Manuc's Inn was, until it was recently shut for restoration and refurbishment, the oldest operating hotel building in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

; it also housed a popular restaurant, several bars, a coffee-house, and (facing the street) several stores and an extensive bar. Its massive, multiply balconied courtyard hosted many performances and fairs and was a popular place for Romanian television crews to shoot folkloric performances. The hotel and restaurant were closed down in 2007 for refurbishment; shops and a bar known both as Cafeaneaua Bucurestilor de Altadata ("Bucharest of Yesteryear" Cafe) and as Festival 39 remained open (though the bar closed in February 2010). The hotel and restaurant are expected to reopen under new management once the restoration and refurbishment are completed. However, there appear to be disagreements between the city government and the owners about the legality of certain modernizations being undertaken.

Location

The building is located at 62–64 strada Franceză (the street has been variously known in the past as Iuliu Maniu, 30 Decembrie, and Carol), across the street from the ruins of the Old Court (Curtea Veche). Although one side now faces a vast modern public square, Piaţa Unirii

Piata Unirii

Piața Unirii is one of the largest squares in central Bucharest, located in the center of the city where Sectors 1, 2, 3, and 4 meet. It is bisected by Unirii Boulevard, originally built during the Communist era as the Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism, and renamed after the Romanian...

, there is no evidence of this in the courtyard or the inward-facing rooms.

History

The inn was built in 1808, and originally owned by a wealthy and flamboyant Armenian

Armenians in Romania

Armenians have been present in what is now Romania and Moldova for over a millennium, and have been an important presence as traders since the 14th century...

 entrepreneur, Emanuel Mârzaian, better known under his Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 name Manuc-bei. By the middle of the 19th century, it was Bucharest's most important commercial complex, with 15 wholesalers, 23 retail stores, 107 rooms for offices or living, two receiving rooms and a pub.

Although Manuc's Inn has been subject to repeated restorations — in 1848, 1863, 1966–1970, and 1991–1992, as well as the one now under way — its essential structure remains intact; of the three surviving 19th century inns in the Lipscani

Lipscani

Lipscani is a street and a district of Bucharest, Romania, which in the Middle Ages was the most important commercial center of Bucharest and the whole Wallachia...

 district, it is the only one recently or currently in use as a hotel.

The inn was the site of the preliminary talks for the Treaty of Bucharest

Treaty of Bucharest, 1812

The Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, was signed on 28 May 1812, in Bucharest, at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812....

, which put an end to the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish war

Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812

The Russo-Turkish War was one of many wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire.- Background :The war broke out in 1805–1806 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars...

. In 1842 it briefly housed Bucharest's town hall. Around 1880 a hall at the inn was used as a theatre, and was the site of the first Romanian operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

 performance.

Before Romania entered World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, in 1914–1916, the hall "Sala Dacia" hosted meetings of the Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

n pro-war party seeking to establish a Greater Romania

Greater Romania

The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...

 by uniting with Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

 and Bukovina

Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...

; speakers included Nicolae Filipescu, Take Ionescu

Take Ionescu

Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...

, Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea

Barbu Stefanescu Delavrancea

Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea was a Romanian writer and poet, considered one of Romania's greatest figures in the National awakening of Romania.-External links:*...

, and Octavian Goga

Octavian Goga

Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...

.

The building was nationalized 19 February 1949. Ownership was restored to Prince Şerban-Constantin Cantacuzino in February 2007.

External links

Hanul lui Manuc, official site of the former hotel operation. Archived 2007-01-16 on the Internet Archive

Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...

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• The courtyard on a winter day