Bucharest Guided Tours

Domnița Bălașa Church - Bucharest.
(Lady Bălașa Church)

Domnița Bălașa (Lady Bălașa) Church is an orthodox church situated on Strada Sfinții Apostoli nr. 60, ector 5, Bucharest, located behind the apartment blocks, to to the west of Unirii Square.

The name of the church comes from the first church built on this site, in 1745, by the Lady Bălașa, who was the sixth daughter of ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu (1654 – 1714, ruler of Wallachia between the years 1688 – 1714) and of Lady Ma**ca Brâncoveanu (1661 – 1729).

The original church was weakened by a strong earthquake in 1838, requiring it to be demolished and rebuilt in 1842.

Later damaged by the flooding of the Dâmbovița River in 1871, the church was again demolished.

The church that we see today was built over 4 years, from 1881 to 1885, during the reign of king Carol the 1st and Queen Elisabeth in Byzantine style (a cross-shaped plan with a polygonal apse of the altar), with Gothic elements built to the design of architect Alexandru Orăscu, assisted by Carol Benesch together with Friedrich Hartman and approved by the French architect André Lecomte du Noüy.

The church was damaged by the earthquake in 1947 and then again in 1977 with extensive restoration work being carried out after both quakes.

Over time the church was rebuilt and renovated but has successfully retained its authentic charm.

Inside the church, in a niche, there is the tomb of Lady Bălașa (1693-1752) loccated on the right hand side.
The monument of Lady Bălașa is called "Sadness" and is the work of sculptor Ion Georgescu, made in 1884 in white marble decorated with rosettes, a small sarcophagus is mounted, also carved, with rows of denticles, coats of arms, lily flowers and laurels, above which an angel stands guard.

On the left or the north side, in a niche, we have the grave of Lady Zoe Brâncoveanu (1805 – 1892) who was the first wife of the ruler of Wallachia – Gheorghe Bibescu (between the years January 1843 to June 1848).
The lady died in Bucharest in 1892 and the family decided to bury her in her ancestor’s church. The statue was realized by the French sculptor Jules Roulleau in marble of Carrara in 1895.
It depicts Zoe Brâncoveanu held by an angel, with a woman and child at her feet.

The interior painting was done by two Viennese artists in Renaissance style.

The monument of Lady Bălașa ,in the park of the church, was sculpted by Karl Stork in 1881.
On the base of the pedestal, under the coat of arms , is written “Domnița Bălașa, daughter of Constantin Basarab Brâncoveanu, ruler of Țara Românească (Wallachia) founded this settlement in the year 1751.”

Today the beautiful Lady Bălașa church is part of the orthodox Christian faith in Bucharest, hosting masses, weddings and baptisms on a daily basis.

The Palace Hall Bucharest - Sala Palatului.

Arc of time - 1960 to Present day.

Located in the centre of Bucharest, (Revolution Square), behind the Royal Palace on Victoriei Avenue (Calea Victoriei), the Palace Hall is an architecturally modern edifice built between 1959 and 1960, during the first communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej who ruled for 17 years during 1948 – 1965.

The Palace Hall was built to be a centre of cultural institution, being the host of many national communist party congresses, national music concerts, film screenings, and various public events.

The building opened with initial seating capacity of 3150 and was constructed by a team composed of the architects and engineers (for acoustic, electrical and lighting installations) that Romania had at that time.

In 1982, the second leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu (in office 1965 to 1989) requested the modification of the hall, increasing the capacity to over 4000 seats, ending up with 4,060, arranged in an amphitheatre style with a maximum elevation of 12 m.

The stage has a total span of 28 metres and a width of 15 metres.

Today, the Palace hall is still very much in use, being a popular centre hosting many national and international concerts, art festivals and performances of many kinds, business conferences, cultural events and party congresses.

With its heavy construction and lavish marble, this building was definitely built to last!

The Palace Of Justice - Bucharest .

One of the jewels of Bucharest, the Palace of Justice is situated on Splaiul Independenței nr.5, facing the Dâmbovița River.

It was built in French Renaissance style between the years 1890 – 1895, to the plans of the French architect Albert Ballu (1849 – 1939), who had also designed the City Hall in Paris, and the Romanian architect Ion Mincu (1852 – 1912).

The foundation stone was laid in 1890, the ceremony taking place in the presence of King Carol I of Romania (1866-1914), who laid the first brick and built a scroll into the foundation to mark the grand moment.

The imposing "Hall of Lost Steps" inside the building, also called the "Hall of the Clock", occupies a quarter of the almost 13,000 square meters area, which is the building's ground surface.
The name "Hall of the Clock" comes from the fact that a clock was mounted in this space to measure the "course of processes".

The main façade of the building above the main entrance is dominated by six allegorical statues, built of faceted stone and decorated with six pillars.

As you look from left to right, the statues, symbolise "Attention", "Vigor", "Law", "Justice", "Eloquence" and " Truth", housed in six specially created niches, sculpted by Carol Storck and Frederic Storck.

Two other statues, flanking the clock on the roof, stand for Strength and Prudence.

Between 1948 and 1990, the Palace of Justice was the seat of the Bucharest Municipal Court.

Affected by the earthquakes of 1940, 1977, 1986 and 1990 the Palace of Justice went through several consolidation works.

A truly magnificent building situated in the centre of Bucharest.

The National Romanian Opera House Bucharest.

The Romanian Opera house is situated on Bulevardul Mihail Kogălniceanu, nr. 70-72, in Bucharest and was built in 1953, to the plans of the Romanian architect Octav Doicescu (1902 – 1981), under the name of the Opera and Ballet Theater.

It was inaugurated in January 1954, opening with a performance of The Queen of Spades, an opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Although the existence of a Romanian artistic troupe of lyrical theater, under the name “Compania Opera Română”, became known as early as 1885, the establishment of the Romanian Opera, as an independent institution was realised in 1921.

To celebrate the event a premier was held with a performance of the opera Lohengrin under the baton to Romanian composer and conductor George Enescu.

Performances were held in various locations in Bucharest until 1954 when the new Opera building was completed.

Over the last 70 years the Romanian National Opera has been the venue for many famous performances from both the world of Ballet and Opera, including the Royal Ballet from London, Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow and the Miami Atlanta Ballet, including famous names in Ballet, such as Irinel Liciu, Valentina Massini, Sergiu Ștefanschi, Elena Dacian and Ioan Tugearu.

Famous operatic performers include.. David Ohanesian. Maria Slătinaru Nistor, Ludovic Spiess and Eugenia Moldoveanu.

The facade of the building has a portico with three monumental arches, decorated with the statues of four muses, and three grand access doors, which allow entry into the sumptuous hall which is on two levels.

The performance hall is shaped like a horseshoe. The hall has a capacity of 952 seats; the stage is 24 m wide, 20 m deep, 30m and features a beautiful gilded crystal chandelier.

On the facade of the building, instead of two smaller arches, which originally framed the three large ones, two bas-reliefs were mounted, the left depicting an opera scene (sculptors Zoe Băicoianu and Boris Caragea), and on the right hand side, ballerinas in flight (sculptor Ion Vlad).

Situated outside the front of the Opera house is the bust of the Romanian composer and conductor Gheorghe Stephănescu (1843 – 1925), the founder of the Romanian Opera.

In the park in front of the building is the statue of the great Romanian composer and conductor George Enescu (1881-1955), a bronze sculpture by Romanian sculptor Ion Jalea (1887 – 1983).

Medicine College Bucharest - The "Carol Davila" University of Medicine.

The Palace of the Faculty of Medicine, located on the Boulevard of the Sanitary Heroes, number 8, in Cotroceni district, was built in the French neoclassical style, after the plans of Swiss architect Louis Pierre Blanc and inaugurated in 1903.

The "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest is the oldest school of medical education institute in Romania.

It bears the name of the prestigious Romanian doctor Carol Davila – known as the father of higher and secondary medical education, military and civilian in Romania.

In 1860 he was promoted to the rank of general.

Davila realised that in order to change something in the Romanian health system, he needed well-trained doctors, and so he laid the foundations of the first Romanian medical school establishing the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy in 1857.

The construction was an important step forward in the evolution of Romanian medical education.

The statue of Carol Davila.

The statue of Doctor Carol Davila, in front of the main entrance, is two meters tall, on a black granite pedestal of three and a half meters, is the work of Carol Storck, constructed in the workshops of the School of Arts and Crafts in Bucharest.

The statue was unveiled on the day the palace was inaugurated, in 1903.

Carol Davila was born in 1828 in Parma, Italy and died in 1884 in Bucharest, Romania. His real name was Carlo Antonio Francesco d'Avila, in French, Charles D'Avila, became Carol Davila in Romanian language.

He attended the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, graduating in February 1853. In the year of his graduation Barbu Știrbei, (then ruler of Wallachia) made a request for doctors at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris to send a graduate to organize the Romanian health system.

He arrived in Bucharest – then capital of the Principality of Wallachia – on March 1853, at not even 25 years old, after receiving his doctorate in Paris.

He was supposed to stay in Wallachia for only 3 years, but he stayed for the rest of his life.

Over time he built a robust medical system which he successfully implemented in both military and civilian life.

He reorganized the military hospital into wards, improved the medical care given to patients, founded a school of paramedics and in 1856 a secondary school of surgery, which would later become the National School of Medicine and in parallel, created the pharmaceutical and veterinary education system.

Davila continued his work during three different reigns: Barbu Știrbei (ruler of Wallachia in June 1849 - 29 October 1853 and 5 October 1854 - 25 June 1856), Alexandru Ioan Cuza (the first ruler of United Principality of Wallachia and Moldavia – Little Romania, ruled between 1859 – 1866) and of Carol the 1st (real name – Karl Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen – king of Little Romania between 1866-1914.

He didn't need any further introduction. The king Carol the 1st writes to his wife, Elizabeth: "Davila is everywhere you need him."

There was only one word written on his business card: Davila.

His students were sent to the great faculties in Europe: Paris, Rome, Berlin and Vienna, and returned doctors in medicine, becoming professors of the faculty in Bucharest.

Pediment.

The pediment represents an allegorical composition made by an anonymous artist. The magnificent design shows a young, crowned woman sitting majestically on a throne, showing a text from the open book she holds on her knees, symbolizing the science of medicine.

To her left, a young woman leaning with her left hand on the main character carefully follows the indicated text.

On the right, another young woman is holding a skull.

The allegorical young ladies have expressive faces, serene and harmonious, richly dressed.

In the edges of triangular pediment, at each side, two busts of children close the composition.

Grave of Carol Davila, Sector 5, Bucharest.

The grave of Doctor Carol Davila and his wife Ana Davila is located in a small park named Carol Davila, at the intersection of Ana Davila Street and Nicolae Paulescu Street, Sector 5, Bucharest.

The monument was built in 1903 and was decorated with a rectangular marble plaque with the bust of Davila, (which no longer exists), created by the artists Mayer and Wilhelm Stuttgart.

Over the years, many generations of doctors, pharmacists, dentists and, more recently, nurses and midwives with higher education have left the benches of this educational institution with a wealth of knowledge and skills appreciated throughout the country and throughout the world.