Little Blue Birdie's Diary

Bucharest

A city of outstanding structures

Dear Diary,

Today, we visited two more places outside the city of Bucharest. We have been travelling around this city for several weeks, but we know that there are still many more places we have missed. This city is full of landmarks and we can spend even a year visiting all of them. But, there are many other beautiful places around the whole world just waiting to be explored.

So, after the Sinhala and Hindu New Year, we wish to start travelling all around the world, looking for beautiful places, rather than staying in one country and visiting its attractions. That way, we can visit more places where special events are taking place.

Today, our first destination was Mogosoaia Palace, which is also known as Palatul Mogosoaia. This palace is located in the village known by the same name, about 14 km northwest of Bucharest's centre.

The palace, one of the most beautiful 18BC buildings in Romania, is a fine example of the Brancovenesc style. It was built by the Wallachian prince Constatin Brancoveanu between 1698 and 1702, as a summer residence for his family and as a present for his son Stefan.

The palace is located in a beautiful setting; it's surrounded by a park and sits by the shore of the Mogosoaia Lake which mirrors its profile. After Brancoveanu and all his sons died in Istanbul in 1714, the palace was converted into an inn and was afterwards damaged during the Russian-Turkish war of 1769-1774.

Towards the end of the 19th Century, the palace passed to the Bibescu family, who were distantly related to the Brancoveanus. Under the care of Marthe Bibescu, a cultured person devoted to Romania and its people, the palace was restored by two architects, the Venetian Domenico Rupolo and the Romanian G.M. Cantacuzino.

In 1956, the palace was handed over to the state and turned into a museum. It was closed later when former Romanian dictator Ceausescu took the furniture for his own use. During the 1977 earthquake, the building sustained damages, but repairs carried out in the 1990s made the palace fit to be visited again.

The palace, as it looks today, has a beautiful Venetian-style veranda on the side facing the lake, while overlooking the main courtyard is a balcony with carvings showing the characteristic phytomorphic designs of the Brancoveanu style.

The Mogosoaia museum exhibits embroideries, icons, wooden sculptures and oil paintings, most from private donations.

On the left, as one enters the complex, sits the little church dedicated to St. George of the Meadow. It was built in 1688 and decorated by a team of Greek painters.

The original paintings, including a painting of Constantin Brancoveanu with his wife, Maris, his four sons and seven daughters, all wearing royal dresses, can still be seen inside the church.

Our team was inspired by the sight of the palace. We so many palaces during our visit to other European countries; this palace was equally beautiful and eye-catching.

Our next destination was Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, which is situated by the side of the palace. While taking a leisurely walk through the Mogosoaia garden, we came upon two statues lying behind the old kitchen wall.

One was the statue of Lenin and the other that of Petru Groza, the communist prime minister of the 1945 government. The statues were brought here after the 1989 revolution. The statue of Lenin used to sit in front of the Press House in Piata Presei Libere (Free Press Square).

Those statues were nicely carved, and looked wonderful. "Despite the political changes, they should have stood in the city without being removed," we thought.

This is our last day in Romania. We have spent a lot of time here. Since we got so used to this country, we might miss it a lot. And we have to thank Mrs. Gloria, the purple bird who gave us food and lodging all these days.

Of course we will miss her too. She was the one who told us about the city's landmarks and the stories behind them. Because she is in her eighties, she knows the city very well.

I'll take a break for avurudu and will get back to putting down my travel details in here after the festive season. I would like to wish all the readers of this diary a very Happy Sinhala and Hindu New Year!

(The readers of this journal are always welcome to e-mail or snail mail me about the exciting places around the world they have visited or heard of because I can provide interesting and educational information about many countries in the world for the benefit of those who read these pages.)

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