Cantacuzino Castle of Buşteni

Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (September 22, 1833 – March 22, 1913) was a Conservative Romanian politician who twice served as the Prime Minister of Romania: between 23 April 1899 and 19 July 1900 and between 4 January 1906 and 24 March 1907. He was born into the Romanian noble Cantacuzino family and was a descendant of Romanian voivods (ruling princes) and Byzantine Emperors. Prince Cantacuzino was known as "the Nabob" due to its fabulous richness, being the the largest owner of land in Romania at that time. He built the Cantacuzino Palace in Bucharest (The George Enescu Museum) and the Cantacuzino Castle of Buşteni.

Buşteni is a small mountain town in the north of Prahova county, in the center of Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley, on Bucegi Mountains, and it is one of the most popular mountain resorts, offering spectacular views with lots of year-round tourism opportunities, ranging from skiing to mountain climbing. Cantacuzino Castle was built in 1911 in the park owned by the Prince and is one of the top castles in Romania in terms of architecture. During the communist regime, the castle was nationalized and transformed in a TB sanatorium of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; after 1989 it was returned to the heirs of the Prince, who sold it in 2004 to a group of investors that restored it and reinstated in the tourist circuit.

The castle has 1200.30 sqm ground surface, composed of basement, ground floor and first floor with a developed surface of 3148.09 sqm, with concrete foundation, walls of carved stone, and covered with tiles. It has also a service pavilion of 201.90 sqm ground surface, ground floor and first floor with developed surface of 403.80 sqm; an administrative mansion of 114.41 sqm ground surface, one level; the chapel.


Vizualizare hartă mărită

Impressive in terms of architecture, the castle is compared to other buildings completed in neo-brâncovenesc style. The interior decorative repertoire consists of polychrome molding, ornamental and figurative painting, stained glass windows, carved carpentry, tiled ceilings, railings carved in stone, wrought iron or wood, floors in decorative sandstone slabs or floors with parquetry, which confer a romantic feel to the interior, even if the molding of the interior columns and door framing sculpture reminds us of the decorative Brâncoveanu style repertoire. The interior polychromy supported by the geometrical motifs of the receptions hall arcades reminds us of the paintings found in religious spaces due to neo-byzantine style.

Stained glass windows, railings, the stairways of the hallway and the ceilings with visible beams some of them painted, remind us of the romantic decorative repertoire. All this decorative repertoire emphasizes the unique character of the building, bringing forward the ensigns of the Cantacuzino family as well as those belonging to families related to this, painted in the reception room next to the fresco of the most outstanding members of the Cantacuzino boyar-related Wallachian branch. The complex is in full coordination with ample exterior decorations, terraces and walls of support, ramps and stairs with railings of stone that besides functionality makes perfect integration of this complexity in the mountain area. The castle is surrounded by waterfalls, caves and fountains. In addition, the complex is located in an area scientifically proven as being an important energetic pole and studies stand for it.

Photos from here, here, here.

Ştirbey Palace

Barbu Ştirbei, ruling prince of Wallachia (1849-1853, 1854-1856), inherited a wide piece of land in Buftea, near Bucharest. One of his 9 sons, Alexandru Ştirbei, inherited the land in Buftea and built a palace there in 1864, on the design of a Swiss chateau and the original wooden staircases, shutters and roof create the atmosphere of a posh hunting lodge. Set over 24 hectares of park, the grounds are teaming with gingko, magnolia and cypresses, with oaks dating back 500 years.


Ştirbey Palace is one of the best examples of romantic architecture in Romania at the time of its accomplishment. The only information regarding the construction of the palace is found on the west side: the year 1864 and, above, the A-B-S letters, representing the name of Alexandru B. Ştirbey, are cut in the center of a circle accentuated by four arches with a Gothic profile.


The Gothic style, which is discreetly represented on the outside and more visibly so inside, is combined with decorations that talk about the interest in romantic searches of the European and Romanian architecture of the 19th century, all of these underlying the overall simplicity which confers this building its particular character. The interiors contain a rich decoration, with vast carved wood sections, everything being set around the interior staircase sculpted in oak and bearing the family blazon. The painted or sculpted wooden ceilings, the Neo-Gothic blazons above the doors, as well as the chimneys make the image complete about the interiors. Downstairs, in the central saloon, there are still very well preserved original windows and doors with their wooden frames, with oak gothic-like decorations, wooden beams, a fireplace of white Carrara marble, and the walls with classic wooden decorations.


As a consequence of his wife’s death, Alexandru Ştirbei built a monumental chapel in the park between 1885 and 1890, including traces of wall-paintings by neoclassic artist Gheorghe Tattarescu.


In 1895 however Alexandru died and his oldest son, Barbu Ştirbei, inherited the domain in Buftea. A passionate agriculturist, he founded a huge farm near the palace and started to buy pieces of land in the neighborhood, becoming one of the richest men in the country. During WW1 the palace sheltered Queen Maria and then it was bombed by German planes. Both Ştirbei family and Queen Maria retreated in Iaşi, and the palace was robbed by the German army, which also took it over, with the German Military Commandment settling in Buftea in January 1917. On March 5, 1918, the peace agreement with Austro–Hungary and Germany was signed in the palace. Time passed by, the German troops were defeated, the surrender peace in Buftea was canceled and Ştirbei family could return to their palace, restoring it.


The palace and all other belongings in Buftea were confiscated by the communist government after 1946 and between 1949 and 1952 it was abandoned, all valuables being stolen. The palace was however restored in 1959, being meant as a diplomatic residence and it hosted – among other important guests – Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the U.S.S.R., when he attended the 3rd congress of the Romanian Workers’ Party in 1960. In 1964, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nikita Khrushchev signed a deal to withdraw Russian troops from Romania in the palace Once again restored after the earthquake in 1977, the former owners regained the property after 1990 following a long dispute. In 2007, a consortium of Romanian investors, Bucharest Arena, purchased the property from the descendants of Ştirbey for nine million Euro and now intend to invest at least 30 million in its renovation.

Vladimir Ghika – prince, priest and martyr

Vladimir Ghika (or Ghica, December 25, 1873, Constantinople – May 16, 1954, Jilava), "a prince of this world who, by a higher calling, became a priest of Jesus Christ". The fifth child of Prince Jean (or Ioan) Ghika and Alexandrine Moret of Blaremberg, Vladimir Ghika was born in Constantinople on December 25, 1873, where his father was at the time ambassador of Romania. Since 1657, ten Ghika princes had reigned in Moldavia or in Wallachia, of whom the last was Vladimir's grandfather, Grigore V; his mother was descendant of King Henry IV de Bourbon of France.


He received the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation in the Orthodox Church, of which his parents were members. After concluding brilliant studies in Paris, Vladimir was stricken in 1895 with angina pectoris, and he had to give up on a career as a diplomat. In 1898, he joined his brother Demeter, named the Romanian ambassador to Italy. He understood that Christian unity is not possible unless it is under the authority of the Pope, the Successor of Saint Peter. On April 13, 1902, he was officially received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Mathieu, the Archbishop of Toulouse, who was passing through Rome. However, the Romanian newspapers condemned this step, accusing Prince Ghika of treason. Later, to an Orthodox monk who asked him why he became Catholic, he simply answered, "To be more Orthodox"! In Salonic in 1904, Vladimir met Sister Pucci, an outstanding Sister of Saint Vincent de Paul of Italian birth, who brought him into her apostolate among the sick and dying. Soon, out of his personal wealth, he founded a dispensary in Bucharest, "Bethleem Mariae", run by the "Daughters of Charity", of whom Sister Pucci would be the first superior. In 1913, Prince Ghika, with Sister Pucci, organized "Saint Vincent Hospital", a lazaretto for cholera victims. He had been involved in Romania’s social, political and diplomatic life during World War I, acting for the country’s reunification, as a delegate of the Romanian National Council to Paris, Rome and the Vatican.


After the First World War, Vladimir settled in Paris, where his brother had been named Romanian ambassador. After 1923, when he became a priest, (ordained a priest by the Archbishop of Paris on October 7, 1923), Vladimir Ghika received the privilege of celebrating according to the two rites, Latin and Byzantine. He was sent by the Catholic Church to Sydney, Budapest, Dublin and Buenos-Aires, to attend international Eucharistic congresses. He carried out apostolic missions in Japan, China and Ceylon. He used to carry out blessings with a thorn from Jesus Christ’s crown, and performed a number of miracles, including healing certain people and facilitating the birth of Japan’s crown prince. Pope Pius XI described jokingly as, “the great apostolic vagabond of the 20th century”. In the meantime, he had devoted himself to a new project: living as a missionary in the most deprived Parisian suburb, where the "absence of God" was the most tragic. In 1927, he had found a piece of land in Villejuif, in a shantytown populated by ragpickers. In 1931, Pius XI gave Father Ghika the title of Protonotary Apostolic; the humble priest became, in spite of himself, Monsignor Ghika. He pursued an apostolate which led him as far away as Japan and Argentina, according to the call of Divine Providence. In September 1939, he obtained authorization from the Archbishop of Paris to move to Romania. In Bucharest, throughout the Second World War, he carried out a tireless ministry for the refugees, the sick, the prisoners, the victims of bombings. Unable to remedy all the sufferings, he strove to help others understand that "suffering is, for the Christian, above all a visit from God, a sure visit".


The Soviet army entered Romania in August 1944 and, little by little, a Communist regime was established. Vladimir Ghika was arrested in 1952, and had been accused of spying for the Vatican. Over the course of more than eighty nighttime interrogations, he was slapped, beaten and tortured to the point of temporary loss of hearing and sight. After a shame trial, he was condemned in 1953 to three years of imprisonment. He died in a communist prison in Romania in 1954, following the tortures he had been subjected to by the Securitate. Vladimir Ghika was proposed for beatification by the Bucharest Catholic Diocese and process of beatification is in progress.