Located near the Peles Castle in Sinaia, in the same architectural ensemble, the Palace Pelisor was built at the desire of King Charles I, used as a summer residence of the heirs – at the time, Princess Mary (granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain) engaged, at only 16 years, with Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern, nephew of Charles I.
Work began in 1899, in time the Peles Castle was in progress, the coordinator of both sites being the same Czech architect Karel Liman, ending in 1902. The interior decoration was entrusted to a large extent to artist Bernhard Ludwig, who ordered and brought it from his workshop in Vienna, and the German manufacturer Auguste Bembe, together with furniture, decorative objects, various ornaments, etc..
All bear until today, the mark of the queen’s taste, aesthetically perfect, so this is why she was called “queen artist”, “Europe’s most beautiful queen,” herself being author of sketches of furniture and paintings that can be seen in Palace Pelisor. The way in which elements of Art Nouveau were assimilated in the Palace Pelisor is, in terms of architecture and interiors very original, the most relevant in this respect, in Romania. The castle still preserves the typical character of the late Renaissance, the specific mixture of wood and masonry.
Art Nouveau, in vogue in Europe in the early twentieth century, was a modernist art movement, which came in response to traditionalism, which became excessive at that time, in the nineteenth century. Proponents of Art Nouveau, who had anticipated and caused cutting edge currents around the First World War, came with a special interest in style, new construction materials (some finished using special machines), for spectacular structures, the main elements of the Rococo style.
Moreover, in Pelisor Palace were kept countless collections of Art Nouveau painting, Romanian painting, ceramics, works of Czech artist emigrated to Paris, Alphonse Mucho – “Seasons”, the German-American painter J. Hoffmann (modernist painter, whose paintings rely on color effects), LC Tiffany, jewelery, author of furniture and glassware made after an original method-Favre (ie, “hand made”), owned by brothers Daum,decorative wood, bronze, glass art made by E. Galle (French artist of Art Nouveau school of Nancy), creations of Gustave Garschner (Austrian artist, follower of the same cultural movement) etc..
All thanks to the artistic refined and cultivated spirit of the Queen, the interior decorations of the 99 rooms (not all of them can be visited) bind elements of Art Nouveau with features of the Byzantine Celtic styles, as seen in „The gold chapel” and the „golden bedroom”. The latter has walls of gilded lime wood, decorated with stylized thistle leaves, thistles present on Scotland’s emblem, reminding the Queen of being a Princess of Edinburgh origin (on the other hand, the thistles are asymbol of Nancy, the nucleus of Art Nouveau). In the middle of the roof of the “golden bedroom,” the light source is concealed by a Celtic cross.
The Queen Mary’s Office was completely thought, and not incidentally, (correspondence table, chairs) to have carved symbols such as the lily and the cross. Queen’s flat was part of the Chapel, with a gilded arch of Ruschita marble columns and stained glass that filters light. The Ferdinand Office is somewhat different, with German neo-Renaissance style elements, drawing attention to their special character.
All those who visited the rooms from the Pelisor Palace say that priceless objects are preserved not only in terms of art, but also of the”perfume” of the queen who was not only one of the most beautiful, educated and talented aristocrat of his time, but also a stylish woman, very attentive to clothes, saying that sometimes she managed to shock with her bold dresses, given that (as confessed in the “story of my life”), her single temptation she could not resist wea represented by clothes. The perfume “Quelques Fleures Royale”, the Houbigant perfume, Paris, used by Queen Victoria and British Madame de Barry (the lover of King Louis XV) was her favorite .
At the Pelisor Palace are kept powder boxes, perfume bottles, toiletries, jewelry of the Queen, reminiscent of times long gone, but filled with fascinating refinement, good taste and elegance. Here their children have grown and the royal couple (Ferdinand-Marie), Charles (future King Charles II), Marioara, Elizabeth and Nicholas, all the destinies being linked to royalty in southeastern Europe.
The architectural and museum complex in Sinaia, that is, primarily, the Peles Castle and the Pelisor Palace, is the image of a genuine aristocracy and an unmistakable period in Romanian history, a “jewelry” of art, framed by a wonderful landscape.
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