The Golescu Villa

The Villa Golescu, situated in Campulung Muscel at the foot of the Carpathians, is a unique architectural and landscape ensemble encompassing a whole diversity of elements: building construction, park furniture, paintings, furniture, library ... It is a less well-known, but most interesting place on an itinerant route which crosses the mountains between Wallachia (Bucharest, Targoviste and Campulung) and Transylvania (Bran and Brasov). This lovely villa was built in 1910 and is a fine example of the neo-romanian architectural style with Albesti stone window frames, a harmonious terrace and simply decorated arcades.The Golescu Villa was built by one of Wallachia's oldest families, with a history dating back to the fifteenth century. Irina and Elena Golescu, the last descendants of this family, donated their house and all its contents to the Pro Patrimonio Foundation: antique furniture, library, small objects, carpets and paintings. The Villa was built in 1910 by their father, in the neo-Romanian style typical for the region. The property includes a small cottage and annex. The buildings are situated on a hill overlooking the city, surrounded by a terraced park including many rare and exotic trees and plants brought from abroad by the owner of the house, Vasile Golescu.

Vasile Golescu, an engineering graduate of the Normal School of Water and Forests, built the house and park in an area of natural forest, of which a portion still remains behind the house. The park is planted with remarkable varieties of plants and trees, somehow surviving both the second world war and the communist era thanks to the family's descendants, the ladies Irina and Viorica Golescu - who both died in 2001. The sisters donated the house and park to Pro Patrimonio Foundation, shortly before their deaths, wishing to save the whole ensemble so that future generations would have the opportunity to better understand the history of Romania.

The result of the restoration, which lasted five years and was made with the generous support of Lafarge Romcim and members donations, is a combination of a memorial house to the Golescus, with almost all the furniture restored, and a comfortable guest house with all modern facilities consisting of a hall, studio, dining room, kitchen, five bedrooms and three bathrooms. The Villa is available as a venue for cultural events, seminars, lectures, releases and so on. Guest rooms are available.

Around 1910, Vasile Golescu engineer graduate at the “Eaux et Forêt ” school in France, turns a wild coast in an “experimental ” garden, structured on terraces and with special trees. Short after the completion of the house and the garden, the engineer died leaving behind a remarkable heritage and an unique landscape with terraces, rare plantations and river stone walls.

During the communist period and after 1989, the garden remain in oblivion and abandonment. The lack of the financial means for maintenance had the effect of transforming the park into a wild forest which in 2001 was almost impenetrable.

In 2002 in the garden wild, mysterious, forgotten, without alleys, the remarkable plantations of rare species, naturalized on the climate of Campulung were “melted” in the middle of spontaneous vegetation.

The only document from archive related to the garden is a manuscript list of the engineer Golescu, which is describing the ”trees, shrubs, flowers that I planted in the garden”, a miracle for understanding the spirit in which it was designed this park (a real experimentation and acclimatization field).