The Royal Palace in Bucharest will welcome visitors next weekend for guided tours in the central wing of the palace, to admire the Royal Living Room, the Throne Hall and the Voievod's Stair, according to Romania's National Art Museum, which is headquarted in the Royal Palace.

The guided tours will take place on Saturday and Sunday (June 15, 16), starting 11:00, 14:00 and 17:00. The tour will last for one hour and the cost is of RON 20. To attend, those interested have to email or phone the museum. Contact details: 49-53 Calea Victoriei, phone +4021.313.30.30, +4021.314.81.19, email: national.art@art.museum.ro. These visits are organized monthly, on every third weekend of the month.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the area where the Royal palace currently stands, which used to belong to the Kretzulescu family, hosted the residence built by Dinicu Golescu between 1812 and 1815. The Golescu Palace was sold to the Romanian state in 1833, when it became a royal palace for ruler Alexandru Ghica and for his successor, Gheorghe Bibescu. After that it was turned into a garrison for Barbu Stirbei. The palace became the royal residency for Alexandru Ioan Cuza and from 1866 for Carol of Hohenzollern. The latter changed the palace radically between 1882 and 1885 using neoclassical architecture features by architect Paul Gottereau. A new stage of revamping, extensions and more substantial changes followed after the 1927 fire. Architect Dumitru Nenciulescu contributed to this stage between 1930 and 1937. The National Museum of Art was born from a core collection in one of the palace's wings in 1949.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: National Museum of Art on Facebook)