Prahova Valley

Prahova Valley (Romanian: Valea Prahovei) is the valley where the Prahova river makes its way between the Bucegi and the Baiu Mountains, in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania. It is a tourist region, situated about 100 km north of the capital city of Bucharest. Geographically, the Prahova river separates the Eastern Carpathians chain from the Southern Carpathians. Historically, the corridor was the most important passage way between the principalities of Wallachia and Transylvania. The present DN1 road, linking Bucharest with the city of Braov and the future A3 will be built along the Prahova Valley. Prahova Valley will be the bid of Romania for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The region is a popular destination for mountaineers and for winter sports fans. The most important resorts are:

Predeal Azuga Buteni Sinaia Comarnic Breaza

Covered with mixed forests and surrounded by spectacular mountains, Prahova Valley attracts both romantic souls and daring explorers. The valley is crossed by the main highway that connects Bucharest to Transylvania and offers many points of access into the adjacent mountains and valleys.

Pele Castle
PELE CASTLE, one of the most representative and magnificent museums of Romania, an architectural masterpiece, was built in the late 19th century and early 20th century (1873-1914) and conceived as a summer residence for the first King of Romania, Carol the 1-th of Hohenzollern - Sigmaringen (18661914). The king bought the land where there are built beside the castle: Pelisorul, Body Guard, Economat, Hunting Turret House, Housing, Power Plant, and Villa Sipot. It is located in N-W Sinaia, also known as The pearl of the Carpathians, a town located at 60 km far from Brasov and 135 km away from Bucharest.

The first architects Wilhelm von Doderer from Wien, and Johannes Schultz from Lvov, gave to the castle the features of the German Renaissance style: vertical and sharp profiles, asymmetry of the corps, abundance of carved wood and integration into the landscape. Pele Castle had its official Royal Ball of Inauguration on October 7, 1883. Pele Castle is situated in a splendid park with terraces and has 160 rooms and halls and a central tower 66 meters high. Due to its own power plant Pele Castle was the first electrified in Europe.

The changes and the enlargements of the initial outlook were realized by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who leaded the building operations, until the death of the king in 1914. Taking into consideration the advice of King Carol, a very calculated personality, and those of Queen Elizabeth's (Carmen Sylva was her pen name) the architects of the castle managed to build up a synthesis of style, which is also found in the interior decoration. It is dominated by the same elements of the German neo-Renaissance, combined with other styles, such as the resumption of the Italian Rennaissance, the German Baroque, Roccoco, Hispanic-Moorish and Turkish styles, and Art Nouveau. In this respect one can admire the rich and elegant rooms, and the valuable collections which belonged to the royal family. Construction saw a slight slowdown during the Romanian War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 187778, but soon afterwards the plans grew in size and construction was quite rapid. By form and function, Pele is a palace, but it is consistently called a castle. Its architectural style is a romantically inspired blend Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival similar to Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. A Saxon influence can be observed in the interior courtyard facades, which have allegorical hand painted murals and ornate fachwerk similar to that seen in northern European alpine architecture. Interior decoration is mostly Baroque influenced, with heavy carved woods and exquisite fabrics. Pele Castle has a 3,200-square-metre (34,000 sq ft) floor plan with over 170 rooms, many with dedicated themes from world cultures (in a similar fashion as other Romanian palaces, like Cotroceni Palace). Themes vary by function (offices, libraries, armories, art galleries) or by style (Florentine, Turkish, Moorish, French, Imperial); all the rooms are extremely lavishly furnished and decorated to the slightest detail. There are 30 bathrooms. The establishment hosts one of the finest collections of art in Eastern and Central Europe, consisting of statues, paintings, furniture, arms and armor, gold, silver, stained glass, ivory, fine china, tapestries, and rugs. The collection of arms and armor has over 4,000 pieces, divided between Eastern and Western war pieces and ceremonial or hunting pieces, spreading over four centuries of history. Oriental rugs come from many sources: Bukhara, Mosul, Isparta, Saruk, and Smirna. The porcelain is from Svres and Meissen; the leather is from Crdoba. Perhaps the most acclaimed items are the hand-painted stained glass vitralios, which are mostly Swiss. A towering statue of King Carol I by Raffaello Romanelli overlooks the main entrance. Many other statues are present on the seven Italian neo-Renaissance terrace gardens, mostly of Carrara marble executed by the Italian sculptor Romanelli. The gardens also host fountains, urns, stairways, guarding lions, marble paths, and other decorative pieces. The artistic patrimony can be divided into the following categories: carved wooden decoration, furniture, stained glass windows, the collections of art (plastic and decorative arts) and weapons. Pele Castle shelters a painting collection of almost 2,000 pieces. One can notice original paintings

integrated into specific of the castle (signed by Gustav and Ernst Klimt, Frantz Matsch, Dora Hitz and Queen Elizabeth) genuine works (signed by Tiepolo, Cornelius de Wael, Correggio) and a series of reproductions made after famous painters. The collection of decorative art contains both glass work, pieces of faience, porcelain, precious metal and various medals, decorations and coins with a great memorial and documentary value. The visitor of the Pele Castle has the opportunity to know a page of Romania's history and to admire the artistic patrimony of this museum.

Today Pele Castle has been returned to King Michael I of Romania, but it will remain a museum and open for public visits; arranged as a museum Pele Castle is the cultural attractions in the Prahova Valley and is visited annually by thousands of tourists from Romania and abroad. The heritage museum has many ornamental objects, ivory sculptures, tapestries, furniture, oriental rugs, collections of arms and paintings. Rooms are furnished with objects from India, Arabian Peninsula, Persia, and Turkey among the most important being: the hall of honor, the great hall of arms, council hall, music room, the Florentine living room, Mirror Hall, room Moorish hall, Turkish room, the Theater. Holul de Onoare (The Honor Hall) was finished completely only in 1911, under the guidance of Karel Liman. It spreads over three floors. Walls are dressed in exquisitely carved woodwork, mostly European walnut and exotic timbers. Bas-reliefs, alabaster sculptures, and retractable stained glass panels complete the decor. Apartamentul Imperial (The Imperial Suite) is believed to be a tribute to the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, who visited the palace as a friend of the Romanian Royal Family. Hence, decorator Auguste Bembe preferred the sumptuous Austrian Baroque in style of Empress Maria Theresa. A perfectly-preserved five-hundred-year-old Cordoban tooled leather wall cover is the rarest of such quality. Sala Mare De Arme (The Grand Armory or The Arsenal) is where 1,600 of the 4,000 pieces of weaponry and armor reside. One of Europe's finest collection of hunting and war implements, timelined between 14th and 19th century, are on display. The king added pieces used in his victory against the Ottoman Turks during the War of Independence. Famous are the complete Maximilian armor for horse and rider and a 15th-century German "nobles only" decapitation broadsword. Also on display are a wide array of polearms (glaives, halberds, lances, hunting spears), firearms (muskets, blunderbusses, snaphaunces, flintlocks, pistols), axes, crossbows, and swords (rapiers, sabers, broadswords, and many others). Sala Mica De Arme (The Small Armory) is where predominantly Oriental (mostly Indo-Persian, Ottoman and Arab) arms and armor pieces are on exhibit, many of them made of gold and silver, and inlaid with precious stones. Included are chainmail armor, helmets, scimitars, yataghans, daggers, matchlocks, lances, pistols, shields, axes, and spears.

Sala De Teatru (The Playhouse) is decorated in Louis XIV style, with sixty seats and a Royal Box. Architectural decoration and mural paintings are signed by Gustav Klimt and Frantz Matsch. Sala Florentina (The Florentine Room) combines revived elements of the Italian Renaissance, mostly from Florence. Most impressive are the solid bronze doors executed in Rome; ateliers of Luigi Magni; and the Grand Marble Fireplace executed by Paunazio with Michelangelo motifs. Salonul Maur (The Moorish Salon) was executed under the guidance of Charles Lecompte de Nouy, and is meant to embody elements of North-African and Hispanic Moorish style. Mother-ofpearl inlaid furniture, fine Persian Sarouk and Ottoman Isparta rugs, and Oriental weapons and armor are perhaps the most expressive elements. The salon has an indoor marble fountain. Salonul Turcesc (The Turkish Parlor) emulates an Ottoman "joie de vivre" atmospherea room full of Turkish Izmir rugs and copperware from Anatolia and Persia. Walls are covered in handmade textiles like silk brocades from the Siegert shops of Vienna.

Pelior Castle
Pelior Castle (Romanian: Castelul Pelior) is a castle in Sinaia, Romania, part of the same complex as the larger castle of Pele. It was built in 18991903 by order of King Carol I, as the residence for his nephew and heir, the future King Ferdinand (son of Carol's brother Leopold von Hohenzollern) and Ferdinand's consort Queen Marie. In 2006, it was decided that the palace complex, including Pelisor, long a museum and tourist site, is the legal property of the heirs of the Romanian royal family. They will take legal possession of it and sell it back to the Romanian state, so that it will remain in its current status. The main castle of Pele has already so sold, but negotiations about other villas and chateaus are ongoing. King Michael I of Romania appears decisive that of the complex, Pelior castle will remain as place for his heirs, the Royal Family. Pelior was designed by the Czech architect Karel Liman in the Art Nouveau style; the furniture and the interior decorations were designed mostly by the Viennese Bernhard Ludwig. There are several chambers, working cabinets, a chapel, and "the golden room". Queen Marie herself, an accomplished artist, made many of the artistic decisions about the design of the palace, and participated in its decoration, including as a painter. Queen Marie considered Art Nouveau a

weapon against sterile historicism, creating a personal style combining Art-Nouveau elements with Byzantine and Celtic elements. The hall of honor is very simple with the walls covered with oak-timber and a glass ceiling. Pelior has only 99 rooms.

Sinaia Monastery

SINAIA MONASTERY was built in the end of the 17th century (1695) by Romanian ruler Mihai Cantacuzino in Brancoveanu style, who was inspired by Saint Ecaterina Monastery from Sinai Mountain after a visit their. Also known as The Cathedral of the Carpathians, Sinaia Monastery is located in a fantastic landscape. The monastery consists of two courtyards surrounded by low buildings. In the centre of each courtyard there is a small church built in the Byzantine style. One of them"Biserica Veche" (The Old Church)dates from 1695, while the more recent "Biserica Mare" (The Great Church) was built in 1846. The monks possess a library that is a repository for valuable jewels belonging to the Cantacuzino family, as well as the earliest Romanian translation of the Bible, dated 1668. Take Ionescu, former Prime Minister of Romania, is buried on the grounds.

Sinaia Casino
Situated in the northern area of the "Dimitrie Ghica" park, Sinaia "Casino" still represents one of the architectural symbols of the resort. The stately edifice was built in record time, only one year (19121913), in the same place where Sinaias first villa, raised by Prince Dimitrie Ghica, was built. The stockholder of Sinaia Casino was Baron of Maray, who was also a key shareholder at the Monte Carlo Casino; this is why it has been speculated that the Romanian building would be the architectural copy of the French edifice. In fact, there are only a few elements of indoor architecture that could confirm the resemblance between the two casinos. In 1913, the opening of the Casino marked a very important event; in this sense, the authorities called Alexander Davila to present a refined show, attended by The Royal Family, Titu Maiorescu and The Prime Minister of the country at that time. The unforgettable evening kept on with an outstanding piano performance by George Enescu and ended with a tremendous fireworks show. Due to its elegance and irresistible games, the Casino shortly became one of the main attractions of the resort, and also an important source of income for its shareholders, the Board of Civil Hospitals and the Town Hall. The aristocracy arrived every weekend here in order to play roulette, cards (baccarat or Brazilian), rummy, chess, backgammon and Nine Men's Morris. At four o'clock in the afternoon, when the game rooms were opened, the players got off the Bucharest-Sinaia "temptations train" that rolled only on Saturdays and Sundays. "The social magnet" hosted each and every game day at least 800 people, an unconceivable ebb and flow in our days. On the 13 tables in the big Mirrors' Hall, lighted by crystal chandeliers, the players were playing roulette, while in The Oval Room, they were playing "chemin-de-fer". In the restaurant-bar, everybody could eat, drink and dance on jazz rhythms. The smaller room, "la salle prive", had only two game tables, where the minimum bet was five times bigger than the one in the other halls. It is said that, before entering the Casino, the players, being confident in the chance of a significant profit, used to throw coins in the fountain near the building. But once entered, they were quickly seduced by the game and they were losing great amounts of money; after that, they were loaning huge sums and were signing policies equivalent to a fortune just to keep playing; and, as if gaining was everything, women were betting their jewelry and men, their gold-chained watches. After the Second World War, the Ministerial Committee for Economic Recovery and Monetary Stabilization decided that the Sinaia Casino, among other touristic objectives, would be transferred from the administration of the Board of Civil Hospitals to that of the estate. Starting from that point, the Casino, symbol of a place dedicated to games of chance, will be closed, and the building will be used for some time by the Red Cross Society for humanitarian purposes. In the following years, after some major renovations, but with the same elegance which made it famous, the "Casino" became the Cultural House of the Syndicates in Sinaia. Having a different profile now, the edifice will house the town's library, and a lot of artistic and cultural manifestations, among which: artistic sets, theatrical shows, folklore shows and piano performances. In 1978, the "Casino" was dedicated to some protocol activities; in February 1990, it entered under the administration of the Ministry of Culture, and a few days after, under that of the Ministry of Tourism. Later on, in 1995, the "Casino"'s administration was taken over by the State Protocol.