Macca-Vilacrosse Covered Passage

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Aug 252009
 

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Vilacrosse and Macca are the two wings of a U-shaped pedestrian passage roofed with glass and wrought iron and lined with shops, cafes and restaurants. It’s one of the popular places for an outing with friends in Bucharest, the advantage being that you’re sheltered in case of rain but you’re still “outside”, in natural light. In this place you’ll find something for everyone: there’s are a couple of Egyptian cafes were you can puff at narghiles, a rock themed Blues Cafe with pretty good music, a Romanian restaurant, a French Bistro, even a Chinese restaurant. I’ve spend hours here sipping wine or drinking coffe and chatting with friends. It’s not easy to find an empty table on a summer evening. The passage was built in 1890-1891 after a design by architect Felix Xenopol. This elegant arched structure was probably intended to look French since this was back at the end of the 19th century when they aspired to transform Bucharest into “little Paris”, but the feel today is more Oriental than Western. During the communist period the passage was renamed Jewellery Passage (Pasajul Bijuteria) because the city’s largest jewelery store was located close by. It’s original name was restored in 1990.

The Old Town

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Aug 242009
 

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Bucharest’s Old Town, also called Lipscani area or Historical Centre, is what was left after the former communist dictator Ceausescu finished the work done by the allied bombings of 1944. And what’s left – around 300 historical houses, a few churches and the remains of the old palace and court of Vlad Ţepeş (1459-1462) – is unfortunatelly for the most part managed by Bucharest’s City Hall which has spent years delaying the most needed restorations. Old Town was Bucharest’s merchant area starting with the middle of the 17th century until the middle of the 20th century when the owners were arrested by the communists and the houses were taken over by the Gypsies. The Gypsies didn’t take good care of the buildings so the houses slowly degraded. Nowadays some of the owners or their heirs came back to reclaim the properties but some are still disputed and degrading still. Some of the buildings have been restored and are now functioning as restaurants, cafes or shops as on Smârdan Street. Finally, in 2006 the City Hall chose a Spanish company to start rebuilding the infrastructure in the Historical Center but early this year the project was stopped due to a quarrel between the City Hall and the contractor. A few streets are already restored but most of them are pretty difficult to walk as they were dug up for the planned street repairs. I’ve heard many people say that this area has great potential and it could transform into something unique in Europe. It seems like the City Hall achieved this already. It is indeed unique to walk along rudimentary wooden planks in the center of an European capital.

Victory Road at night – Part 3

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Aug 212009
 

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Continuing the nightly walk along Victory Road, at number 40 we find a little square with a fountain and in the background the beautiful building of the Odeon Theater. I researched the history of the building before writing this post and found out that the building and the piece of land it’s built on changed many hands and was used for many things during the years. I guess that’s probably normal for a piece of land with such a good location. In the end I decided to spare you all the little details regarding ownership and functionality. It’s Friday and it’s time for having fun rather than a history lesson. I’ll only say that the theater was built in 1911 and that its auditorium is probably the most elegant among all of Bucharest’s theaters. The statue in the foreground is that of Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.

Controversial architecture

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Aug 142009
 

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A bit off the Revolution Square, on the corner of Dem Dobrescu Street, lies one of the weirdest looking buildings in Bucharest. It’s the former Directia V Securitate building (Securitate was the secret police of communist Romania, the equivalent of KGB in Russia or Stasi in East Germany) and the current headquarters of the Romanian Architects’ Association. The lower part of the building are the remnant walls of the house (cca. 1890) which housed the secret police and was destroyed during the Romanian anti-communist Revolution of 1989. In 2003 the Romanian Architects’ Association built a modern building inside and on top of these ruins, the project being designed by architects Zeno Bogdănescu and Dan Marin. The building, like any solution of this type, created controversy and searching the web I found many forums where it was called “hideos”, “ugly” etc and people were saying that no wonder Bucharest is the arhitectural hodgepodge that it is, since its architects have chosen to have their headquarters in a buidling like this. But I think this attitude is a bit unfair. I mean, what was the alternative? The building was severely damaged and at the price of real estate in downtown Bucharest, the building shell would have been demolished and replaced with a glass structure like the upper part of this building. But in this way the history was preserved and it makes people wonder about the building’s past. Even though I can’t bring myself to say that I absolutely like it, I would have to admit that it’s an innovative solution.

Victory Road at night – Part 2

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Aug 132009
 

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I guess it is time for another postcard picture. This is the former Royal Palace located along Victory Road, in the northwestern corner of the Revolution Square. It was first built around 1815 by prince Dinicu Golescu and it underwent changes over several decades. The building was remodeled in 1882-1885 after plans by the French architect Paul Gottereau only to be rebuilt in 1930-1938 after being damaged in a fire in 1926. Starting with 1948 the palace houses the National Art Museum and it displays an extensive collection of Romanian and European art dating from the 15th to the 20th century. The building was damaged during the events of December 1989 and was closed for repairs for several years.

The writing on the wall

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Aug 122009
 

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If you walk around in downtown Bucharest you can spot many graffiti, especially in the Old Town. About three years ago I started noticing them and now I see them everywhere. They are very colourful and most of the time they improve the look of the buildings or at least make them less somber. The one in the photo is located to the left of the entrance to Cărtureşti, on Magheru boulevard. I have no idea who the artist is and I’m still trying to decipher its message. Too bad that part of it is covered by the renovation work done on the facade of the bookstore.

The people next to you

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Aug 112009
 

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If you follow Arthur Verona Street from Magheru Bouvelard to Pitar Moş take a look at the yellowish building on the right. Up in the false windows of this building there are 19 photographs, portraits of people, left hanging there from last year. The exhibition is by photograph Dan Hayon and is called “The people next to you”. They were installed in July 2008 as part of an event called Street Delivery which started in 2005 and has become an annual event. During Street Delivery one street is closed to traffic for two days and becomes a pedestrian promenade; their slogan is “Closing the street for cars and opening it for people” All sorts of events and activities take place, some with themes like urbanism and environment, activities for children, crafts, art installations, exhibitions, concerts, movie projections, book launchings, street art etc. The effect of the portraits is quite striking and I’m not sure that my photo does them justice.

Victory Road at night

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Aug 102009
 

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Friday evening I took a stroll along Victory Road (Calea Victoriei in Romanian) and admired some of the lit buildings along the way. And of course, my camera being always with me since I started this project, I took pictures. This photo shows the art deco building of the Telephone Palace to the left and the Novotel hotel on the right. The hotel, a cube made of glass looking like the standard business hotel has one thing that sets it apart: its entrance. Although it seems weirdly stuck to the glass structure behind it, the entrance reconstructs that of the old National Theatre which was destroyed during a WWII bombardment in August 1944. I think choosing this entrance was an interesting idea, celebrating a connection to the city’s past.

Run, run

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Aug 092009
 

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“Run, run. Run as fast as you can!” That was my interpretation when I saw this sculpture on Victory Road (Calea Victoriei in Romanian). So I smiled when I found out that the name of the sculpture is – what else – “The Runners”. Maybe I should switch careers and become an art critic 🙂 To my surprise, the artist is a French sculptor, Alfred Boucher which was, according to wikipedia, a mentor to Camille Claudel and friend of Auguste Rodin.

Give a leu …

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Aug 082009
 

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A group of tourists is listening to their guide in front of one of Bucharest’s most beautiful buildings: the Romanian Athenaeum. This concert hall was built in 1888 in neoclassical style after a design by the French architect Albert Galleron. The project was conceived by the diplomat Constantin Exarcu and a portion of the money for the completion of the building were gathered in a public collection in which people were asked to “give a leu for the Athenaeum” (The “leu” being the currency of Romania). With its 40 m high dome and the eight Ionic columns it resembles an ancient temple. The Athenaeum is the place to hear classical music in Bucharest. The resident orchestra is George Enescu Philarmonic.

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