Cotroceni Palace
| Cotroceni Palace Palatul Cotroceni |
|
|---|---|
 |
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Brâncovenesc style |
| Town or city | Bucharest |
| Country |
 Romania
|
| Coordinates | 44°26′05″N 26°03′45″E / 44.434613°N 26.062397°E |
| Construction started | 1893 |
| Completed | 1895 |
| Cost | 1,700,000 gold Romanian lei |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Paul Gottereau Grigore Cerchez (the northern wing) Nicolae Vlădescu (the new wing) |
Cotroceni Palace (Romanian: Palatul Cotroceni) is the official residence of the President of Romania. It is located at Bulevardul Geniului, nr. 1, in Bucharest, Romania. The palace also houses the National Cotroceni Museum.
In 1679, a monastery was built by Şerban Cantacuzino on Cotroceni Hill in the first year of his rule on the place of an old wooden hermitage. The plans of this new monastery kept many of the traditional architectural elements found in the principalities of Romania at the time. The Cotroceni monastery was completed in 1682, and has since been visited frequently by many pilgrims and documented in various Chronicles.
Cotroceni Hill was also the place of residence of many of Romania's rulers for a time until 1883, when King Carol I of Romania received the residences and ordered them demolished with plans to build a much larger edifice in their stead which would serve to house the future heirs to his throne.
Construction of this new royal palace was commissioned to begin in the year 1893, the project being placed under the direction of French architect Paul Gottereau.
During the rule of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie, further improvements have been made to the royal palace. At the request of Queen Marie, the north wing of the palace was completed with the space that would be used to house the maids of honor and adjutants in duplex apartments of sorts. A gymnastics hall at the semi-basement was also built, taking up the space where it is assumed that a chapel would have resided on the ground floor. On October 1915, the space was refitted to accommodate central heating.
In 1925, Grigore Cerchez began his work on the Cotroceni Palace by adding a living room with a gazebo on the first floor. On the second floor, he added a small terrace on the northern face along with an additional gazebo. Cerchez continued to work on the two adjacent salons on the first floor of the north wing, as well as the Grand Reception Hall that distinguished this part of the building, until 1926.
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Wikipedia