The building of the Targoviste Art Museum, constructed in 1892 by Italian craftsmen to house the Prefecture of Dambovita County, is one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in the city and also the place where highly valuable works are displayed, such as the frescoes from the Great Church of the Princely Court, created at the end of the 17th century during the reign of Ruler Constantin Brancoveanu.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

Although relatively small, the building is not lacking in monumentality and a certain splendour, owed both to its exterior and especially to its interior, decorated with stucco, ceilings and walls painted with geometric and vegetal motifs.

It is located in a shared courtyard with the History Museum and the Romanian Police Museum, in the immediate vicinity of the Princely Court of Targoviste. The building was rehabilitated in 2000 and impresses visitors through its wall paintings, interior architecture and the grand staircase leading to the upper floor.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

Irina Cirstina, curator at the Targoviste Princely Court National Complex, says the building is 'a small jewel in the historic centre of the city of Targoviste.'

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

'This building is not impressive in size, but once we step inside we rediscover the atmosphere specific to the 1900s and we can travel back in time to a Targoviste which, although abandoned by the voivodes since the time of Constantin Brancoveanu, was reborn around 1900 and welcomes us today as the Targoviste Art Museum. It houses religious art on the ground floor, including frescoes from the Great Princely Church, as well as icons and other objects of worship, while the upper floor usually hosts exhibitions, temporary exhibitions and the Gabriel Popescu or Gheorghe Petrascu Art Biennial. This time we are within the framework of the Gabriel Popescu Biennial,' says Irina Cirstina.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

The museum building was constructed by Italian entrepreneur Giovanni Baltasare Vignosa.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

The Encyclopaedia of the City of Targoviste, funded by the city hall and published in 2012, highlights the attention given to the interior design of the building.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

'The defining feature of this work was the interior craftsmanship, the doors painted with vegetal elements and the large stucco pediment. The walls of the hall were entirely painted both on the ground floor and the upper floor, discreetly and in harmony with the architecture, lending preciousness to the antechamber space. The rooms with a special function, such as the council chamber, had interior paintings, stoves with fireplaces and chandeliers similar to those placed in the hall, so that every detail created atmosphere through colour, light and warmth,' the Encyclopaedia of the City of Targoviste reads.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

On the upper floor of the building there is the Council Chamber, with rich mural painting. Above each of the five access doors to the hall there is a painted landscape depicting representative monuments of Targoviste, such as the Princely Court and the New Metropolitan Cathedral, or the surrounding area, as seen by the Italian-born painter Giovanni Battista del Basso between 1894 and 1895, the only exception being above the central door, where a roe deer appears as the coat of arms of Dambovita County.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

On permanent display at the Targoviste Art Museum are the frescoes from the Great Church of the Princely Court, of exceptional artistic and historical value.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

'When the church was restored and prepared to be included in the visitor circuit in the 1960s and 1970s, part of the church fresco could no longer remain in its original position where it had been conceived on the towers, and all these fragments were removed, restored and are now here in the Art Museum. We can see the fresco from the time of Brancoveanu from the Great Church of the Princely Court, painted in 1698. There are also icons from the time of Brancoveanu and the post-Brancoveanu period. Another exhibit is a candlestick from the Princely Church in Doicesti. It is worth mentioning, that near Targoviste, Brancoveanu also built the court of Doicesti, where there was a palace intended for his youngest son, Matei, and in that princely church there was this candlestick, which has been restored and is now housed in the Art Museum. These are the most important elements that visitors usually find here. The upper floor hosts a succession of temporary exhibitions, one after another, depending on the museum's exhibition plan,' Targoviste Princely Court National Complex curator Irina Cirstina also says.

Photo: (c) CORNELIA DUMITRU / AGERPRES FOTO

Students of the 'Balasa Doamna' Arts High School in Targoviste periodically exhibit works at the museum. Many of them go on to exhibit again years later, after becoming well-known artists. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Cornelia Dumitru; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)