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Romanian Athenaeum

Rating 4.5
Bucharest, Bucharest Sector 1, Strada Benjamin Franklin, 1

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Bucharest, Bucharest Sector 1, Strada Benjamin Franklin, 1
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+40 21 315 68 75
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Rating 4.5
5 ratings
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4 reviews

Level 13 Local Expert
September 21
Symphony Philharmonic concert hall orchestra benefit - gives
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Level 18 Local Expert
February 11, 2023
Unfortunately, it was not possible to get to the concert, but I managed to go on a tour of the building itself. You can go on a tour for 10 RON from 9-30 to 17-30, the entrance is on the right side of the main entrance (from the end of the building). The building is beautiful not only from the outside, but also inside. The hall with 12 pink marble columns was very impressive. The concert hall is decorated with a beautiful fresco all around the walls. The ceiling of the hall is very beautifully executed. The sound is very impressive, during the tour we tuned the instruments for the evening concert.
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Level 20 Local Expert
February 23, 2021
The Rumysnky Athenaeum is the main concert hall of the city, the venue of the annual international music festival. Since 1889, it has been the main concert venue of the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra named after George Enescu. The building was designed by the French architect Albert Galleron at the expense of the noble Wallachian boyar family Vacarescu and was inaugurated in 1888. Part of the funds for the construction were received by open subscription for 28 years, and Romania still remembers the call: "Donate one lei to the Athenaeum!". After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, on December 29, 1919, the Athenaeum was the venue for a conference of leading Romanian figures who voted for the ratification of the treaty on the accession of Bessarabia, Transylvania and Bukovina to the Kingdom of Romania, the so-called Great Romania. The Athenaeum building is richly decorated. Domed, round in shape, neoclassical style, with elements of romanticism. In front of the building there is a small park with a monument to the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu. Inside, on the ground floor there is a large conference hall, above there is an auditorium with 600 seats in the stalls and 52 in the boxes. The interior of the round wall of the concert hall is decorated with a fresco by artist Costin Petrescu depicting the most important moments of Romanian history, starting with the conquest of Dacia by Roman Emperor Trajan and ending with the emergence of Greater Romania in 1918, divided into 25 plots. The painting work began in 1933 and was solemnly presented to the public on May 26, 1939. In 1935, at the initiative of George Enescu, funds were raised and work began on the construction and installation of a concert organ in the main hall of the Athenaeum. In honor of the completion of the work, a solemn concert was given on April 22, 1939, performed by Franz Schutz, director of the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts. In 1992, restoration work was carried out in the amount of 9 million euros, funds for which were allocated in equal shares by the Government of Romania and the Council of the European Development Bank. The Romanian Athenaeum is today a symbol of Romanian culture. In 2007, the building was added to the European Heritage List.
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