The Victory Avenue

Victory Avenue (Calea Victoriei) is perhaps the most representative street of Bucharest; it's one of the city's oldest , longest (about 3 Km) and most interesting streets; it runs between two major squares: Victoria Square in the north and close to Unirii Square in the south.

The northern part of the street has beautiful houses and palaces, the southern part is more comercial and includes shops, banks, hotels, restaurants, cafes. So, it is recommended that you start your stroll in the northern part, and when you reach the southern part you're ready to relax and treat yourself to a good meal or a coffee and cake at one of the restaurants/ cafes in the area. You deserve it.

A walk along Calea Victoriei is a good lesson both in architecture and history.
The buildings here are a mixture of neocclassical style architecture and communist era structures. Many buildings bear the following little sign which reads:' Historical Monument' (Monument Istoric) offering details in three languages: romanian, english, french.

sign on outer wall : Historical Monument

Here are a few buildings and monuments of interest:

Cantacuzino Palace which houses the George Enescu Museum of music. George Enescu was Romania's greatest composer and he was married to a widow from the Cantacuzino family. The museum is dedicated to his life and music. It displays documents and objects belonging to him, among them his first violin he got at the age of four(4).

'George Enescu' Museum in Cantacuzino Palace

The CEC Palace whose building was completed in 1900, serves as headquarters of the national savings bank. This impressive palace is not open to customers.
The daily banking activity takes place in an adjacent building.

CEC Palace

CEC Bank

Military National Club (Cercul Militar National) - This palace was built in 1912 on the spot of former Sarindar monastery. It has reception halls, a library, conference rooms, performance hall, a book shop, a restaurant. Most of the building is reserved for the social and cultural needs of the army people. In front of the palace there's a fountain .

Military Club

Odeon Theatre- one of the best and most elegant theatres in Bucharest. It is located in a tiny square between Majestic Hotel building and an appartement building.
In front of the theater there's a water fountain and a statue of the turkish figure of Kemal Ataturk.

Odeon Theatre

The Monument of the Rebirth - in Revolution Square ( In the same square there's also the rebuilt equestrian statue of King Carol 1 - see top picture). It's a white marble triangle which commemorates the victims of the 1989 revolution and it symbolizes freedom rising up through a dark cloud. It was here in Revolution Square , on the balcony above the entrance to the former Central Commitee that dictator Ceausescu held his last speech.

Monument of the Rebirth

This memorial is controversial to this day. The citizens of Bucharest are not happy with its design and refer to it as the " olive on a toothpick", "potato on a stick", "meatball on a spike", etc..
It would appear that the revolution that killed Ceausescu, also "killed" the designer of the monument.