COTROCENI PALACE BUCHAREST

Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest is the headquarters of Romanian presidency. It is not opened for tourists although from time to time, the Opened Doors Day is organized and anyone can see where the president works and where great decisions are taken for the benefit of the country.

WHERE THE ROMANIAN PRESIDENT WORKS

If you travel to Bucharest, you can see the office of the most important person in Romania, the Supreme Council for Country Defense Hall where the head of State and the head of Government and his ministers and also chiefs of the secret services meeting are held. There are all at Cotroceni Palace Bucharest…

COTROCENI MUSEUM IN BUCHAREST

You can also see Cotroceni Museum, the theater inside the Palace, the garden and the president’s library. Cotroceni Palace has been the main reference point in Romanian political life for more than 300 years. It has also seen much destruction caused by natural disasters or by wars the country had to face from the 17th century to World War II and to present.

In 1679, Lord Serban Cantacuzino decided to build the palace around Cotroceni Monastery. But where does the name Cotroceni comes from, you may ask. Well, Cotroceni comes from the verb a cotroci which means to hide, to keep something secret, out of sight. There was a village near the hill where Cotroceni Palace can be seen today whose name was Cotroceni, mentioned in an official document at the beginning of the 17th century by Lord Mihai Viteazul.

COTROCENI PALACE BUCHAREST STORIES

In 1660, the village becomes the property of Serban Cantacuzino who will build Cotroceni Monastery and more than ten years later, the lordly houses, residence for the rulers of the country in summer time. A printing house will exist and function here in the late 17th century.

COTROCENI AND THE ROMANIAN ROYAL FAMILY

As many other institutions in the country until the beginning of the 19th century, Cotroceni Monastery will be managed by Greeks who will have to repair it after a devastating earthquake in 1800. Although the Monastery had many properties, the Greek managers will have to sell part of them to pay for the works. After the secularization law, it will lose almost everything. Anyway, as the capital of the country was established in Bucharest, the Lord’s residence became the lordly houses near the Monastery, changed into a simple church. The houses had been oficial residence for King Ferdinand and his wife, Maria until 1893. It was the moment when the Government decided to demolish them and build a real palace for the King. The French architect Paul Gottereau made the plan and Cotroceni Palace was built in only two years. It was ready to welcome the Romanian Royal Family in 1896.
New halls will be added to the initial building between 1915 and 1926 at Queen Maria’s will who loved the French eclecticism but also the Romanian art and Byzantine architecture. The architect Grigore Cerchez also built the White Hall, for receptions and changed the Silver Bedroom, adding Byzantine and Celtic items. History was written behind the walls of Cotroceni Palace. In 1918, King Carol will meet the leaders of the Romanian provinces to announce the Great Unification. Here is also decided the initial neutrality of Romania in World War II. Cotroceni Palace is also the last stop of the kings’ funeral convoys in their way to Curtea de Arges. Carol II and Mihai I, the last kings of Romania used only for a while Cotroceni as oficial residence since they moved to the Royal Palace on Victory Avenue or at Sinaia during the war. The south-west part of the building will be destoyed in 1944 by both German and American bombs. Mihai I will be forced by the new communist party leaders to abdicate and leave the country at the end of 1947. Since all the royal family’s properties were seized by the state, Cotroceni Palace will be used by the Ministry of Interior Affairs, then by the Ministry of Arts and Information and, finally, by the Union of the Communist Youth. This is a short story about Cotroceni Palace you should know when travel to Bucharest…

Don’t forget there are a lot of things TO DO IN BOTANICAL GARDEN, near Cotroceni.

COTROCENI PALACE IN BUCHAREST AND THE COMMUNISTS

King Ferdinand’s library at Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, more than 6000 very valuable volumes, is said to have been destroyed or burnt by the new authorities who took the power after the war. The earthquake in 1977 damaged again part of the palace. Thus, together with repairing works, a new part of Cotroceni palace is built for the presidential family. The works will be ended in 1988, one year before the Great Revolution in 1989. Meanwhile, in 1984, the church built by Serban Cantacuzino in the mid-17th century will be demolished in only one night at Nicolae Ceausescu’s order. It will be rebuilt after the Communists fall. Also, after 1990, in the old part of the building, Cotroceni Museum is founded, while in the new side will be the headquarters of the Romanian Presidency.

Cotroceni might be a valuable stop in your journey from the Opera House in Bucharest to BOTANICAL GARDEN and back to the center of the capital, CISMIGIU or, near this famous garden, to The Royal Palace, for a cultural escape from history. So many reasons to travel to Bucharest, right?
SEE MAP…