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Romanian Revival architecture

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Romanian Revival architecture
Top: The Cihoski House in Bucharest (Romania); Centre: The Cloister of the Stavropoleos Monastery by Ion Mincu, in Bucharest; Bottom: The Marmorosch Blank Bank Palace in Bucharest (1754)
Years activelate 19th century–first half of the 20th century

Romanian Revival architecture (a.k.a. Brânovenesc Revival, Neo-Romanian, or Neo-Brânovenesc; Template:Lang-ro) is an architectural style that has appeared in late 19th century in Romanian Art Nouveau,[1] initially being the result of the attempts of finding a specific Romanian architectural style. The attempts are mainly due to the architects Ion Mincu (1852-1912), and Ion N. Socolescu (1856-1924). The peak of the style was the interwar period. The style was a national reaction after the domination of French-inspired Classicist Eclecticism. Apart from foreign influences, the contribution of Romanian architects, who reinvented the tradition, creating, at the same time, an original style, is manifesting more and more strongly.[2] Ion Mincu and his successors, Grigore Cerchez, Cristofi Cerchez, Petre Antonescu, or Nicolae Ghica-Budești declared themselves for a modern architecture, with Romanian specific, based on theses such as those formulated by Alexandru Odobescu around 1870:

"Study the remains - no matter how small - of the artistic production of the past and make them the source of a great art (...) do not miss any opportunity to use the artistic elements presented by the Romanian monuments left over from old times; but transform them, change them, develop them ..."

Of course, such a program was not easy to accomplish. All the more so as the new types of urban architecture, especially those with many floors, demanded simple solutions, which hardly supported the world of medieval forms and ornaments or that of folklore, the main sources of inspiration of the style.

19th century nationalism combined without problems with Europeanism and admiration for the West, Romania wanting to prove that it is an European country. After 1900, without abandoning European trends, the emphasis is more on values with Romanian specific. As a result, the Parisian and Viennese buildings of the late nineteenth century are contrasted with a "Romanian style". The popularity of the Romanian Romanian style continues and intensifies in the interwar period.[3]

Characteristics

  • Polychrome glazed ceramic ornaments of a window of the Central School (Bucharest)
    Polychrome glazed ceramic ornaments of a window of the Central School (Bucharest)
  • Trilobate arch door with balcony of a house on Intrarea Rigas (Bucharest)
    Trilobate arch door with balcony of a house on Intrarea Rigas (Bucharest)
  • Corbel with rinceaux of a city-house on Strada Mămulari (Bucharest)
    Corbel with rinceaux of a city-house on Strada Mămulari (Bucharest)
  • Door of a house in Ploiești, with a wooden awning, by Toma T. Socolescu
    Door of a house in Ploiești, with a wooden awning, by Toma T. Socolescu
  • The Radu Stanian House (Ploiești), with many Romanian Revival elements, such as tin roofs, edges as eaves of peasant houses, a wooden awning, and other ones
    The Radu Stanian House (Ploiești), with many Romanian Revival elements, such as tin roofs, edges as eaves of peasant houses, a wooden awning, and other ones
  • Black-and-white photo from circa 1925 of the Primary Teachers House of Ploiești, by Toma T. Socolescu, with a tiled roof
    Black-and-white photo from circa 1925 of the Primary Teachers House of Ploiești, by Toma T. Socolescu, with a tiled roof

The influences of peasant houses were manifested through ornaments and elements used under various interpretations, but which retain their origin. Some elements include the gazebo, the trilobate arch, wooden pillars, a treatment of the roof edges as eaves of peasant houses, big tiled or tin roofs, carved wooden awnings, and the use of polychrome glazed ceramics on façades. Commonly used ornaments include knots and ropes, and columns with twisted flutings.[4]

In some cases, especially at some churches, the Romanian Revival style is combined with the Armenian Revival one, both being similar. This category includes the Armenian Church and Amza's Church, both in Bucharest. Other buildings may have a strong Byzantine Revival influence. The Romanian Romanian style is similar in many ways to the Russian Revival one.

Representative architects

Ion Mincu

Main article: Ion Mincu

Notable examples

The History and Archaeology Museum of Constanța, with the Statue of Ovid in front of it
The central stairs of the Constanța History and Archaeology Museum, an example of a Romanian Revival interior
The former Pallace Hotel in Craiova
The Mulmana Hospital in Tighina (Republic of Moldova)

In addition, there are areas where most houses are Romanian Revival, such as Cotroceni and Dorobanti in Bucharest.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Paul, Constantin (1977). Mică Enciclopedie de Arhitectură, Arte Decorative și Aplicate Moderne (in Romanian). Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică. p. 109.
  2. ^ Popescu, Alexandru (2018). Casele și Palatele Bucureștilor (in Romanian). Editura Cetatea de Scaun. p. 69. ISBN 978-606-537-382-2.
  3. ^ Lucian, Boia (2016). România, Țară de Frontieră a Europei (in Romanian). Humanitas. p. 103 & 104. ISBN 978-973-50-5470-0.
  4. ^ Popescu, Alexandru (2018). Casele și Palatele Bucureștilor (in Romanian). Editura Cetatea de Scaun. p. 69. ISBN 978-606-537-382-2.
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