Craiova as an open air museum (1)

Craiova is a story and always has been, especially for those who know it well. People and stories have settled over this city, and things that cannot be put in museums have remained testimonies over time. But they can make, on their own, a museum itself. One in the open air, to visit on your lazy days and to really make you feel the heritage of the city.

The Unirii Path from Craiova is that kind of place. A street with old houses, gathered in one place, which carry details and make you think of special perfumes, ladies and gentlemen, carriages and, above all, of an invaluable architecture that is still standing, fortunately.

Located in the center of the city, this street is home to some of the most beautiful buildings in town, and besides the Administrative Palace, the former Hotel Palace, the "Jean Mihail" Palace - today the Art Museum - there are also houses without too much celebrity, but with a "something" that’s exclusively theirs.

Although some of them are sad or bent because of the difficulties, the old houses of the city deserve the respect you give to an old man changed by the passing of time, but who keeps himself warm and dignified, always ready to tell you about how the times used to be. The gates to the past from Unirii Path, mostly historical monuments of the 19th century, impress with details and greatness, and their silhouettes are the guardians of times that have set, but which can be rediscovered through a walk on the streets of the city.

If you want to walk to the "Romanescu" Park, another precious heritage of Craiova's history, you cannot avoid stopping, maybe just for a few seconds, in front of each one of these houses: Chintescu House, Gheorghe Chițu House, Minerva Hotel and Casino, New York Hotel , Rusănescu House, "Mantuleasa" Church, Patria Garden or Vrăbiescu House are just a few of the mastodons that will keep you company. They won't bother you, they won't interrupt you, they’ll just sit there, quietly, waiting to be seen.

An intimate trip through Craiova, only yours with them, can completely change your perception of the city and of the customs here. If the walls do not whisper enough to you, you can get in touch with those who know them closely, two excellent guides for any curious: Monumentalist and Monumente Oltenia.

Overall, 700 historical monuments guard Dolj County, each with its story, in each city and village. Places of worship, old houses, fortresses, settlements, fortifications, archaeological sites, the Dacian fortress Pelendava or the Roman fortress at Desa, you can find them all here, according to the index of the National Heritage Institute:

Beyond their beauty, beyond the stories that breathe unwillingly through the old walls and beyong the spectacle they offer to the viewer, between bricks and materials, metal details or sculptures, there is also a polite whistle: keep us close to you as long as you can.

Photos: discoverdolj.ro, memorielocala.aman.ro, djcdj.cultura.ro