Elisabeta Palace hosts royal exhibition

Residence of Margareta, daughter of Romanias last king and Custodian of the Crown, is temporarily open for visitors.

Ștefan Baciu, 10.10.2020, 14:00

Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, which
serves as the residence of Her Majesty Margareta, the Custodian of the Crown and
of the royal family of Romania, is now open to visitors, who are able to see art
works and objects belonging to former kings and queens of Romania. A project
initiated by the Casa Majestății Sale Association, this royal exhibition takes
visitors on a guided tour of this historical building located close to the Arch
of Triumph and one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations, the Village
Museum. The first edition of the exhibition was held in July and August this
year and was organised with the help of volunteers, mainly students, who acted
as guides and made presentations in Romanian and other languages. Ion Tucă, the
executive director of Casa Majestății Sale Association, tells us more about how
this exhibition was organised:

We had to organise the interior of
Elisabeta Palace so as not to alter this place which is the residence of the royal
family, and where the late King Michael used to live. We wish to present to the
public those objects that are of greatest interest and it is with great
pleasure and honour that I can tell you that the marshal uniforms of his
Majesty King Michael, who have been excellently preserved in Switzerland, were brought
for the first time to Romania and that the exhibition gives visitors the opportunity
to see them for the first time after World War Two. The opening is scheduled on
the 22nd of October, around the birthdate of His Majesty the King,
on the 25th of October, when Romania also celebrates Army Day. It
will last until 8th November, on the Feast Day of St Michael and St
Gabriel. In addition to the first stage of the exhibition, this time visitors
can also see the photographs of Daniel Angelescu, the official photographer of
the Royal House. They show King Michael as a child, then as an adolescent, up
to the war and afterwards, until the modern era.

The
building housing Elisabeta Palace is just as interesting as the exhibition it
is hosting. Built in a combination of Moorish architecture with the vernacular
Brancoveanu style in 1936, the palace was a gift from the then monarch King Carol
II to his sister and former queen of Greece, Elisabeta. The latter didn’t live here
much, preferring instead the Banloc Castle in Timiș, in the west of country. When
the Royal Palace came under attack from German airstrikes in August 1944, King Michael
asked his aunt’s permission to move his royal court here, a function the palace
retained until 1947 when the communist regime supported by the Soviets forced Michael
to abdicate. But here’s Ion Tucă again with more about what visitors will be
able to see during the guided tour of the palace:

Visitors
will be able to see all the spaces used by the royal family for public events,
as well as objects from the collection of the royal family and the original
furniture that has been preserved since the palace was built in 1936. Entry is
made via the King Michael Hall, where visitors can admire four contemporary art
works by Henry Mavrodin depicting King Michael, Queen Anne, Her Majesty
Margareta, the custodian of the Crown, and her husband, His Royal Highness Prince
Radu.

The King
Michael Hall also houses a collection of traditional Romanian costumes that
used to belong to Queen Mother Elena, the wife of King Carol II and the mother
of King Michael. The tour of the palace then takes visitors to various rooms
including the Contemporary Art Gallery, a hall named after Carol I and Elisabeth,
Romania’s first monarchs, and the White Hall, which leads to His Majesty’s Office,
a room which King Michael was only able to use again 53 years after he abdicated.
Ion Tuca tells us more:

The
king’s office is where Gheorghiu Dej and Petru Groza forced King Michael to
abdicate in 1947, telling him that if he refuses to do so they would kill 1,000
students detained by the state security police. This room is laden with
history. It is where the king began after 2001 to receive people and where he
read the papers and his correspondence. It is now used by Her Majesty Margareta
in exactly the same way.

The guided
tour of Elisabeta Palace then takes visitors to the Kings Hall and the Marble
Hallway, whose walls are covered by works of art, decorations and royal orders
and the military uniforms that used to belong to King Michael. The Great Dining
Hall, where official dinners are held, then leads out into the gardens. A
garden party is given here every year on the 10th of May to celebrate
Monarchy Day. Visitors can see here the Tree Memorial, consisting of trees
planted by royal personages and heads of state that have visited Elisabeta
Palace since 2001, when it became the residence of King Michael and the Romanian
royal family.