The Great Palace of Elisabeth

Elisabeth Palace is located on an area as an "island" inside the Village Museum, in the vicinity of the Herastrau Park Summer Theater.

Access is made from Kiseleff Road, the first alley to the right in the direction from the Arc de Triomphe to Presa Square (officially, the postal address is "28 D. Kiseleff Road", although the Palace is at the end of a private alley that enters the Museum , called "Romanian Entrance"). The factorial number displayed on the pad on the palace gate is "26-28".

The palace was built in 1936 for Queen Elizabeth of Greece, born Princess of Romania, the first daughter of King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Maria of Romania, sister of King Carol II of Romania. It was not meant to host official activities, but to serve as the home of the Princess returned to the country. The palace was not inhabited too much by the former Queen of Greece, because she retired to her country home, Banloc Castle.

After the bombing of the Royal Palace on Calea Victoriei, the day after the events of 23 August 1944, King Mihai I asked permission for her aunt to move her court temporarily to Elisabeth Palace.

In one of the upstairs saloons, King Michael was forced to sign an unlawful act of abdication on December 30, 1947 (v. "The coup of December 30, 1947") [1].

The palace was owned by the Princess Elizabeth until its nationalization in 1948. At present, the palace is owned by the state and administered by the State Protocol Autonomous Regime (RAAPPS).

After the final return to Romania of the Royal Family of Romania in 1997 (exactly 50 years after leaving for forced exile), the Palace is used as the only official residence and dwelling of the Royal Family in Bucharest.

The palace was designed in 1930 by the architect Duiliu Marcu, in a combination of Moorish and Brancovan style.

The decoration of the Elisabeth Palace was also inspired by Banloc Castle.

On the roof of the Palace there is a large mast for flags. According to the royal protocol, on this mast the King's personal pavilion must be flown every moment when the Sovereign is in the residence (or the member of the Royal Family with the highest ranking rank in the order of precedence). The Pavilion is immediately lowered when the King leaves the residence. If no member of the Royal Family is in the palace, the national flag of Romania is waving on the mast, the tricolor flag having the center of the Royal Navy, the great variant. [2] [3]

The flag on Elisabeth Palace can be seen by the public in Herastrau Park, on the bridge at the end of the Arch of Triumph of the Rose Hall.