Shabby chic style

Only being there for the weekend and not being all that much into architecture, we didn’t plan on over-analyzing the buildings or their history but we couldn’t help but notice their overall condition.

Bucharest is sprinkled with old and old fashioned buildings in what in many ways reminded me of the condition of my own capital of Lisboa with a bit of a retro flavor.

You see, the city is overflowing with a certain grandeur of old buildings, grand monuments and majestic parks that makes you feel the weight that history has put on this place. Originally mentioned in 1459, this city was home to the Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler, later it was under Turkish occupation, then it was “owned” on and off by the Habsburgs and Imperial Russia until it finally became the capital of what eventually became Romania in 1859. It was during this period up to the 1930’s, despite floods, fires and earthquakes that the city flourished the most and many of its modern monuments were built. It is also when it gained the title of “Micul Paris” or “Little Paris”.

Sadly, communism came along and managed to do what mother nature had not and slowly drew both Bucharest and the entire country under with its monotonous buildings and disastrous economic policies.

Juxtaposed to the monotonous soviet style and as a monument to the failed Romanian communist experiment is Ceauşescu’s Palace of the Parliament which stands both as the heaviest building in the world and the most expensive administrative one as well. A building constructed by forced volunteers and at a time of nation-wide famine.

And so we come to today’s capital of Romania, reborn from the ashes of communism and slowly but surely trying to integrate its way into the European Union.

Particularly interesting to us was the recovered old town center which, despite being in a capital with a generally chaotic feel to it, is actually pretty laid back. It isn’t too big or too labyrinth like and as you walk you will literally stumble onto an amalgamate of realities. In this one sector of the city you will find trendy new cafeterias and restaurants, decaying facades of old buildings, nightlife spots as well as churches (mostly Romanian Orthodox churches but also some Roman and Greek Catholic). All in the space of a few streets! 

One of the more interesting things for us about Bucharest was that it seems to be at a crossroads between the old and the new.

Overall the city is peppered with buildings that were designed to be chic and elegant when originally erected but whose façades have long since fallen into decay. Recovering them would surely be expensive but would return an old-world glow to the Romanian capital that is seldom seen elsewhere. On the other hand, the same money that could be spent on renovations could also be spent on more modern buildings and facilities which would bring Bucharest to a more modern European standard.

Bucharest also surprised us with its parks.

We had a particularly good time walking through the Cișmigiu Gardens. Filled with park benches by the lake, it gives off a bucolic feel that counterbalances the realities of a big city. We definitely recommend this as a place to relax from the urban chaos!

As it stands and while it tries to balance the old with the new, the city gives off a type of shabby chic vibe that makes it a pleasure to visit and experience!