Palatul Pasei de Tulcea - Muzeul de Arta

The Tulcea Art Museum ( ro, Muzeul de Artă din Tulcea) is an

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. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...

located at 2 Grigore Antipa Street,

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 73,707 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. Names The ...

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

. The building that houses the museum was erected between 1863 and 1865, under the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, and was originally an administrative center, the palace of the Tulcea

sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...

pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitar ...

, headquarters of the

mutasarrıf Mutasarrif or mutesarrif ( ota, متصرّف, tr, mutasarrıf) was the title used in the Ottoman Empire and places like post-Ottoman Iraq for the governor of an administrative district. The Ottoman rank of mutasarrif was established as part of a ...

ate and its nine

kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...

administrators. In 1860, Tulcea had become the capital of a sanjak including Northern Dobruja (minus the Danube Delta) and part of

Southern Dobruja Southern Dobruja, South Dobruja or Quadrilateral ( Bulgarian: Южна Добруджа, ''Yuzhna Dobrudzha'' or simply Добруджа, ''Dobrudzha''; ro, Dobrogea de Sud, or ) is an area of northeastern Bulgaria comprising Dobrich and Silis ...

; the previous capital was at

Babadag Babadag (; tr, Babadağ, "Father Mountain"), formerly known as Babatag, is a town in Tulcea County, Romania, located on a small lake formed by the river Taița, in the densely wooded highlands of Northern Dobruja. One of the several tomb ...

. It was during this period that the

European Commission of the Danube The Commissions of the Danube River were authorized by the Treaty of Paris (1856) after the close of the Crimean War. One of these international commissions, the most successful, was the European Commission of the Danube, or, in French, ''Commiss ...

was established and foreign consulates began to appear in Tulcea.Palatul Paşei de Tulcea - Muzeul de Arta - Institutul de Cercetari Eco-Muzeale
at the Tulcea County Cultural Affairs Office site The palace was partially built, together with the

Azizyie Mosque The Azizyie Mosque ( ro, Moscheea Azizyie) is a mosque located at 2 Independenței Street in Tulcea, Romania, in the Dobruja region. It was built in 1863, during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz, to whom it is dedicated and after whom it is name ...

, with funds given by Dobrujan Circassian raiders to the Ottoman authorities. This group had settled in Northern Dobruja in 1864 following the

Circassian genocide The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the Russian Empire's systematic mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion of 80–97% of the Circassian population, around 800,000–1,500,000 people, during and after the Russo-Circassian War ( ...

and was expelled after the Ottoman defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Following this war and Romania's absorption of Northern Dobruja, the building retained its administrative function until 1970, hosting the prefecture, courthouse, prosecutor's office and, between 1950 and 1970 under the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, the ''

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...

'' and later county councils. It underwent a full restoration in 1893-1895, a partial one in 1941 following the 1940 Vrancea earthquake, and yet another one from 2009 to 2012. The art museum opened in 1982. Its seven collections include: modern and contemporary painting; modern and contemporary sculpture; 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century icons; modern and contemporary sketches; engraving plates; 18th- and 19th-century oriental art; and 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century decorative art. The building is listed as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2010: Județul Tulcea
/ref>

References

{{coord, 45.1802, 28.8050, type:landmark_region:RO, display=title Tulcea Historic monuments in Tulcea County Art museums and galleries in Romania Government buildings completed in 1865 Ottoman architecture in Romania Prefecture buildings in Romania Former courthouses 1982 establishments in Romania