Some things do change in the Old Town 
even if the pace is much slower than we would like. The photo above was taken last summer, the one below last week.
Today’s photograph shows the balcony of an old house (circa 1860s) on Franceză Street, in Bucharest’s Old Town. The house is in a bad shape, with crumbling walls and peeling paint but someone went to the trouble of decorating the balcony – as they knew best
Back in October I was telling you the story of the traveling she wolf and how she’s about to move house again from the Roman Square to the foot of Lipscani Street. Well, looks like the mayor kept his word and today’s photograph shows the she wolf in her new location.
Late last November I’ve posted a photo of the Stavropoleos church courtyard with the mention that the place looks always beautiful and peaceful, no matter the season or the weather. To further back my words this is how the courtyard looks now at the beginning of summer.
Today’s photograph shows a bank building on Lipscani, facing the National Bank of Romania. The books on the architecture of Bucharest that I consulted list it as being built in 1910 – 1913, but sources I found on the web say the building was most probably built before 1900. The architect is unknown. The building served as the headquarters of the General Romanian Bank, which was a branch of Gesselschaft and Bleichröder Bank (thanks to Bucharestian for this information). It was restored during the communist regime in 1983-1984 and for a while served as a shopping mall. I remember buying shoes there once. Today it’s being used as a bank again.
Taking advantage of last week’s warm weather some cafes and bars in the Old Center have already put out the tables for the summer terraces. Some of the smaller terraces had all tables full, which was pretty good considering that this was the Easter holiday and Bucharest was at its most quiet with half of the population gone to spend their vacation somewhere else.
Because yesterday’s photograph showed only the upper floor of a building, it didn’t give a good idea about the extent of the work that needs to be done to bring the houses in the Old Town to their former glory. Which is why I decided to post a few more photos taken on Franceză Street. The first one shows the house whose second floor was the subject of yesterday’s shot. It is really a pity that this houses are not renovated because I believe – and I’m surely not the only one to believe it – that this area has a lot of potential.
Today’s photo shows the upper floor of a run down house on Franceză Street, one of the streets in the Old Town that’s already been repaved. Unfortunately, the buildings that line the street are dilapidated and in great need of repairs. Despite their decaying air, I personally really love them. I believe that through all that tired look you can discern their former elegance.
For the next two weeks I’ll be blogging from abroad. I do plan on having uninterrupted service, so please continue to stop by.
Today, the City Daily Photo blogging community pays tribute to Eric Tenin of Paris Daily Photo. Five years ago, on March 11th 2005, Eric started his daily photo blog of Paris and he’s been blogging ever since without missing one day. It was his blog that I found last summer while researching for a trip to Paris, and that inspired me to create this photo blog of my home city. To celebrate his 5th anniversary and honor Eric, the suggestion for today’s theme was to use one of his photographic techniques, be it the placing of the camera on the ground to make an image, or of skewing/tilting the composition. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
The photograph shows the building which now holds the National Library of Romania and which before 1955 used to be the Palace of Stock Exchange. It was built in French Neoclassical style, between the years 1906 and 1911, after plans by architect Ştefan Burcuş.