Toldalagi Palace, Tîrgu-Mureş

The Toldalagi Palace is located in Tîrgu-Mureş, the seat of Mureş County, Transylvania, Romania.

Between 1759 and 1772, count Toldalagi László and his wife Wass Katalina raised on their property near the Franciscan monastery of Trandafirilor Square the most beautiful and representative building for the Baroque in Tîrgu-Mureş. The beginning of the construction works was delayed by the City Council, but after 1759 when Toldalagi became judge of the Royal Table he was eventually able to realize his plans.

The palace at 11 Trandafirilor Square was built in two stages (1759—1762 and 1770-1772) based on the designs of French architect Jean Louis D'Orr. He designed an U-shaped building, but it was modified later by the addition of a new wing that closed the rear part. Thus, the building is nowadays a rectangular plan, having an interior yard with open galleries. The construction works were supervised by constructor and architect Paul Schmidt. The resulting edifice has a basement covered with semi-cylindrical arched ceilings, a ground floor with rooms lined up on the two sides of the interior yard, a mezzanine and one floor, with a large reception room in the main wing, the one facing the square. A staircase leads from the ground floor to the open gallery of the top floor, with arches supported by brick posts. From here the various rooms disposed on all four sides of the yard may be entered. The ceiling of the rooms on the floor is divided into squares and decorated with floral stucco.

The most spectacular element of the building is the main façade, beautifully decorated in accordance with the artistic precepts of late Transylvanian Baroque. The sculptures that adorn the façade were created by Baroque artist Schuchbauer Antal, author of an impressive portfolio of Baroque ornaments based on anthropomorphic motifs.

The portal of the entrance has an ample basket-handle opening, with a curved keystone. The windows are rectangular and have plaster framing both on the ground floor and on the first floor. The ones on the first floor are larger and more richly decorated, with wreaths of flowers and semi-arched “eyebrow” cornices. Some of the upper parts of these arch segments metamorphose into modeled volutes. Underneath the windows of the top floor lie panels ornamented with stucco that start at the windowsill and descend to the middle area of the façade. Other important elements that articulate the façade are the segmented lesena on the ground floor, composite-capped pilasters on the first floor and the cornice that delimits the ground floor from the first floor on the outside.

On the roof there is a triangular gable with its top severed by a curved cornice the sides of which take the shape of volutes, flanked by two ovoid skylights. The cornice of the gable and the stone framing of the skylights support busts of men placed on small trapezoid supports. These statues, sculpted by Anton Schuchbauer represent Turkish soldiers with their heads wrapped in turbans. The two coats-of-arms of the Toldalagi and Wass families are sculpted on the gable, and above them a crown symbolizing the union between the two noble families. On the façade, above the commemorative plaque an oval medallion with a richly decorated frame is visible. The medallion represents the relieved image of a crow with a ring in its beak.

The building had many functions over the years, in 1786 has been a printing house, in 1920 a bank and in 1960 was installed here the History Department of the County Museum. Currently, since 1984, the building houses the headquarters of the Ethnography Department of the Mureş County Museum.

Via. Images from here, and here.

National Military Club Palace

Cercul Militar Naţional is a institution of the Romanian Army, with cultural-artistic and educative profile, serving for representation, public relations and protocol.

On December 15, 1876, was founded in Bucharest the Military Club of Officers. In its Statute was expressly stated the need to purchase a club seat. In 1899, through a public competition, was selected for the Military Club building the project developed by Dimitrie Maimarolu, outstanding personality of Romanian architecture. The works started in 1911, and in 1914, at the beginning of World War I, the building was finished in red and with roof. On 12 November 1916, following the occupation of Bucharest by the Central Powers' troops, the palace was evacuated. In 1919, at the return of the central government in Bucharest, the building was found devastated. Finally, on February 4, 1923, in the presence of King Ferdinand and Queen Mary, was officially opened the National Military Club. During the communist regime, it was named Casa Centrală a Armatei (Army's Central House).

The palace has an underground, a floor, and two levels. At the underground one can visit the Byzantine Hall, the Norwegian Hall, the Gothic Hall, and the Tudor Vladimirescu Rotonda. The floor comprises the Gallery of Arts, the Military Restaurant, the Show Hall, and the Cinema. At the first level are the Marble Hall and the Moorish Hall. The second level comprises the Alba-Iulia Hall, the Nicolae Grigorescu Rotonda, the Marshalls' Rotonda, the St. Gheorghe Hall, the Mirrors' Hall, and Stephen the Great Hall.

Images from Wikipedia, YouMago, Jurnal Românesc.

Ruginoasa Palace

Ruginoasa is a commune in Iaşi County, Moldavia, Romania. In the late 17th century, Sturdza boyar family bought the Ruginoasa estate from ruling prince Duca, owning it for almost 200 years. In the early 19th century, the Sturdza family possessed an estate in Ruginoasa of over 8,000 hectares.

The palace

In 1804, the grand treasurer of Moldavia Săndulache Sturdza hired the Viennese architect Johann Freiwald to build a luxury residence on the old home place of his ancestors. Also, the German gardener Mehler had to fit around the palace a park with alleys lined with statues, benches hidden in the labyrinths of greenery and even a pond surrounded by willows. The palace was built by in Neoclassical style, characteristic to the civil architecture in Moldavia at that time. It is a square building with a floor, with four nearly symmetrical facades with wide and straight platforms and balconies on all sides supported on stone slabs. In 1811, Săndulache Sturdza built behind the palace a church, on the place of a wooden church. This results from the inscription that was placed at the entrance and which was destroyed during the Second World War.

The church

The palace was inherited by Costache Sturza, Săndulache's son and cousin of ruling prince Mihai Sturdza (1834-1849). During 1847-1855, he brought here by the architect Johann Brandel which restored palace in Neo-Gothic style. In April 1857, Alexandru Sturdza, son of Costache, made a loan of 60,000 ducats to the Bank of Moldavia, mortgaging the palace. Because he wasn't able to paying the loan, the bank auctioned the palace. In 1862, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, ruler of the United Romanian Principalities, bought the palace and restored it.

Alexandru Ioan Cuza

Although the prince spent a few time at the palace, there lived his wife, Lady Elena Cuza (1825-1909), who took care of furnishing and decorating the garden and outbuildings. She hired craftsmen to repair the building and German gardeners to restore the park around the castle. The central staircase was built of marble, the walls were covered with silk from Paris, were built fireplaces and were brought expensive chandeliers. The furniture was commissioned in 1863 in Paris. The Ruginoasa palace was officially inaugurated by Prince Cuza, during the Easter holidays from April 1864.

Went into exile in 1866 after he was forced to abdicate, Prince Cuza continued to look after the estate in Ruginoasa. He leased the estate in 1866 with 5000 ducats a year to get the money to support its exile. Meanwhile, he refused to take a capital of 500,000 francs, deposited in the the Rothschild Bank by the new leadership of the Principalities. The former ruler died on 15 May 1873 in the city of Heidelberg (Germany), and his earthly remains were brought to Ruginoasa on 29 May 1873 and were buried in a tomb near the church. His remains have been displaced several times: in 1907 were moved in the crypt of the church in a silver box located in an oak coffin, in spring 1944 were removed from the church by a soldier from Ruginoasa and moved to Curtea de Argeş, then in 1946 were moved again in a crypt in Three Hierarchs Church in Iaşi.

Alexandru Cuza, the son of the Prince, left the estate in Ruginoasa to his wife, Maria Moruzzi. In 1921, the palace was donated to the "Charity" Hospital for Children in Iaşi. Part of the furniture was donated to the Military Museum. In subsequent years, began the building damage, which was exacerbated by the war. The palace was badly damaged during the battles fought nearby in World War II, remaining only some enclosure walls and the ruins of the castle. It was reconstructed during 1968-1978, when was restored the palace, a part of the enclosure wall and a stronghold in the north-west. In 1982 was officially inaugurated the Memorial Museum "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", with history and ethnography sections. The palace impresses its visitors today with the stories hidden within its walls, stories that point to Ruginoasa as a cursed palace in popular belief. The superstition arose following the death (including a suicide) in the palace of several young people.

Cantacuzino Palace

Built in 1899–1902 by Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (known as “The Nabob”, former mayor of Bucharest, leader of the Conservative Party, and one of the richest men in Romania ever), the architectural ensemble was designed by architect Ioan D. Berindei.

The Cantacuzino Palace can be found at 141, Calea Victoriei (Victoria Road), Bucharest. After G. G. Cantacuzino died in 1913, the palace was inherited by his son, Mihail G. Cantacuzino and his wife, Maria (also known as Princess Maruca, born Rosetti-Tescanu); after the premature death of her first husband, Maruca re-married in 1939, becoming the wife of George Enescu, Romania's greatest composer. In the 40’s, the palace hosted the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and since 1947 the Institute for Romanian-Soviet Studies.

After the death of George Enescu, in 1955, his wife donated the domain to the Museum and to the Composers’ and Musicologists’ Union of Romania, to be dedicated to the memory of the musician. Thus, on the 19th of June 1956, George Enescu Museum was opened. The museum gathers documents and pictures referring to the composer’s life and work. Among other exhibits, there also is the violin the composer received as a present when he turned 4 year old. There are regular classical music concerts hosted by the palace (many of them being organized by the Polish Cultural Institute), and this is a good time to visit the building (for otherwise, the main hall of the palace is not included in the regular museum visit).

The palace was set in French Baroque style with Art Nouveau elements. The façade’s richness in sculptural decoration is notable. On the top of the entrance, the circular fronton bears the princely coat of arms of the Cantacuzino family. The facade is dominated by the main entrance; above it there is a giant shell-shaped porte-cochére and two stone lions guard the stairs and the door that mingle harmoniously with the statues and other ornaments in the Baroque style, and wrought iron balconies surround the home's tall windows.

For the decoration of the building, the architect collaborated with several recognized artists of the time. The mural paintings were made by George Demetrescu Mirea, Nicolae Vermont, Costin Petrescu and Arthur Verona, the sculptures and the ornamentation are made by Emil Wilhelm Becker, while the artfulness of Krieger House in Paris can be admired in the interior decoration (tapestry, chandeliers, lamps, stained-glasses).

Brukenthal Summer Palace

Samuel von Brukenthal (1721, Nocrich – 1803, Sibiu) was the Habsburg governor of the Grand Principality of Transylvania between July 6, 1774 and January 9, 1787. He was a baron of the Holy Roman Empire, and personal adviser of Empress Maria Theresa. A passionate art collector, he built a palace in Sibiu, where in 1817 was arranged, according to his will, the first public museum in southeastern Europe.

The summer residence of Baron, the Brukenthal Summer Palace is located in Avrig, at 30 km from Sibiu. It was built between 1780 and 1785 in Baroque style, on the model of the Viennese Schönbrunn castle. The baron used to keep here his collection consisting of 212 paintings, and 129 engravings. Today these are in the museum of Sibiu.

The U-shaped baroque style palace has a central section and two wings, opening to an axial symmetrical garden. The palace has a ground-floor, one storey, a majestic staircase with several levels. During baron Brukenthal's life-time, the main hall was decorated with murals, there also were paintings and engravings gathered by him all over the palace.

The palace has one of the most beautiful parks, located 12 m below the palace and organized in wide terraces descending to the Olt River meadow. On the east side is the English garden, arranged in a natural way, with large grassy areas, unique trees, paths, halting places and a natural water fall. The central area was modeled on the French gardens, with fountains, central stairs, with lateral walkways, vases, benches, stone statues, greenhouses, an orangery. The Dutch gardens were full of flowers, vegetables and spices, such as pineapple, lemon, coffee and cardamom. The Baron integrate into the garden an agricultural farm - and was famous for his white buffaloes, sold even in Naples. It deserves to be restored as it is the only garden of a Baroque palace in Romania which has been preserved almost entirely.

At 70 years after the death of Samuel von Brukenthal, the line of inheritance of the family finished. His properties have passed through many owners until 1908, when - according to his will, came into possession of Sibiu Lutheran Parish. The Evangelical Church founded here a sanatorium. After WWII, the hospital was nationalized and used as a sanatorium. After the fall of Communism, the summer residence was returned to the German minority, by the Brukenthal Foundation. It took over responsibility for the maintenance and care of the palace and park in the spirit of Brukenthal, and to keep the cultural heritage of this remarkable Transylvanian Saxon.

Photos from Jurnal Românesc and Welcome to Romania.

Gorneşti Castle

Gorneşti (Hungarian: Gernyeszeg) is a commune in Mureş County, Romania. It is situated on Mureş River, 17 km from Târgu-Mureş and has a Székely Hungarian majority (75%). The village was documentary attested in 1319 (as Knezeg), when the king of Hungary, Carol Robert of Anjou, donated it to the Prince of Transylvania, Szecseny Tamas. The Szecseny family owned the domain until 1395, when changed some properties with a certain Zsigmund. Between 1405-1642 it belonged to Erdelyi of Somkerek, then was in possession of the Teleki family until 1949. It seems that in the 15th-16th centuries here was a landlord residence, fortified with walls and water ditches.

 

Teleki is a prominent name in the history of Transylvania and Hungary. The aristocratic family was actively involved throughout the centuries in both political-administrative and cultural activities. In 1685, Mihaly Teleki (1634-1690) became Count of the Holy Roman Empire, receiving the title from Emperor Leopold I. But the most famous family member was Sámuel Teleki (1739-1822), chancellor of Transylvania and founder of the Teleki Library in Târgu-Mureş. The most interesting character in the family is certainly the famous explorer of Africa, Sámuel Teleki (1845-1916).

The castle, built between 1771-1778 and finalized in 1802 by Count László Teleki, is a representative example of Baroque architecture in Transylvania. The project seems to be realized by architect Andreas Mayerhoffer from Salzburg, the castle resembling with the palaces Pécel and Godollo made by him. It was built into an impressive arboretum, in so-called Grassalkovich style, very popular in Budapest, and is the only one in Transylvania that hosts a Baroque statues park.

The U-shaped architectural composition is balanced, the central body is "en decroche" and the decorative elements are elegantly articulated. The facade is marked in its center by a raised risalit with rounded corners. The high roof with a huge cupola in the middle has skylights and a clock on top. From the main body of the building starts two wings to the garden. The castle has 52 rooms and 365 windows, symbolizing the weeks and days of the year.

In the Baroque period, the emphasis was on illustrating the social status. In this residence, this is highlighted by space representation, main hall, monumental staircase, rooms for receptions, areas for study - especially the library - and spaces for different types of artistic performances.

The explorer Sámuel Teleki (1845-1916) kept in the castle his collection of illustrations and the family's library, including 6,000 volumes. Unfortunately, a large part of it was destroyed during the two world wars. Count Domokos Teleki (1880-1955), a carpet collector and scholar, kept his Oriental and Occidental rugs in Gorneşti Castle. Unfortunately the Teleki Collection was never published, although its richness can be guessed at from a few pieces now in the Hungarian National Museum and in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, among them a 17th century Ushak medallion carpet fragment (numbered 1292 in the Teleki Collection inventory!).

The garden started to be laid out between the building and the moat in 1782, during the ownership of József I Teleki. The earliest known garden scheme, dating from c.1792, features ornamental parterres. However, József I Teleki, probably inspired by Rousseau, with whom he was personally acquainted, wished to lay out a landscape garden at that time.

In the early decades of the 19th century, his son József II Teleki, who had traveled in England as well, brought the landscape garden to completion. For this purpose, the moat at certain points was widened to form pools, and filled up at others. The garden's most significant edifice is József II Teleki's monument erected by his widow after his death in 1817 in the middle of the park. A design dating from 1831 features, in addition, a gloriette and an obelisk. A fine collection of deciduous trees were enriched with conifers from the 1850s.

The garden's last significant phase of improvement took place at the beginning of the 20th century when Domokos Teleki aquired some 18th-century statuary for the park. Seven mythological statues may originally have stood in the garden of Starhemberg Palace in Vienna before being transported to a private garden in Buda in the 19th century. Also among these newly acquired statues is a group of four gnomes, originally part of a series. Park paths and banks of ponds were decorated with numerous allegorical statues, but busts, such as Mirabeau's or Louis XVI, works by sculptor Martinelli.

The last owner of the castle, Count Mihaly Teleki, donated it to the sanitary authorities of Romania. At the moment, the castle shelters the Tuberculosis Observation Sanatorium and it is claimed in court.

Photos from here.

The Sturdza Castle in Miclăuşeni

Around 1410, the ruling prince of Moldavia, Alexandru cel Bun, (1400-1432) gave to the boyar Miclăuş (1380-1440), member of the Prince's Council, a large estate, located near Siret River meadow. The estate became known as Miclăuşeni after the death of the nobleman. On April 25th 1591, Miclăuş's descendants sold the estate to treasurer Simon Stroici (1550-1623). He built a mansion whose ruins could still be seen at the beginning of the twentieth century. Through a last will of 5 June 1622, treasurer Simon Stroe bequeathed the Miclăuşeni village to Lupu Prăjăscu. In 1697, the descendants of Lupu Prăjăscu bequeathed the estate to brothers Ion and Sandu Sturdza, their distant relatives. On April 19 1699, Sturdza brothers have divided the possession, Miclăuşeni being awarded to Ion Sturdza.

In 1752, boyar Ion Sturdza (1710-1792) raised here a cross shaped landlord's mansion here with a basement and ground floor. The manor had 20 rooms, ten on each floor. The manor had stables with pure race trained horses. Concerned about extending the estate, the son of Ion Sturdza, Dimitrie, built during 1821-1823 a church in the yard, near the castle. He endowed it with a beautiful baroque iconostasis and many valuable religious objects. Dimitrie Sturdza wrote in 1802 the first draft of the Republican Constitution of the Romanian. Son of Dimitrie, Alecu Sturdza Miclăuşanu, arranged on a surface of 42 hectares around the mansion a beautiful English-style park with ornamental trees and many species flower alleys. He handled the purchase of several books and rare manuscripts collections that have enriched the manor's library. He died of cholera in 1848 and is buried in the church manor. After his death, his widow Catincathe administrated the estate and she left the it to his son, George A. Sturdza, in 1863.

In 1869, George Sturdza married Maria, daughter of writer Ion Ghica, and moved then to the estate. Between 1880 and 1904, George Sturdza built at the site of old mansion a beautiful palace in the late Gothic style, a copy of Western feudal castles and recalling the Palace of Culture, but also the Royal Palace of Ruginoasa. Construction plans have been made by the architects Julius Reinecke and I. Grigsberg. The castle was in those days a proof of high cultural level of its owners that brought among the Moldavia hills models of existence, of construction and of environment that Sturdza have found during his trips along the Southern and
Western Europe.

Outside, the building had numerous decorations (including emblems inspired by the Sturdza family crest: a lion with a sword and an olive branch), completed in 1898 in Art Nouveau style by architect Julius Reinecke. This was helped by Maria Sturdza, who illustrated many of the poems of Vasile Alecsandri, neighbor and a close family friend. Neo-Gothic influences are found in decoration such as Gothic towers, medieval armors, tower entrance with bridge over a water ditch, riding school hall, Latin dicta on walls. Inside, the castle has a central staircase in Dalmatia marble, elaborately carved rosewood furniture, fireplaces in terracotta, porcelain and earthenware, made abroad, intarsia parquet with essences of maple, mahogany, oak and ebony, made by Austrian craftsmen and painted ceilings and interior walls.

The Sturdza's family vast library of 60,000 books contained at the time exquisite books, published in the European space, the theological ones being directly ordered as soon as they were published. Out of all these, quite few ones were preserved; over 50.000 of them disappearing after the II World War.

The castle with the church (and now including the monastery and pilgrim and aging people centre) of Miclăuşeni comes in support of this idea belonging to the Metropolitan Orthodox Church of Moldavia and Bucovina and is waiting for Europe to discover it as an integrated part, not only since the third millennium but from the beginning of XXth century.

Thanks to Jurnal Românesc for the ideea!

Baroque Palace of Oradea

radea (Hungarian: Nagyvárad, German: Grosswardein) is the capital of Bihor County. The Baroque Palace of Oradea (Romanian: Palatul Baroc din Oradea or Muzeul Ţării Crişurilor), also known as The Bishopric Palace of Oradea, was founded in 1762 by the Baron Bishop Adam Patachich, as the Roman Catholic Bishopric Palace of northern Transylvania. The palace was built in the same time with the Romano-Catholic Basilica and the Canonic Line from nearby; together, these buildings form the most important Baroque complex from Romania, and one of the most representative from Europe.


The building started in May 23, 1762. The first architect was Giovani Battista Ricca and next the famous Austrian architect Anton Franz Hillebrandt, designer of many Austrian palaces and one of Europe's 18th century best, who designed the palace and planned the city's posh side as Baroque quarter, while engineer A.J. Neumann was in charge of the palace's massive construction, complete with its 365 exterior windows resembling the days of the year and 120 large, extravagant rooms distributed on three floor plans.

The architecture of the palace is of late Austrian Baroque style, a more sober and practical type compared to the overly ornamented French Baroque. The building was meant to resemble on a smaller scale the famous Royal Belvedere Palace of Vienna, which likely was one of the reasons along with other religious conflicts that made Empress Maria Theresa of Austria repudiate the founder, Baron Adam Patachich, the bishop of Oradea between 1759 and 1776; he was then sent to another diocese, in Kalocsa, Hungary. Nevertheless, the baron was a charismatic, highly educated humanist and an illuminated patron of arts, who is mostly remembered for the fine music and musicians he surrounded himself with: this is where Michael Haydn, famous composer and Joseph Haydn's brother, worked as a Kapellmeister in the bishop's orchestra. The bishop also employed at the court other famous European composers and violinists like Wenzel Pichl and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, who between 1765-1769 served as a Musikdirektor. Finally, in 1771, the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, together her son, future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, arrived here to visit and make peace with a place whose project she did not initially fancy. In 1773 the palace unfortunately burned down entirely in a mysterious fire, but was reconstructed immediately by the next appointed bishop, after its original plans. In the year 1855, a new side and entrance was added graciously in tone and respect with the initial building, with grand double stairways.


Later in time, after Romania re-gained possession of Transylvania, it remained under the church's patronage but during the socialist regime, it was seized as state property. On January 17, 1971, the Baroque Palace became a county museum hosting many large and fine archeological, historical, natural history, ethnographic and art collections under the name of "Muzeul Ţării Crişurilor" ("Museum of the Three Rivers Land"). The museum has approximately 400,000 pieces divided under four main collections: History and Archeology, Ethnography, Art and Natural History.


The palace has a U shape, 3 levels, with a broken roof specific to the Austrian Baroque. On the main facade is the central ornament, decorated symmetrically with columns with Ionic caps, garlands, having a unique distinction, and putting into value the access gates and the windows from the 1st floor, ended on the superior side with a triangle fronton. The interior of the palace is impressive by the rigorous of the space organization and the decorative sobriety, characteristics present in the central hall and at the level of the reference floor to which there is a monumental stair. The rest of the rooms from the 1st floor are decorated in the Austrian Baroque style: column with Corinth caps, diverse stucco ornaments, glazed ceramics stoves, fireplaces with colored marble. The Festive Hall is impressive by the painted ornaments of Renaissance inspiration, signed Francisc Storno (1879).


The front courtyard is an artistic park with large old bronze and marble statues of historical figures and also home to a famous Baroque parish church erected in 1752 even before the palace, a work of the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Ricca modeled after the mother church of the Jesuits, Church of the Gesú in Rome. The basilica contains the relics of King Saint Ladislaus, born in year 1040, a splint of his skull being kept here in a gold box. In 1992, Pope John Paul II through the Vatican's decree, raised the church to a holy basilica rank.


In 2003, like many other edifices, The Baroque Palace of Oradea was restored to the Roman Catholic Church by the Government of Romania, but the building is still being used as a museum until further negotiations are made. (Internet infos compilation)