On September 20th 1459, in an old document of Vlad Tepes, the existence of the settling of Bucharest was mentioned for the first time, and the oldest document which certifies “the capital of Bucharest” dates from October 14th 1465 and belongs to Radu cel Frumos. The subsequent evolution of the settling was due to the establishment of the lordly residence in Bucharest (1659). Even since the 15th century, together with the doubling of the city surface, there appeared craftsmen districts in the area of “Sf. Gheorghe”, “Piata Unirii”, “Coltea” and “Ulitei Mari”, the Lipscani Street of today.
In 1830 the “City Council” is founded and the city is divided in five areas (sectors), then in 1846 the City Hall elaborated the first Cadastre Plan of the locality. Since 1862, after becoming the capital of the young Romanian state, the city enters a new stage of its development. After December 1st 1918, when Ardeal had united with Romania, the city becomes the capital of the Great Romania. The postage stamps issue dedicated to the celebration of 550 years of documentary accreditation of the city of Bucharest wishes to present only a piece of the struggling, tumultuous but colored history of the city of Bucharest of other times.
The Buna Vestire Church – Curtea Veche is represented on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 0.30. Being within the enclosure of the former Lord’s Court, the Buna Vestire Church is the oldest building in Bucharest kept until today. It was built at the end of the second reign of Mircea Ciobanu around the year of 1560. Partially destroyed by a fire in 1847, the church begins to be repaired two years later after the project of the Austrian architect I. Schlatter, the external aspect of the monument reaching a Neogothic appearance. The turret is rebuilt, a small porch is added, and the side chapels are demolished. The painting was restored in oil, in 1852, by Misu Popp and Constantin Lecca.
The Coltea Hospital is illustrated on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 0.80. Organized after the Ospedale di San Lazzaro e Medicanti model in Venice, the Coltea hospital settling has been the first in Bucharest, built by the Ruler Mihai Cantacuzino at the end of 1704. Until the end of the 19th century, the building of the hospital suffered from earthquakes and fires, being eventually demolished. On its place, the new building was erected, after the plans of the architect Schiferle. Within the court of the hospital, in 1869 the statue of the founder of the Coltea Hospital and Church, the Ruler Mihai Cantacuzino, was unveiled. In 1979, the Coltea Hospital was declared a national monument under the UNESCO patronage.
The building of the Sutu Palace, presently the Museum of History and Arts of the Municipality of Bucharest, is illustrated on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 3.00. Between the years 1833-1834, two Viennese architects, Johan Veit and Conrad Schwinck, built for the great court marshal Costache Sutu the palace whose name it wears. Built in Neogothic style, in the exterior, the building has four small towers placed two by two on the Northern and Southern sides. The one who has chosen to use interior ornaments in Neoclassical style, was the sculptor Karl Storck. In the second part of the 19th century the famous evening parties organized by the spouses Grigore and Irina Sutu took place here. After the First World War, the building sheltered the headquarters of the City Hall of the city of Bucharest, of the Chrissovelony Bank, of the Savings Bank House, and after the Second World War, of the Construction Institute. With the occasion of the celebration of a century since the Union of the Principalities, in 1959, the Sutu Palace becomes the home of the history and art of the centennial city.
The First Romanian Architecture School is illustrated on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 4.70. In 1891, the Romanian Architects Society founds a private architecture school. After an uninterrupted five years functioning, the Architecture School of the Romanian Architects Society, by the study reform initiated by Spiru Haret, becomes the National School of Architecture, section of the Belle Arte School. After only seven years, in 1904, it is taken off the tutorship of the Belle Arte School and is named the Superior School of Architecture, whose first director would be Ermil Pangrati. After a series of legislative and organization modifications, beginning with 1952, the new denomination will be the “Ion Mincu” Architecture and Urbanism University, the founder of the Romanian architecture school. The old building has been designed by Grigore Cerchez and Iorgu Ciortan and built between 1912-1915, by Simion Vasilescu, and between 1920-1927 by Constantin and Nicolae Dobrescu.
The Bucharest Patriarchal Cathedral is illustrated on the perforated souvenir sheet with the face value of Lei 8.10. The Patriarchal Cathedral, next to the Patriarchal Palace and the Palace of the Romanian Patriarchate form a representative ensemble of Romania´s Capital. The building of the Cathedral is raised on the place of the former monastery, built in 1656 by the voivode Constantin Serban Basarab (1654-1658). It was painted for the first time in 1665, during the rule of Radu Leon who, by the document from July of the year of 1668, decided that the monastery become a metropolitan residence. Inside, in a richly ornamented silver coffin, there can be found the relics of Saint Dimitrie the New, brought in 1774. The belfry finished in 1698, was raised by the voivode Constantin Brancoveanu. Along time, restructurings, expansions and transformations have taken place, the last one ending in 2008.
Philatelic document – issued into a limited run printing of 300 copies, equipped with the postage stamps set, cancelled with the “first day” post mark.
