bg Arad

Arad Culture Palace

- Piața George Enescu 1 -
The construction of the multi-story educational building was initiated as early as 1901 by the Kölcsey Cultural Society of Arad, which began the steps to erect a building that would house the local museum, the city library, and a concert hall. A competition was also opened for the building, to which 27 projects were submitted. The competition aroused such great interest that among the participants were architects from , , and . None of the presented projects met the requirements of the local authorities. In the end, the Romanian-Hungarian architect was called upon to execute a new plan for the building.
The building during its construction
The current site was chosen and after the final approval, preparations for building the palace began. Due to a lack of funds, the works stagnated until 1910. In the fall of 1912, the construction of the building was almost finished, and part of the museum's collections had already been moved to the new rooms of the building, and the festive inauguration took place on October 25, 1913. On this occasion, the Philharmonic of the city of Arad was also invited for a festive symphonic concert in the great hall of the palace. Later on, the building became in use for offices of the County Museum and the State Philharmonic.
An old postcard that shows the building
Heigh above the building, which is built in the styles of Eclectic and Neo-Classical, towers a containing a lantern tower. Two other spires are placed on top of the two octagonally shaped , which are surrounded by loads of statues of female figures. The porch that covers the main entrance is topped with a , which is supported by six columns that are crowned with a Composite . The tympanum, which is adorned with and a sculptural theatrical composition, is placed on top of an that features an stating PALATUL CULTURAL (Culture Palace). All around the building, you can see loads of that are either crowned with an Ionic or a Doric capital, as well as and fragments embellished with a shield, , and floral ornamentation.
Another old postcard that shows the building