One of the most beautiful buildings in Bucharest is the Romanian Athenaeum, symbol of the Romanian culture. Its gorgeous baroque cupola stands elegantly in one of the city’s beautiful pubic squares. The idea of building the Romanian Athenaeum was born from the will of having in Bucharest, capital of Romania an elite institution promoting musical culture.
The funds needed for building the Romanian Athenaeum were collected, almost entirely, from public donations having as a motto “Give a penny for the Atheneum”.
Its construction began in 1886, following the plans of the French architect Albert Galleron and was inaugurated two years later, on February 25, 1888. The main concert room is decorated with a fresco representing moments from Romanian history and was painted by the Romania artist Costin Petrescu.
During its existence, the Romanian Athenaeum was a silent witness of the Romanian modern and contemporary history. In World War II it was bombed by the German aviation and restored several times.
Today it hosts the Romanian Philharmonic Orchestra “George Enescu” and the place where once performed some of the greatest conductors and soloist musicians of the 20th Century: Arthur Rubinstein, Dinu Lipatti, Erich Kleiber, Herbert von Karajan, Ionel Perlea, Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Casals and Sergiu Celibidache.
Given the inestimable value of this monument, Romfilatelia releases a postage stamp illustrating the Romanian Athenaeum. The image used for this stamp is illustrated on an old post card from Mr. Leonard Pascanu’s private collection.
