Jax Stumpes: Passage to Eastern Europe: Bucharest II (8/18/2021)

Wednesday, August 18, 2021 (continued)

After the tour of the Ceaușescu Spring Palace, our excursion continued...

Arcul de Triumf/Arch of Triumph (1936,
by Petre Antonescu, reliefs by Constantin Baraschi)
commemorates both the 1848 Romanian
War of Independence and the First World War

On a smaller scale, the traffic around the Arch of Triumph
resembles the traffic around the Arch of Triumph in Paris (KSS)

Bloc D1 (typical Soviet style residential block with
ground floor retail shops) topped with billboards (KSS)

We drove along Calea Victoriei/Victory Avenue, with remnants of the "Little Paris" era.

Biserica Sfintei Cruci și a Sfântului Vasile cel Mare/Church
of the Holy Cross & St Basil the Great (est c 1804, 1847,
renovated in 1911, restored 2008) is a Romanian Orthodox
Church said to house a piece of the Holy Cross

Muzeul Național "George Enescu"/George Enescu
National Museum (1898-1900, by Ion D Berindy in
Beaux-Arts/Art Nouveau style as the Cantacuzino Palace) was
bequeathed by the wife of George Enescu to be a museum

George Enescu was a Romanian musician, as a composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher. There is an annual George Enescu International Music Festival held in Bucharest.

Ministerul Economiei/Ministry of Economy
(1934-1941, by Duiliu Marcu in Modern style)

Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest (1912-1914, by
Théophile Bradeau, renovated in 1937 by Duiliu Marcu
in Art Deco style, remodeled by Hilton 1995-1997)

When nationalized by the Communist government in 1947, it was said that every room in the Athenee Palace was bugged and every telephone within a half mile was tapped. Most of the employees were informants for the Securitate, the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

Ateneul Român/Romanian Athenaeum (founded 1865, built
1886-1897, by Albert Galleron, in Neoclassical style) is a
concert hall considered to belong to the people as some funds
were raised by public subscription: 'donate one leu for the Ateneu'

Mystery costumes

Athenaeum rotunda with columns
coated to look like pink marble

Contemporary art: Violoncelul Secretelor/
The Cello of Secrets, by Oana Forgaci Pavelescu

View from the mezzanine of the original oil lamps
(now wired for electricity)

Athenaeum grand concert hall with a ceiling
decorated with anthropomorphic elements,
in golden polychrome relief, inspired
from Romanian fairy tales

Almost 360-degrees of a fresco by Costin Petrescu, depicting
the history of Romania from Roman Emperor Trajan's
first war against Dacia, its colonization; the mix between
Romans and Dacians, the arrival of the migratory tribes and
their wars with the Romans; the beginning of Romanian life ...

... continuing with the first Romanian military states;
the Romanian crusades, the reign of Stephen the Great
and that of Michael the Brave who unified the Romanian
provinces; the anti-feudal revolutions, and the monarchy era

Side gates to the Athenaeum

It's not graduation time, so why
are these girls being videotaped?

The Athenaeum's street, where Ben Franklin
is noted as being a physicist

Part of the former Palatul Regal din București/Royal Palace
of Bucharest (1936-1937 on the site of the 1812 palace
that was destroyed by fire, by Nicolae Nenciulescu),
which has housed the National Museum of Art since 1947

Statue (2007-2010, by Florin Codre) of Carol I replaces the
1939 statue of Carol I that was destroyed by the Communists

German Prince Carol I, the founder of the Romanian Dynasty, under whose reign Romania gained freedom from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at which time he was crowned the first king. In the photo, the statue stands in front of the Biblioteca Centrală Universitară/Central University Library (1891-1893, by Paul Gottereau in Beaux-Arts style), named for Carol I.

Ruins of the 19C French Renaissance style
Paucescu House that later housed a division of the
Securitate and was thus was ravaged by the 1989
Revolution, now with a 2014 contemporary
building plopped within, which houses the
headquarters of the National Architects Union

Now we walked, continuing on Calea Victoriei/Victory Avenue to Piața Revoluției/Revolution Square.

The former Comitetul Central al Partidului Comunist Român/
Headquarters of the Central Committee of the Romanian
Communist Party (1938-1941, by Emil Nădejde to house
the Romanian Council of Ministers) is now home of the
Ministerul Afacerilor Interne/Ministry of Internal Affairs

Nicolae Ceaușescu made speeches from the balcony over
the entrance to the Party Headquarters; on 12/21/1989
he had his final "rally;" however, the crowds turned
against him because he had sent the military to
violently quell a demonstration in the city of Timișoara,
at a time when other Eastern European countries were
gaining independence from the Communist Party

While other Eastern Bloc countries had relatively non-violent revolutions in 1989, Romania experienced much violence. Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu fled Bucharest by helicopter, but were captured by the military that had switched from backing the dictator to supporting the people. The Ceaușescus were put to trial on charges of genocide, damage to the national economy and abuse of power to execute military actions against the Romanian people. Convicted and sentenced to death, they were executed by firing squad on state television on Christmas Day (a holiday suppressed by the Communist government). It was reported that most of the shots were aimed at Elena Ceaușescu, an "ambitious" woman who took the title of First Deputy Prime Minister to be the number two leader after her husband. And this was before the people saw what was in her closet!

Tamiko with the Memorialul Renașterii/
Memorial of Rebirth (2005, by
Alexandru Ghilduș) commemorates the
victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989

The design of the Monument of Rebirth has not been popular, and has been called a "potato skewered on a stake," an "olive on a toothpick," or even a "brain on a stick." It was criticized for not adequately representing the suffering and magnitude of the 1989 revolution, which claimed 1,058 lives. There is a wall inscribed with the names of the victims.

The Path to Triumph is paved with slices of
oak trunks meant to symbolize strength and
durability, or that lives were cut off too early?

Apparently later the "group" sculpture was added later.

Broken Man and Hand, statue (1998,
by Mircea Spătaru) of Iuliu Maniu

Iuliu Maniu, served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants' Party. Because he was anti-Fascist and anti-Communist, he was imprisoned in 1947 by the Communist government and died after six years.

Biserica Kretzulescu/Kretzulescu Church (1720-1722,
in Brâncovenesc or Romanian Renaissance style of 17-18C)

In front of the Kretzulescu Church is a bust of Corneliu Coposu, who [re-]founded the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party in 1989 after the fall of Communism in Romania. He also was imprisoned in 1956 by the Communist government, but was released after nine years due to lack of evidence.

Décor in the jewelry boutique Galeriile Sabion

Joyz Boutique fashions

Palatul Telefoanelor/Telephone Palace
(1929-1934, by Edmond Van Saanen Algi
in Art Deco style) is notable in that the
Luftwaffe meant to target the building,
but instead bombed the National Theater

Although the National Theater was rebuilt at a different
site, Novotel (2006) built the façade of the destroyed
theater on its original location as part of their property

Pasajul Victoriei/Victoria Passage;
we could have used those umbrellas
since it was starting to rain!

Teatrul Odeon/Odeon Theatre (1911) with a bust (1938)
of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding father of the
Republic of Turkey; it is a mystery why this bust is located
on Calea Victoriei/Victory Avenue, named for victory
in the Romanian War of Independence of 1877-1878,
which to the rest of the world was the Russo-Turkish War

Grand Hôtel du Boulevard (1867, by Alexandru Orascu)

Hotel Capitol (c 1890, enlarged 1900-1905,
rebuilt after a 1911 fire, by Arghir Culina)
was known for its 1935 Café Royal that was
a favorite meeting place for many writers,
musicians and artists

Cercul Militar Național/National Military Circle (1911,
by Dimitrie Maimarolu in French Neoclassical style
as the Palace of the National Military Circle)
[Bolt is the local Uber]

Palace of Marmorosch-Blank Bank (1923,
in Neo-Romanian style with Art Deco and
Art Nouveau influences) is now a posh
hotel with two vintage autos out front