Explore Bucharest

The Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral, dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helena, stands on Metropolitan Hill in central Bucharest. Prince Constantin Șerban had it built as a monastery church, consecrated in 1658; it became the seat of the metropolitans in 1668 and is now the cathedral of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarch. Its interior frescoes date from 1923.

The Old Princely Court is the archaeological site of the first princely residence of Bucharest, in the Old Town. Vlad III is recorded here in 1459; later rulers rebuilt the palace until it fell out of use in the 18th century. Brick walls, vaulted cellars and a stone column can be seen from the street, beside the Old Court Church of 1559.

Stavropoleos Monastery is a small convent of Orthodox nuns in Bucharest's Old Town; its church was built in 1724 by the Greek archimandrite Ioannikios in the Brâncovenesc style, with carved stone columns and painted façades. An early 20th-century building by Ion Mincu holds a library and icons, and the nuns' choir sings Byzantine chant.

Cișmigiu Gardens is the oldest public park in central Bucharest, laid out from 1847 by the landscape gardener Wilhelm Mayer on the site of a marshy lake. Its 14 hectares surround an artificial lake with rowing boats in summer, shaded alleys, and the Writers' Rotunda, a circle of stone busts of twelve Romanian writers.

Revolution Square, called Palace Square until 1989, lies on Calea Victoriei between the former Royal Palace, the Romanian Athenaeum and the Central University Library. Ceaușescu's last speech on 21 December 1989 turned into the revolt that ended his regime; the next day he fled by helicopter from the former Central Committee building here.