County Centre for Nature Protection, Tourism and Sustainable Rural Development Dolj

Similar to any other "students` culture house" in the country, the Students` Culture House in Craiova provides to the students in the university centre of Oltenia an alternative to spending their free time in a productive way through various actions that complement the curricula and the professional training. Short history The Students` Culture House was founded exactly half a century ago, in 1964, overtaking the establishment of the University of Craiova by a year. First, the SCH in Craiova was located in the "Nicolae Titulescu" Palace, under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. In 1979, the need to expand the activities led to the relocation of the Students` Culture House from Eugeniu Carada street and the construction of new buildings, including a big event hall. After 9 years of hard work, the construction has come to an end, so that on May 2, 1988, the Great Hall of Events was put into use. Soon, the students became aware of this event hall thanks to the first student festival "Jazz, Folk, Rock". Due to the great impact of this big event, all Students` Culture Houses in the country took up the idea and the event was presented in the famous Billboard magazine. Over the years, the Students` Culture House has organized cultural, artistic, educational events, but also fun tourism, sports and leisure activities, dedicated mostly to students. The Students` Culture House in Craiova has always been and remains an open institution to all volunteer students, one of the most active institutions of its kind. This is the place where great Romanian artists sterted their career: Gabriel Cotabita, Aurelian Temisan, Vacanta Mare or Janina Matei. From its very beginning, the Students` Culture House has been an expression environement for young and free spirits, an elevated alternative to leisure. This institution represents an environment in which the young students' artistic and moral skills develop, a space for cultural experiments, as well as for promoting young talents. Conclusions and perspectives 50 years since its establishment, the Students` Culture House has remained the cultural edifice that shelters, develops and promotes the talents of students attending training sessions, classes, clubs and various other activities organized by SCH under the guidance of specialists. However, despite the fact that the modernization works did not lack, the SCH`s activity is limited by the permanent budget constraints in the cultural and educational field. The loss of a substantial part of the area in which it used to function (the legal heirs recovered the old building), as well as successive staff restructuring resolutions, affected the activity of the Students` Culture House. The hope of the Students` Culture House is that, along with the long-awaited Decentralization Law, it will be subordinated to the City Hall of Craiova, its work will gain even more brilliance and efficiency, and the students will struggle to transform Craiova into a true cultural capital.

Founded in 1992 as a successor of the great "Nicolae Balcescu" Ensemble in Craiova, with the purpose of giving a scenic expression of the diversity of the Oltenian folklore and, at the same time, the folklore from all folk areas of Romania, the "Maria Tanase" Folk Ensemble built its reputation over the years and achieved success both in the country and abroad. Displaying on stage the traditional dances with the utmost care and consistently promoting authentic folk songs turned the Maria Tanase Folk Ensemble into one of the most representative and valuable ensembles in Romania. The choreography was assumed by master Marian Badea, master Puiu Vasilescu and then by the choreographer Marin Stîrcu, whose experience was continued by the talented master of dance, Ionel Garoafa, who leads with great professionalism the ballet department made of 22 dancers . The musical leadership was assured for 25 years by the famous violinist and conductor, Nicu Cretu, who originally made the musical arrangement for the orchestra composed of the 13 instrumentalists. The 13 soloists of the ensemble performing along with the orchestra: Niculina Stoican Mariana Ionescu Căpitănescu Constantin Enceanu Petrică Mîţu Stoian Marius Măgureanu Liliana Popa Lavinia Bîrsoghe Manuela Moţocu Aneta Şişu Cristi Banateanu Ciri Mayer Liviu Dică The great talent of the Maria Tănase Folk Ensemble was rewarded at national and international festivals in Greece, Egypt, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Turkey and Iran. We are glad and proud that through everything we do in order to cherish the folk traditions, we are the loyal representatives of the Romanian spirit that we dearly hold under the enlightened patronage of the Lady of our folk music, Maria Tanase.

The Administrative Palace of Craiova, located at 19 Calea Unirii, is one of the most representative buildings in the city. Built in the first part of the 20th century according to the plans of architect Petre Antonescu, in the neo-Romanian style promoted by Ion Mincu, the edifice today houses two of the most important institutions of the county: the Prefecture and the Dolj County Council. The Administrative Palace was built at the beginning of the 20th century, most probably between 1912-1913 (the starting year of the construction differs from source to source, from 1907/1909/1910/1912). It is said that Prime Minister Ion I. C. Bratianu, present at Craiova at the liberal meeting of June 24, 1909, would have been present at the placement of the act at the foundation of the building. The constructor appointed by Antonescu for building the Administrative Palace was Giovanni Battista Peressutti. From an aesthetic point of view, the façade decoration is distinguished by the numerous original elements, but which reinterpret the elements of the old Romanian architecture: the roof with green enameled tile, decorative elements of zinc sheet and skylights, the loggias, balconies and bay windows on the side façades of the floor, the console crevasses, the trilobal springs from the windows, the window frames, the columns, friezes and stone sinks, the decorative brackets or rainwater gutters, modeled with the twisted rope motif. Starting with April 1, 1915, the Prefectural Palace hosted at the ground floor the Dolj County Antiquities and Ethnography Museum, set up at the initiative of history professor Ştefan Ciuceanu, and from 1928 it became the Regional Museum of Oltenia. During the period 1916-1918, during the German occupation in Craiova, the institutions that had their headquarters in the Administrative Palace were evacuated, as the German Railways Directorate was set up here. At the departure of the Germans from Oltenia, the furniture and the building were devastated, and the patrimony of the Regional Museum was severely affected by the German occupation robbery. On December 12, 1922, the Craiova Scientific Society (director professor Marin Demetrescu) was set up in the Prefecture's office, which aimed at endowing the capital of Oltenia with a Museum of Natural History. In 1934, the collections of the Regional Museum were moved to the basement of the Prefecture, in the halls facing Calea Unirii. In September of the same year, the festive hall of the Administrative Palace hosted the Congress of Numismatics and Archaeology in Craiova. In 1935, due to the works, a crack appeared in the dome of the honor stairs. The consolidation was done under the direct supervision of Petre Antonescu, the architect of the original project. Starting with February 24, 1945, the building will host the Regional People’s Council (until 1968), the Dolj County Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) and the Dolj County Council (until 1989), and since 1989 it has housed the Prefecture and the Dolj County Council . The earthquake in 1977 affected the Administrative Palace building, which has later undergone extensive repair works. Since 1989, the Administrative Palace of Craiova houses the Prefecture and Dolj County Council. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro

The Palace of the Bank of Commerce, a monumental building that houses the Craiova City Hall, is one of the most famous buildings in the city. The Bank of Commerce was designed by architect Ion Mincu in 1906 and completed in 1916 by his student, Constantin Iotzu. The building has a rich interior decorated with stuccoes, stained glass, Venetian mosaics and wrought iron grilles. On December 12, 1897 (according to other sources in 1899), the banker and liberal politician from Craiova, Constantin Neamţu, set up in Craiova the Bank of Commerce, in the form of a family business. The banking company quickly became one of the most important and successful banks with Romanian capital in the country, opening branches in several important cities. At the time of its inauguration, the Bank of Commerce was one of the most beautiful buildings in the city and even in the country, impressing both by its exterior and its interior, richly decorated with stained glass, chandeliers and mosaics. Built on 3 levels, the building had a basement (treasury bank thesaurus, various warehouses, archive, homeowner's residence, central heating, own power plant and mechanical workshop), ground floor (a vestibule, a large hall, offices and administration offices) and an upper floor (a vestibule from which, through a gallery, one can reach the hall where various offices, the boardroom and the director's office are located). During the period 1916-1918, during the German occupation in Craiova, in the new building the German general headquarters were installed. When the Germans left Oltenia, the building was devastated, as it happened with several other occupied buildings. After 1948, several institutions were operating in the building, including the Academy of Historical Sciences, Archaeology and Ethnography, the Municipal Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) and the Municipal People's Council. After the 1977 earthquake, the building benefited from current repair works. Since 1989, the former headquarters of the Bank of Commerce is the headquarters of the City Hall and the Local Municipal Council of Craiova. In 2000, a feasibility study was carried out to consolidate the building, with the intention to request funds from the World Bank. However, the proceedings were stopped due to disputes over the ownership of the building, which is why no administration has since tried to start rehabilitation works. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro Photo: imagoromaniae.ro; www.monumenteoltenia.ro