The “Prof. Nicolae Minovici” Museum in Bucharest

The building that houses the “Prof. Nicolae Minovici, Ph.D.” Folk Art Museum is one of the most iconic Neo-Romanian monuments in Bucharest

Ion Puican, 14.12.2025, 12:54

The building that houses the “Prof. Nicolae Minovici, Ph.D.” Folk Art Museum, affiliated to the Bucharest City Museum (MMB), is known to the public as the “Mansion with Bells”, and it is one of the most iconic Neo-Romanian monuments in Bucharest. Designed by the architect Cristofi Cerchez, built in 1905 and opened to the public in 1914, the mansion houses Bucharest’s first collection of Romanian ethnographic art, put together by Prof. Nicolae Minovici, Ph.D.

Nicolae Minovici (1868–1941) was one of the prominent figures of Romanian medicine and a visionary scholar devoted to both science and culture. A forensic doctor trained in Bucharest and Berlin and author of pioneering research, Minovici founded the first Rescue Society in the Balkans in 1906, and later the first around-the-clock emergency hospital in Romania.

He was quite passionate about folk art. The “Mansion with Bells”, the first ethnographic museum in Bucharest, was donated to the city along with its entire collection. Originally designed as a recreation spot for the physician and art collector Nicolae Minovici, the house quickly became a museum dedicated to folk art. The architecture combines early 20th Century urban elements with details inspired by traditional Romanian houses. We spoke to the museum curator Mădălina Manolache about the architecture monument:

Mădălina Manolache: “In 1905, the architect Cristofi Cerchez built this “Mansion on the Avenue”, as it was called at the time. Prof. Nicolae Minovici’s mansion was intended to house the national art collections that the forensic doctor had begun to collect. The house was built in the Romanian national style. At that time, we were not yet talking about the neo-Romanian style as we know it today, and his inspiration came primarily from the semi-fortified buildings in the south of the country. Other sources of inspiration for the architect Cristofi Cerchez came from the Brâncoveanu architecture, and the decoration elements were made by the sculptor of the Royal House, Emil von Becker.”

Mădălina Manolache also told us about the beginnings of the Museum of Folk Art, during the lifetime of Professor Nicolae Minovici:

Mădălina Manolache: “Even during Prof. Nicolae Minovici’s life, the mansion came to be regarded as a museum. A private museum, in fact, which was called the “National Art Museum,” as opposed to its present-day name, which was given during the communist era. Minovici did not organise a museum based on scientific criteria; instead, he tried to showcase the beauty of Romanian works of art, from folk art to modern art. Minovici was particularly in love with modern ceramics, which he collected in quite impressive amounts. Moreover, he was a promoter of the national style, not only in architecture, in terms of the style for the construction of his mansion, but also in the decorative arts, an aspect less common today. During his lifetime, as I was saying, this museum operated as a private institution whose visitors were mainly scientists who came to Romania for various congresses organised by the Minovici siblings, all of them scholars: Nicolae and Mina were forensic doctors and Ștefan was a chemist. Visitors were always impressed with the museum, because at that time it was the first of its kind in our country and in Bucharest, even predating the project of Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, who was trying to create an ethnographic museum.”

The current exhibition recreates the original atmosphere of the collection, with each room turned into a presentation space that accurately reflects the founder’s vision. The curator Mădălina Manolache walked us through the history of the museum:

Mădălina Manolache: “The museum was opened to the public during the interwar period. In 1936 it was officially donated to the city of Bucharest. In the 90s, the museum was closed for consolidation and restoration works and, finally, in 2018 the restoration and organisation of a new permanent exhibition, inspired of course by the one created by Nicolae Minovici, was completed. Today, visitors can see first of all the permanent exhibition, called “Restitutio II”, and this very name suggests an attempt by the staff to preserve the exhibition as Nicolae Minovici had intended it. Nicolae Minovici tried to create a model through which tradition can be brought into modernity. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the present-day museum also includes a new conference room which in turn hosts various exhibitions, often focused on contemporary art.”

Today, the Minovici Museum is a landmark of Bucharest’s cultural identity, and a place where tradition is presented in a vivid, accessible and elegant form. (AMP)