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.

Palace of the Patriarchate

During the 17th century, Dealul Mitropoliei (Metropolitanate's Hill), later Dealul Patriarhiei (Patriarchate's Hill), in Bucharest, was covered in grapevines owned by the country's voivodes (ruling princes), with others belonging to the Metropolitanate's monks. The idea of placing the seat of legislative power in the middle of a religious complex was not mere coincidence, but has its roots in customs of the period. According to these customs, the Metropolitan was ex-officio president of the boyars (noblemen), the only citizens with the right to vote, when assembled in formal session (divan). Moreover, it was necessary to have the seat of legislative power on the hill because by tradition, the Metropolitan could not leave his residence. Consequently, the practice of organizing legislative meetings at the Metropolitanate became entrenched, so that part of the monks' cells were transformed into a building that could accommodate official legislative sessions.

In 1881 the old building, which had housed the princely divan, was repaired and refurbished. To this structure, which originated in the modified monastic cells, was added an amphitheater similar to that which would soon be found in Berlin's Reichstag building. The amphitheater was large, well-decorated, spacious, and had two sets of private viewing boxes and a gallery. The deputies attended meetings in a session hall, seated in a semicircle; in front of them was a speaker's platform, to the right of which was the ministers' bench. The building was open for public visiting only at hours when the legislature was not meeting, following an agreement won by a bureaucrat working there. Romanian citizens could attend legislative sessions only if a deputy signed their entrance ticket; foreign citizens needed a signature from their country's embassy.

In 1907, the former princely divan building was replaced with the present-day palace; Dimitrie Maimarolu was the architect. The façade, done in a neo-classical style, is 80 m long. The imposing ground floor is dominated by the centre of the façade, the entrance area, detached and having a peristyle featuring six Ionic columns, the four in the center grouped as pairs.

The cupola, similar to that of the Romanian Athenaeum and located above the assembly hall, is raised, fitted with windows, and topped by an eagle; it forms the palace's central axis. The main façade has two side wings, architecturally subordinate to the entrance. The side façade, on the northeast, is symmetrical and its ordered style confers upon it an imposing status. It is decorated with pilasters on two levels, these being decorated and dominant on the sides. When seen from United Nations Street, the palace’s four levels can be observed. The first level has the appearance of a massive base and is made of stone; the second is powerfully carved; and above this is the level through which one enters the main façade, coming from the cathedral.

Infos from Wikipedia, images from www.patriarhia.ro