The building hosting the Bucharest City Hall was declared a tourist attraction and will be included in the Romanian capital’s tourist circuit, according to a draft project adopted on Wednesday, August 30, by the City Council (CGMB).

The building will be open for visits on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on official holidays, reports local Agerpres.

The project was proposed by Roxana Wring, a member of the Bucharest General Council representing the Save Romania Union (USR) party.

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.

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