Constructed in 1914 by French builder Teophile Bradeau, this Athenee Building (at this time a posh Hilton accommodation) was made famous in Olivia Manning’s novel, Balkan Trilogy, as a core of conspiracy and also espionage at the time of World War Ii. British and German diplomats plotted, planned and spied in everyone with the epoque environment of hotel’s British Bar, while various rich and famous gathered and intrigued as their world crashed around them. The hotel survived heavy bombing throughout the world war and consequently, has been reconstructed in 1945.
Kretzulescu Cathedral
Nestled within the other beautiful structures inside of Piata Revolutiei, this amazing modest red-brick Orthodox chapel has been built in 1722 by the remarkable minister Iordache Kretzulescu and his spouse, Safta (a daughter of Constantin Brancoveanu) within Brancovenesti design pattern. The interior pictures were executed on 1860 by a famous Romanian artist Gheorghe Tattarescu.
Regal Palace Great Live Concert Arena (Sala Palatului)
Placed next to the Regal Palace, that concave-roof structure has been built-in 1960 to fit the 3,000 Communist party affiliates that every 5yrs attended the communist festival congress. It was on this phase where Nicolae Ceausescu is going to present its vision of a multilaterally designed socialist community. Presently, the massive auditorium performs host to numerous exhibitions and festivals, including several of the George Enescu Festivity live shows.
The Soldiers Club (Cercul Militar National)
Standing imposingly, this unique neoclassical masterpiece, constructed by Romanian architect Dimitrie Maimaroiu, was built within 1912 to help serve the societal, cultural and educational desires of Romanian soldiers. Banquets and public celebrations are still organised in the ball rooms, when the upper level part is reserved for the army’s archives, as well as staff rooms and classrooms for officer training. The primary part of the building is off-limits to civilians, still the spectacular restaurant as well as spring terrace is open to the public.
Thanks for checking this article, i really hope everyone appreciated it and if you arrange a trip to Bucharest, and visit this unique sites, you should try to book in advance, this exceptional town is filled of that can accommodate you.
Casa Loma, once a stunning private home is now a one of a kind architectural masterpiece in Canada. Sir Henry Pellatt commissioned 300 men to build his home, which took 3 years to accomplish.
When Sir Henry’s monopoly on street lighting in Toronto was removed by the city itself and his company was getting deeper and deeper into debt, Sir Henry’s insolvency forced him to put on the market his properties to recover some cash. With such splendour and lots of space the house was to become a luxury hotel. Remodelling took place to change the property for its new use, but the hotel never really achieved the desired turnover and the entire project failed after a mere four years.
A few years after the collapse of the hotel, the Kiwanis Club talked to the City and was given a license to turn it into a museum centred round the original owner and Toronto itself. Thirty thousand visitors a year come to see this extremely popular attraction, which shows that the Club had the right idea. Unusually, the venue is financially self sustaining and even contributes to the municipal budget in the form of fees and taxes.
Despite the evident success of the Kiwanis Club at turning the place into a useful and popular venue, City Council recently decided to regain the management of the property and devise a new long-term strategy. It’s likely that the house will be placed on the market and sold off to an interested financier. It is feasible to suggest that it is unlikely just one investor would be interested in such a property, so it is believed that the council may decide to break it up into condos.
A modern and spacious building, the Casa Loma would make homely apartments for those on the lookout for luxury and elegance. The Forest Hill neighbourhood is across the road and with easy access into the city, Casa Loma has everything people need.
With the state of the castle, beautiful surroundings and the advantage of city life, then Casa Loma is going to be a sort after place to live. And with the recent sale of the $28m most expensive condominium in Toronto, it seems that the demand for luxurious residences is rather strong.
Some people may like the thought of the opportunity to buy a slice of this history, but not everyone; many of the public are used to the fact that the museum is a reminder of history and is an attraction they can visit. They believe that the monetary value to the council if it is sold should not be part of the equation, that the historical value of the attraction as well as cultural heritage is more important.
The first heavy working week after the summer holidays has produced a cornucopia of stories here in the western Balkans. Some are more serious than others, unless of course you live here, when they are all deadly serious. Here’s a roundup of a few of them.
Outside the old Yugoslav Fed. Parliament building in the Serbian capital they are rolling up the red carpet which had been unrolled to welcome representatives to the fiftieth birthday hit of the Non-Aligned Movement, which I’ve written about here. Serbia, which hosted the gathering, is not an affiliate, but never mind that. It finds it helpful to lobby over the Kosovo issue and for business.
In the aftermath of the meeting, Serbian papers are reporting that 2 countries which had hitherto been accepted to have recognized Kosovo, now say that they did not. Oman explains it just, sort of, um ah, kind of said it wanted Kosovo in the UN, but that’s different. The West African state of Guinea Bissau claims that recognition was held up in parliament.
Vuk Jeremic, Serbia’s foreign minister adds that a criminal investigation has started in one African country against a senior official. He said :
“There are founded suspicions that he received a bribe from an Albanian businessman from Kosovo so as to start the procedure to recognise Kosovo independence. If that investigation gives results we expect, this country will also withdraw its recognition of Kosovo independence.”
In the piece I wrote in this week’s print edition I noted that many nations find the Non-Aligned Movement’s conferences useful because they enable states to lobby and network. However in a stinging commentary (behind a paywall,) at Balkan Understanding Milan Misic, the Washington hack of the Serbian daily Politika, argues the entire shebang was mounted because Belgrade “needed something to lift its confidence”. It was just a show of nostalgia for all its participants argues Mr Misic and “dwelled on the past feats of the movement. “
At the meeting the ex-Yugoslavs all sat together. They’d better be cautious. Folk (especially Croatia’s Nova television) are asking questions. Why Ivo (Josipovic, the president of Croatia) was spending so much time with Boris (Tadic, the president of Serbia). 2 men of the same age, same background, same jobs, same Problems, what a scandal…
In the meantime, as some Croatian correspondents were obsessing about Ivo and Boris a tiny Croatian paper, the Kronika, appears to have a world-beating scoop, if true of course. In February I wrote about the close connections between the former Yugoslavia and Colonel Qaddafi. The press then wrote that his other half Safiya was originally Sofija Farkas, a Croat with Hungarian roots from Mostar in Hercegovina. According to the paper, Mrs Qaddafi has just been trying to buy land and property in Igrane on the Croatian Adriatic coast not far from Mostar.
Mrs Qaddafi and some of the family are now in Algeria. This summer the Balkan press has been full of stories of various celebrities in assorted stages of inebriation or strip, from Prince Harry to Beyonc, who have been holidaying in Croatia. Whether Mrs Qaddafi fits the profile the Croats want, I am really not sure, however if she is really a Bosnian Croat she has every right to a Croatian passport and therefore visa free travel through Europe.
On a rather more sombre note, Dimitar Bechev of the Sofia office of the Western european Council on Foreign Relations writes about the “protracted death of democratic Albania.” Debating about the political conflict that has paralysed Albania for the last 2 years he says that both Edi Rama, the leader of the opposition Socialists and Sali Berisha, the P. M. are the culprit. However Mr Berisha “must take the lion’s share.” He’s hell bent, says Mr Bechev, on gaining control over all of the Albanian establishments which still remain beyond his grip.
Why are standard Albanians happy to allow such de-democratisation? One reason could be that, unlike any other former Communist states, ordinary people see in the ECU nothing different from Albania. To the side, across the Mediterranean, is Italy, with its unique type of game-show politics ; to the south, over the mountain ranges, lies broke Greece. If this is what it means to be an ECU state, many Albanian baby-kissers can be excused for thinking they already live in one, or should qualify for membership.”
Not as dramatic, but still, alarm bells have started to ring in Montenegro too. Thomas Roser, of the Austrian daily Die Presse has written about the crop of attacks on vehicles belonging to Vijesti, one of the nations main dailies. 4 have been torched in the last few months. Zeljko Ivanovic, the paper’s handling editor claims that the media situation in the country is appalling and so the attacks are messages from people hooked up to orgainised crime which in Montenengro have always been believed to overlap with political interests that “they are stronger than the state” and thus Vijesti’s reporting about issues like this is pointless. Who cares about the global economy when you can worry about media freedom in Montenegro. Watch this space, writes .