the palace of culture in iasi is the main attraction point of the moldavian capital. we can?t even imagine a touristic folder without the image of the famous building that shelters four museums, the moldavian museum of history, the moldavian museum of ethnography, the museum of art, 'stefan procopiu? museum of science and technology, and ?gheorghe asachi? district library in the north-east side of the building.
in the beginning of the 19th century (1806 ? 1812), on the old ruins of the royal court of moldavia, a palace in neo – classic style was built, at the wish of prince alexandru moruzi. at the end of the same century a fire destroyed completely the building. then, the construction of the present building started in 1906, after the plans of architect i.d. berindei. in 1926 the palace of culture was opened by ferdinand of hohenzollern, the second king of modern romania.romania tours 2013/2014during world war ii, the palace sheltered german troops, and then soviet troops. until 1955, the building housed the county law court, which had the furniture ordered from ?maple house? in london.
between 1975 and 1977 the wood bridging from the last floor was replaced with a cement one, fixed with steel nettings. the new bridging sustained the monument during the earthquake of 1977, but the bridging from the first floor, the walls, the ornaments and the relief works were affected. unfortunately, the consolidation and renovation works are not finished yet.
the entrance of the palace is through a great donjon tower, with crenels and alcoves dominated by an eagle with open wings. in the tower there is also a carillon clock that has an eight bells assembly that reproduces ?hora unirii? (hora of the union) song every hour.
it is said that initially the palace was supposed to have 365 rooms (a room for every day of the year), but it has only 298 large rooms with a total area of almost 36,000 square meters. at the façade one can count 92 windows, and at the attic there are more 36 ogive windows.
