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Heading north from Piata Revolutiei towards Piata Victoriei along the quieter, northern end of Calea Victoriei, you'll pass three museums of interest. At no. 107, in the former Stirbey Palace (built in 1856), is the Ceramics and Glass Museum (closed for restoration at the time of writing). The collection is small and varied - in rooms furnished with splendid mirrors, carpets, chandeliers and tiled stoves, you can see eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Turkish and Iranian tiles, European, Japanese and Chinese porcelain, and lovely Art Deco pieces, including a Tiffany lamp. The early nineteenth-century Ghica Palace at no. 111 houses the Museum of Art Collections (Wed-Sun 11am-6pm) - an assortment of paintings, furniture, icons on glass and other antiques "donated to" (confiscated by) the Communist state. Temporary exhibitions and films are also shown here - check the posters outside for details. At no. 141, a superb, early twentieth-century, clamshell-shaped porte-cochere shades the entrance of the George Enescu Museum of Music (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm); its displays on the life of Romania's national composer are not that gripping. Just northeast of here at Str. V. Alecsandri 16, the fabulous Storck Museum (Tues-Sun 9am-5pm) is one of Bucharest's lesser known delights. Inside is a superb collection of sculpted works by Frederic Storck (whose father, Karl, was the first Romanian teacher of sculpture), as well as a prolific number of paintings and murals by his wife Cecilia. They actually lived in the house next door; the museum building was originally built as a workshop. On the east side of Piata Victoriei stands the main government building, the Palatul Victoria , completed in 1944 but already showing a chilly Stalinist influence in its design. The ugly boulevards to the west house many expats; there are Western supermarkets and bars here, and plenty of cash machines. To the north, at Sos. Kiseleff 1, is the Natural History Museum (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm). Named after Grigore Antipa, the founder of Romanian icthyology and a pioneering conservationist before World War I, the museum's collection of 300,000 items includes a 4.5m-high skeleton of a dinosaur unearthed in Moldavia, and 82,000 butterflies and moths. Around the corner is Bucharest's finest museum, the Museum of the Romanian Peasant , Sos. Kiseleff 3, ( Muzeu Taranului Roman ; Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; $1). The premises were occupied by the Museum of Communist Party History until 1990, but they now house a wonderful display of traditional textiles, carvings and ceramics, as well as a superb collection of icons. A wooden church, typical of those found in Maramures, stands at the rear of the museum - ask at reception and someone will escort you there.  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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Located down in the cellar is a curious collection of paintings and busts of former Communist leaders. Do take time to visit the museum shop, which sells a beautiful assortment of rugs and costumes. Opposite, at Sos. Kiseleff 2, the Geological Museum (Mon-Fri 10am-3pm; by appointment only tel 01/650 5094) is an impressive exhibition which illustrates the great mineral riches of Romania; the highlight is the collection of luminescent rocks exhibited in an otherwise unlit basement room.
Your Tips For North to Piata Victoriei
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