The General Council of Bucharest (CGMB) is set to approve the documentation for the seismic strengthening and energy renovation of the “Gheorghe Tattarescu” Museum, a Class B historic monument built in 1819, located at 7 Domnița Anastasiu Street, Sector 5.

The total value of the investment, 24.6 million lei (excluding VAT), will be financed through funds allocated from the state budget under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as from the local budget of the City of Bucharest through the budget of the Municipal Administration for the Consolidation of Buildings at Seismic Risk. The execution works are scheduled to last 18 months.

In 1855, painter Gheorghe Tattarescu purchased the land and the building, carrying out renovation and extension works. In 1951, the building was transformed into an art museum — the Gheorghe Tattarescu Memorial Museum — which houses a large part of the painter’s works. The building is currently administered by the Bucharest Municipal Museum (MMB).

According to the City Hall, the building underwent partial consolidation in the 1990s and is currently closed to the public. Inside, paintings from the collection of the Bucharest Pinacotheque are being stored, but under wholly inadequate thermo-hygrographic conditions. Because the microclimate is unstable, the artworks are undergoing continuous degradation due to mold and advanced structural contraction. The building has been classified in seismic risk class II.

The original construction dates back to 1819, designed according to cadastral plans by Major Rudolph von Borroczyn (the author of Bucharest’s cadastral plan). The building was subsequently renovated and extended in several stages after 1855, when it was acquired by Gheorghe Tattarescu.

The structure is made of unreinforced load-bearing brick masonry supported by brick foundations, with horizontal floors on wooden beams.

The identified damages include cracks in the masonry elements, water infiltration in the walls and ceilings. The street façade is in neoclassical style, with a central carriage entrance on the original building volume, two rows of superimposed windows on the ground and first floors, and decorative elements (rustications, window surrounds, pilasters, capitals, cornices, dentils, rosettes, side consoles and arches) made of plaster. A large part of these decorative elements must be restored.

The interiors contain five ceramic stoves, which will be refurbished. The building also preserves oil-painted wall murals created by Gheorghe Tattarescu. Wooden doors and windows, as well as wrought-iron decorative grilles and the metal stair railings, will also be restored.

Written by Aura Marinescu | 25 septembrie 2025, 12:13