Cristofi Cerchez in the context of "Palace of Justice, Bucharest"

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⭐ Core Definition: Cristofi Cerchez

Cristofi Cerchez (4 July 1872 – 15 January 1955) was a Romanian engineer and architect. He built approximately 50 buildings in various cities of Romania over his nearly 50-year career. His architecture covers a wide range of styles from traditional to eclectic to modern, as well as private, civic and religious edifices. Among the buildings he worked on were the Bucharest Palace of Justice, the State Archives wing of the Mihai Vodă Monastery, the monastery of Vălenii de Munte, and the Nicolae Minovici Folk Art Museum.

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Cristofi Cerchez in the context of Romanian Revival architecture

Romanian Revival architecture (a.k.a. Romanian National Style, Neo-Romanian, or Neo-Brâncovenesc; Romanian: stilul național român, arhitectura neoromânească, neobrâncovenească) is an architectural style that has appeared in the late 19th century in Romanian Art Nouveau, initially being the result of the attempts of finding a specific Romanian architectural style. The attempts are mainly due to the architects Ion Mincu (1852–1912), and Ion N. Socolescu (1856–1924). The peak of the style was the interwar period. The style was a national reaction after the domination of French-inspired Classicist Eclecticism. Apart from foreign influences, the contribution of Romanian architects, who reinvented the tradition, creating, at the same time, an original style, is manifesting more and more strongly. Ion Mincu and his successors, Grigore Cerchez [ro], Cristofi Cerchez, Petre Antonescu, or Nicolae Ghica-Budești declared themselves for a modern architecture, with Romanian specific, based on theses such as those formulated by Alexandru Odobescu around 1870:

Of course, such a program was not easy to accomplish. All the more so as the new types of urban architecture, especially those with many floors, demanded simple solutions, which hardly supported the world of medieval forms and ornaments or that of folklore, the main sources of inspiration of the style.

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Cristofi Cerchez in the context of Mihai Vodă Monastery

The Mihai Vodă Monastery, founded by Mihai Viteazul, is one of the oldest buildings in Bucharest. It was built in 1591, surrounded by stone walls, similar to a fortress. Close to the Dambovița River, the monastery buildings served multiple purposes over time such as residence of the country's leaders, military hospital, medical school and the site of the National Archives of Romania. The monastery was an important archeological site; inside the monastery yard used to be a Dacian archeological site, more than 3000 years old, where old pottery and other relics were found.

In 1813 Mihai Vodă Monastery was "one of the largest monasteries of Romania". Between 1908 and 1909, Cristofi Cerchez, head of architecture for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, supervised work on the State Archives at the Monastery.

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Cristofi Cerchez in the context of Nicolae Minovici Folk Art Museum

The Dr. Nicolae Minovici Folk Art Museum (Romanian: Muzeul de Artă Populară „Prof. Dr. Nicolae Minovici”) is a museum located at 1 Dr. Nicolae Minovici Street in the Băneasa district of Bucharest, Romania.

Initially built as a retreat on the city outskirts for Nicolae Minovici between 1906 and 1907, the house evolved into Bucharest's first folk art museum, with an expansive collection of ethnographic displays. The building was designed by the owner's friend, Cristofi Cerchez, in the Romanian Revival style.

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