This amazing building is the Palace of Culture from Iasi, Romania.
It hosts over 8000 paintings (many declared national and universal patrimony) signed by artists like Paolo Veronese, Pietro Liberi, Salvator Rosa, Anthony van Dyck, Eustache Le Sueur and many others.
It is home of over 35000 relics from various fields: archeology, art, ancient scholastic, anthropology and so much more.
It showcases over 11000 ethnographic objects, including popular costumes, tools and folk home decorations, depicting the advance of the Romanian civilization through the ages.
It hosts a museum of Science and Technology and…
… it is one of the largest and most beautiful buildings in Romania.
The Palace of Culture from Iasi hosts four museums: Moldavia’s History Museum, the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia, the Art Museum, and the “Stefan Procopiu” Science and Technique Museum.
It was built on the ruins of the old Royal Court of Moldavia by order of King Carol I. The construction started in 1906 and it was finished on October 11, 1925, when it was also officially inaugurated by King Ferdinand. This is considered the most outstanding work of Romanian architect I.D. Berindei.
The Palace was initially projected to have 365 rooms, one for each day of the year, but the standing construction only has 298 rooms, spanning over 36000m². The impressive edifice is built in neogotic Flamboyant style, decorated with heraldic elements on the façade, and including various gothic elements indoors.
Do make sure you visit this amazing destination when in Romania – and until then, enjoy a virtual tour online.
I love museums of all kinds - but what incredibly beautiful museums are in the Palace of Culture in Iasi! I have never been to Iasi, but if I did, that would be at the top of my list to visit. I took the virtual tour, but it only served to whet my appetite for more! Thank-yo for telling us all about it.
Living in Bucharest, I especially enjoyed the Peasant Museum and would visit a couple of times a year. It got better every time I went! I loved to spend time looking at the embroidered costumes — the amount of work put into them is amazing. I bought some wood carvings in the gift shop there — a shepherd and his sheep. It has place of honour on my bedroom dresser — I love it! I also purchased some tiny framed artwork - Romanian scenery designed out of leaves, corn-stalks and other items from nature — such wonderful talent in Romania!
OK, so the peasant museum is next
I am so glad you enjoy this site so much, Kaybee. You are one of the most faithful readers. To my surprise many young Romanians visit the blog too. I only wish I had more time to write and publish more often.
Mihaela, I would be thrilled if you were to write about the Peasant Museum — after all, I haven’t seen it for almost three years now!
I am not sure if you have written about Maramures (I am still reading all your back entries!), but that is a place I have always wanted to go. I understand it is one of the places where the original costumes and traditions are still very much maintained.
And have you mentioned some of Romania’s customs, like always giving an uneven number of flowers to someone? Or about giving a Martisor at the beginning of Spring? Or about the amazing hospitality that the Romanian people extend to visitors (and sometimes even strangers!). If you have written about some of these, forgive me — I will get to them soon!
You should think about writing (and publishing)your own Romania Travel Guide. The average North American has no idea of Romania’s beauty — in her people and her land.
I wrote some about Maramures - the churches and the Merry Cemetery - you should be able to access them by going on the home page of the blog and following the tag cloud. I’ll add a tag cloud on each page soon - good that you mentioned that, now I know what’s missing from the sidebar
I plan to write about Martisor sometime in February - it’s closer to the event. All your other ideas are timeless…
Around Xmas I’ll write how we prepare (or used to…) our pigs - and about Sorcova, Plugusorul and all those wonderful traditions.
I am trying to keep a balance between travel and culture - I don’t have enough pictures to write more extensively about travel, but I am trying to get some photographers from Romania to get involved in this blog. Let’s hope they’ll have something to offer soon.
Wow! This palace looks like something from a movie - areal fantasy buidling. What an architecture treasure! Not to mention the inside with all the paintings. Clearly impressive I must say!