Few places in Bucharest concentrate as much history, charm, and collective memory as Calea Victoriei. Today we associate it with grand architecture and intense cultural and social life, but its origins lie in a much humbler past. Before becoming a central artery of the Capital, Calea Victoriei was just a dirt road linking the princely palace on the Dâmbovița to the Mogoșoaia estate. The story of its transformation, closely tied to Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu, the Cantacuzino family, and the great moments of Romania’s modern history, reveals a fascinating chronology of Bucharest.

The Mogoșoaia Bridge and its modest beginnings

At the start of the 18th century, Bucharest was a city in transition, but its infrastructure was still poor. Constantin Brâncoveanu, a visionary ruler, decided to connect his princely residence on the Dâmbovița riverbank with his estate at Mogoșoaia, where he had built an imposing palace representative of the Brâncovenesc style.

The road was vital for court travel and for transporting goods. To make it usable, Brâncoveanu ordered it to be covered with tree trunks, a common technique of the time.

This is where the term “pod” (bridge) comes from – not a bridge over water, but a “paved” path, sturdier than bare soil. This rudimentary infrastructure remained in the memory of Bucharesters as the Mogoșoaia Bridge (Podul Mogoșoaiei), a name that lasted for almost two centuries.

The legacy of Ilinca Cantacuzino, the woman who ruled Bucharest

Few know that, before Brâncoveanu, the lands around the future Mogoșoaia Bridge belonged to a great landowner, Ilinca Basarab Cantacuzino, the prince’s grandmother. A woman of noble lineage, she was the granddaughter of Matei Basarab and the daughter of Prince Radu Șerban. By marrying Constantin Cantacuzino, the first member of the Cantacuzino family to arrive in Wallachia, she founded a dynasty of immense influence.

Ilinca had twelve children, one of whom – Șerban Cantacuzino – became prince, while her youngest daughter, Stanca, was the mother of future ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu. Thus, the history of the Mogoșoaia Bridge is tied not only to one prince but to an entire family legacy that shaped the city’s destiny. Over 50 plots of land in what is now central Bucharest belonged to this woman, known as the “great chamberlain’s wife.” In fact, Ilinca Cantacuzino was mistress of a significant portion of old Bucharest.

From dirt road to the Capital’s main artery

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the Mogoșoaia Bridge evolved alongside the city. As commerce and urban life intensified, this road became an essential artery for circulation and representation. Merchants, boyars, artists, and travelers crossed paths here daily, while Bucharest began to acquire the cosmopolitan air of a European city.

In the 19th century, the Mogoșoaia Bridge was paved with cobblestones, a sign of modernization and of aspirations toward Western civilization. The muddy path lined with tree trunks gave way to a modern street, fit for elegant carriages and for the growing spectacle of social life.

From the Mogoșoaia Bridge to Calea Victoriei

A defining moment came in 1878, when Romania gained independence after the war against the Ottoman Empire. To honor the victory of the Romanian army, the authorities renamed the Mogoșoaia Bridge as Calea Victoriei – “Victory Avenue.” The change was not only symbolic but also consecrated its role as a representative boulevard worthy of an independent nation’s capital.

From then on, Calea Victoriei became the main stage of Bucharest’s social, political, and cultural life. Generations of Bucharesters strolled here, spectacular buildings rose, and the city’s image as the “Little Paris” was solidified.

Landmark buildings along the famous boulevard

With its transformation, the boulevard attracted imposing constructions, many of which became national symbols:

• Cantacuzino Palace or the House with Lions, built in the early 20th century by Prince Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, nicknamed “the Nabob.” The building, in French eclectic style, now houses the National “George Enescu” Museum and preserves the opulent atmosphere of the past.
• The Romanian Athenaeum, inaugurated in 1888, quickly became one of the country’s most important cultural centers. Its neoclassical architecture, marked by Corinthian columns, symbolizes modern Romania’s aspiration to align with European tradition.
• The National Military Circle, built in the early 20th century, impresses with its monumental neoclassical style. Known also as the Central House of the Army, it has witnessed major social and cultural events.
• Capșa House, opened in 1852, became a true hub of intellectual and artistic life. Its café was a meeting place for writers and journalists, and in the interwar period it was considered “the only intellectual establishment” in Bucharest. Tudor Arghezi, Liviu Rebreanu, Zaharia Stancu, and Camil Petrescu were among its regulars.

Social and cultural life on Calea Victoriei

In the interwar period, Calea Victoriei was where the elites gathered. Writers, artists, politicians, and businessmen met in its luxurious cafés and restaurants. The street vibrated with energy, a true stage of Romanian modernity.

Sunday strolls along Calea Victoriei, popularly called the “Sunday highway,” were a ritual for Bucharest’s middle and upper classes. Elegant ladies, accompanied by well-dressed gentlemen, paraded under the eyes of those eager to catch up on the latest trends in fashion and society.

Bucharesters still promenade on Calea Victoriei today

Today, Calea Victoriei remains one of the Capital’s most visited and beloved arteries. Restorations in recent decades have restored some of its lost elegance, while cultural events and occasional pedestrianization have turned it into a vibrant space, open to both locals and tourists.

Yet beyond the modern cafés and renovated buildings, Calea Victoriei still carries in every cobblestone the memory of the Mogoșoaia Bridge. The road once paved by Brâncoveanu with tree trunks has become the backbone of Bucharest’s urban history.

From Ilinca Cantacuzino, the landowner who ruled over the city center, to Brâncoveanu, who turned the road into a strategic artery, and to the interwar elites who transformed it into a stage of modernity, Calea Victoriei has traveled a fascinating journey. It is more than a boulevard: it is a palimpsest of history, culture, and national identity.

Today, when we walk along Calea Victoriei, we are, in fact, following in the footsteps of the old Mogoșoaia Bridge – that tree-trunk-paved road which, for more than three centuries, has continued to link past to present and to “breathe” the history of Bucharest.