In the center of Bucharest, on Regina Elisabeta Boulevard, just a few steps from Cișmigiu Garden, stands an imposing building with a history of more than a century: Hotel Cișmigiu. Inaugurated during the interwar period, it went through eras of glory, decline, and rebirth, becoming an urban and cultural landmark. Yet beyond its elegant architecture and the role it played in the life of the Capital, the hotel is surrounded by disturbing stories. One of the most persistent legends is that of a student from Bessarabia who tragically died in the elevator shaft, turning it into a place of ghosts and heavy memories.

The beginnings of Hotel Cișmigiu and interwar elegance

Hotel Cișmigiu was inaugurated in 1912 under the name Palace Hotel, being at that time one of the most modern accommodation units in the Capital. Its strategic location, close to the University, Cișmigiu Garden, and the main boulevards, made it a preferred destination for tourists, businessmen, and artists.

The building’s architecture impressed with the eclectic style specific to the early 20th century, with decorated façades, elegant balconies, and spacious interiors. The hotel restaurant was famous for its refined meals, while the reception hall became a meeting place for Bucharest’s elite. During the interwar period, the hotel was vibrant with life, and its rooms hosted writers, diplomats, actors, and politicians.

The Palace Hotel also benefited from the first modern facilities: running water, electricity, central heating, and, not least, a lift considered state-of-the-art at that time.

Decline after the war and communist transformations

After World War II, once the communist regime was established, the hotel changed its destiny. Renamed Cișmigiu, it was nationalized and transformed into a multipurpose building. Some of its spaces were assigned to students from Bessarabia, who came to Bucharest to continue their university studies.

This transformation changed the atmosphere of the place: the elegant rooms became modest dormitories for young people, while the common areas were turned into study zones and makeshift canteens.

Despite the degradation, the building remained an urban landmark, but the interwar charm was gradually lost, and its story began to be marked by dramatic events.

Neli Bejan, the student who died in the elevator shaft

The most famous and disturbing story connected to Hotel Cișmigiu is that of young Neli Bejan, a student from Bessarabia who supposedly met her tragic end in the 1990s.

It is said that the young woman lived in the dormitory along with other colleagues from the Faculty of Letters, and that one evening she was running away from an aggressor and fell into the elevator shaft.

According to the legend, the elevator was either defective or the door had not closed properly. Believing the lift was at her floor, the student stepped into the void, plummeting several stories down. Her frail body remained caught on a wooden beam, where she cried out in agony for three hours, without anyone hearing her.

Her death quickly became a subject of discussion among students, perceived not only as an accident but also as an ominous sign of the building. Thus, the image of Hotel Cișmigiu changed, acquiring the aura of a haunted place.

Witnesses of the time claimed that after the student’s tragedy, footsteps were heard in the empty corridors, the lift would start on its own at midnight, and rooms were overcome by inexplicable cold.

Hotel Cișmigiu, between myth and reality

Like any urban legend, the story of the student from Bessarabia intertwines reality with imagination. There are no official documents to confirm the accident, but oral accounts passed the story on from generation to generation.

Bessarabian students, often living far from their families and struggling with homesickness, found in this tale an explanation for the heavy atmosphere of the building. Moreover, the lack of maintenance and the decay of the hotel during the communist period fueled the feeling of a haunted place.

Thus, even if the historical truth remains uncertain, the legend of the student took deep root in the collective memory of Bucharest.

The rebirth of the hotel after 1989

After the fall of the communist regime, Hotel Cișmigiu entered a period of severe decline. The building, deprived of investments, visibly deteriorated. In the 1990s, it became almost a ghost building, with crumbling walls, broken windows, and urban tales that accentuated its grim reputation.

It was only in the 2000s that the building was restored and reopened as a modern hotel. The façade was refurbished, the interiors were renovated, and Cișmigiu was reborn as an elegant space, with contemporary apartments and hotel services. Still, with its new beginning, it continued to carry the mark of its past and the legends surrounding it.

Today, Hotel Cișmigiu is once again a central landmark of Bucharest, hosting both tourists and cultural events. On the ground floor operates the famous Gambrinus beer hall, revived in the spirit of interwar traditions.

Stories that never die

Although renovated and modernized, Hotel Cișmigiu has not escaped its mysterious reputation. Tales of ghosts and footsteps in corridors often return in the accounts of those passionate about urban legends.

Curious tourists ask about the Bessarabian student, and tour guides often include the hotel in themed tours about haunted Bucharest.

This persistence of the legend shows people’s need to keep alive the memory of places, even through dramatic stories. The tragic accident of young Neli Bejan has, in time, become part of the city’s intangible heritage.

The hotel between history and urban mythology

Hotel Cișmigiu represents a special case in the history of Bucharest: a building that has survived several regimes, has known glory, decline, and rebirth, but is remembered in the collective memory mostly through a legend.

This double identity – as a historic monument and as a haunted place – gives it a special aura. If the restored façade reminds us of the elegance of the early 20th century, the ghost stories send us back to the communist era, when Bessarabian students brought not only youthful energy but also personal suffering and drama.

Between reality, legend, and eternity

Hotel Cișmigiu is more than just a building in the center of Bucharest. It is a symbol of resilience through time, a space that has absorbed the energies of dozens of generations and continues to fascinate through its stories.

The legend of the student from Bessarabia, who allegedly died in the elevator shaft, remains one of the most disturbing episodes of the Capital’s urban folklore.

Even though there is no clear evidence, the power of this story lies in the emotion it stirs and in the way it transforms a hotel into a space of memory and mystery.

Thus, Hotel Cișmigiu is not only an architectural landmark but also a symbol of a deeper Bucharest, where history, legend, and eternity intertwine into an immortal story.

Photo credit: insandale.ro

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