Rusănescu House, today the Marriage Registry Office

The so-called ”White House” (on one side of the central garden - English Park - made in the style of a London square) was built in the 20's of the 20th century, according to the plans of architect Constantin Iotzu. The building is the first apartment building in Craiova, was called the New Palace and belonged to the Bank of Commerce, and the street was called the New Street. According to the project, the building was supposed to have 44 apartments for the Bank of Commerce officials and to contain an elevator. The White House was built by Giovanni Batista Peressutti, together with the construction company of Carlo Dalla Barba. Source: audiotravelguide.ro Photo: www.facebook.com

Here he lived the prefect of Dolj county (1914-1915) and then mayor of Craiova (1919), Constantin N. Popp (1877-1958), together with his wife, Antoaneta, who is descended from two of the great boyar families of Oltenia, Brăiloiu (after her father) and Glogoveanu (after her mother). The house will remain to their daughter, Veronica, married to Ion Caletzeanu. The Art-Nouveau-style house was built in 1875, number that is carved above the entrance. It is believed that the man who built the house was the father of Costică Popp, the banker Nae T. Popp (1848-1920), born in the suburb of Old St. George, Frăţia Street (today Petre Carp Street). In the absence of documents certifying this fact, this statement remains merely a hypothesis. The building had a ground floor and an upper floor. The walls of the ground floor rooms were gilded with golden Cordoba leather, and the ceilings were painted with scenes that matched the rooms’ purposes. In the back there was a small building where the kitchen and pantry were located, and at the back of the courtyard were stables, warehouses and staff accommodation rooms, next to which were flowers and grass. Next door was the "old house" bought by N.T. Popp from the Bengescu family, a house described by Al. Kiriţescu in the play "Gaiţele" (”The Jays”). In Nicolae Popp's house, after August 23, 1944, the Military Tribunal was established and the family members were forced to move to the old house where they lived until the summer of 1948 when they were evicted even from there. Source: www.facebook.com/craiovadeieri/ Photo: www.facebook.com/craiovadeieri/

The Schina House in Craiova, nicknamed "The Little Louvre", is a historic architectural monument located near the central area of the city. The building is located on Calea Unirii, at no. 70, near Feraru House and opposite of Teodoru House. Built at the end of the 19th century in the Renaissance style, the house belonged to Dr. Constantin Schina, who is said to have been the chief physician of Craiova for a period of time. Schina House was sold after 1943 by the descendants of the doctor to a Craiova lawyer named Popescu. Between 1979 and 1996, the Museum of History of Medicine and Pharmacy "Victor Gomoiu" functioned in the building, founded by prof. Dr. Mihail Şcheau based on the "Pharmacy History Collection" organized in 1963 by pharmacists Gheorghe Cismărescu (1900-1964) and Nicolae Zahacinschi (1919-1988). The core of the museum, donated by Dr. Viorica Gomoiu in 1972, consisted of museum pieces gathered during his life by the great physician and historian of medicine Victor Gomoiu. Among the collections of the museum were two works by Constantin Brâncuşi, " Écorché" (one of the four or five existing copies, and the second remaining in Craiova, apart from the one preserved at the Carol I National College) and the bust of General Carol Davila. After 1996, lawyer Popescu's descendants claimed ownership of the building in which the museum was functioning. In 1997, they won the building in court, the collections of the museum being evacuated. The management of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova and the "Victor Gomoiu" Foundation decided to transfer the collections to the University of Targu Jiu in order to establish a medical faculty. The pieces are now located in the building of the Faculty of Medical Assistance, Dental Technique, Art and Physical Culture in Târgu Jiu. Later, in the former Schina House functioned a research institute. Currently Schina House is privately owned. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro Photo: www.monumenteoltenia.ro

Hotelul “New York” din Craiova este una dintre clădirile reprezentative de pe principala stradă de promenadă a orașului, Calea Unirii, fiind situat vis-a-vis de alt binecunoscut edificiu-monument, Hotelul Casino Minerva. Construit la cumpăna dintre secolele XIX-XX sub numele de Hotel Geblescu, a surprins la acea vreme prin luxul și silueta sa impunătoare. Clădirea fostului hotel se află pe lista monumentelor istorice din anul 1975. Sursa: www.monumenteoltenia.ro/ Foto: www.monumenteoltenia.ro/

The Ionel (Iancu) Pleșia House is an architectural monument of the late 19th century in Craiova, located in the historical center of the city, near the former Victoria Store. An architectural jewel both on the outside and the sumptuous interiors, Pleşia House is hosting the headquarters of the Omnia branch of the National Library of Romania. Ionel Plesia House was built between 1890-1892 in an eclectic style of neoclassical predominance at the façade and neo-baroque at the interior. The architect is unknown, but the impressive building is supposed to be the work of the Frenchman Albert Galleron, who also designed in Romania the Romanian Athenaeum and the Palace of the National Bank of Romania in Bucharest, the Constantin Vălimărescu House in Craiova, the Dimitrie Ghika Palace in Comăneşti and numerous boyars' houses in Bucharest and the province. According to other sources, the Ion G. Pleșea houses were built in 1905 following the plans of the architect Iohan Goetz. The building was seized in the 1950s by the Romanian state. After the seizure, the building had different purposes. In September 1989, a conference presided by Zoia Ceaușescu was held in the Mirrors Hall of the Pleșia House and, fascinated by the beauty of the building, she would have proposed to Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu to turn it into their third residence in Craiova (along with the Barbu Drugă House and the Jianu House). Apparently, an investment of 2-3 million lei was immediately approved for the preparation of the house in order to begin the redevelopment, which lasted until December 1989 when the works were stopped by the coming of the Revolution. After the fall of the communist regime, upon receiving a fund of books donated by the EquiLibre Association and following countless petitions from a group of people of culture in the city (Marin Sorescu - editor-in-chief of Ramuri magazine in Craiova), Craiova City Hall provided a space for their hosting at the ground floor of Pleșia House. This is when the prestigious cultural institution, which is today the French Omnia Library, was set up. On May 25, 1990, following the order signed by Andrei Pleșu, then Minister of Culture, the Omnia Library became a subsidiary of the National Library of Romania. The official inauguration of the library took place on July 23, 1991, in the presence of prestigious guests, personalities of the cultural and political life of Craiova, from the country and from abroad. Since 2000, the building has returned to the patrimony of culture following a Governmental Decision. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro/ Photo: www.monumenteoltenia.ro

The Poenaru House was built in 1890-1895 by the Italian company Adotti and belonged to a family that had large estates, namely that of Constantin Poenaru. The sumptuous building was built with the help of architects Ion Mincu, I.D. Berindei and Duiliu Marcu. The Students' House functioned in the building. The building is a monument where elements of the late French baroque style and neo-classical French style come together on the exterior, and the late Baroque and Rococo styles are intertwined in the interior. From the Great Hall of Honor, a T-shaped marble staircase allows, to the east and west, access to the basement. On the left and right of the staircase there are two large mirrors made of Venetian crystal. At the end of it was the Honor Chamber, accessible through a wide door with four sashes. From here one can pass to the other rooms through ornate doors. Source: https://audiotravelguide.ro

The building in which the secondary headquarters of Craiova City Hall are located, on A. I. Cuza Street, at no. 1, dates from 1900-1905 and is on the list of historical monuments. It was built according to the plans of architect Otto Hesselmann. According to archive records, the building was designed from the very beginning to have two purposes. Here, a hotel, but also a bank office, were supposed to operate. To fulfill the first purpose, the Palace Hotel was designed in a manner specific to most of the early 20th century hotels in Bucharest. As in the capital, the hotel was positioned on a street corner, with two main facades and entrances and apartments located right on the corner of the building. The double utility of the building can be seen on the inside. Architects talk about a special concept of "building inside the building" that can be noticed as soon as you enter the building. The ground floor and the first floor have been fitted with a large indoor hall and many counters to serve as bank office. On the second, third and attic floors are the apartments where the guests of the Palace Hotel were accommodated. The most interesting element of interior decoration is the main skylight. Located on the first floor, it functions as a "light garden", according to the specialists. The building also had many beautiful paintings and wainscots, especially in the hotel rooms, but they have deteriorated over time. Five earthquakes have passed over this building, beginning with the one in 1908 and ending with the one fromt the 1990s. They have seriously affected the building’s resistance structure. Despite the fact that the traces of time can be easily observed everywhere in the building, local authorities say that no consolidation work has been done, not even after the earthquake of 1977. Source: https://audiotravelguide.ro/hotel-palace-craiova/ Photo: https://audiotravelguide.ro/hotel-palace-craiova/; www.monumenteoltenia.ro

The Dianu Houses are a small architectural jewel of Craiova. Located right in the city center, they have always been some of Craiova's most attractive buildings. Spacious and solid, they amazed the locals when they were finished in 1902. The facades loaded with floral ornaments and balconies in the Art Nouveau style with wrought-iron railings, were enjoyed so much by the local aristocracy that they began to be copied. The Dianu House has a single upper floor and is beautifully decorated with window-frames, with a masonry corner balcony and another forged iron balcony towards A. I. Cuza Street. It has a steep slope roof with a truncated pyramid shaped dome on the corner and another pyramid shaped dome above the alleyway towards A. I. Cuza. On the side towards Panait Moșoiu Street, there is a truncated pyramid shaped dome exactly at the middle of the building. On this side there is another wrought iron balcony and another masonry balcony towards the area called the "Small Crossroad". On the ground floor there were always two or three shops of little importance, visited by those who descended towards the "Small Crossroad". In the summer of 1934, in Craiova it was held the trial of the railwaymen and oil miners who had organized big strikes in the previous year. During the trial, a "defense committee" was set up and the newspaper "Defense of the Railwaymen" appeared. The headquarters of the editorial office were initially in the house of lawyer Costel Dianu (A.I. Cuza Street, no.16) opposite to today’s National Theater. The Dianu House was later the headquarters of the Craiova Committee against the Imperial War of Looting and Conquest, which included Mihail Cruceanu, Eugen Constant, av. Nicu Popilian and av. Costel Dianu. The facade of the house was renovated in 2014, following the City Hall's decision of renovating the aspect of the entire historical center of Craiova Source: vladimirrosulescu-istorie.blogspot.com/2016/05/casa-dianu-aicuza.html Photo: https://www.facebook.com/craiovadeieri/

The "Museum of the Romanian Book and Exile" constitutes a unique, large-scale project, whose well-defined purpose is the reunification of Romanian culture with the cultural patrimony produced outside the country, from the post-war Romanian exile up to the present day. Its holdings include nearly 40 collections of immense value in terms of their content: The "Academician Basarab Nicolescu" Collection; The "Leonid Mămăligă" Collection; The "Neuilly Circle" Archive Collection; The "Hyperion Association" Archive Collection; The "Mircea Milcovitch and Maria Mesterou" Collection; The "Andrei Șerban" Collection; The "Paul Barbăneagră" Collection; The "Corneliu Șerban Popa" Collection; The "Vintilă Horia" Collection; The "Cicerone Poghirc" Collection; The "Andrei Codrescu" Collection; The "Carmen Firan and Andrei Sângeorzan" Donation; The "Victor Cupșa" Collection; The "Constantza Buzdugan" Donation; The "Bujor Nedelcovici" Collection; The "Cezar Vasiliu" Collection; The "Valeriu Veliman" Donation; The "Mircea Eliade" Collection; The "Emil Cioran" Collection; The "Ileana and Romulus Vulpescu" Collection; The "Șerban Viorel and Rodica Stănoiu" Donation; The "Academician Dan Berindei" Collection; The "Academician Dinu C. Giurescu" Collection; The "Academician Ștefan Ștefănescu" Donation; The "Romanian Institute/Romanian Library in Freiburg" Donation; The "George Banu" Collection; The "Dumitru Milcoveanu" Collection; The "Octav Calleya" Collection; The "Horia-Dinu Nicolaescu" Donation; The "Nicolas Adam" Collection; The "Ion Deaconescu" Donation; The "Aurora Cornu" Collection; The "Miron Kiropol" Collection; The "Grigore Arbore" Collection; The "Theodor Damian" Collection; The "George Roca" Collection; The "Romanian-American Academy of Arts and Sciences" Collection; The "Romanian Exile Memory at the National Romanian Television" Collection. The project emerged from the need to create an overview of Romanian spiritual creations, made beyond the country's borders during the communist regime. The uniqueness of the Museum's holdings lies within a formidable, remarkable diversity, easily noticeable, especially in terms of the fields represented, ranging from the humanities and social sciences, theology and music, to performing and visual arts, as well as the types of materials that make up each individual collection. When visiting a multitude of museum exhibits, one can observe handwritten dedications in highly valuable books, original manuscripts and documents from the libraries of the personalities represented in the Museum, thousands of pages of correspondence from famous exiled writers, presented for the first time to the Romanian public, as well as unique pieces of visual art in painting, sculpture, drawing, or engraving. The archives held in the museum's collection serve as a robust testimony, a documentary fresco of the cultural, scientific, and artistic activities undertaken by personalities of the Romanian exile. They also represent an invaluable research tool for all those concerned with the creations and memories of cultural figures who settled around the globe during the era dominated by Romanian communism. The museum's efforts, therefore, aim to popularize the works signed by prominent names of the Romanian exile which, up to now, have circulated for almost half a century solely outside the country's borders, with only a small portion being published and translated into Romanian.