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Noble venture

Once a grand witness to history, Stirbey Palace has now become a target for an ambitious makeover, writes Michael Bird

June 2009 - From the Print Edition

Stirbey Palace has acted as a stage for the changing identity of Romania’s high society over the last 150 years. Located 15 kilometres from Bucharest, this 19th century country house was sequestered by the Communists in the 1940s, after which it became a show-piece for the Party elite intent on impressing foreign dignitaries. Following a long dispute, the former owners regained the property and then sold it on to investors, who are recreating the location as a platform for leisure and corporate events.
Aristocrat Prince Alexandru Stirbey built the palace in 1863 on the design of a Swiss chateau and the original wooden staircases, shutters and roof create the atmosphere of a posh hunting lodge. Set over 24 hectares of park, the grounds are teaming with gingko, magnolia and cypresses, with oaks dating back 500 years.
In recent years, Erich Honecker and Jean-Paul Belmondo have both stayed here, while in 1964, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nikita Khrushchev signed a deal to withdraw Russian troops from Romania in the palace, then consumed far too much vodka and attempted to play skittles in the grounds. This bowling alley still exists, although it is in need of serious refurbishment since the pair of old Soviets had their drunken fun.
In 2007, a consortium of Romanian investors, Bucharest Arena, purchased the property from the descendants of Stirbey for nine million Euro and now intend to invest at least 30 million in its renovation.
The property boasts a conference hall with seating for up to 650, parking spaces for 350 and a summer pavilion for leisure events. So far the grounds have hosted product launches for multinationals and Inter Milan defender Cristi Chiviu’s wedding reception.
The next plan is to open a 120-room hotel by 2012. This could be an affiliation to a major brand or a boutique hotel. A new residential block over five floors is also due on the site of Alexandru Stirbey’s former greenhouse. Bucharest Arena also wants to invest in tennis courts, spa and horse-riding.
This month Domeniul Stirbey opens a Romanian restaurant offering seasonal fruits and vegetables. Local favourites such as smoked pig’s leg, as well as venison and pheasant and dry white wine from the Bishop of Buzau’s vineyard will be on the menu, overseen by chef Victor Radan, formerly of Bucharest’s Minerva Hotel.
The grounds now house families of red and grey squirrels, a pair of peacocks and nestling among the trees is a water tower constructed by the Romanian Gustave Eiffel, civil engineer Anghel Saligny, with a pleasant play of buttresses combining the sublime with the functional. An Orthodox Church built in 1890, including traces of wall-paintings by neoclassic artist Gheorghe Tattarescu, is in the process of renovation using EU funds, where a crypt in its basement hosts the broken gravestones of Romanian aristocrats.

Domeniul Stirbey
36 Stirbey Voda, Buftea, Ilfov county
Tel: 0372 155 555
www.domeniulstirbey.ro



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