The Palace of Culture ( ro, Palatul Culturii) is an edifice located in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. The building served as Administrative and Justice Palace until 1955, when its destination was changed, being assigned to the four museums nowadays united under the name of Moldavia National Museum Complex. Also, the building houses the Cultural Heritage Conservation-Restoration Centre, and hosts various exhibitions and other events. The Palace of Culture is listed in the National Register of Historic Monuments.

History

Located in the perimeter of the mediaeval Princely Court of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

(from 1434), the construction was conceived as a rebuilding and expansion project of the former Princely Palace of Moldavia, dated to the time of Prince

Alexandru Moruzi Alexander Mourouzis ( el, Αλέξανδρος Μουρούζης; Romanian: Alexandru Moruzi (1750/1760 – 1816) was a Grand Dragoman of the Ottoman Empire who served as Prince of Moldavia and Prince of Wallachia. Open to Enlightenment ideas ...

(1803–1806, architect Johan Freywald), and renovated by Prince

Mihail Sturdza Mihail Sturdza (24 April 1794, Iași – 8 May 1884, Paris), sometimes anglicized as Michael Stourdza, was prince of Moldavia from 1834 to 1849. He was cousin of Roxandra Sturdza and Alexandru Sturdza. Biography He was son of Grigore Sturdza, se ...

(1841–1843, architect Nicolae Singurov), from which it preserved the foundations and first two floors. It was from this latter building that the Palace inherited the legend of the 365 rooms, as many as the days within one year. The Romanian architect ''I.D. Berindei'' was assigned to plan and conduct the rebuilding process. Unlike the old palace, built in a

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

, Berindei chose to design it in a flamboyant

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. Started in 1906–1907, the reconstruction works were halted during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, due to the limitation of resources, but the unfinished building sheltered Romanian and Russian troops, and different public institutions and military hospitals. The monument was finally completed on 11 October 1925, and officially inaugurated one year later, by King

Ferdinand I of Romania Ferdinand (Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad; 24 August 1865 – 20 July 1927), nicknamed ''Întregitorul'' ("the Unifier"), was King of Romania from 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and ...

. The building housed the County Law Court and other public institutions until 1955, when it received an exclusive cultural function. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Palace sheltered German troops, and then, Soviet troops. In 1975–1977, the wood bridging from the last floor was replaced with a cement one, fixed with steel netting. The new bridging sustained the monument during the earthquake of 1977, but the bridging from the first floor, the walls, the ornaments and the relief works were affected. A large-scale restoration project, considered one of the most complex in Romania since 1990, began in 2008. The main works were completed in April 2016. Between 1955 and 2010, the Palace of Culture also hosted the main branch of the Iași County Library.

Architecture

The Palace has 298 large rooms with a total area of , 92 windows in the front part of the building and another 36 inside the building. Decoratively, the central hall shows a figurative mosaic including various representations of a gothic bestiary, concentrically arranged: two-headed eagles, dragons, griffons, lions. The hall is superposed by a glass ceiling room, where initially a greenhouse was arranged. In spite of its archaic-looking design, the Palace was designed so to integrate modern materials and technologies. Thus, the stone blocks were replaced with light and much cheaper materials. Besides, some rooms were decorated using a special material licensed by

Henri Coandă Henri Marie Coandă (; 7 June 1886 – 25 November 1972)''Flight'' 1973 was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer, and builder of an experimental aircraft, the Coandă-1910 described by Coandă in the mid-1950s as the world's first jet, a co ...

, under the name of bois-ciment and imitating the oak wood. Decorative ironmongery elements are also remarkable and they can be admired for instance on the doors of the Voivodes’ Hall. The building was also equipped with high-tech facilities for those times, such as electric lighting, (pneumatic) heating, ventilation system, thermostat, vacuum cleaners, which were all directed from the machinery room, at the underground level. Taking also into account the 14 fires that affected the previous buildings, Berindei (the main architect) treated the wooden structure of the attic with an ignifugeous product called orniton, while for the roof he used a special material, named eternite.

Clock Tower

The entrance of the palace is through a great donjon tower, with crenels and alcoves dominated by an eagle with open wings. The tower is the central architectural piece of the palace. On each of the three exposed sides there is a face of the clock with a diameter of . The clock faces are decorated with stained glass representing the 12

astrological signs In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30-degree sectors that make up Earth's 360-degree orbit around the Sun. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. ...

. Two young men dressed in national costumes, are painted on the sides of the clock faces guarding the clock (design element inspired from the

Peleș Castle Peleș Castle ( ro, Castelul Peleș ) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inaugura ...

). The stained glass windows and the cross shaped crenelations are electrically illuminated during the night. The

Carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

in the tower has 8 bells that are singing each hour the song "

Hora Unirii "Hora Unirii" () is a poem by Vasile Alecsandri, published in 1856. The music of the song was composed by . The song is sung and danced especially on January 24, the anniversary of the day in which the Romanian United Principalities were formally ...

" with the help of a drum with 69 pins.

Moldova National Museum Complex

The ''"Moldova" National Museum Complex'' ( ro, Complexul Muzeal Național "Moldova") hosts four museums located in the Palace of Culture: Art Museum, Moldavia's History Museum, Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia, and "Ștefan Procopiu" Science and Technique Museum. The Museums also comprise their own stores and libraries, as well as halls for temporary exhibitions.

Art Museum

The ''Art Museum'', founded in 1860, is the oldest and has the largest art collection in Romania, with more than 8,700 works, out of which 1,000 belong to the national and universal patrimony.Complexul Muzeal National Moldova Iasi-Raport de activitate
Located at the first floor of the palace, it has 24 rooms for permanent exhibitions, arranged in three galleries (Universal Art Gallery, Romanian Modern Art Gallery and Contemporary Art Gallery). The galleries contain works by artists such as

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...

Pietro Liberi Pietro (Libertino) Liberi (1605 – 18 October 1687) was an Italian painter of the Baroque era, active mainly in Venice and the Veneto. Biography Liberi was born in Padua, his earliest training was with Alessandro Varotari (''il Padovanino''). ...

Carlo Dolci Carlo (or Carlino) Dolci (25 May 1616 – 17 January 1686) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence, known for highly finished religious pictures, often repeated in many versions. Biography He was born in Florence, ...

Salvator Rosa Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th ...

Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of ...

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporar ...

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

Jan Both Jan Dirksz Both (between 1610 and 1618 - August 9, 1652) was a Dutch people, Dutch painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, and etcher, who made an important contribution to the development of Dutch Italianate landscape painting. Biography Bo ...

Bartholomeus van der Helst Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – buried 16 December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of Amsterdam's elite as well as t ...

, Egbert van Heemskerk II,

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...

Philippe de Champaigne Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Brabançon-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French school. He was a founding member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, the premier art ...

Eustache Le Sueur Eustache Le Sueur or Lesueur (19 November 161730 April 1655) was a French artist and one of the founders of the French Academy of Painting. He is known primarily for his paintings of religious subjects. He was a leading exponent of the neoclas ...

Guillaume Coustou Guillaume Coustou the Elder (29 November 1677, Lyon – 22 February 1746, Paris) was a French sculptor of the Baroque and Louis XIV style. He was a royal sculptor for Louis XIV and Louis XV and became Director of the Royal Academy of Painting ...

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

, and many others.

Moldavia's History Museum

The ''Moldavia's History Museum'' was founded in 1916 and offers more than 48,000 objects from various fields: archaeology, numismatics, decorative art, ancient books, documents, etc. One of the oldest items, a 70,000-year-old mammoth skull, is from the Middle

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

Era. Among other items of significance are pottery from the

Cucuteni culture Cucuteni () is a commune in Iași County, Western Moldavia, Romania, with a population of 1,446 as of 2002. The commune is composed of four villages: Băiceni, Bărbătești, Cucuteni, and Săcărești. It is located from the city of Iași and ...

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...

Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

artifacts, and armory and other items of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. The History Museum is located inside the palace on the ground floor, in the West side, being the continue of the Antiquity Museum founded by Orest Tafrali in 1916. It has four sections, prehistory and ancient history, medieval history, modern history and contemporary history, presenting the main aspects of the development of the communities in the area from the Paleolithic time to the World War II. The "Union Museum" and "

Mihail Kogălniceanu Mihail Kogălniceanu (; also known as Mihail Cogâlniceanu, Michel de Kogalnitchan; September 6, 1817 – July 1, 1891) was a Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania on October 11, 1863, ...

Memorial Museum", in Iași, " Al. I. Cuza Memorial Palace" in Ruginoasa, and the "Archaeological Reserve of

Cucuteni Cucuteni () is a commune in Iași County, Western Moldavia, Romania, with a population of 1,446 as of 2002. The commune is composed of four villages: Băiceni, Bărbătești, Cucuteni, and Săcărești. It is located from the city of Iași an ...

", are also coordinated by the Moldavia's History Museum.

Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia

The ''Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia'', founded in 1943, owns more than 13,000 objects depicting the Romanian advance through the ages. The Moldavian Museum of Ethnography is located in the West side of the Palace, at the first and the second floor. One can admire here the objects used by the inhabitants of Moldavia in their every day activities: in agriculture, viticulture, raising animals, fishing, hunting, apiculture. One can also see interiors of peasant houses, devices used for pottery, weaving, wood processing, mask collections, traditional costumes. Many of these exhibits are more than 100 years old. The museum, also, coordinates the ''Wine and Vineyard Museum'' in

Hârlău Hârlău (also spelled ''Hîrlău'', ; he, חרלאו; hu, Harló) is a town in Iași County, Western Moldavia, Romania. It was one of the princely court cities of Moldavia, in the 15th century. One village, Pârcovaci, is administered by the to ...

Science and Technology Museum

The ''"Ștefan Procopiu" Science and Technique Museum'', with a collection of more than 8,500 objects, was founded in 1955 as the "Polytechnical Museum" and renamed, in 1994, after the physicist

Ștefan Procopiu Ștefan Procopiu (; January 19, 1890 – August 22, 1972) was a Romanian physicist and a titular member of the Romanian Academy. Biography Procopiu was born in 1890 in Bârlad, Romania. His father, Emanoil Procopiu, was employed at the Bâr ...

. It is home to ''Energetics'', ''Sound Recording and Playback'' (unique within Romania), ''Telecommunications'', ''Mineralogy - Cristalography'', and ''Computers'' sections.Science and Technology Museum
/ref> The " Poni- Cernătescu" Memorial Museum in Iași, is also under the direct coordination of the Science and Technique Museum.

Other attractions

Besides the four museums, The Palace of Culture presents some other attraction points. One of them is the ''Gothic Room'', where can be admired the mosaic that presents a medieval bestiarum (gryphons, bicephalous eagles, lions). There is also the ''Voivodes' Room'', located at first floor, where there are the portraits of Moldavia's rulers and Romania's kings, starting with

Decebalus Decebalus (), sometimes referred to as Diurpaneus, was the last Dacians, Dacian king. He is famous for fighting three wars, with varying success, against the Roman Empire under two emperors. After raiding south across the Danube, he defeated a Rom ...

and

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

, paintings made by

Ștefan Dimitrescu Ștefan Dimitrescu (January 18, 1886 – May 22, 1933) was a Romanian Post-impressionist painter and draftsman. Biography Born in Huși into a modest family, he completed his primary and secondary studies in his hometown. In 1903, deciding t ...

and his students. Then there is ''"Henri Coandă" Room'', which was named after the carvings and relief works made by the famous Romanian inventor of a cement invented by him. On the right there is the ''Turnul de Strajă'' (the Watch Tower), reminiscence of the old Princely Court of Iași, along with the galleries underneath the court of the palace. On the left there is a collection of capitals and other stone architectonic elements grouped in a lapidarium. The hall is superposed by a glass ceiling room, where initially a greenhouse was arranged. In front of the palace there is the equestrian statue of

Stephen the Great Stephen III of Moldavia, most commonly known as Stephen the Great ( ro, Ștefan cel Mare; ; died on 2 July 1504), was Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 ...

, framed by two Krupp cannons, trophies from the

Romanian War of Independence The Romanian War of Independence is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), following which Romania, fighting on the Russian side, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. On , Romania and the R ...

Gallery

File:Palatul Culturii din Iasi.jpg, Front view from the Palace Square File:Ias, Public Garden Palas 23.jpg, Rear view from the Palas Garden File:Aerial view of the Palace of Culture in Iași, Romania DJI 0260.jpg, Aerial view File:RO IS Stefan cel Mare statue 1.jpeg, Statue of

File:Iaşi , Palatul Culturii 14.JPG, Details File:Piața Palat, Iași, Roumanie.jpg, General view File:Palatul culturii iasi.jpg, Palace Square and Princely Saint Nicholas Church File:Iasi, Administrative Palace (Palace of Culture).jpg, Interwar postcard

References

External links

Palatul Culturii în 100 de imagini. Povestea edificiului simbol al IaşuluiOfficial site360 inside view

Iași Palace of Culture, the most representative building of the Gothic Revival architecture in Romania
*[https://www.ziaruldeiasi.ro/stiri/arhive-rusesti-palatul-culturii-poate-fi-numit-a-palatul-din-iasia-cu-o-istorie-de-200-de-ani--243384.html Arhive ruseşti: Palatul Culturii poate fi numit „Palatul din Iaşi“, cu o istorie de 200 de ani] {{DEFAULTSORT:Palace Of Culture (Iasi) Historic monuments in Iași County Buildings and structures in Iași Gothic Revival architecture in Romania [ ategory:Museums in Iași Official residences in Romania Palaces in Romania National museums of Romania

Art Museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

Moldavia's History Museum Ethnographic museums in Romania Science museums Buildings and structures completed in 1925