Palatul Cotroceni

Cotroceni Palace is the official residence of the President of Romania. It is located at Bulevardul Geniului, nr. 1, in Bucharest, Romania. The palace also houses the National Cotroceni Museum.

In 1679, a monastery was built by Șerban Cantacuzino on Cotroceni Hill in the first year of his rule on the place of an old wooden hermitage. The plans of this new monastery kept many of the traditional architectural elements found in the principalities of Romania at the time. The Cotroceni monastery was completed in 1682, and has since been visited frequently by many pilgrims and documented in various Chronicles.

Cotroceni Hill was also the place of residence of many of Romania’s rulers for a time until 1883, when King Carol I of Romania received the residences and ordered them demolished with plans to build a much larger edifice in their stead which would serve to house the future heirs to his throne.

Construction of this new royal palace was commissioned to begin in the year 1893, the project being placed under the direction of French architect Paul Gottereau.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotroceni_Palace

Photo: Bekuletz