all his documents,
opens on to a balcony, which looks straight down the Bulevardul
Unirii and over the Centru Civic. From this viewpoint, one feels
at the centre of the universe – just the way the old dictator
liked it.
Bulevardul Natiunili Unite
Telephone: (01)
311 3611.
Fax: (01) 312 0902.
E-mail:
cic@camera.ro
Website:
www.cdep.ro
Transport: Metro Izvor or Unirii; bus 136 or 385.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1600.
Admission:
US$3.00; US$2.50 (photography fee); US$10.50 (video fee).<
Piata Revolutiei (Revolution Square)
This spot symbols the death of President Nicolae Ceausescu more
expressively than the tombstone above his grave. On 21 December
1989, 80,000 people thronged the square, supposedly in support of
the president after riots in the town of Timisoara, when the Securitate
arrested an outspoken priest. But when Ceausescu appeared on the
balcony of what was then the Central Committee building –
now part of the Romanian senate – people began to chant ‘Ti-mi-soa-ra,
Ti-mi-soa-ra’ and the shock on Ceausescu’s face pinpointed
the true moment of his downfall – a moment televised all over
Romania and, later, the world. However, this heroic ‘people’s
revolution’ is also thought to have been an inside job, since,
although Communism governments were falling all around him, the
dictator did not plan to play ball. Ceausescu and his wife tried
to get away in a helicopter from the roof but, being told they were
low on fuel, were dropped within the Romanian border, after which
they were hastily tried and shot by a firing squad.
A white, marble plaque on the Senate building points to the balcony
where Ceausescu lost his grip on the country, inscribed with ‘Glorie
martirilor nostiri’ (‘Glory to our Martyrs’),
in remembrance of those killed in the fighting. Just behind the
library, on the southern end of Calea Victoriei, the building that
housed the Securitate (Ceausescu's secret police), has been left
in its ruined state, as a depressing monument. The battle wounds
from this deciding moment in Romania’s history also can still
be seen in the the bullet holes in buildings surrounding the square,
as well as in photos in the National Art Gallery, which was heavily
looted during the uprising.
Piata Revolutiei
Transport: Metro Universitatii;
bus 122, 126, 168, 226, 268, 300 or 368.
Opening hours:
Daily 24 hours.
Admission: Free.
Historic
Centre
The dilapidated, cobblestone streets between Calea Victoriei, Bulevardul
Bratianu, Bulevardul Regina Elisabeta and the River Dîmbovita
still include Bucharest’s most atmospheric area and increasingly
are home to an alternative culture of clubs, bars, trendy coffee
houses and restaurants. At its heart is the Curtea Veche (Old Court),
attributed to Vlad Tepes, which contains a few walls, arches, tombstones
and one restored Corinthian column. This can only be entered by
pre-arranged visits. Next door is Bucharest’s oldest church,
the 16th-century Biserica Curtea Veche. Just east of here is the
oldest inn, Hanul lui Manuc, Strada Franceza 62-64, which is still
an inexpensive hotel. Inside the shady court of the inn, overlooked
by tall trees and tiered wooden balconies, are numerous restaurants
and an open café-bar, very popular with young Bucharestis
in summer, although the food is not recommended. Must – a
sweet and lightly alcoholic juice made with wine grapes before proper
fermentation – is a recommended house speciality. North of
here is Strada Lipscani, an old merchant street where everything
from bridal gowns and handmade hats to cheap jeans are sold, as
well as a number of second-hand and antique shops. Halfway down,
on the left, is Strada Stavropoleos where the remarkable Biserica
Stavropoleos can be visited 0830-1800. This church, completed in
1724, looks much older and could easily qualify as the city’s
most beautiful, not least because its frescoes and icons have recently
been restored and it is surrounded by a peaceful cloister garden
filled with various antiquities – a fine place to rest. The
church was designed by Constantin Brancoveanu (1688-1714), a Wallachian
prince known for his religious architectural achievements.
Curtea Veche
Strada Franceza 60
Telephone: (01) 314 0375.
Transport: Metro Unirii; bus 72, 90, 104 or 123;
tram 21.
Admission: US$0.40.
Opening
hours: Daily 1000-1700 (by appointment only).
Muzeul Taranului Roman (Romanian Peasant
Museum)
This diverse collection of peasant relics won 1996’s European
Museum of the Year award and it is easy to see why. The combination
of religious and traditional crafts is so ingeniously displayed
– with excellent English texts relating rural functional items
to contemporary sculpture – that the exhibition is a work
of art in itself. Handmade rugs, tools, pottery and painted eggs
rub shoulders with rosaries, icons and woodcuts, while the intimate
style of a rather recent peasant kitchen and school room celebrates
the aesthetics of simplicity. Upstairs, a group of mannequins in
peasant costumes looks like they are about to wake up at any moment
and march across the room. This museum is a gem for lovers of both
folk and contemporary art and also has an excellent gift shop, which
includes antique clothing and fabrics.
Soseaua Kiseleff 3
Telephone: (01) 212 9661
Fax: (01) 312 9875.
E-mail:
mtr@digicom.ro
Transport:
Metro Piata Victoriei; bus 205 or 300.
Opening hours:
Tues-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission: US$1;
US$4 (photography fee).
Muzeul Satului
(Village Museum)
Numerous peasant homes, churches and mills, barns, representing
vernacular rural architecture, were transported from all over Romania,
to a park along Herastrau Lake – always popular with families
on weekend outings. However, several recent and a devastating fires
have produced a depressing image of an outdoor museum that was intended
to show the pride of Romanian peasants in their work and homes.
Among them are rustic wooden churches and tall-roofed Transylvanian
houses with beautifully crafted shingles containing everyday accessories
such as tools, butter-churns, hay forks, beer kegs and clothes.
However, five of these were totally destroyed and 15 badly damaged.
Soseaua Kiseleff 28-30
Telephone: (01) 222
9106.
Fax: 312 9068 or 222 9068.
Transport:
Metro Aviatorilor; bus 331 or 131.
Opening
hours: Daily 0900-1800 (Oct-May); daily 0900-2000 (May-Oct).
Admission: US$0.40; US$0.80 (photography fee);
US$4 (video fee).
Muzeul National
de Arta (National Art Museum)
Although tragically sabotaged and looted during the 1989 uprising,
the museum has now been lovingly refurbished. The European Gallery,
in particular, is an absolute treasure, containing numerous rarely
seen master works. Three rooms display Italian art from the 15th
to 18th centuries, such as Boccaccio and Tintoretto. One room has
German and Austrian work from the same period, with several works
by Cranach. Another contains early Netherlandish and Dutch art,
including Von Eyck’s ‘Crucifixion’ and a Rembrandt,
16th and 17th-century Spanish works, including several El Grecos,
Flemish art including a Rubens and four more rooms revel in French
sculpture and art up to the 20th century. This museum is a true
feast and will only go on improving, as the 450 or so works damaged
in 1989 are progressively restored.
Calea Victoriei 49-53
Telephone: (01) 314 8119
or 615 5193.
Fax: (01) 312 4327
E-mail:
national.art@art.museum.ro
Website: www.itcnet.ro/museum/museum.html
Transport: Metro Piata Romana, Universitate; bus
122, 137, 178, 300, 336 or 601
Opening Hours:
Wed-Sun 1100-1900 (May-Sept); Wed-Sun 1000-1800 (Oct-Apr).
Admission:
US$1.25, photo and video recording (without tripod or flash) available
for a negotiable fee, as are guided tours in English or French.
Zambaccian Museum
For visitors who want to see the best of Romanian art, this is the
place to go. KH Zambaccian left his intimate collection of mostly
Impressionist paintings – including one of Constantin Brancusi’s
earliest sculptures – to the state, in 1946, along with his
beautiful residence. Each room features a Romanian artist of the
time and, on leaving, names like Nicolae Grigorescu and Stefan Luchian
seem slightly less foreign. The small collection of Paris-based
artists – including Picasso, Cezanne, Bonnard and Renoir –
is situated on the top floor.
Strada Muzeul Zambaccian 21A
Telephone: (01)
230 1920.
Transport: Metro Aviatorilor; bus
301, 131, 331 or 182.
Opening hours: Wed-Sun
1000-1700.
Admission: US$1.
Catedrala
Patriarhala (Patriarchal Cathedral)
This stunning 17th-century cathedral, situated on a hill overlooking
southern Bucharest, is the Romanian Orthodox Church headquarters.
A fabulous fresco of the blessed and the damned, ascending to heaven
or tumbling into hell, adorns the entrance, as well as the oldest
icon on the site, depicting patron saints Constantin and Helen (1665).
Inside, expressive and beautifully painted icons, embedded in an
exquisite gilded altarpiece, dazzle the eye in the sombre darkness.
St Dumitru, Bucharest’s patron saint, lies entombed in the
left-hand corner and worshippers constantly climb the staircase
to his shrine to pay their respects.
Strada Dealul Mitropoliei
Telephone: (01) 337
0079.
Transport: Metro Unirii; bus 104 or 123.
Opening hours: Daily 0800-1900.
Admission:
Free.
Further Distractions
Herastrau Park
In the early 19th century, the high society of Bucharest made their
esplanades along the willowed embankments of Herestrau Lake. A few
decades later, the entire surrounds were designated a city park.
Shades of yellow, pink and red roses greet visitors to this park
and, in a small conservatory; freshly picked flowers are arranged
daily in the Romanian style. Arched bridges lead to an island and
the other side of the park, where there is a restaurant, bar, sports
complex and rowing boats for hire. There is also a ferry across
the lake and, next to the Village Museum (see Key Attractions),
a fun-park with roller coasters and carousels. However, the area
surrounding the park holds even better treasures. The streets between
Soseaua Kisileff and Bulevardul Mircea Eliade contain extremely
beautiful houses – from 19th-century neo-classical to 20th-century
Art Nouveau – and modern luxury villas with ivy-covered balconies
and exquisite stone carving. This is where Bucharest’s elite
once lived – and still do today.
Soseaua Kiseleff 32
Transport: Metro Aviatorilor;
bus 105, 131, 205, 261, 301, 304, 330, 331, 335, 444, 448 or 783
(express).
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Admission: Free. |
