The Bucharest City Hall building could become a tourist attraction if the capital’s General Council will approve a draft decision in this sense.

The councilors are to vote on this proposal on Wednesday, August 30.

The project was proposed by Roxana Wring, a member of the Bucharest General Council representing the Save Romania Union (USR) party. The authorities are to establish the visiting hours if the draft decision gets the councilors’ vote.

The Bucharest City Hall building was constructed between 1906 and 1910, being a Class A historic monument. The building was designed by the architect Petre Antonescu, one of the main promoters of the neo-Romanian architecture style, and the creator of some representative buildings for Bucharest, such as the Arch de Triumph and the Marmorosch Blank Bank.

The building hosted the Ministry of Public Works, and was turned into the German General Command during the German occupation (1916 – 1918).

After the First World War, the institution became the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, but a bombing damaged it at the end of the Second World War. It was later renovated and expanded, hosting the City Hall and later the People’s Council of Bucharest.

The building was the Bucharest City Hall’s headquarters until 2010, and returned to this institution in 2016, after restoration and consolidation works.

“Considering the cultural and architectural importance of the Bucharest Administrative Palace building and taking into account the fact that it has recently been restored, I believe that its introduction into the tourist circuit of Bucharest will increase Bucharest's attractiveness as a cultural destination and will stimulate the Bucharesters’ interest for the cultural patrimony, thus contributing to the protection and capitalization of this important resource for sustainable economic development of the capital,” reads the explanatory memorandum.

According to the document, Bucharest attracted only 1.1 million visitors in 2016, far less than Warsaw – 8.5 million or Prague – 7 million.

Bucharest hotel owners want removal of touristic promotion tax

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com