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MOGOSOAIA AND
POTLOGI |
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The lovely palace at MOGOSOAIA , 10km northwest of Bucharest along
the DN1, is perhaps Wallachia's most important non-religious monument.
Designed by Constantin Brâncoveanu in 1698-1702, it's a two-storey
building of red brick with a Venetian-style loggia overlooking a lake (Tues-Sun
10am-6pm). After Brâncoveanu's execution the palace became an inn, then,
after a fire destroyed the interior, a warehouse. While the interior of
the palace - consisting of a series of furniture-less rooms, a rather
naked modern art collection and a cellar full of pottery and stoneworks
- is nothing special, the exterior is quite stunning, and the lush,
atmospheric gardens alone make a visit worthwhile. Elizabeth Asquith,
daughter of the British statesman and wife of Romanian prince Anton
Bibescu (a descendant of Brâncoveanu), is buried here; her epitaph reads:
"My soul has gained the freedom of the night." Hidden away on waste
ground behind the old kitchen wall is a mammoth statue of Lenin, removed
from Piata Presei Libera and dumped here after the 1989 revolution; next
to the prostrate Lenin is the statue of the former communist prime
minister Petru Groza. The easiest way to get to Mogosoaia is by maxitaxi
(heading for Buftea), or bus #460/461 from the Laromet tram terminus. A
less enticing option is to take one of the five daily local trains (to
Urziceni), although this entails a 3km walk back along the tracks into
the village.
A good forty kilometres west of the city (on the DJ401A, between the old
DN7 and the newer motorway to Pitesti) lies the small village of POTLOGI
, site of another palace, built in 1698. This is one of the most
beautiful of Brâncoveanu's buildings, although not nearly as well
preserved as the one at Mogosoaia, and well worth the slow, crowded one-hour
bus ride (weekdays only) from Bucharest's Militari terminal.
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