The Palace of the Faculty of Law is a building in Bucharest, located on Mihail Kogălniceanu boulevard, near the National Opera. Currently, the building houses the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest, as well as the Franco-Romanian Legal College of European Studies.
As an institution, the Faculty of Law appeared in the middle of the 19th century and was one of the faculties within the University of Bucharest, founded by Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Until the First World War, several dozen students were enrolled at this faculty each year. Later, during the interwar period, their number grew at a fast pace, so that the faculty needed its own headquarters.
The Faculty of Law is one of the oldest faculties of the University of Bucharest and has a rich tradition in Romanian legal education. It became an independent institution in 1859. Later, in 1864, ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza approved the establishment of the University of Bucharest by reuniting the three existing faculties: the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Sciences and the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy.
This building was built between 1934-1936, according to the designs of the renowned architect Petre Antonescu. He was one of the founders of the movement for the revival of the old Romanian architecture. The building of the Palace of the Faculty of Law was built through funds collected at the initiative of Nicolae Basilescu, dean of the Faculty of Law during the interwar period, but also from subsidies from King Charles II and subsidies from the government.
With the support of King Charles II, dean Nicolae Basilescu initiated a fund-raising campaign, so in 1934 work began on the Palace of the Faculty of Law, according to the plans of the architect Petre Antonescu, the construction being completed after only 2 years, in 1936 .
The building was constructed of brick and reinforced concrete in the Art Deco style, with right angles and an imposing facade. On the Vasile Pârvan wing, the main facade has in its center the monumental entrance, with a wide staircase, highlighted by massive pilasters. Here there are also some high doors, which have above them the statues of famous legislators, such as Lycurgus, Solon, Cicero, Papinianus, but also bas-reliefs on the side bodies depicting the liberation of a slave and Justinian surrounded by magistrates. At the same time, at the inauguration of the building, the Faculty of Law was written on the front. Today, the text has been changed and reads University.
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