section_path: Architecture/Historical architecture
section_name: Historical architecture
paragraph_text: Historical architecture
  
  Of the city's medieval architecture, most of what survived into modern times was destroyed by communist systematization, fire, and military incursions. Some medieval and renaissance edifices remain, the most notable are in the Lipscani area. This precinct contains notable buildings such as Manuc's Inn (Hanul lui Manuc) and the ruins of the Old Court (Curtea Veche); during the late Middle Ages, this area was the heart of commerce in Bucharest. From the 1970s onwards, the area went through urban decline, and many historical buildings fell into disrepair. In 2005, the Lipscani area was restored.
  
  To execute a massive redevelopment project during the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the government conducted extensive demolition of churches and many other historic structures in Romania. According to Alexandru Budișteanu, former chief architect of Bucharest, "The sight of a church bothered Ceaușescu. It didn't matter if they demolished or moved it, as long as it was no longer in sight". Nevertheless, a project organised by Romanian engineer Eugeniu Iordăchescu was able to move many historic structures to less-prominent sites and save them.
  
  The city centre has retained architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly the interwar period, which is often seen as the 'golden age' of Bucharest architecture. During this time, the city grew in size and wealth, therefore seeking to emulate other large European capitals such as Paris. Much of the architecture of the time belongs to a Modern (rationalist) Architecture current, led by Horia Creangă and Marcel Iancu.
  
  In Romania, the tendencies of innovation in the architectural language met the need of valorisation and affirmation of the national cultural identity. The Art Nouveau movement found expression through new architectural style initiated by Ion Mincu and taken over by other prestigious architects who capitalised important references of Romanian laic and medieval ecclesiastical architecture (for example the Mogoșoaia Palace, the Stavropoleos Church or the disappeared church of Văcărești Monastery) and Romanian folk motifs. The Romanian Revival architecture, which was born as the result of the attempts of finding a specific Romanian architectural style, is exemplified though buildings such as Nicolae Minovici Folk Art Museum and the Romanian Peasant Museum.
  
  Another style of the 1930s is the Moorish-Florentine or Mediterranean Picturesque, which eclectically uses Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance elements in civic architecture, with a Mediterranean vibe, giving rise to Mediterranean Revival architecture.
  
  Some buildings from the interwar era have a modernist brutalist look, such as the Tehnoimport Building, which was built in 1935, and may be mistaken as communist architecture. Modernist styles during the interwar period include Art Deco, Stripped Classicism, Bauhaus and Rationalism.
  
  Two buildings from this time are the Crețulescu Palace, housing cultural institutions including UNESCO 's European Centre for Higher Education, and the Cotroceni Palace, the residence of the Romanian President. Many large-scale constructions such as the Gara de Nord, the busiest railway station in the city, National Bank of Romania's headquarters, and the Telephones Company Building date from these times. In the 2000s, some historic buildings in the city centre underwent restoration. In some residential areas of the city, particularly in high-income central and northern districts, turn-of-the-20th-century villas were mostly restored beginning in the late 1990s.