Historic Center of Craiova

The Rusănescu House in Craiova is a historic architectural monument from the end of the 19th Century, located in the central area of the city, at the intersection between Ştirbei Vodă Boulevard and Calea Unirii. The House, belonging to the Craiova boyar Ştefan D. Rusănescu, is now known as the Marriage Registry Office and hosts several sections of the Community Public Service for the Evidence of Persons in Craiova (Civil Status, Tutelary Authority). The Rusănescu House has a built area of 579 sqm with a height regime without basement, but with ground floor, upper floor and attic, and an interior courtyard. The house is a blend of styles, including features of Art Deco, late Baroque or Viennese style. At the exterior, there is a rich ornament around the entrances, windows and cornices, with decorative plaster made of cement mortar, an enclosed balcony above the main entrance and a skylight tin roof. Inside, the building features decorative panels on the walls and ceilings, painted in oil on the wall, and in oil on wood in the carpentry, an upstairs stained glass above the hallway and the stairwell, and a monumental staircase accessible through the secondary entrance (through the inner courtyard). The house was restored in 1999, with the works being performed in order to rebuild interior finishing (paintings, stuccos in golden leaves, ceilings, mirrors and skylight). Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro Photo: www.monumenteoltenia.ro; 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.

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 building of the University of Craiova, originally built to serve as the Palace of Justice, is an architectural monument of national interest and one of the most representative buildings in the city. Designed in 1890 by the architect Ion Socolescu, the building is an illustration of Neoclassicism in architecture. It is located downtown, on Alexandru Ioan Cuza Street, no. 13. The building was built between 1894 and 1912. From the very beginning, were visible both from the outside and the inside, arechitectural elements borrowed from classicism, such as the triangular pediment and the peristyle of the three-door main entrance, surrounded by four composite columns (with corinthian and ionic elements). The palace was surrounded by a fence with a wrought iron grid fixed on a concrete foundation, with pillars from place to place. Between the building and the fence, on all sides of the building, is a green space. The initial form of the Palace of Justice building was a quadrangle crossed in the middle by a central structure that corresponded to the main entrance, dominated by a classic pediment, from where you can admire a group of statues picturing "The Blindfolded Justice", removed after 1948. After the change of the building's destination, the word "UNIVERSITY", written in capital letters, was placed under its pediment. In 1912 there was a partial inauguration of the building, and another one took place in 1914, when the palace already had 4 levels. Later, the edifice was extended, repaired and modernized successively, reaching 5 and 6 levels. The projects concerning the additions from the interwar period, through which a wing of the building was built, were drawn by the architect Iancu Atanasescu. The plans for the expansion of the building that was completed in the 1970s (1972-1975) were conceived by the architect Petre Falcon. The Palace of Justice was built to serve as the headquarters of various courts of justice in Craiova. Between 1941 and 1944, the palace was occupied by German troops. With the departure of the Germans, the courts of law (the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal) returned to this place until 1951. In 1948, the first higher education institution in Craiova ( The Agronomic Institute) has been established here. At the same time, the western side of the palace was occupied by local administrative institutions (The County Seat). Between 1951-1958, the eastern wing of the building sheltered the second higher education institute, the Institute of Machinery and Electrical Devices (The Technical Institute). For a short time, between 1958-1959, the Palace of Justice became the home of the regional, district and city courts, the prosecutor's office and the bar. Staring with 1966, the imposing building has been in use and has become the property of the newly established University of Craiova. Source: www.monumenteoltenia.ro Photo: https://www.facebook.com/ucvro/

The Carol I High School building in Craiova is an architectural monument of national interest, built at the end of the XIX th century. The edifice is located in the central area of ​​Craiova, near the Oteteleşanu School (the current Elena Cuza National College) and the Church of the Holy Trinity, on Ioan Maiorescu Street, no. 2. The building currently houses the Carol I National College, the second oldest secondary school institution in Romania. The history of this school begins in 1826, when two former students of Gheorghe Lazar and Ion Heliade Rădulescu, professor Stanciu Capataneanu and teacher Grigore Pleşoianu set up the Secondary National School, the second secondary school in the Principalities, after St. Sava College in Bucharest . In the beginning, the Central School functioned in the cells of the Obedeanu Monastery, then at the Madona Dudu Church. In October 1832, it was bought the current land of the College, in the centre of Craiova, with the amount of 300 gold coins donated by Iordache Otetelisanu. It was not until 1842 that the first location was inaugurated, the one immortalized by the painter Theodor Aman in the painting "Hora Unirii la Craiova ". In the big hall of the school, Ion Heliade Radulescu read The Proclamation of Izlaz, while Maiorescu, the head of the institution, climbed into a tree in front of the building and read the same Proclamation to pupils and other inhabitants of Craiova. After the defeat of the Revolution of 1848, for three years, the school closes because it does not have the necessary teachers, and the Turks turn the building into a garrison and a kitchen, heating their food with the furniture and the books in the library. Through the efforts of Professor G.M. Fontanin, who becomes head of the institution for almost 30 years, the school is reopened in 1854. In 1885, by high Royal Decree, the school was named "Carol I" High School. Between 1893 and 1895, was built the current high school building costing more than one million lei. King Carol I himself added at the foundation a metal cylinder containing the official document of the construction that will become a heritage building. The frescoes from the library and the round hall were made by the painter Francis Tribalski, and the new dome building was furnished with luxurious furniture. But this location also became a hospital during the First World War. In 1948, on the occasion of the centenary of the Revolution of 1848, the high school received the name "Nicolae Bălcescu" People's College, but in 1997 it will return to the old name "Carol I", which is preserved until today. Besides, both historical personalities are considered spiritual mentors of the College of Craiova. Over the years, the outstanding results of the students gave international recognition to the "Carol I" National College. The students, guided by outstanding teachers, gained 52 international awards, including 17 gold medals, 22 silver medals and 13 bronze medals. The school library is the most important school library in the country. It was founded in 1836 and bears the name of Mihail Strajan, a high school teacher during 1881-1902. He was the one who supplied the library with books and decorated it with expensive furniture. The Mihail Strajan Library contains heritage books, such as the Bible from Bucharest (1688). The oldest book dates back to 1514. Some heritage books were part of the library of Constantin Cantacuzino. The school also take pride in its butterfly collection (donated by Claudia and Ion Stănoiu and completed by Adrian and Ioana Rusescu), which includes thousands of specimens gathered around the globe. Another important piece from the high school's heritage is the collection of rocks collected by the teachers Dumitru and Ştefania Alexandrescu. One of the high value objects ​​sheltered by the high school is "The Ecorché" by Constantin Brâncuşi, made in collaboration with doctor D. Gerota and located in the biology laboratory. Source: www.cnc.ro; https://www.facebook.com/colegiulnational/ Photo: https://www.facebook.com/colegiulnational/

This building was constructed between 1898 and 1903 according to the plans of architects Thoma Dobrescu and D. Nedelcu. The building was erected on the land that was then the property of Madonna Dudu epitropy. The documents of that time speak of a contract concluded on November 23, 1896, between the epitropes of the Madonna Dudu Church in Craiova (Gh. Anghelescu and A. Carianopol) and the architect Th. Dobrescu from Bucharest "in order to make plans to rebuild a new establishment in Craiova City to replace the demolished one, called Minerva Casino, whose cost does not go as much as 500,000 lei." The building would have a shop, a confectionery and a café, and in the cellars and basements there would be facilities for the confectionery laboratories. A Club and hotel rooms would be arranged in the main body of the building. The majestic building will gather important names of the old days, becoming the symbol of yesteryear Craiova, but also a true altar of culture where artists of great value from those days kneeled. From the stage at Minerva great names started their successful journey, including Madelaine and Manu Nedeianu, Iordănescu Bruno, Ion Vasilescu, Mia Braia, Ioana Radu, Dorina Drăghici, Petre Alexandru and many others. Also, this is the place where ideas were born, plans were made, and the art of the days was debated. Here we could see Amza Pellea, Gheorghe Cozorici, Constantin Rauţchi, Silvia Popovici, Sanda Toma, Ioana Bulcă, Andreea Năstăsescu, Rodica Tăpălagă, Ioana Măgură, Vasile Constantinescu, Vasile Niţulescu, Remus Comănescu, Geo Barton, George Mărutză or Costel Rădulescu and others. Minerva also hosted important people in the world: General Charles De Gaulle, Ciu En Lai, or Nikita Khrushchev. The architectural style is less common with us, inspired by the Arabic / Moorish architecture. Specifical to this style are the door and window openings closed at the top with an arc of more than 180 degrees, enclosed openings in the arch of 180 degrees and multilobate, as well as the polychrome geometric decoration. In the old days, at the ground floor operated shops, and at the upper floors were large and stylish salons, where cards and billiards were played. It was a place not affordable by many, as the luxury and prices made it high-class, so the most frequent characters entering through its doors were the boyars of Craiova. Source: audiotravelguide.ro Photo: ro.wikipedia.org; audiotravelguide.ro

Casa Nicolae Romanescu este un monument de arhitectură de interes național din municipiul Craiova, situat pe Calea Unirii, lângă Biserica Mântuleasa. Casa, ce a aparținut familiei Romanescu, poartă numele celebrului om politic Nicolae Romanescu (consilier, primar al Craiovei, deputat și senator timp de 48 de ani), cunoscut mai ales pentru înființarea parcului ce azi îi poartă numele.  Clădirea şi anexele interioare ale curţii au fost construite în mai multe etape, în cursul secolului al XIX-lea (cea dintâi mărturie despre casă datează din 1833), ajungând la configuraţia definitivă, care este şi acum, în anul 1903, datorită arhitectului I.D. Berindey şi antreprenorului C. Roschovsky.  Cu un an înaintea morții, Nicolae Romanescu a hotărât să lase orașului său casa în care a trăit și toate colecțiile sale.  În jurul anului 1935 casa a fost închiriată unei bănci particulare, încăperile de la parter devenind birouri cu pupitre, seifuri și ghișee. La etaj locuia familia directorului I. Dondoe.  În 1939, aici și-au găsit adăpost temporar refugiați polonezi (funcționari militari) și familiile lor.  După 1941, la demisolul clădirii au fost depozitate lăzi pline cu documente de arhivă, în speranța conservării până la sfârșitul războiului. La mansardă erau adăpostiți refugiați din Basarabia și din nordul Ardealului.  În iarna anilor 1943-1944, în dormitoarele improvizate la mansardă au fost găzduiți copiii de la orfelinatul Liceului Ortodox de Fete din strada Brestei.  În Casa Romanescu a mai funcționat o vreme Banca Românească, care și-a încetat activitatea după naționalizarea din 1948. Administrația comunistă a schimbat numele Căii Unirii în strada Vladimir Ilici Lenin, iar în casă se organizau întruniri politice și ședințe muncitorești.  Ulterior, în Casa Romanescu s-a instalat o școală cu profil financiar, iar din 1956 până în 1974, aici a avut sediul Casa Pionierilor.  Mai târziu, în Casa Romanescu avea să funcționeze Institutul de Cercetări Socio-Umane al Academiei Române, în paralel cu Casa Universitarilor.  Din 1974, Casa Romanescu mai este cunoscută și drept Casa Universitarilor, spațiu activităților cultural-științifice organizate de cadrele didactice de la Universitatea din Craiova.  În prezent, sălile Casei Romanescu găzduiesc evenimente ale Universității din Craiova: susțineri de teze de doctorat, ceremonii academice restrânse, lansări de carte, conferințe științifice, microexpoziții de artă, cenacluri culturale, întruniri colegiale și aniversări oficiale.  În prezent, Casa Universitarilor este închiriată unei firme având ca activitate restaurant unde Universitatea din Craiova poate să - şi organizeze în continuare activităţile enumerate mai sus. Sursa: www.monumenteoltenia.ro; www.ucv.ro  Foto: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1506713899467445&set=pb.100063565119237.-2207520000