The Victoria Palace () is a government building on the large Victory Square () in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, housing the

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...

and his

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

. The Victory Palace was designed in 1937 to house the Foreign Ministry, and nearly complete in 1944. It was designed by architect

Duiliu Marcu Duiliu Marcu (25 March 1885 – 9 March 1966) was a Romanian architect, one of the most well known and prolific of the interwar period. With a career spanning from 1912 to 1966, he is said to have designed 150 public and private projects across Rom ...

(1885–1966), who had designed many major buildings in 1920s and 30s Romania, including many major government projects in the 1930s and 40s. The Victory Palace is a stylised monumental classical design, with an arcaded ground level, a long colonnade of slim piers on the main front, and two recessed top floors. The facades were entirely clad in Carrara marble, with reliefs in the panels at either end, and there were generously decorated interiors. The building suffered heavy damage in the 1944

Bombing of Bucharest in World War II The Bucharest World War II bombings were primarily Allied bombings of railroad targets and those of the Oil Campaign of World War II, but included a bombing by Nazi Germany after 1944 coup d'état. Bucharest stored and distributed much of P ...

. It then underwent significant restoration and reconstruction works, being reclad in travertine, without the reliefs and less ornate interiors, finally opening in 1952, housing the headquarters of Foreign Ministry and the Council of Ministers. Following the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

, in 1990 it became the headquarters of the first government of post-communist Romania, a role it still fulfils, housing the office of the

. The palace was declared a historical monument in 2004.

References

External links

Historic monuments in Bucharest Government buildings in Romania Palaces in Bucharest Government buildings completed in 1937 {{Romania-struct-stub

See also

References

External links