Mansions and private mansions to visit Romania

On the road to Bucharest, the former manor house(conac) of the Goleşti, a great boyar family, is well worth a stop. Built in 1640, it features interesting traditional architecture with oriental influences. Inside, the family's life is recreated. You'll also find an exhibition of history and folk art, a remarkable ^17th-century church (Sfânta Treime), Turkish baths dating from 1807, unique in Romania, and a 12-hectare open-air wine museum, which bears witness to local activity linked to orchards and vines.

This beautiful classical-style building, built in 1852, was purchased in 1874 by the Capşa family, who turned it into a highly reputed confectionery, before adding a hotel, restaurant and café. The establishment enjoyed its heyday in the 1930s, when it became a meeting place for writers, artists and intellectuals. Neglected under Communism, it was renovated and restored to its former refinement in the 2000s. As for the confectionery, it still exists: here you can sample the sweets and cakes that made the place famous.

It was built between 1694 and 1703 for Johann Schuller von Rosenthal, mayor of the town at that time. Above the entrance, a coat of arms with a sword and a bouquet of three roses bears the motto of the house: Per spinas ad rosas. A romantic figure and inveterate adventurer who spent his youth in Turkey as a translator for the Sultan, Johann Schuller von Rosenthal was convicted in 1703 for embezzlement and beheaded in the courtyard of the Dominican monastery.

Considered one of Bucharest's most beautiful buildings, this mansion has been restored to its former glory after years of neglect. Its name, "Mița la cycliste", refers to the woman who occupied the premises, Maria Mihăescu, the first woman to ride a bicycle in Bucharest and a key figure in the Bucharest social scene in the first half of the 20th century. She was known for her "extravagances", but above all she was a free woman ahead of her time. This magnificent example of Art Nouveau now houses a cultural center, a bookshop and a cocktail bar.

This beautiful mansion with its eclectic style was built in 1897 for Alexandru Avramid, a wealthy Greek businessman of Albanian origin who lived in the area. Confiscated by the communists, it has long housed a museum. In 2010-2012, the house benefited from a vast rehabilitation project, which allowed it to regain its splendour. The interiors, furnished with period furniture, objects and photos, are luxurious: painted ceilings, mouldings, gilding, frescoes, parquet floors, chandeliers... The house also houses temporary exhibitions.