CURTEA VECHE MUSEUM AND PRINCELY CHURCH 

Address: : str. Franceza nr.27-31, sector 3, tel. 3140375

Here one can see the relics of the former Voivodal Court of Tara Romaneasca, relics that were discovered after extended archeological researches that began in 1953.

The construction was erected at the end of the 14th century on a surface of approximately 160 sq.m. Later, the ruler Vlad the Impaler extended it to a surface of 700 sq.m. and reinforced the brick walls with rolling stone. It is the place where Vlad the Impaler signed the document of September 20th, 1459 attesting for the first time the name of Bucharest.

The ruler Mircea Ciobanul transformed the old fortress into a palace with vast cellars. He is the one who built the Princely Church at Curtea Veche, in 1545, a church which is considered to be the oldest religious center of Bucharest. Curtea Veche reaches a surface of 25,000 mp.

Because of the wars, the Princely Court suffered. The ruler Matei Basarab rebuilt it after 1670.

The rulers Constantin Brancoveanu and Stefan Cantacuzino are those who make it shine, embellishing the construction with the famous stone columns, with marble stairs and interior paintings. They are those who order the construction of the gardens inside it. This blooming period lasted from 1682, when Constantin Brancoveanu began to rule, until 1716, when his descendant, ruler Stefan Cantacuzino, was killed by the Turks and in Tara Romaneasca began the period of Fanariot reigns.

The fires, earthquakes and robberies during the foreign occupations, as well as the lack of interest of certain rulers towards the maintenance of the Old Court allowed to the princely palace to degrade starting with the second half of the 18th century.

COTROCENI NATIONAL MUSEUM

www.muzeulcotroceni.ro

Address: Bd.Geniului nr. 1. Tel.: 221-1200.
Program: Open daily between 9:00-15:30; Mondays - closed.
Access only upon appointment 

In 1893, the Cotroceni Palace was erected, surrounded by a park, and founded by Serban Cantacuzino.

Currently, the Cotroceni National Museum is operational inside the Palace, which was opened in 1991 and includes the Cotroceni Royal Palace and the Cotroceni Monastery, remaking the atmosphere of the medieval Church and of the former Royal Court of King Ferdinand. Besides, the assembly is a remarkable historical and architectural monument.

One can visit the princely cellars, the medieval monastic cells, several apartments furnished according to the style of the 19th century, such as the Royal Bedroom or the Norwegian Saloon. Also, one can visit rooms representing the pre-war period: German living room, hunting saloon, the flowers saloon, the Great Reception Saloon.

We should mention that inside the Cotroceni Park there was also the building of the Presidential Administration.

NATIONAL FIREMEN MUSEUM – FIRE TOWER (FOISORUL DE FOC)

Address: Bd. Ferdinand I, nr. 33, sector 2, (Foisorul de foc)
Program: Tuesday – Sunday 09:00 - 17:00, Mondays - closed.

The Fire Tower became operational in 1893. The project of the building was entrusted to the City Hall’s chief architect George Mandrea (graduate of the Architecture Institute of Dresda – Germany), professor at the Architecture School of Bucharest. 

The building, 30 m high, having the aspect of a tower, was used as a firemen post and regulating reservoir for the Bucharest’s water supply network as soon as it was founded. The 1st floor was used as barracks for soldiers, and on the 2nd floor sat the commander. Bucharest was watched from the top of the Fire Tower until 1910, when the alerts started to be made by phone calls.

The National Firemen Museum was founded within the Fire Tower in 1963. Visitors may admire maps, weapons and equipment of the firemen units.

GRIGORE ANTIPA NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 

www.antipa.ro

Address: Soseaua Kiseleff, nr. 1,  Tel.: 312-8826.
Program: Open daily between 10:00-18:00; Mondays - closed.

One of the first natural history museums in the world, the “Grigore Antipa” Museum was officially open in its current siege in 1908.    

Originally, it was called the “History and Antiquities Museum” and it was founded in 1834, upon the proposition of the ban Mihalache Ghica. It had many sieges, among which the current “Saint Sava” College of Bucharest.

The current siege of the Museum began to be built in 1904, upon the insistency of Grigore Antipa, its manager at that time, when the Museum witnessed a special development. This is also the reason why the Museum was called by its manager’s name, in 1933.

Currently, the Museum shelters around 1,300,000 exemplars, grouped in 130 collections belonging to most of the groups of animals. One can admire here collections of minerals, rocks and fossils.

The value of the exhibits is all the greater as among them there are more than 5,000 unique exemplars in the world.

The museum shelters periodic sale exhibitions, the most appreciated being the aquarium fish exhibition and the semiprecious stones exhibition.

NATIONAL ROMANIAN HISTORY MUSEUM – POST PALACE

www.mnir.ro

Address: Calea Victoriei , nr. 12,  sector 3, tel.: 315 82 07, fax: 311 33 56
Program: Wednesday - Sunday: summer visiting hours: 10-18; winter visiting hours: 9-17; Mondays, Thursdays: closed

The building that now shelters the National Romanian History Museum was inaugurated in 1900, under the name of Post Palace.

An architectural monument, the building has a surface of 8,000 sq.m. The museum was founded here in 1970 as the most representative archeology and history museum in the country. The earthquake of 1977 greatly damaged the building and the exhibits that were part of the national patrimony, so that the exhibition was almost entirely changed. Thus, during the communist dictatorship period of Nicolae Ceausescu, the Museum was a place of propaganda for the Romanian Communist Party.

After the events of 1989, the Museum changed its image, recovering its exhibits and organizing many international exhibits.

The museum currently exhibits documents and archeological evidence from the various stages of the evolution of the Romanian people, on different plans: social, politic, administrative, and cultural. Recently, the exhibition of the famous Dacian bracelets, recovered not long ago by the Romanian state, had a great success.

VILLAGE MUSEUM (MUZEUL SATULUI)

Address: Soseaua Kiseleff , 28-30 ,Tel.: 222-9110 (in the Herastrau Park).
Program: Open daily between 10:00-18:00. Closed on Mondays.

The Village Museum, founded by the sociologist Dimitrie Gusti in 1936, is one of the first and most valuable ethnographic museums in the world. It is the second outdoors ethnographic museum in the world, after the one in Stockholm.

Spreading on 30 hectares and counting over 70 houses, 99 annexes and churches. Each building is a museum in miniature, being endowed with traditional objects, from towels and cookers to watermills and windmills or oil presses.

The houses and churches represent all the regions of the country in various periods of the Romanian people’s culture, as the museum is trying to recompose, in a generous natural frame, the intimate atmosphere of each dwelling. Around each house one can see the barns, the stables and the other outbuildings, the wood, cane or air-dried brick fences, the modest or imposing gates.

Ten households have been brought from Moldavia, among which the house from Straja dating since 1760. The Lipova household, dating since 1898, and the fishery, both from Jurilovca cannot remain unnoticed. The popular architecture of Muntenia is illustrated, among others, by the beautiful household of Chiojdu, built of boulder stones and having a gazebo made of carved pillars. The hovels of Draghiceni and Castranova, which are archaic dwellings, were brought from Oltenia. Also, the house of Salciua (from Motilor Country) was brought from Transylvania, which is singularized by the enormous straw roof. Visitors can also admire inside the Museum the windmill of Dobrogea or the pottery workshop of Horezu.

ROMANIAN PEASANT MUSEUM (MUZEUL TARANULUI ROMAN)

www.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro

Address: Soseaua Kiseleff, nr. 3, sector 1, tel.: 317.96.60, fax: 317.96.60
Program: Daily between 10-18, Mondays - closed

Founded quite recently, in 1990, the Romanian Peasant Museum shows its visitors more than 150,000 representative objects and documents for those who want to get acquainted with the rural life.

The building sheltering it is a historical monument, in the neo-Romanian style.

NATIONAL ART MUSEUM – ROYAL PALACE

http://www.mnar.arts.ro/

Address: Calea Victoriei, 49-53. Tel.: 314-8119.
Program: Wednesday - Sunday: 11.00 –19.00 (May-September)
10.00 – 18.00 (October-April), closed: Mondays, Thursdays, 1st of January, Easter Sunday, 25th of December

The history of the Royal Palace starts in 1837 when the ruler Alexandru Ghica transformed the house built by Dinicu Golescu into a ceremony palace, on the spot where now the southern wing of the Palace is.

On the 10th of May 1866, prince Carol of Hohenzollern established here, who was going to modernize and extend the original house. In 1882, the Royal Palace had the first electric illumination installation in Bucharest.

In 1914, King Charles I died, but he left clear orders in his will regarding the destination of the building: “...the apartments of the Royal Palace of Bucharest, now occupied by the Queen, shall remain at her disposal. [...] My gallery of paintings, as it is described in the illustrated catalogue of my librarian Bachelin, shall remain forever and entirely in the country, as property of the Romanian Crown.”

Then followed the reign of Ferdinand, and then that of Charles II. This latter, during the period of 1930-1937, rebuilt and extended the Palace, with the help of the architect Arthur Lorentz. The old house of Dinicu Golescu was demolished and instead was built the southern wing of the Palace, called Kretzulescu due to its adjacency to the church with the same name. This wing was achieved by the architect N.N. Nenciulescu. Later, this southern body included the first spaces destined to a museum exhibition for the presentation of the art collection of the Romanian Crown.

In 1942, the construction of a new wing of the Palace was finished, oriented towards Stirbei Voda street, only this part of the building was partly destroyed during the bombing of 1944.

After the Second World War, the siege of the Royal Palace sheltered the National Art Museum.

In 1950 was inaugurated the first gallery of the museum – that of national art. The museum operated uninterruptedly until 1989, but during the communist period it was no longer called the Royal Palace.

During the period of the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu the building did not change its destination, as here was the National Art Museum of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

During the events of December 1989, the Royal Palace suffered significant damages. More than 1,000 works were deteriorated or destroyed.

Followed ten years during which the building was closed for ample reconstruction and rearrangement works.

The Museum was reopened in May 2000, when the European Art Gallery, the Romanian Modern Art Gallery and the Romanian Ancient Art Gallery were successively inaugurated. Currently, it is the National Art Museum and contains several Galleries, among which the European Art Gallery, the National Gallery, the Universal Gallery with the Feudal Art, Graphics and Rehabilitation Workshop sections. More than 1,000,000 exhibits of European art can be admired here. Also, in the Museum there are the works of Gheorghe Tattarescu, Theodor Aman, Nicoale Grigorescu, Stefan Luchian, Theodor Pallady, Nicolae Tonitza, Constantin Brancusi, Antonello de Messina, Rembrandt, Rubens, Delacroix, Renoir, Monet.

ROMANIAN LITERATURE MUSEUM - SCARLAT CRETULESCU HOUSE 
www.mlr.ro

Address: Bulevardul Dacia, nr.  12, tel.: 212 58 45; 212 96 52; 212 96 53; 212 96 54
Program: 9-17 daily, closed on Monday

“GEORGE ENESCU” MUSEUM – CANTACUZINO PALACE

Address: Calea Victoriei, nr. 141. Tel.: 659-6365.
Program: Open daily between 10:00-17:00; Monday - closed.

Built during the period of 1898-1900, in the baroque style with decorative accents of Art Nouveau, by the architect I. Berindey, the Cantacuzino Palace currently accommodates a museum dedicated to the famous Romanian musician George Enescu. Here one can admire the manuscripts, documents, scores and objects of George Enescu, all of which represent a history of the Romanian music. The medals awarded to George Enescu are also there, among which the medal of the French Legion of Honor.

Also, one can admire here the violin that Enescu received as a gift at the age of 4. 

The Palace belonged to Gr. Cantacuzino, also known by the nickname “The Nabob”, a conservatory politician, one of the richest Romanians at the beginning of the 20th century. 

The Palace was famous in the old Bucharest due to the extraordinary balls and soirees that Mihail G. Cantacuzino together with Maruca Rosetti used to organize here. The composer George Enescu was a permanent invitee of these parties where the Romanian and foreign aristocracy was present.

Moreover, George Enescu became, in 1939, husband of Maruca Catacuzino-Rosetti.

These are exactly the reasons why, in 1956, the Cantacuzino Palace became the “George Enescu” Memorial Museum, dedicated to the great composer.

Those who will visit it will be able to admire a grandiose interior, decorated with paintings performed by G.D. Mirea, Costin Petrescu, Arthur Verona or Nicolae Isidor Vermont.

BRANCOVEANU FEUDAL ART MUSEUM – MOGOSOAIA PALACE

Located at a distance of 14 km from Bucharest, the Mogosoaia Palace was built by Constantin Brancoveanu in 1702, as a princely residence.

Currently, the Palace shelters a valuable Brancoveanu feudal art museum: paintings, manuscripts, books with rich ornaments, cult objects, the collection of the wood sculptures, embroideries.

The construction of the building combines autochthonous architectonic elements with Italian Renaissance elements. On the façade oriented towards the lake there is a wonderful loggia of Venetian inspiration, with three arcades. The encrustations combining stylistic elements of the renaissance and baroque cannot remain unnoticed. 

Around the Palace there is a park arranged with alleys for walks, wherefrom trees, shrubs and flowers, as well as the many columns and statues can be admired.

The Mogosoaia Palace has a tumultuous history. After the assassination of Constantin Brancoveanu, the Palace was robbed and destroyed. In the 18th century, the Turks transformed it into an inn. In the 19th century, when it was transferred into the property of the Bibescu family, continuator of the Brancoveanu family, the Palace was a ruin. It was rehabilitated, and, on the left side of the yard, prince Nicolae Bibescu built a new house called the “Elchingen Villa” in honor of his wife, Helene d’Elchingen.

In 1912, prince George Valentin Bibescu gave the palace to his wife, Martha Bibescu. She rehabilitates the building, so that its current shape is quite different from the original one. In 1945, after the installation of the communist government of Petru Groza, to save the Mogosoaia assembly, Princess Martha Bibescu requested its inclusion on the list of historic monuments. She donated it to the state in order to be destined to cultural activities. Until the 80’s, the Brancoveanu Art and Architecture Museum was operational here, and the Elchingen Villa accommodated the Writers’ Creation House.

After the events of 1989 and the fall of communism, the Palace underwent a complex rehabilitation process.

BUCHAREST HISTORY AND ART MUSEUM – SUTU PALACE

Address: Bulevardul Bratianu, nr. 2 , tel.: 313.85.15
Program: 9:00 - 18:00; Monday: closed; Tuesday: free entrance

Those who want to know the history of Bucharest can do it by visiting the Museum, where more than 150,000 objects, documents and photographs, drawings, engravings are exhibited that describe the history of Bucharest from the oldest times (Neolithic) until the present days. The archeology part and a numismatics collection are not missing.

A representative building for Bucharest, built during the period of 1833-1834, in the neo-Gothic style, with elements of Romanic style, the Palace belonged to the great minister of foreign affairs Costache Grigore Sutu. The Palace was built according to the plans of two Viennese architects, Johan Veit and Conrad Schwinck.

The interior was decorated by the sculptor Karl Storck, who used elements of the neoclassic style. Above the monumental ladder on the inside there is a cupola with ornaments in the Pompeian style.

ART COLLECTIONS MUSEUM – ROMANIT PALACE

Address: Calea Victoriei, nr. 111, tel.: 211 17 49
Program: 11:00 - 19:00 (summer); 10:00 - 18:00 (winter); Thursday, Friday: closed

The Romanit Palace is a historic building of Bucharest, erected in 1883 on the spot of the former Romanit mansion house, built at the beginning of the 19th century by the boyar Constantin Faca, then finished and arranged by the Romanit treasurer.

The Romanit Palace was rented by the ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza in order to install the Princely Chancellery.

The Art Collections Museum has been here since 1978, sheltering particular collections of painting, graphics, Romanian and European sculpture, Oriental art, Tibetan bronze figurines, glass icons, Romanian carpets, silverware, porcelains and glassware, as well as furniture. The collections were donated to the state by their owners themselves.

Currently, several collections are exhibited, among which those of Garabet Avachian, brothers Beatrice and Hrandt Avakian, Clara and Anatol E. Baconsky, Hortensia and Vasile G Beza, Celine Emilian, dr. Sandu Lieblich, dr. Mircea Petrescu and prof. Artemiza Petrescu, dr. Sorin Schachter, Sica Alexandrescu, the comparative art collections Alexandra and Barbu Slatineanu, the collection of the families Dumitru and Maria Stefanescu - col. Gheorghe Preda, the collection of Josefina and Eugen Taru, the collection of the attorney Hurmuz Aznavorian (the donation of Rodica Aznavorian Sfintescu and Claudiu Sfintescu), the collection of Elena, Maria and dr. Iosif N. Dona. The creations of Nicolae Grigorescu, Stefan Luchian, Ioan Andreescu, Francisc Sirato, Gheorghe Petrascu, Nicolae Tonitza, Theodor Pallady, Iosif Iser and Alexandru Ciucurencu can also be admired.

NATIONAL MILITARY MUSEUM

Address: str.  Mircea Vulcanescu, nr. 125-127, tel.: 638.76.30
Program: daily between 09.00-17.00, Monday - closed.

The National Military Museum is one of the largest institutions of the kind in Romania because it holds an inestimable military historical patrimony organized in more than 30 collections. Here are exhibited weapons, documents, paintings, uniforms, flags, but also ordnance, panzers and motor vehicles. In total over 1,280,000 objects. The museum holds a “Permanent historic exhibition” in which the military history of the Romanian people is shown, from the oldest times until the present days. This exhibition is accommodated in the Pavilion A, the central pavilion. Also, the Museum has organized “Permanent exhibitions of the main collections”, those of medieval, modern and contemporaneous armament, Romanian uniforms and accessories, which are exhibited in the halls of Pavilion B. There is also an “Aviation exhibition”, accommodated in the Pavilion C1 as well as an exhibition of harnesses, trappings and riding accessories in the Pavilion F. The “Artillery exhibition”, gathering objects from the 18th century until the 90’s, panzers and motor vehicles, is exhibited in the Museum Park.

Depending on the various historical events, the National Military Museum also organizes “Temporary exhibitions”.

The Museum was founded on the 18th of December 1923, even if the first attempts to organize such a museum started back in 1865, during the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza.

The National Military Museum has been in the current building since 1988. This building was erected in 1898 and the Regiment IV Ilfov no. 21 used to operate here (preserving the tradition of the first infantry regiment created in Moldavia in 1830).

“THEODOR AMAN” MUSEUM

Address: Str. C.A. Rosetti, nr. 8, sector  1, tel. 6145812
Program: daily 9-17, Monday closed

The museum was organized in the house where the painter Theodor Aman lived and that he decorated himself. In the nine rooms of the “Theodor Aman” Museum one can admire the stages crossed by the painter between 1831 and 1891. The master’s engraving workshop and the furniture performed by Aman himself can be admired here.

The painter Theodor Aman is extremely important in the Romanian culture. Influenced by the academic studies he attended to in Paris during the second half of the 19th century, Theodor Aman was the person who contributed essentially to the modernization of the Romanian culture, in eliminating the Oriental influences, as well as the influences of the late Middle Ages. 

MUZEUL “GHEORGHE TATTARESCU”

Adresa: str. Domnita Anastasia nr.17, sector 5, tel. 6141006
Program: zilnic 9-17

Muzeul “Gheorghe Tattarescu” este un muzeu memorial, organizat in casa in care a trait si creat renumitul pictor Gheorghe Tattarascu timp de peste trei decenii. Cunoscut mai ales pentru picturile sale bisericesti,  Gh. Tattarescu  (1820-1894) este unul din intemeietorii invatamantului artistic din Romania.

In anul 1951, in urma donatiei Georgetei Wertheimer, nepoata pictorului, ansamblul devine Muzeul memorial “Gheorghe Tattarescu”.

Casa este monument istoric, avand arhitectura specifica hanurilor de altadata din Bucuresti.

Muzeul cuprinde pictura, grafica, pictura murala in stil neo-pompeian, mobilier de epoca, obiecte personale, precum si un fond documentar. La parterul Muzeului, acolo unde s-au aflat ateliere elevilor lui Tattarescu, au fost amenajate in anii `60 ateliere de creatie ale Uniunii Artistilor Plastici.

“PROF. ING. DIMITRIE LEONIDA” NATIONAL TECHNICAL MUSEUM

Address: Str. Candiano Popescu, tel.:336 77 77

The museum was founded in 1909 by the engineer Dimitrie Leonida  based on the pattern of the Technical Museum of Munich. The first pieces of the Museum are those that Dimitrie Leonida gathered with the help of his students from the School of electricians and mechanics that he had founded in 1908

The Museum has been in the current building of the Charles Park since 1935. Approximately 5,000 objects illustrating the evolution of technology can be admired here. Over 800 exhibits are unique or have a limited proliferation. Among these, visitors can admire the drum of the first steam mill of Romania, the Edison Dynamo, dating back to 1884, which supplied with electricity the National Theater of Bucharest, as well as the “carriage” car Olds Patent, since 1898, one of the first cars that run in Bucharest.

The model of the “Vuia I” plane is of great interest; it took off for the first time in the world on the 18th of March 1906, at Motesson, near Paris, solely based on its own means aboard. In the same category is framed the Model of the first jet-propelled aircraft, built by Henri Coanda in 1910.

Also, the first types of telephones of Romania are exhibited here, as well as the Engine of the “Dolphin” submarine, which is the first submarine of the Romanian marine commissioned in 1936.

“THEODOR PALLADY” MUSEUM – MELIK HOUSE

Address:  Str. Spatarului, nr 22, tel.: 211 49 79
Program: Wednesday-Sunday: 10.00-18.00.

The museum shelters several remarkable canvases of the great Romanian painter Theodor Pallady, as well as a lot of over 800 drawings (landscapes, nudes, portraits, interiors), which are representative for the Parisian period of Pallady.

The building the Museum is located in is also known as the Melik House and it was erected in 1760, being the oldest civil building of Bucharest, preserved in its original shape. The building belonged to the Iacob Melik family since 1820, but its first owner remains unknown. Ana Nazaretian Melik, Iacob Melik’s wife, deceased in 1913, bequeathed the house to the Armenian community of Bucharest. Her wish was that an asylum for poor widows be founded here. The asylum operated here from 1921 until 1947. Because of the various tenant families that lived here, the building got gradually deteriorated. 

Between 1970 and 1994, the Melik House was used by the National Art Museum of Romania as storage space for some works undergoing a rehabilitation process.

Starting with 1994, the “Theodor Pallady” Museum was organized in the Melik House, based on the art collection of the Gheorghe and Serafina Raut spouses. They had requested from the Romanian authorities since 1960 to ensure a suitable exhibition space for the collection they were wishful to donate to the state.

On the porch of the house, each Saturday morning, initiation courses in the art of drawing and color were organized for children.

K. H. ZAMBACCIAN MUSEUM

Address: Str. Muzeul Zambaccian, nr. 21A, Tel.: 230 19 20
Program: Wednesday - Sunday: 11.00 - 19.00 (May - September), 10.00 - 18.00 (October - April)
Closed: Monday, Tuesday, 1st of January, Easter Sunday, 25th of December

The Zambaccian Museum was inaugurated in 1947, after K.H. Zambaccian donated to the State his house and art collection containing 310 works.

In the patrimony of the museum there are paintings signed by Nicolae Grigorescu, Ioan Andreescu, Stefan Luchian, Jean Al. Steriadi, Gheorghe Petrascu, Nicolae Tonitza, Nicolae Darascu, Theodor Pallady, Iosif Iser, Corneliu Baba, Alexandru Ciucurencu, Horia Damian, Alexandru Padina and Ion Tuculescu. 

Also, one can admire here sculptures of the masters Dimitrie Paciurea, Oscar Han, Corneliu Medrea, Ion Jalea or Constantin Brancusi.

NATIONAL GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
www.geology.ro

Address: Sos. Kiseleff, nr. 2 , sector 1, tel.: 212.89.52
Program: Daily: 10.00 – 18.00

Built between 1906 and 1908, based on the project of the architect Stefanescu, the Palace of the National Geological Museum was first destined to the Geological Institute of Romania, founded by King Charles I in 1906.

Built in the neo-Brancoveanu style, the building was declared an architectural monument.

The National Geological Museum is one of the most beautiful museums of Science of the Earth in the central-eastern region of Europe.

Arranged in 22 halls, the Museum shelters collections of minerals, rocks and fossils from the country or from abroad. One can admire here the beautifully crystallized minerals, known as “mine flowers”, gathered in the largest collection of the kind of the entire country. Also, the bodies of some larger vertebrates were restructured, discovered in the geological layers on the Romanian territory, including several dinosaurs in full size of those discovered in the Hateg region.

During the earthquake of 1977, the building was seriously damaged. The current shape of the Museum was open for public visiting in 1990.

The Museum of the National Bank of Romania

Address: Lipscani nr. 25, sector 3

Established in 1914, by a National Bank Council decision, the NBR Museum was founded no earlier than 1933, and its first exhibition was opened in 1943. The Museum was affected because of the War. The management tried to move it to No 22-24 Calea Victoriei, in 1948.

In 1952, the management of NBR decided to bring the Museum in its initial destination, that is the old wing of the Bank Palace, with the entrance from Lipscani street.

The museum has a numismatic profile and is currently located inside the headquarters of the National Bank of Romania, occupying the old Bank Palace, that has an entrance through Lipscani street and partially, on the ground floor of the new one. The museum was reorganized in 1990 and it was opened in its current venue in 1997.

One can admire here golden coins and plates, numismatic series issued by NBR, bank seals, as well as a gallery with portraits of bank governors.

The patrimony of the museum is extremely rich because, ever since its establishment, the National Bank of Romania put together its own collection of tapestry, paintings, sculptures, medals, coins, and banknotes.

The NBR Palace is a historic monument built between 1884 and 1890, according to the project designed by the architects Cassien Bernard and Albert Galeron.

The new wing of the BNR Palace has a facade towards Doamnei street and was made between the years 1940-1942. The granite monumental stairs from the entrance are specific to the Palace, as well as the interiors with extremely large corridors, plated with white marble.

The Aviation Museum

Address: : Sos. Bucuresti - Ploiesti nr. 40, sector 1, (DN-10), km 16,3.

Visiting hours:	Tuesday - Friday between: 08.00 - 16.00;
	Saturday and Sunday between: 09.00 - 17.00

The Aviation Museum was established in 1990, even though the idea of such an institution was launched as early as the time of Nicolae Iorga.

For visiting the whole museum, one needs about four hours, for admiring the documents that speak about the history of the Romanian and universal aviation. Here one can find materials about the life and activity of Henri Coanda, the Romanian scientist, as well as historical documents of the Romanian aeronautics industry between 1912-2002, among which the original schemata and designs and some component parts of the flying machine designed by engineer Aurel Vlaicu- “Vlaicu No.II, model 1912”.

Also, the Museum has a park of civil and military airplanes, aviation armament, artillery pieces, aviation engines, navigation equipment, or aviation simulators.

The unique models of the flying machines IS 3d (glider), IAR 813(plane), IAR 822 (plane), as well as helicopters Alouette II and IAR 316B are exhibited.

The Romanian Railways Museum

Address: Calea Grivitei nr. 193 A, sector 1- next to the North Station(Gara de Nord)
Visiting hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10.00-16.00

The Romanian Railway Museum was opened in June 1969, and it was initially called “The Museum of Railway Workers”, to mark 70 years of activity since the opening of the Bucuresti Filaret-Giurgiu railway.

Nevertheless, ever since 1924, some old trains wagons and locomotives lost in different storages were preserved inside the Giulesti Stadium, among which the legendary Calugareni locomotive, one of the first locomotives ever to have traveled on the Bucuresti Filaret-Giurgiu railway.

The setup of the Museum in its current location started in 1953, when unique exhibits were gathered in the same place.

The visitors can admire the first locomotive built at Resita, in the year 1873, the drafts of the locomotives built throughout the country, a Morse telegraph dating back from 1869, old documents and photos, railway workers costumes or signaling devices, a mechanical bicycle which used to travel on railway between the two World Wars, as well as watches from all over Europe.

One can also find here a functional, demonstrative model, on which small trains travel.

National Philatelic Museum

Address: Calea Victoriei nr. 12, sector 3

Program:	Wednesday –Sunday: 10.00-18.00 (summer programme);
	Wednesday –Sunday: 9.00-17.00 (winter programme).

The Museum was founded in 2004, although a similar institution has been created since 1891. Postal and Telegraph General Direction founded a postal museum in 1900, but it existed for a very short period of time.

. At present, the Museum stretches for 600 square metres in a specific location inside the Romanian National History Museum, which is, actually, the old building of the Central Post, which developed its activities till 1970.

Some of them are very rare specimens, such as the famous “Cap de Bour” stamps issued in Moldavia in 1858 – as a symbol of the Moldavian Principate’s independence in front of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the original steel moulds that were used to issue them. Other rarities are the sheets used to reproduce the painting of Charles I with whiskers or with beard, dating back from the period between 1866 – 1872.

Also, one can admire different exhibits, such as: old paintings, furniture from old postal offices, postal carriages, value boxes, one of them having the emblem of the Moldavian Principate in 1848, postal maps from 1849 and 1873.

An extremely valuable exhibit, part of the museum heritage, is the postal book made of birch bark and dispatched during the Battle of Marasesti, in the I World War.

The Museum displays the history of philately on the Romanian territory, starting with 1858, since the “Cap de Bour” stamps were initially issued. The first attestations of collecting stamps are dated from 1860. Starting with 1870, the philatelic correspondence increased. In January 1881, the first philatelic magazine - “Timbrophilo” – was published. In 1891, the Romanian Philatelic Society was founded and, in the same year, they organised the first philatelic exhibition in the house of the first president of the Society, Dimitrie C. Butculescu.

The Contemporary Art Museum
www.mnac.ro

Address: Palatul Parlamentului, aripa E4, Bulevardul Izvor, nr. 2-4
Programme: Wednesday – Sunday: 10h00 - 18h00

Opened at the end of October 2004 in its new venue, within the Palace of Parliament, the Contemporary Art Museum hosts thematic exhibitions of the Romanian contemporary artists. Unlike other museums, the generous space of its location allows the artists to experiment various means of expression. The most frequent exhibitions are: painting exhibitions, graphics, sculptures in different materials, tapestry or photographic art.