Our group dined this evening at the Trattoria Buongiorna, a convenient 10 minute walk from the Athénée Palace Hilton. Many of our colleagues had arrived this afternoon from all over the world, so after a drink, dinner and some fellowship, most of us were prepared to walk back to the hotel and turn in for the night.
Because my arrival in Bucharest was so hurried and harried by traffic, I had had little chance to observe my surroundings. Our hotel was actually located in the city government center right across the street from Revolution Square. The traffic had disappeared, the rain had stopped and the area was well lit, so it seemed that making a short detour to enjoy the city center at night was worth losing a little rest for.
We walked through Revolution Square, the location where the Romanian fight for freedom started on December 21, 1989. It was here that a large crowd of 100,000 people were assembled by the state to cheer dictator Nicolae Ceausescu ‘s speech being delivered from the balcony of Communist Party Headquarters across the street. However, instead of applauding, people jeered; this unrest was captured on live TV and transmitted all over the country and is credited with further fueling riots and civil disobedience that had been occurring throughout the country. The next morning, Ceausescu and his wife fled by helicopter from the roof of the headquarters building causing many soldiers to change sides and support the freedom movement. The Ceausescus were captured several days later and executed on Christmas Day, the last people to be publicly executed in Romania and the beginning of the country’s move to democracy. About 1500 people died in the revolution.
Ironically, also gracing Revolution Square, in stark contrast to the former Communist Party Headquarters, is the Royal Palace, the former residence of the Romanian royal family forced to abdicate by the Communists, beautifully illuminated at night.
Although this area of the city was very institutional in appearance (except for the Royal Palace) with much of the architecture heralding from the Communist era after WWII, there were still several buildings that beautifully reflected the neoclassical grandeur of pre-war Bucharest.
I rose early the next morning to further explore the city center; between work and other planned activities, we would not spend much time in this area. I walked back through Revolution Square to better appreciate the buildings and monuments that surround this very important place in Romanian history.
The former Royal Palace, now the National Museum of Art, is located at the far side of the square. Built in 1936 after fire destroyed the old palace, the new palace was the official residence of the Romanian king until 1947, when Michael I was forced to abdicate and a communist regime was installed. Today the museum houses an extensive collection of Romanian and European fine art.
There were two monuments adjacent to the square. The more traditional one, near the former Royal Palace was the statue of Carol I, the first King of Romania, mounted on his horse. Carol was the founder of the Romanian state and instrumental in gaining Romania’s independence from the Ottoman Turks in 1877 .
The second monument is anything but traditional; in fact, fifteen years later, it still is quite controversial. The Memorial of Rebirth was built in 2005 to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Revolution. Most people do not understand the design, nor believe that it is a fitting tribute to the over 1500 people who lost their lives in the revolution. People refer to it derogatorily as the skewered potato and the monument is continually vandalized with graffiti.
Turning away from the square, I passed an Eastern Orthodox church tucked between two institutional buildings. Kretzulescu (Cretulescu) Church was commissioned in 1720 by the aristocrat, Iordache Crețulescu and his wife, Safta. During the Communist regime after WWII, it was slated for demolition as many other churches in Bucharest were, but fortunately a group of architects intervened and Kretzulescu was saved. It was damaged in an earthquake in 1977 and again in the 1989 Revolution but has since been renovated. A memorial bust of Corneliu Copsosu, a dissident imprisoned by the Communists but later elected to the Romanian Senate, is near the side entrance to the church.
Turning the corner, I spotted another red-bricked church, across the street. This was the Catholic Biserica Italiană built in 1916.
Many beautiful classical buildings lined the streets; it was easy to see why Bucharest was once considered the Paris of the East. Unfortunately, many of these structures were defaced with graffiti.
It was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for work. I stopped for a moment to admire the Romanian Athenaeum concert hall next to the Hilton. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, building is the city’s main concert hall and home of the city’s philharmonic orchestra, named after Romania’s famous pianist and composer, George Enescu. Funds to construct the concert hall were raised over a 28 year period through private individual contributions. The building also has historical significance – on December 29, 1919, it was the site of the conference where delegates voted to ratify the unification of Bessarabia, Transylvania, Bukovina and the old Romanian Kingdom into Greater Romania (although portions of these territories were lost to Soviet Union and Hungary in subsequent years.)
