BRATIANU MANOR FROM FLORICA

Being located in Ştefaneşti city, Argeş county, the manor of Bratianu family, bearing the same name as the village where it is located, Florica, in the memory of the first daughter of I.C. Bratianu – is one of the most beautiful boyar’s estate of România, being very well preserved so far (except the objects, pieces of furniture and books inside the manor, which were scattered anywhere else during the years of the communist regime). This is the manor where was bornda,  and lived the most important Romanian politicians’ family, a true civil dynasty which gave to its country not less than three Prime-Ministers, of which the first two Prime-Ministers – Ion and Ionel Bratianu – had an overwhelming part in building the modern Romania (the first Prime-Minister’s name is associated to the Independence War, and the second Prime-Minister achieved  – also as a result of a war – The Union of 1918 and the reforms being the basis of the democracy in the interwar period).

A COMPLETE ESTATE

Florica estate– made up of the manor, the farm, the chapel, the wine cellar, the railway station and even an astronomic observatory, all these being located in the middle of a huge park, surrounded by Stefaneşti vineyards, - is the work of the first two Bratieni , Ion and Ionel, father and son, who – having been passionate builders, especially the latter – turned an elegant estate administration house into a luxurious boyar’s residence where important decisions concerning our history were made.
The first house of Florica was built by I.C. Bratianu in 1858, on the estate he was granted by his father's inheritance. At the beginning, Bratianu made his choice for Tigveni estate, where he had spent his childhood, but – upon the request of Teodor, his elder brother, – he received the third batch of estates, including Florica, Malureni, Galesul – Bratieni, Leresti and Simburesti. The house of Tigveni, - “big and beautiful, with balcony, thick walls, and an underground leading from the bedroom to the secular forest “– is still preserved nowadays.
Ion C. Bratianu (1821-1891) sold a part of the other estates, but purchased, close to Florica, the vineyard called Floreasca, and this vineyar preoccupied him up to his death, tending and operating it according to the most modern recipes. He was satisfied with his choise for Florica, to the detriment of Tigveni which evoked his childhood.
The building of the house of Florica started in 1858, after Ion C. Bratianu married Pia Plesoianu, and the new family established the residence in the country. The aged Bratianu built a story manor with a beautiful open terrace from a four room’s house and a wine cellar.
Ionel Bratianu remembered: “Our parents even from the times of their marriage had turned Florica into their household establishment. The political duties forced them in different circumstances to move to Bucharest.  Twelve years of work within the ministry and the upper high school courses had forced our parents and the children to spend the most part of the year in the Capital. Nevertheless, for some of them, as well as for the others, Florica was the home and the true dwelling. We had this feeling to such extent so that as compared to the children born to Bucharest, those born to Florica had some advantage and thus an additional relation with it. As my father retired from the government, at the beginning of the year 1869, we established to Florica, from where within the period of seven years only one child used to come seldom for several days to Bucharest. “.

IONEL BRATIANU AND HIS PASSION FOR CONSTRUCTIONS

As long as the “Vizier” (I.C. Bratianu) lived, the house preserved that restrained style, imposed by his simple tastes. Hardly towards the end of his life, was he persuaded by his son Ionel, a passionate constructions engineer, concerning the need for repairing the house. The actual condition of the house, the entire ensemble from Florica represented the outcome of the construction passion of Ionel Bratianu who demolished almost everything that remained from his father and who managed to build a comfortable plant with park, farm and even an astronomic observatory from a little cottage close to the vineyard.
The arrangements and the constructions that Ionel Bratianu (1864-1927) made to Florica lasted from 1889 up to 1925.  In April 1889 , he drafted the plan of transforming the story of the house and included the arrangement of a “ Fencing, Billiard, Ball Hall and many other comedies“, flanked on the left side by “ a vestibule, office, toilet room, the room for Daddy, the bedroom and the parents’ room”. In April 1890 Ionel Bratianu worked out also the plan of the groundfloor. The plan was the basis of the great renovation and expansion of the manor during the years 1905-1912 under the direct management of the architect Petre Antonescu. Near the house owned by Ionel Bratianu, Petre Antonescu built the headquarter of the Library of “Ion I.C. Bratianu“ Establishment and this building sheltered – amongst those more than 30,000 books owned by him– 5,000 books taken over from the library of the manor of Florica .

THE MANOR IS REBUILT

As a result of the new restorations, the manor of Florica has the following inside structure:
• On the groundfloor: the access shall be made by two entrance halls, a main front hall and a back hall. These halls surround the library and the staircase leading to the first floor. On the right side of the manor there are a lounge, the Turkish room, the dining-room and an office, and on the left side there are a studio, the guests’ bedroom, the bedroom of Ion C. Bratianu (preserved without any changes), the larder, the staff’s dining-room, three bathrooms, a toilet, a drugstore and a lavatory.
• The first floor: includes a large covered terrace (with sculptured pillars), an open terrace, two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a toilet, a lavatory, the workroom, the housekeeper’s room and the library.
• In 1925,as the terrace of the first floor was covered, on the roof there could be seen the wonderful panorama of Pitesti on the occasion of a gorgeous sunset. This moment was decisive for the erection of the second floor, which had not been provided in the original plan. This, seeming more like an attic, was built by the engineer Iliescu in 1925, and includes a covered terrace, the room of the weaving looms, the books’ room, the study room of Ionel Bratianu, the stationery room, the staircase and the big garret.
Constanti Argetoianu, having visited Florica for several times, provided us with a very suggestive description of Bratianu familiy manor: “The new appearance of the residence of Florica is due to mixing up two passions: the passion that Ionel had concerning the constructions and the passion of his wife Eliza for gardens. “

THE UNIQUE LIBRARY

Of those almost 20 rooms of the manor, there distinguish themselves by their rich interior decoration (sculptured ceilings, wainscoting) the libraries from the groundfloor and first floor, which – although nowadays are almost empty – impress any visitor. The library from Florica represented, due to its collections of books and magazines, one of the most important libraries in Romania. Constantin Argetoianu considered it “the most important private library of Romania. “.
In Ion I.C. Bratianu’s library one could find a great variary of books, representing the proof of his comprehensive culture; but the history books and especially those referring to our people's past prevail. This collection is from several points of view even richer and more comprehensive than the collection of the Romanian Academy Library.
As long as Ionel Bratianu lived, no one touched the stocks of Florica; after 1927, 5,000 books were moved from that library to the Library of “ Ion I.C. Bratianu “ Foundation; after 1948 the books existing in the library of Florica were scattered and damaged, and only a tiny number of books was given to the Romanian Academy library ant to other libraries.  Thoudand books were burnt in the park of the manor for several weeks. Besides the books, the library and the manor of Florica owned also a rare collection: the photos of Bratianu family.

IONEL BRATIANU AND HIS FARM

The second essential component of Florica ensemble is represented by the farm, situated even at the park entrance, on the left side. The building of the farm is the work carried out by the architect Petre Antonescu within the period 1905-1912, being built on two floors in the Neoromanesque style. The farms of Florica make up, by their four sides, an inner yard in the middle of which there is an artesian well.  After Ionel Bratianu died (on November 24, 1927), his wife Eliza, who inherited the usufruct of the estate by will, sold the farm to the Romanian state.


THE PARK CREATED BY ELIZA BRATIANU

The park of the manor of Florica is also remarkable; this park had not been created according to an original plan; a main road leading to the house, another winding road leading to the chapel, paths leading to a clear destination. Eliza Bratianu, Ionel’s second wife, had a major contribution to the construction of the park as well, seeding mountain and plain flowers, creating large landscapes cutting down several trees and throwing light spots wherever it was possible;


THE BUTTER ENVIED BY THE KING

The estate located in Florica is surrounded by hundred hectares of vine, cultivated especially by I. C. Bratianu. The vine represented an important revenue resource for the family. Florica villa produced also high quality butter, cheese and cream for the market, appreciated even by the king Carol I who used to say: “despite all my insistences at the royal farms they cannot prepare the same butter as that prepared at Florica“.

CHILDREN'S SMALL REPUBLIC

At the manor of Florica, Bratianu family’s life went on in a patriarchal manner, according to the rules settled by I .C. Bratianu and strictly observed. The important moments in Ion and Pia Bratianu's children's life were the Christmas and the familty holidays where all the relatives and friends took part in.
Actually, Florica had never been an isolated island; their relatives and friends had often crossed its threshold; in 1922, Ionel was still not able to detach himself from the world of miracles of his childhood spent at Florica.
Florica was at the same time the manor visited by the most famos persons belonging to the Romanian political life, namely Carol I and Ferdinand I kings , Elisabeta and Maria queens , Golescu brothers, C. A. Rosetti , Averescu marchal, Barbu Stirbey prince , I. G. Duca , etc. Important decisions concerning the country history were made in the lounges of the manor of Florica: major reforms were decided, there were made up and dismissed governments, there were settled strategies during the periods of peace and war, there were performed Romania’s Independence and Union.

BRATIANU FAMILY'S CHAPEL

Another component of the ensemble of Florica is the church where there are buried the most of Bratianu family members. Being located on a plateau on the right side of the park, at the edge of the forest, the chapel of Bratianu family – with the patron “The Birth of Saint Joan the Baptizer“– was built in 1898 in compliance with the plans of the French architect Andre Lecomte du Nouy (previously, Ionel Bratianu had brought to that place the little church of Horea of Albac, which was moved afterwards to Olanesti) . The church was dedicated on May 19, 1921, in order to move I. C. Bratianu’s coffin in the new chapel. This ceremony took place three days later; the service was celebrated by the metropolitan bishops Miron Cristea – the first patriarch of Romania – and Nicolae Balan of Sibiu; (at the beginning, I. C. Bratianu, who had died on May 3, 1891 , had been buried in the park of the manor, on the hill, in a tomb built under Eugeniu Carada’s supervision, close to Florica ,his first child , whom a merciless disease had taken from the bosom of her family in the winter of the year 1865 . “The parents’ pain had been terrible and it had never disappeared” remembered Sabina Cantacuzino, her sister).
The second solemn burial that was celebrated in the chapel of Florica was that of Ionel Bratianu, very suddenly killed by an infection of the tonsils on November 24, 1927.
“At Florica, the coffin was put in an ox cart; on that dark and foggy winter day, the funeral procession, followed by a great number of friends, authorities and villagers, was climbing the hill to the chapel slowly and sadly … Bratianu was going to have the sleep of death after a very gorgeous life in his people’s history, on the same hill where, 63 years ago, he had seen the light of day. He had been born at Florica in the times of the vassal Romania; he was resting in peace also at Florica, but in the times of the rounded off Romania.”  (I. G. Duca)
Three years later, on December 22, 1930, Vintila Bratianu was put down in the tombs of Florica as well; Dinu and Gheorghe Bratianu, who had died in Sighet prison, were also moved many years later in the family chapel.
After 1948, the last owner of the manor, Dinu Bratianu, was arrested and the entire estate became the property of the state which destroyed everything which could remind of Bratianu family, starting from books and objects, including furniture.
“The Mecca of Liberals”, the manor of Florica entered the history thanks to the poet Ion Pillat- who wrote several poems on its terraces.
The manor of Florica worths to be visited by any person who loves our history; a visit here shall represent for anyone a meeting with the history itself.
“ Florica did represent not only the framework evoking the entire sweet life of childhood, the so happy life of youth, but sometimes it seemed to me that it was alive, that it had its soul procreated from our soul, from the deceased and alive persons’ souls. “ (Sabina Cantacuzino).