At the 2005 George Enescu Festival, we attended the concert given by the Schubert Ensemble at the Romanian Athenaeum. Brilliant performers and the nicest concert hall of Bucharest is what we got.
The birth of the Romanian Athenaeum was around 1865, during the period of the unification of Moldova and Vallachia to become Romania. The idea started with three people: V. A. Urechia, Constantin Esarcu, and Nicolae Kretulescu.
It is first in 1886 that the scientific society receives its legal personality, a body holding conferences on different issues of the time. This is the moment when the Athenaeum is given, by law, a piece of land in Bucharest, on which it should build its office. Problems arise, as it has too little money.
When inside, one will wonder at its architecture: a round hall. The reason for building it so came less because of acustics, but rather because before the ground being given to the Athenaeum; it was planned to build a circus here. The foundations were already in place and it was imposed on the Athanaeum to keep these foundations. This imposed the whole architecture of the halls. Being short of space, the four stairs from the entrance hall leading to the first floor are in a snail form, with a break in the form of a rounded balcony with a view on the central part of the entrance hall, bordered by 12 columns covered with an immitation of rosa marble. The round form of the main hall proved, however, very good for conferences and concerts.
Its facade was inspired by the Erechteion Temple in Athens, while the circular middle, with its cupola, was inspired by Lysicratos’ Monument in Athens.
The Athenaeum was used first only for academic conferences until after World War I, when it was used by the government. It was here that the unification of Transylvania, Basarabia, and Bucovina with Romania was voted at the session on December 29, 1919. Now it functions as the most prestigious concert hall of the Romanian Capital.