The best museums Craiova

Since 1954, the Craiova Art Museum has been housed in a superb palace in the centre of the city, known as Mihail Palace, named after the family that built it. Built according to the plans of Paul Gottereau, a French architect, it was completed in 1908, one year after the death of its owner, Constantin Mihail. His son Jean, an enlightened businessman, bequeathed it to the Romanian state in 1936. The building displays an eclectic style typical of the period, mixing French academicism with late Baroque elements. While the façade is richly ornamented, the interiors are equally grandiose: the vast halls are richly decorated with Lyonnais silk, golden stuccoes, Carrara marble, Murano crystal and Venetian mirrors. The palace was completely restored in 2014.

The Art Museum is divided into several sections. The National Gallery presents works of Romanian painters and sculptors, such as Aman, Grigorescu or Jalea. The universal gallery exhibits works from French, Italian, Dutch and German schools, from the 17th to the 19th century. Finally, the museum's masterpieces are the eight works by Constantine Brâncuși, exhibited in a cabinet dedicated to the internationally renowned artist. You will be able to see the famous Kiss, but also the Girl's Head, the Boy's Head, Vitellius, the Woman's Torso, Miss Pogany, as well as a flayed sculpture and a carved wooden corner chair, made when Brâncuși was a student at the city's School of Arts and Crafts.

Find out all about the history of Craiova and the surrounding region in this section of the Oltenia Museum, housed in a neo-Romanesque building. You'll see clay figurines from Gârla Mare, a Dacian treasure, icons, frescoes from medieval churches, photographs of the city in the ^19th and ^20th centuries and evocations of the 1989 revolution. The Museum of Oltenia also includes a section dedicated to the natural sciences, located in strada Popa Șapcă (no. 8), with models, fossils, stuffed animals, paintings..

This section of the Oltenia Museum is housed in the pretty Casa Băniei, built in 1699 by order of Constantine Brâncoveanu, Prince of Wallachia. The typical style created by Brâncoveanu can be found here in the large balcony with columns. The building, remodelled over the centuries, has been used alternately as a seat for the Austrian administration or for the state archives, as a court of law, etc. The collections are devoted to Oltenia's specific crafts: costumes, wooden objects, icons, carpets... The museum also includes a beautiful souvenir shop.