Mysteries in Bucharest old town

It's a guided tour, it's a treasure hunt, what is this game? It wants to be all this,
but in fact it is a walk through the old center of Bucharest, around its main attractions.
But not just any walk! A walk at your own pace, with enough time to visit them,
if you want, with breaks as long as you want and delicious locations where you can
savor them, with clues and mysteries that you will solve one by one. How to play? At each step you can read interesting details about the place where you are
at that moment. On the next page you will see the instructions for finding
the next place. Once you have followed those instructions and reached the next place,
you have to solve a task. Write the answer of that task in the answer field.
If the solution is correct, the application will take you to the next page that
will reveal where you are. If you can't find the right answer, you can always use the
clues below the question or click the "Answer" button to see it.
Good luck and enjoy your ride!

Starting point: University Square

How to get here: subway to University Square station; buses, trolleys.

Route length: about 3 km

Route duration: 1.5 hours

 

You are right! White is the missing word in the poem that perfectly describes your first stop: a snow-white palace in one of the corners of University square. Go into its yard because this is Suțu Palace, the first point of your route.

If not, follow the instructions on the next page and you will find out where the route takes you further.

Exit the yard of the Museum of Bucharest and turn right onto the boulevard, leaving the University Square behind. On the left you will have Colțea Hospital. Continue on the right side of the boulevard until you reach the entrance of an underground pedestrian passage. The passage passes under the boulevard. Sit at its entrance without going down any steps and turn your gaze 360⁰. On the same side of the boulevard where you are now you will see a statue representing an animal.

Task

Go and stand in front of the statue, as if looking the animal in the eye. What are the 4 capital letters inscribed on the base, with a dot between them? Type the 4 letters (without dots) and find out what this statue represents.

Exact! SPQR is the inscription on the pedestal of the statue!

This is the She-Wolf Statue (Lupa Capitolina), a gift that the people of Bucharest received from the municipality of Rome in 1906 for the 1800 year anniversary of the Romans conquering Dacia and for the 40 year reign of King Karl I, the first king of Romania. The statue is a bronze copy of the famous Lupa Capitolina, the Roman monument representing the she-wolf that nursed the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. She was placed on a stone pedestal with the inscription SPQR (Senatus Populus Que Romanus = the Roman Senate and People). Since 1906, the she-wolf and her two babies were moved to various spots around Bucharest. She was often stolen, but since 2010 she watches over the entrance of the old town from here, Rome Square.

Say goodbye to the she-wolf and go to the pedestrian passage where you noticed her. Go through the passage on the other side of the boulevard and exit on the left, as if you were returning to the University Square. Immediately on the right you will find a big church.

Indeed, 274 is the number written under the city of Sibiu. You have reached the third point of your route, at kilometer 0 of Bucharest. You are now in the courtyard of St. George’s Church, in front of the cadastral center of the city of Bucharest. It represents Km 0, the point from which all distances between Bucharest and the other cities in Romania are measured. The monument represents a compass rose and between its points you can find the main historic Romanian regions: Muntenia, Moldova, Ardeal, Dobrogea, Banat, Oltenia, Basarabia, and Bucovina. In the center of the compass rose there is a sphere with a metal belt depicting the zodiac signs wrapped around its circumference. Meanwhile, the compass rose sits slightly sunken into a small basin with stone sides, which have the cities of Romania and the distances from this point to them carved in.

After admiring the rose from km 0, return to the underground pedestrian passage, cross the boulevard through it on the other side to the she-wolf and go on the street that continues in front of the passage, leaving the boulevard behind you. This is Lipscani street known in the past as the place where merchants from Leipzig (hence the name Lipscani) came to sell their canvases and fabrics. Walking along it you will find on the right a white building, with wide windows that has at the entrance an advertisement representing a green book with a handle like a cup.

Task

Enter this building and explore it. What floor is the art gallery on?

It's time to get lost on the alleys of the old town, so as soon as you leave the Carousel Bookshop go back to the She-wolf. Take the first on the right before you reach the she-wolf, turn left and the first one on the right again. Then at the end of the street turn left onto Covaci Street until it opens into a square. This is St. Anton's Square. In the corner next you, you will see a container painted with vintage characters. Sit on the bench next to the container so that you have in front of you a large white building with small windows and to the right the Anton shop. Take a look around the market. Do you see in a corner the white stone cross that stands in the middle of a ruin? Go in front of it.

Task

If you look down, around the cross you will see the imprint of the former church of St. Anthony. It burned during the great fire that burned Bucharest in 1847. This event with its exact date is marked on the cross. In what month (written in Romanian) did the fire take place? Write down the answer as it is written on the cross.

Exactly! In March took place the great fire that burnt the St. Anton church. You are now standing in the ruins of the old St. Anthony’s church, also known as the prison’s church. It was already standing here in the 16th century when prince Mircea the Shepherd built the St. Anthony’s Church you see in front of you, within the walls of the Bucharest fortress. During the Great Fire of the 19th century, which consumed most of the city, the prison’s church burned completely. All that was left was the icon of St. Anthony the Great. The icon was moved to Mircea the Shepherd’s church and so it became St. Anthony’s Church. It is the oldest church in Bucharest. In its courtyard, just to the left of the church, you can see the silver-covered icon that survived the fire.

As you stand among the ruins of the old church of St. Anton, on the left you will see part of the white building with small windows and a thatched roof. Go to it, look for its entrance and go to the middle of its inner courtyard.

Task

Take a complete tour with your eyes of the inner courtyard. How many stairs start from the yard and go straight up to the second floor?

You were right, only two stairs go straight up to the 2nd floor! And if you are here now, let me tell you something about this place. Manuc’s Inn gets its name from the man who built it here at the beginning of the 19 th century: Manuc bei.
Manuc bei was a mysterious character: he was very rich, holding a monopoly over the salt trade in Wallachia and it is said that he was the first double agent on our territory, working for the Russian and for the Ottoman Empires at the same time. He was the one who mediated the pact to end the Russian-Turkish war, a pact that was signed right here, at the inn. After Manuc bei’s death, the inn keeps changing hands, becoming first a theater (this is where the first operetta show in Romania was held) and then the Dacia Hotel.
From 2007, the inn’s owner is Prince Cantacuzino who renovates it, maintaining its traditional atmosphere and turning it into one of the most popular restaurants in Bucharest. If it is lunch time, you can stop here to taste the traditional Romanian mici and the papanasi drenched in sour cream and jam.
If not, let's go on!

It's time to leave the joy of the inn behind because many stories are waiting to be revealed. Take it to the left as soon as you leave, so you can also admire the church of St. Anton on the right (if you want to see the icon saved from the fire, now is the time to enter St. Anton's church). Next to the church is the Voivodeship Palace / Old Court, the place where the rulers lived in Bucharest. Climb the steps and walk down the narrow front aisle bordered by shops and the construction net. Continue on this corridor and then on the street following it. This street is strada Franceza (the French street). At the end of it you will meet the most famous boulevard of Bucharest: Calea Victoriei, heavily trafficked by cars.

Task

Immediately to your right as you leave strada Franceza is an imposing building, the Museum of Romanian History. Climb its steps and admire the pillared corridor. At the 2 ends of the corridor are 2 doors. Look up over one of the two doors at the ends, at the statue with the 2 characters. What musical instrument has one of the 2 characters behind him?

Exactly, a trumpet is the musical instrument represented in the statue. The foundation stone of the imposing Museum of History edifice was laid at the end of the 19 th century in the presence of Carol I, king of Romania, and of Lascar Catargiu, the prime minister at the time. The building was to become the Palace of the Post and of the Telegraph, and its architect was inspired by the Palace of the Post in Geneva.
It was only in 1972 that the Museum of History was inaugurated, after important renovation works. The exhibits inside take you on the thread of history through its permanent and temporary exhibitions. Inside you can admire the crowns of the kings of Romania, gold jewelry from the Dacian times and a replica of Trajan's Column. Worth a visit!

Going down the steps of the History Museum, take the first street on the right, next to the museum, leaving behind the noise of Calea Victoriei. On the pedestrian street paved with cubic stone you will find on the left the Caru cu bere restaurant, a place known since the interwar period. On the right, an old church will catch your eye.

Task

Enter its courtyard and as you look at the inner courtyard, search to your left for a bronze plaque with the face of the architect who renovated the church. What's his last name?

Indeed, Ion Mincu is the architect that renovated Stavropoleos, the small church erected by a Greek monk from Epir, Greece in the 18 th century. The monk came to Bucharest in order to make money for another church in Greece. He became a confessor and a few years later he was rich. With his wealth he bought the land where he would build an inn and in the inn’s courtyard, a small church. Its name,
Stavropoleos, means “the city of crosses” in Greek. After an earthquake, the inn crumbles and the church becomes a ruin. At the beginning of the 20th century,
the church is renovated, the job being coordinated by the famous architect, Ion Mincu.
In its courtyard you will find a lapidarium. All the crosses here are from churches that were demolished during the communist period.

Leave the silence of the little church behind and sink again into the noise of the city. Go back to Calea Victoriei and turn right when you reach the boulevard. On your walk up the boulevard you will meet the Zlătari church on the right, white and another street that enters the old center, paved with cubic stone. Leave them all behind and go up the boulevard. After a few tens of meters, on the left you will find an imposing building with the inscription in the picture and on the right you will find a passage.

Task

Enter the passage and exit on the other side, towards the pedestrian street paved with cubic stone. Above the exit of the passage, there is a bas-relief with an animal's head. What animal is this?

Exactly, a lion guards the entrance to the Macca Villacrosse passage. But what is the story of this passage? Right here, there was an inn, running since the 17 th century. One of the owners of the inn gifted this property to his two daughters, one of whom was married to a famous furrier of that time, Macca, while the other was married to a Catalan man named Villacrosse, who was later to become the chief architect of Bucharest. The inn changes its name to Villacrosse, the name of its
new owner. Villacrosse wants to transform it into a luxurious hotel, but lacking the necessary finances, he makes an alliance that leads to him being betrayed and losing the inn, which becomes the Stadt Pesth Hotel. Years later, there is need for a short access road between the National Bank erected in the Historic Center and the Main Boulevard of the time, Calea Victoriei. The owner of the Stadt Pesth Hotel refuses to sell it to facilitate the construction of the exit to Calea Victoriei, so a passage was built around it. It has one exit toward Old Town and a U-shaped passage surrounding the hotel, with both branches leading to Calea Victoriei. The two branches were named after the two brothers-in-law, Macca and Villacrosse. The Stadt Pesth Hotel no longer functions and the passage has become famous in Bucharest for being the place where you can find many places to smok shisha. During the communist period, the passage was named “Bijuteria” (Jewel) due to the numerous jewelers that had shops here. It was one of the places where young people would buy their wedding bands (you can still spot ads from that era here and there). Stop here if you need a break or a flavoured smoke.

Now that you have found out that the Macca-Villacross passage has 2 entrances from Calea Victoriei and a third one from the old center, stand with your back to the third entrance (the one from the old town) and you will have in front 2 buildings guarded by a video-surveilled gate. These 2 buildings house the National Bank of Romania, the one on the right being the old headquarters and the one on the left being the new headquarters. Take it to your left and then immediately to the right walking past the National Bank until you reach the opposite corner of the building. In that intersection, standing with your back to the National Bank, you will have on the right a white, renovated hotel and a street paved with cubic stone that sinks in the old center. To the left is an old black palace at the intersection of two busy streets. Walk on the street next to the palace, with the old center, the white hotel and the National Bank behind you. On the right you will find another church with golden towers. Does it seem familiar to you?

Task

Search the front gate and find out what number is written on it.

You're right, 9 is the number written on the door. Saint Nicholas Church, in front of which you are standing, reminds us of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow with its onion domes, and this resemblance is no coincidence! Saint Nicholas Church in Bucharest is known as the Russian Church. It was erected at the beginning of the 20th century for the Russian community of Bucharest at the request of the Russian ambassador and with the blessing of Tzar Nicholas II, the Romanovs contributing financially to its construction. In 1992, it becomes the University Chapel of the Bucharest University, as demanded by the students. This event earns it the nickname “The Students’ Church”.