First was the Romanian National Art Museum, which is in a former royal palace in the center of Bucharest.
The museum is split into two halves. The first is the collection of European (meaning non-Romanian) art. It is comprised mostly of works owned by the former royal family. The collection is not the most impressive, and is mostly made up of obscure artists, but had a few nice works. There are a few Ruebens and El Grecos, and a few other well known artists.
I was much more impressed by the collection of Romanian art, which spanned from around the 14th century to contemporary artists. One of my favorite parts of art collections is always illuminated manuscripts, of which there were quite a few written mostly in Old Slavonic. While I would love to be able to see all of the pages of a manuscript, I understand while this is not possible without destroying the work. I have also always found it unfortunate that the covers are rarely displayed, but again understand that generally the books are open to what is seemed the most interesting page. The Romanian National Art Museum solved this problem by displaying the manuscripts over mirrors so you could both view a page and see the cover. I wish more museums would adopt this practice.
Following the art museum, I took a tour of the Parliament building. As Romanians very proudly proclaim, the Palace of the Parliament is the second largest administrative building in the world, behind the Pentagon. It was built by the regime of the former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. 900 buildings were razed in order to make room for it and the surrounding structures, and Romania spent about a quarter of its gross domestic product in construction. It actually did not open until 1994, after the fall of Ceausescu.
The interior is just as impressive as the exterior. There are numerous exhibition halls in all sizes. They can actually be rented for private functions, with prices ranging from 3,000 to 15,000 Euros a day. We also were able to visit a small portion of the underground section, which is just as massive as the above ground portion.
The roof presents impressive vistas of Bucharest.
After the two hour tour, the guide noted that we saw around 10% of the structure.
Following the tour of Parliament, we made our way to Transylvania. First stop on Saturday was Bran Castle, known for its association with Vlad III, a Romanian prince who was the historical basis for Dracula legends.
Of the three castles I visited this weekend, Bran was by far the least impressive. The Dracula aspect was played up far too much, and the building obviously had a large number of contemporary enhancements. I do not think I would recommend a visit in light of other attractions in the area if time were limited.
Next, I visited Peleş Palace, in Buşteni around an hour from Bran. Peleş was built by King Carol I at the end of the 19th Century.
The story of King Carol is an interesting one. He was actually a German Prince who was invited by the Romanian government to become King of Romania since the current line of Romanian royalty was coming to an end. The hope was that a new sovereign who was well connected with other European royalty would be able to bolster a united and independent Romania. He reigned for several decades and is remembered fondly by Romanians.
I do not have any pictures of the interior, but they are available online. It was extremely impressive. Each of the rooms was decorated uniquely and exorbitantly. There are a couple of rooms filled with the kings large collection of arms and armor dated from between the 15th and 19th century and from all over the world. I took the shortest of three tours because we arrived towards the end of the day. I would definitely like to return some day and see the rest.
The rest of Saturday involved dinner at a mountain side resort with a wonderful view of the area and rest back at hotel.
On Sunday, the first stop was Râşnov Fortress, built in the 13th Century.
It is obvious why Râşnov was built were it was. The location provides optimal defensibility. The fortress is on a large bill, with one side against a forest and the other overlooking the city below.
Following the Râşnov , we visited a small and recently opened cave.
The final stop of the weekend was in the city of Braşov.
I liked Braşov a lot and wish I would have spent a day or two there. Maybe I will return if I have a weekend that needs to be filled. In Braşov we also visited the Black Church, one of the larger Catholic churches in Orthodox Romania.
After Braşov it was around a 3 1/2 hour ride back to Galaţi about an hour of which was on a steep and windy unpaved road through the mountains. I discovered this weekend how much better student discounts are in Europe than int he United States. Just about every site I visited in the last few days has been half priced.
This week its back to work. I am anxious to get going on the Black Sea Project, which I have a meeting later today to discuss. Not sure what I am going to do next weekend. There are a few options I am exploring.
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