Former Palace Hotel, nowadays the Administrative Pavilion of Craiova City Hall

The Vârvoreanu House is one of the buildings included in the list of historical monuments of Dolj County, being built at the end of the 19th century. Today there is a kindergarten functioning in the building. Photo: Monumentalist

The Stoilov-Bolintineanu House is a historic architectural monument of local interest, located in the center of Craiova, on Calea Unirii, no. 5 (near Valea Vlăicii), opposite to the Constantin Vălimărescu House. The building, dating back to the end of the 19th century, belonged to General Simion Stoilov, the father of the great Romanian mathematician Simion Stoilov. The Stoilov-Bolintineanu House has a three-level height (basement, ground floor and attic). On the exterior, the main entrance stands out (from Savinesti street), covered by an awning, as well as the decorations and frames of the windows on the facade facing Calea Unirii. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro/casa-stoilov-bolintineanu/

It is a historical monument of local value, that belonged to Dr. Mihai Cănciulescu, one of the representative figures of the Oltenian medical community in Romania during the interwar period. It is located at the intersection of Simion Bărnuţiu Street and January 24 Street, opposite of the "Sf. Archangels Mihail and Gavriil" Church. Cănciulescu House has a three-level height regime (basement, ground floor and attic) and an internal courtyard enclosed by a cement and iron fence. On the exterior of the house there is the richly ornamented decoration around the windows and cornices, with decorative plaster, the sheet metal roof with windows and skylights and the main entrance covered with an awning. Photo source: monumenteoltenia.ro, gds.ro

Vernescu House is a historic architectural monument from the beginning of the 20th century, located near the center of Craiova. The house is located on Metropolitan Firmilian Street, at no. 20, and is neighboring another local architectural monument, Pencioiu House. The house belonged to Dr. Dumitru Vernescu, one of the representative figures of the medical community in Romania in the first part of the 20th century. Vernescu House has a three-level height scheme (basement, ground floor and attic) and an internal courtyard surrounding the house, enclosed with a cement and iron fence (facing the street). On the exterior of the house, some elements stand out: a decoration of apparent brick, decorations around the windows and cornices, decorative plaster with intricate letters D and V, tin roof with windows and skylights, brick baskets and the balcony on the western façade. The door and window framing is wooden. The visible facades (western, eastern and southern) are degraded, with the plaster missing on large areas. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro/casa-vernescu-craiova/ Photo: Mihai Murărețu

The Pencioiu House, a historical monument, is located in the central area of the city. Situated near the Adventist Church of Craiova and the former headquarters of the conference, the building on Mitropolit Firmilian Street, no. 18, proved to be the ideal place that fully meets the current needs of the Adventist Church from the Oltenia region. In the building used to live D.G. Pencioiu, lawyer, literary critic and Romanian translator. He temporarily served as mayor of Craiova (1918) during the German occupation. Photo: www.monumenteromania.ro

The school’s origins go back to 1833, as Lazaro-Otetelisanu's girls' boarding school, a name which it taks from its founders, being the first school for girls in the Romanian Principalities. The establishment of this boarding school is related to the extensive development of national education in the capital of Oltenia following the adoption of the Organic Regulation. It was founded before the other similar institutions in the Romanian Principalities. The initiative of "this school, for a better education of boyar girls", sprang into the "enlightened mind of Overseer Iordache Otetelișanu, great patriot and fond of the national culture". With ”his funds, but also with the material support of the Cupbearer Constantin Lazaro", who donated to the school the houses inherited from his wife, Zoiţa Pârşcoveanca, he founded "Lazaro-Otetelisanu Boarding School for Girls" in 1833. Students admitted to this school had to know how "to read and write" in a foreign language. As a matter of fact, since 1860, the girls’ boarding school came under the care of the state and was put under the control and supervision of a committee, a fact that was decided by the Parliament's vote of August 4, 1860. At that time, the school operated with six classes: four lower ones and two upper ones. From a study programme dated 1861, it is found that the following subjects were taught in the school: Romanian language, religion, history, geography, drawing, calligraphy, crafting, physical sciences, natural sciences, cosmography. The name of the school is changed again in 1883 when it becomes a "Pedagogical Institute for Girls", "because of the goal pursued by the school authority to create graduates who whould become schoolmasters." From 1891, it is added ”to the institute an application school (primary school) which was operating apart from it, on the basis of a special program under the ministerial orders." Since becoming a state school after 1860, the tendency was to develop the secondary education for girls, as well as to prepare valuable elements for primary education. Starting with 1959, the institution takes the name Middle School no. 3, until 1966, when it became a mixed school, allowing, for the first time, boys in its school rooms. Between 1966-1976, the school was named "Highschool no. 3 "and then, in the period from 1977 to 1989, it was named "High School of Philology-History ". In 1990 the school returned to the traditional name of "Elena Cuza High School" and since 1998 it is named "Elena Cuza National College". Throughout its existence, the school had as main objective for its students the learning of a foreign language, especially until 1944 and between 1970-1975 when all disciplines were taught in French. The specificity of the school was preserved even in recent years, with regular classes of philology-bilingual foreign language (French, English, German and Spanish). Also, in recent years, foreign lecturers have taught at those classes, native speakers of that language, who have come following various European programs initiated by the school. Source: elenacuza.ro Photo: www.facebook.com

It is a historic monument building, dating back to the end of the 19th century.

The former Normal School for Boys in Craiova is a monumental building, located on Calea Bucureşti, no. 107. The work of architect Constantin Băicoianu, the edifice was built between 1898-1901 as a building for the Normal School for Boys. Later, the building hosted several educational institutions, currently being the headquarters of the Faculty of Mechanics of the University of Craiova. The building of the former Normal School for Boys is an imposing building of monumental dimensions, disposed on three levels (semi-basement, ground floor and upper floor) on a plane symmetric to the vertical of the central tower (entrance from Calea București). The facades of the building are covered with apparent brick, and the roof of the edifice is made of tile. On the outside, the ornamental stucco and the painted decorations are remarkable. On the facade of the building there is a marble plate that commemorates Ștefan Velovan's activity in Craiova. Ștefan Velovan, considered the greatest Romanian teacher of his time and the one who laid the foundations for pedagogical education, was the promoter of a new trend in didactics and pedagogical methodology ("velovanism"). Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro/ Photo: http://mecanica.ucv.ro/; www.monumenteoltenia.ro/

The Dolj branch of the National Bank of Romania is housed in a historical monument of local interest, located in the center of Craiova, on Calea Unirii, at no. 6. The building is located near Constantin Vălimărescu House and opposite to the Evangelical Church.  The building, dating from the end of the 19th century (1887-1888), was built to serve as the office of the county branch of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), an institution founded in 1880. The development of the fabric of BNR agencies began in 1891 and ended throughout the entire country in 1900, triggering a massive expansion of the Romanian banking movement.  Returning to the headquarters of the Dolj branch of the BNR, the building is distinguished by the architectural style specific to the late 19th century, which combines European eclecticism and neoclassicism with Art Deco influences (neoclassical style, late baroque and freely interpreted French style). Responsible for the construction of the building were entrepreneurs Dimitrie Nedelcu and Domenico Costa, those who had already built the headquarters of the Galaţi branch of the institution during 1885-1886. Nedelcu had also taken part in the construction of the Casino Minerva Hotel and Carol I High School in Craiova, while Costa had built the Stock Exchange Palace (currently the National Library) and the Parliament Palace (currently the Patriarchal Palace) in Bucharest. Set on a single floor, the brick and carved stone building impresses with its total area (1,500 sqm), the height of the rooms (the central lobby has a height of 7 m) and the grandeur of the interior decorations (doors, windows, chandeliers, furniture, mosaics). In the basement there is the Bank's Treasury, which has long been used as a cash desk.  The building houses the same institution as it did 125 years ago, the Dolj branch of the National Bank of Romania. Apart from the administrative offices and the management of the institution, there is also an office of the National Agency for Consumer Protection and the Bank Inspection Service of the branch. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro/banca-nationala-a-romaniei-filiala-dolj/  Photo: https://www.bnr.ro/Sucursala-Regionala-BNR-Dolj-19532-Mobile.aspx