PRE-ORDER The Centenary Of The Palace Of Culture in Iasi

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ISSUE IS ONLY AVAILABLE AS PRE-ORDER!

ANY PRODUCT ORDERED FROM THIS ISSUE WILL NOT BE DISPATCHED UNTIL THE OFFICIAL ISSUE DATE 10TH OCTOBER!

Romfilatelia and the Romanian Post introduce into circulation on Friday, October 10th, this year, the anniversary philatelic issue entitled The Centenary of the Palace of Culture in Iași. The issue, dedicated to a defining architectural monument, effigy of the city of Iași, consists of four postage stamps and a First Day Cover.

The palace is partially built over the ruins of the medieval princely courts documented in historical records from 1434, while also partially using the foundations of the old neoclassical palace from the reign of Alexandru Moruzi (1806–1812).

After the proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania, during a visit to Iași, King Carol I promised the city’s inhabitants direct support for the construction of a new Administrative and Justice Palace. As a result, in 1904, discussions began regarding the start of a new construction. The initial project – which was not put into practice, was designed by architect C. Cerchez. The demolition of the old palace began without a definitive plan and without a complete estimate of the works, in 1906. A new project – created by architect Ion D. Berindei – was approved in October 1907.

In 1914, the new construction was built and integrated into the city landscape. During World War I, the works were stopped and resumed after all the issues of the establishment and organization of the Kingdom of Greater Romania were finalized.

On October 11, 1925, the Palace of Justice and Administration in Iași was inaugurated in the presence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie.

The building, a historical and architectural monument, was used for administrative functions until 1955, when it was decided that the Palace would host various cultural institutions. Currently, it provides exhibition space four museums: the Art Museum, the Ethnographic Museum of Moldova, the Museum of History of Moldova, the ‘Ștefan Procopiu’ Museum of Science and Technology united - together with the Center for Research and Conservation – Restoration of Cultural Heritage under the title of the ‘Moldova’ National Museum Complex Iași.

The four postage stamps depict in their graphics the following images:

• the watercolor, depicting the façade of the Palace of Culture, was created in 1924 by the architect I.D. Berindei. Associated with the watercolor is a portrait of the great architect (postage stamp with the face value of Lei 3);

• a perspective of the Palace of Culture building in association with the equestrian statue of Prince Stephen the Great, by the French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet, realized in 1882-1883 (postage stamp with the face value of Lei 4);

• a representative interior of the Palace of Culture (Hall of Honor), associated with the relief of a symbolic coat of arms placed in the Hall of Honor space (postage stamp with the face value of Lei 5,50);

• a nocturnal image of the façade architecture of the Palace of Culture in association with a detail of the Central Tower: the clock with a diameter of 3.25 m, announcing the exact time with the melodic chords of the Hora of the Union (Hora Unirii) (postage stamp with the face value of Lei 25).

The First Day Cover associates in its graphics a fragment of the Central Tower (55 m high), the equestrian statue of the ruler Stephen the Great and the emblem of the ‘Moldova’ National Museum Complex in Iași.

Romfilatelia thanks the City Hall of Iași and the specialists of the ‘Moldova’ National Museum Complex for the documentary support provided for the development of this postage stamp issue.