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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
Years activelate 19th century–first half of the 20th century

Romanian Revival architecture (a.k.a. Romanian National Style, 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 [ro], 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 a European country. After 1900, without abandoning European trends, the emphasis is more on values with Romanian specificity. As a result, the Parisian and Viennese buildings of the late nineteenth century are contrasted with a "Romanian style". The popularity of the Romanian style continues and intensifies in the interwar period.[3]

Origins

Romanian Revival architecture is a revival of the Brâncovenesc [brɨŋkovenesk], a style in medieval Romanian art and architecture, more specifically in Wallachia during the reign of Constantin Brâncoveanu (1688–1714). This is because it was seen as the style specific to Romania, which is true. Brâncovenesc buildings are characterised by the use of gazebo-like porticos (mainly the entrances of churches), trilobate or kokoshnik arches, columns (usually Corinthian) with twisted flutings, and ceramic or metallic tile roof. The main ornament used for decoration are the interlace and the rinceau. Some of the features of Brâncovenesc architecture derive from Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, and a some can also be found in medieval Russian architecture.

Brâncovenesc churches usually have minimalistic façades with reliefs, most churches being white, while some have elaborate paintings on the façades (like the Stavropoleos Monastery from Bucharest), or brickwork (like the Kretzulescu Church from Bucharest). The walls of their interiors are filled with Byzantine style frescos. Above their main door there is a pisanie, which is an inscribed stone plaque. The inscription usually includes a religious invocation, the name of the founder or founders, the date of construction, the motivation of the building, the circumstances of the time and other data.

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

His first attempts in Bucharest, after his return from studies in Paris, were the Lahovary House [ro] (1884–1886), the Kiseleff Roadside Buffet [ro] (1889–1892) and the Central Girls' School (1890–1894). They effectively marked the birth of Romanian Revival architecture with all the persistence of eclectic or, in general, historical tendencies. From this point of view, the Buffet is very characteristic, being one of the most successful buildings (initially designed as a Romanian pavilion at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition), which is, on the whole, in line with the balance of Brâncovenesc architecture. Its most expressive element remains the gazebo: eight wooden pillars, connected with wooden beams, support a large masonry superstructure (trilobate arches in the shape of braces/kokoshniks and a complete entablature). The impression is also accentuated by the strong embossed ornamentation, made of polychrome glazed ceramics. Above the protruding cornice of the ceramic entablature, wooden pieces appear again: the ends of the transverse beams and the corbels that hold the very wide eaves of the roof. And as important spaces remain visible between the beams and corbels, the roof - large, high and covered with tiles - seems suspended. Eclectic elements appear in the ceramic ornamentation: Classicist geometric motifs or Renaissance floral motifs (but interpreted wavy, in the Art Nouveau spirit), which cover the entire surface of the gazebo masonry and the technique itself, of the high relief, colored in white, blue and ocher, of the Luca della Robbia type, contrasts with the relative sobriety of the old Romanian architecture from which, obviously, it started. Thus, the Buffet has a happy, lively and, especially, Romanian air.[5]

Petre Antonescu

Main article: Petre Antonescu

One of the most vigorous and typical representatives of Romanian Revival architecture was Petre Antonescu. He studied (1893–1898) at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, then became a professor, and later rector of the Academy of Architecture in Bucharest. His works include houses, such as the Vintilă Brătianu House (Strada Aurel Vlaicu no. 19) or the Oprea Soare House (Strada Poenaru Bordea no. 2), all built in Bucharest before World War I; and more extensive programs such as the old Ministry of Construction (the current Bucharest City Hall, Bulevardul Regina Elisabeta no. 47) or the Marmorosch Blank Bank Palace (2-6 Strada Doamnei). It combines a series of elements that belong to either the international or the local repertoire: monumental plinths with large bossages, massive pieces (columns and corbels, and keystones, oversized) often with a purely decorative function, suggesting archaic or rustic buildings; reliefs mix national inspiration (Moldovan window ornaments, capitals and balustrades of Brâncovenesc inspiration, etc), with those of the symbolic European heraldic repertoire (shields, dragons, eagles, griffins, shells, etc); as well as traditional forms of gaps, trilobate or in brace/kokoshniks, mixed with other ones, semicircular, retreating portals, of Romanesque or Renaissance proportions and profile, etc. This process does not completely protect the work from eclecticism, but the ansamble still tilts the balance towards a national physiognomy.[6]

In other art media

In addition to architecture, the Romanian Revival style manifested itself in other media, including graphic design, ceramic and furniture. In one of the rooms of the George Severeanu Museum (Bucharest) there is Romanian Romanian furniture, mostly display cases, where ancient Greek and Etruscan vessels are exhibited.

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
Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Sibiu, Transylvania
The Mulmana Hospital in Tighina (Republic of Moldova)

Romania

Moldova

Albania

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

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.
  5. ^ Paul, Constantin (1977). Mică Enciclopedie de Arhitectură, Arte Decorative și Aplicate Moderne (in Romanian). Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică. p. 109 & 110.
  6. ^ Paul, Constantin (1977). Mică Enciclopedie de Arhitectură, Arte Decorative și Aplicate Moderne (in Romanian). Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică. p. 110.
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