Romanian Athenaeum
Domed 1888 concert hall near Calea Victoriei, home of the George Enescu Philharmonic.
The Romanian Athenaeum was raised between 1886 and 1888 on a site near Calea Victoriei, funded partly by a long public subscription campaign. The French architect Albert Galleron gave it an Ionic portico of six columns beneath a shallow dome, combining neoclassical and eclectic elements. Inside, a circular auditorium seats around 650 people beneath a gilded ceiling. The building was conceived as a home for concerts, lectures and learned societies, and it quickly became the principal concert venue of the Romanian capital.
Since 1889 the hall has been the base of the orchestra now known as the George Enescu Philharmonic, and Enescu himself conducted and performed here. Running around the upper wall of the auditorium is a fresco some 75 metres long, painted by Costin Petrescu in the 1930s, which sets out episodes from Romanian history. The Athenaeum is the main venue of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, and it is listed as a historic monument.
Highlights
- Circular auditorium under a gilded dome
- Costin Petrescu's 75-metre historical fresco
- Six-column Ionic portico facing Athenaeum Park
- Principal stage of the George Enescu Festival
