The InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest is a historic luxury hotel in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, originally opened in 1914. It was arguably Europe's most notorious den of spies in the years leading up to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and only slightly less so during the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
.
[Halpern.]
Location
Located in the heart of Bucharest on Str. Episcopiei at the corner of
Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei (''Victory Avenue'') is a major avenue in central Bucharest. Situated in Sector 1, and having a length of , it leads from (which runs parallel to the Dâmbovița River) to the north and then northwest up to Piața Victoriei, w ...
on the former site of the Han Gherasi (''Han'' is
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
for "inn"), the hotel faces onto the small park in front of the
Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum () is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania, and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's most prestigious concert hall and home of the "Geor ...
on
Revolution Square. It did not originally face onto a square: at the time the hotel was built, the space that is now a small park was occupied by the Splendid Hotel, destroyed by bombing on August 24, 1944, and there were a considerable number of other buildings on what is now the square.
[Halpern; "List of Names…".]
History
Early years

The Athénée Palace was designed by the
French architect
Théophile Bradeau. It was built from 1912 to 1914, in the
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
style and was one of the last buildings built in this style. It was the first building in Bucharest to use
reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
construction. It was constructed on the site of the 19th century Gherasi Inn.
The hotel was completely modernized between 1935 and 1937, to designs by architect
Duiliu Marcu, with the exterior redesigned in the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
style.
Describing the hotel as it looked in 1938,
A. L. Easterman of London's ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' and later of the ''
Daily Herald'' referred to its "heavily ornate furnishings, marble and gold pillars, great glittering chandeliers, and the deep settees placed well back in the recesses of the lounge as if inviting conspiracy."
[Easterman, p.221.]
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' foreign correspondent
C. L. Sulzberger wrote in his memoir ''A Long Row of Candles'' that as World War II was approaching, he settled into the Athénée Palace "to enjoy my wait for war… This was a comfortable establishment with excellent service…a corrupt staff always seeking to change a customer's money at black-market rates, and continual competition by ladies of easy or nonexistent virtue to share the warmth of a client's bed."
[Cited in Halpern.] "Countess"
R. G. Waldeck wrote of the hotel in the same era, "Here was the heart of Bucharest, topographically, artistically, intellectually, politically—and, if you like, morally."
It was also home at the time to both
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
spies and the
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
.
A. L. Easterman called it the "most notorious
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...
in all Europe. …the meeting place of the Continental spies, political conspirators, adventurers, concession hunters, and financial manipulators. "
Damaged by American air raids during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, in April 1944, the hotel was completely remodeled in 1945.
Communist era
In 1948, the Athénée Palace was nationalized by the new
Communist government
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
, who famously bugged every room, tapped every phone (and every pay phone within ), and staffed the entire hotel with informers. Dan Halpern writes, "The hotel's general director was an undercover colonel in the
Securitate
The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...
's Counterespionage Directorate; the hotel's deputy director was a colonel in the DIE, the Romanian external intelligence organization. The doormen did surveillance; the housekeeping staff photographed all documents in the guests' rooms. The prostitutes in the lobby and in the bar and in the nightclub reported directly to their employers; the free-speaking bons vivants and Romanian intellectuals hanging around the café, not to mention a number of the guests, had been planted."
A new wing was built behind the original hotel in 1965. The project team, comprising architect Nicolae Pruncu and engineers Radu Mircea and Mihai Ionescu, encountered severe technical difficulties in binding the old building with the new one.
[''Institut Proiect București'', pp. 68, and 82 (appendix)] The hotel's interiors were remodeled in 1983.
The government-run Athénée Palace was damaged in the
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily within the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian revoluti ...
. Some of the worst violence occurred in the square immediately in front of the hotel. The hotel closed in 1994.
Restoration and modern era
The Athénée Palace underwent a $42 million renovation from 1995 to 1997, financed by the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...
, and reopened in October 1997, managed by Hilton International, as the Athénée Palace Hilton Bucharest.
In 2005, Romanian businessman
George Copos, through his Ana Hotels entity, purchased a controlling interest in the hotel's ownership company, Athénée Palace SA from the EBRD. In 2021, the hotel rooms in the 1965 "new wing" were fully renovated.
The hotel ceased to be operated by Hilton as of midnight December 31, 2022, and joined
InterContinental Hotels
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts by IHG is a British-American luxury hotel brand created in 1946 by Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of January 2023, there were 208 InterCo ...
as the InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest on January 1, 2023.
In media
The hotel is a primary setting in
Olivia Manning
Olivia Mary Manning (2 March 1908 – 23 July 1980) was a British novelist, poet, writer, and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in the United Kingdom, Euro ...
's ''
Balkan Trilogy'',
which was later filmed as the 1987
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
miniseries ''
Fortunes of War'', starring
Kenneth Branagh
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...
and
Emma Thompson
Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Emma Thompson on screen and stage, Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Emma Thompson, her accola ...
. The miniseries was not shot at the hotel, but in
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
.
Notes
References
*
Alexander Easterman, ''King Carol, Hitler, and Lupescu'', Victor Gollancz Ltd., London, 1942
*
Constantin C. Giurescu, ''Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre'', Ed. Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966
* ''Institut Proiect București'', Arta Grafică, Bucharest, 1968
* Dan Halpern
The Walls Have Ears ''
Travel and Leisure
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...
'', June 2005
List of Names and Places Explained: The Athenee Palace Hotel, the Splendid Hotel in ''Bucharest Between the Wars: A Modernity With Fringes'', Romanian Academy Library, accessed 4 January 2006.
External links
*
InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest IHG chain website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athenee Palace Bucharest
Art Deco architecture in Romania
Art Deco hotels
Art Nouveau hotels
Calea Victoriei
Historic monuments in Bucharest
Hotel buildings completed in 1914
Hotels established in 1914
Hotels established in 1997
Hotels in Bucharest
InterContinental hotels