The Royal Palace of Bucharest

The Royal Palace, nowadays known as the Cotroceni Palace, is a very interesting construction which visitors should not miss meeting during their vacation in Romania. This building is not only interesting by its history and structure, but also by the fact that nowadays hosts what is known as the Cotroceni National Museum.

The Royal Palace of Bucharest was built and founded by request of the prince Serban Cantacuzino during the 18th century. The Cotroceni Palace is composed by the main building, a monastery and a church, each one of which has been witness of different and interesting historical moments.

The National Museum of Cotroceni, nowadays hosted in this palace, exhibits a wide variety of different objects and elements related to the past of Romania, its culture, traditions, arts, and architecture, among others. Among the objects tourists could find in the Cotroceni National Museum, there are, for example, interesting carvings of Brancovenian and Cantacuzinian style, or antique tombstones peculiarly ornamented.

The facade of the building of the Royal Palace shows an impressive structure of five floors in a clear neoclassic style. In its interior, visitors could observe a very interesting mixture of components and styles, mainly due to the fact that its construction took more than two centuries to be completely finished, and after that, several remodeling works have been done to it as well.

Besides the National Museum, nowadays the Royal Palace of Bucharest also hosts two art galleries known as the European Art Gallery and the Romanian Art Gallery. In these galleries, visitors could observe amazing and unique art works and paintings created by artists such as Peter Bruegel, El Greco, Nicolae Grigorescu, Jan Van Eyck, and Rembrandt, Velasquez, Titian, Stefan Luchian, Theodor Aman, and Tintoretto among others.

This museum can be found in the famous Revolution square or Piata Revolutiei, and usually opens all the days of the week from the morning until the afternoon. During the Romanian Revolution of 1989, this construction suffered several damages which caused it to be closed due to repairs for several years, but nowadays its doors are open again and is one of the most visited spots in the entire city of Bucharest.

Street View from the Royal Palace of Bucharest