bg Targu Mures

Apollo Palace

- Piața Trandafirilor 5 -
The residential and commercial building was originally built between 1820 and 1822 as a three-story building. The contractor was master builder Johannes Sommer from , and the roof structure was the work of Christian Schön. The construction was commissioned by Count Sámuel Teleki de Szék to house a guesthouse with the aim of using its income to expand the Teleki–Bolyai Library. Sámuel was born on November 17, 1739, in the village of Gernyeszeg, nowadays . Between 1759 and 1763, a crucial time of his years of preparation was the four-year study tour he performed in Europe, the most important stops of which were in , , , and . His impressions triggered the idea to found a library and during his university years, he made up a well-devised plan to build out a book-supplying network. Arriving home he settled on his Sáromberke estate near the village in which he was born. This is where he started his activity toward the reformation of Transylvanian Protestant public education. He funded scientific and cultural activities and provided financial aid for writers, scholars as well as Transylvanian students studying abroad. After twenty years of intensive research, in 1784 he published the most complete edition of works. In 1787, he was summoned to and appointed Chancellor-Assistant of Transylvania by Emperor . From 1791 until his death, on August 7, 1822, in Vienna, Sámuel Teleki was Chancellor of Transylvania.
Count Sámuel Teleki de Szék
The palace was named after the Greek sun god , and the great hall was decorated with wall paintings depicting Apollo. In the 19th century, this was the main meeting place for the city's nobility, and it was also where the girls from the first ball presented themselves. Since Marosvásárhely, nowadays Târgu Mureș, didn't have a stone theater at that time, from the 1820s onwards, theatrical performances were also held in the Apollo Palace. The Teleki heirs didn't respect the will of Sámuel Teleki, and in 1923 they sold the palace to the brewer , who in 1924 opened up the interior of the building. He took advantage of the height of the interior of the second floor, and divided it into two floors, creating suites. The transformation was carried out based on the plans of , and as a result, the building lost its original baroque character.
An old postcard that shows the building before 1924
The dormer that's placed within the mansard roof of the Eclectic building is topped with a . At the same height, you can admire four decorative vases, which are adorned with garlands. The that flank the dormer windows, as well as the ones that stretch three floors, are crowned with an Ionic , which is decorated with a . The tympanum, as well as the two on top of the fourth floor, are all embellished with . The ornamentation around the second, third, and fourth floor windows, consists of loads of , , , , and several . A small is placed above the underpass that also includes a .
The building is visible in an old postcard