Building nationhood

A recently restored villa set in a carefully planted woodland blends traditions in pursuit of a distinctly Romanian idiom of architecture, as Jeremy Musson explains

- Jeremy Musson

Villa Golescu, Argeş County, Romania

A property of Pro Patrimonio Foundation

ON a hillside above the Romanian city of Câmpulung Muscel, Argeş County, is a handsome early 20th-century villa known as the Villa Golescu. Before it lies the cityWallachia's first feudal capital-and above is woodland largely planted by Vasile Golescu, the man responsible for the building of the villa in 1909. Its architecture speaks of the dawning sense of Romanian nationhood that emerged in the later 19th century and enjoyed a rich expression in art, architecture and literature in the first half of the 20th century. The United Romanian Principalities was established in 1862, with the election of Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as prince of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1866; then, with Romania's independence assured after the defeat of the Ottoman empire in 1878, Prince Karl went on to become Carol I, King of Romania.