Bellu manor – museum

Tags

case traditionale romanesti, conacul bellu, prahova, romania, romanian architecture, traditional romanian house, urlati

The Bellu manor is a complex located in Urlati, Prahova county (southern Romania) which represents, through its architecture, a traditional Romanian manor house.

Built in old Romanian style in the early XIX century by the family of Alexandru Bellu. The complex was donated by the family to the Romanian Academy, and from 1953 it functions as a museum.

The Bellu manor houses collections of XVII and XIX century furniture, art pieces belonging to Romanian artists Theodor Aman and Stefan Luchian, arab and turkish art objects and oriental carpets braided a few centuries ago brought to the Romanian principality by baron Alexandru Bellu from his travels. Ethnography items which include pottery as old as the Neolithic era 3500 BC, lithographs made by Carol Popp of Szathmary, Japanese prints, silverware, valuable coins, XV century books, stone-carved columns, weapons and other valuable items – some of which date from the II century.

Alexandru Bellu was buried in the Bellu cemetery in Bucharest which was named after his family. The cemetery was built on land donated by Alexandru’s family to the state. The Bellu cemetery has become a resting place for some of the greatest Romanian personalities of the XIX and XX century.

Entrance to the estate

Built in old Romanian traditional architectural style, the manor has a front porch and a cellar, with entrance from the outside

Traditional cellar

Storage facilities carved in stone dating back to the 2nd century

The oldest objects are from Neolithic Gumelnita era, 3500 BC. The other items are cultural, military and other art items from between II-XIX centuries.

.

To see more traditional houses click here

***