​“What better place for royal treasures than in a palace? Art spotlights from the collection of the British royal family. We invite you to discover in the Palace of Dacia-Romania the goblets, glasses, decanters, glasses classified by the Tesaur, which are part of the gilded crystal service ordered by Queen Mary more than a century ago, as well as other very valuable objects to which they belonged. for the Romanian royal family, along with royal art brought from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. We are happy to celebrate the National Day of Romania in this way and thank the National Museum of Cotroceni for opening this partnership.” – declares Ioana Chocan, General Director of Art Safari and Commissioner of Romania at the Venice Biennale.

“The collaboration between Art Safari and the National Museum of Cotrocen, a wonderful and inspiring initiative of Ms. Ioana Chokan, for which we are grateful, has the potential to create a unique experience for the public. Getting into the history-rich space of the Kotrochen National Museum and discovering the works of valuable modern artists is a surprise that all visitors will surely appreciate. At the same time, let’s not forget that Queen Mary was a lover and creator of art, so where can modern art find a better place than in the apartments and salons that he decorated with such sophistication more than a hundred years ago” .– says Ana-Maria Ludatser, general director of the Kotrochen National Museum.

A portrait of Queen Mary next to works from the Queen Victoria Museum

One of the most valuable works of the National Museum of Kotrochen, “Portrait of Princess Maria”,Costina Petrescu (1872 – 1954) is among the works that will be exhibited at Art Safari. The portrait was made immediately after the marriage of the young Princess Maria with Prince Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Romania. A particularly expressive portrait reflects the beauty and delicacy of Princess Maria, as well as a state of melancholy, perhaps a consequence of being distant from the British royal family and adapting to a new state of affairs: marriage at the age of only 17 to the heir to the throne of an unknown and distant country.

Also from the museum collection comes the silver snuff box of King Ferdinand I. It was made in the workshop “Belmont Palace Bucharest 935” in the 1920s, a period from which many objects used in the daily life of the royal family originate. King Ferdinand was an avid smoker, so he ordered gold and silver mouthpieces from famous jewelry companies (Cartier, A&J Roller, Joseph Resch&Fils).

5:00 in the palace of Dacia-Romania, with royal dishes

Among the objects that complement the temporary exposition of the Kotrochen National Museum in Art Safari are several works from Crystal service in the neo-Byzantine style, commissioned by Princess Mary, the future queen. The service was carried out in 1906 in Oberwislau, Munich, by the Poschmeyer company, which was designed by Carl Georg von Reichenbach. Several products from this set – a decanter with a stopper, a bowl, glasses, glasses, glasses, a glass – can be admired in the special atmosphere of Art Safari.

The neo-Byzantine service thesaurus was often used at royal breakfasts and dinners, which were arranged around a Byzantine and Celtic-style round table in the royal dining room of Kotrochen. All the details of the service are gilded, painted with a rich decor, circled with a brick-red shade, decorated with cabochons (semi-precious stones) of various shapes, sizes and colors. Zoomorphic elements are also outlined on the cups of the legs: a fish, a phoenix bird, a lion, an eagle.

Another special item from the collection of the National Museum of Cotroceny, presented at the Art Safari, is a gilded art nouveau piece, patronized by Princess Mary in 1905. Made of wood, the chair at the Sinai School of Arts and Crafts was called the “Lily Chair” because the back is carved with a tall lily, Princess Mary’s favorite flower.

Visiting schedule

• Art safari: Thursday-Sunday (12:00-21:00), until December 11, Palatul Dacia-România, street Lipscani no. 18-20, Bucharest; night tours from 10pm to 1am every Friday and Saturday, special experiences that include exhibition tours, live music and prosecco.
• Kotrochen National Museum: Tuesday-Sunday (9:00-17:00, only by prior appointment 24 hours), Bulevardul Geniului, no. 1, Bucharest
• Tickets can be purchased online or at the door. To avoid crowding, the organizers recommend buying tickets online.

About Art Safari Bucharest

Art Safari, a cultural project funded by the Ministry of Culture and supported by Lidl, GLO and Deutsche Bank, specializes in the creation of art exhibition pavilions. The annual organizer of the Bucharest Art Pavilion – Romania’s largest conglomerate of art exhibitions – which has been held for 10 times now, in partnership with Romanian art museums and private collectors, organizes large-scale retrospective exhibitions aimed at restoring heritage values. With a strong educational side, its mission is to bring art closer to the public and educate new generations by organizing art workshops for children, tours and contemporary art exhibitions in non-traditional locations such as Henri Coanda Airport or the Bucharest Metro.

The art safari is held under the patronage of Bucharest City Hall and UNESCO Romania and is held in partnership with the Bucharest City Museum, the Romanian Cultural Institute and the National Art Museum of Romania. The official partner of Art Safari is BCR. Art Safari’s educational partner is the Step by Step center from Bucharest. Almost 300,000 visitors have been registered in 9 editions so far. More information: artsafari.ro.

About the Kotrochen National Museum

The National Museum of Cotroceni is located in a historical monument of Romanian architecture of the end of the 19th century, the Royal Palace of Cotroceni, which amazingly integrated part of the medieval architecture of the monastery founded by the ruler of Wallachia, Sherban Cantacuzino, until the end of the 17th century.

The Kotrochen National Museum is an institution that focuses on depicting the history of the Kotrochen ensemble, its evolution and transformations over time. Its specificity is provided by the combination of the characteristics of a memorial space, the history of which is almost 350 years old, with the characteristics of a museum of decorative arts.

The visitor will be impressed by the originality of the Cantacuzino spaces, remembering the founder of the ensemble, Voivode Sherban Cantacuzino (1679-1688), the church of the Kotrochen monastery, the objects that belonged to him and which are exhibited in the large basement. , in the exposition “Church of Kotrochen. History, spirituality and art”, internal architecture with many styles characteristic of the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, artistic prints of the most important historical personalities who lived there: the ruler Alexander Ioan Kuza. and Mrs. Helena Cusa, King Charles I and Queen Elizabeth, King Ferdinand I and Queen Mary.

His salons and suites have a special affective power, emphasizing not only the intrinsic value of various artefacts, but also their significance in terms of relationships with the individuals who have lived in these rooms for a long time.

Among the star exhibits is the ceremonial sword of ruler Aleksandru Ioan Kuza, received from Prince of Serbia Mykhailo Obrenovich; gold-plated Queen Mary crystal with precious and semi-precious stones; a round gilt wooden table with twenty-four Celtic and Byzantine chairs from the Royal Dining Room, designed by Queen Mary; a late 19th century King Charles I pool table; the work “Allegory of Air”, ca. XVI (workshop of Jacopo Bassano); 74-frame chandelier of the Kotrochen church (XIX century); The Romanian Constitution of 1923 with the signatures of the members of the government and the two presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

For more than 30 years of its existence, the National Museum of Cotroceni has established itself in the Romanian cultural and social environment as a modern institution that strives through organization and cultural projects to synchronize with new trends in modern museology. Various scientific and exhibition programs devoted to the topics of history, art history (from the Middle Ages to the present) and restoration were held.