Between 1679 and 1681 the ruler Şerban Cantacuzino (1678-1688) built, in the West of Bucharest, the Cotroceni ensemble, his most important architectural endevour. It stood out with the Assumption Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, similar in style to the one in Curtea de Argeş and through the impressive palace, built in the Baroque style that dominated Western Europe at that time.
            Some main events in the history of the palace should be emphasized: its founding by the ruler Şerban Cantacuzino (1678-1688), Barbu Dimitire Ştirbei’s reign (1849-1853,1854-1856), when, in 1852, the ensemble was rebuilt and modernized and the Cotroceni garden was set up (one of the major public gardens of Bucharest); the building of the palace (1893-1895), decorated by the French architect Paul Gottereau. Unfortunately, after the 1977 earthquake that occurred in Bucharest, most of the palace had to be rebuilt, contrary to the medieval part that endured; the new wing of the ensemble was erected between 1977-1986, in order to host the Presidential Administration.
            Up to 1895 the palace in Cotroceni served as the official residence of different rulers. In 1895, though, the new palace built by the state was meant for the heir apparent, Ferdinand de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. After the Great Union, extensive works were carried out in the palace by the Romanian architect Grigore Cerchez. Princess, and later Queen, Mary left her unmistakable mark at Cotroceni that bears the proof of her artistic affinities.
            The Cotroceni ensemble stands alone in the Bucharest and national architectural scenery through its various components, each one with different functions and destinations. Its uniqueness is reflected in the lay architecture that dominated the Cotroceni ensemble (the palace, the medievals cellars, still existing today, the pavilion, the annexes, the manege, the gardener’s house, the greenhouses,) military (the Royal Guard), ecclesiastical (the monastery: the cells, the kitchen, the refectory, the vault, the bell tower, the church - the central edifice, the priestly houses, the chapel of the asylum for orphan girls - painted by Gh. Tatarescu- a famous Romanian artist), functional (the railway station), exotic (the Amerindian house in the garden), funerary monuments (those of princess Maria and of the Davila family), a large garden (part of it would later become the Botanical Garden), the military and exercise field, the Cotroceni city barrier.
            Cotroceni witnessed important historical events. In 1821, the leader of the revolution, Tudor Vladimirescu, decided to set his camp here, making the Cotroceni area the centre of the revolution. The 1848-1849 revolution in the south of the Carpathians reaches its climax at Cotroceni, with the reading of the Ottoman proclamation that condemned it. This was shortly followed by the arrest and imprisonment at Cotroceni of the leaders of the revolution and important personalities of the capital city. During the reign of the Union ruler, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Cotroceni was one of the centres of modernization and unification in Romania, and, after extensive modernization and refurbishing, the palace became a European level official residence.
            In 1916, it was decided on giving up neutrality and joining the Entente (France, Russia, England). In 1918 the Bucharest Peacy treaty was signed at Cotroceni, together with the Central Powers. In 1930, the return of Carol Caraiman, former prince Carol (the son of king Ferdinand), brings Cotroceni under the political spotlight once again. Afterwards, numerous Crown Councils and government meetings were called by Carol II in Cotroceni, as was the case of the crucial meeting in the fall of 1939 (concerning the important issues of the integrity and defense of the nation state, neighbour cooperation, the stand on the war that had just broken out.)
            Cotroceni is the only official residence in Romania that has been used for over 4 centuries.
Based on the law issued in June 1990, on December 27th, 1991 the old wing of the ensemble was opened to the public as the Cotroceni National Museum, envisioned as an insight to past ages.

MIHAIL IPATE, PhD