Brâncoveanu Palace

yes
soo. as i said in my last post, i was to visit brâncoveanu palace [also known as mogoșoaia palace]. aand i did, actually. yesterday. it wasn't the 1st time i visited it, but this time i was alone so i got to actually spend as much time as i wanted wherever i chose.
unfortunately i forgot my camera's memory card in my laptop [yes. sometimes i am THAT smart :))] so all the pics i took were made by phone. i will post some pics here :).
a bit of history. the palace was built between 1698-1702 by constantin brâncoveanu in what is called the romanian renaissance style [better known here as the brâncovenesc style].
the last owners of the palace were the bibescu family.  in the palace's yard you can find the stone chappel where most of them are burried ( antoine bibesco and  marthe bibescu couldn't be burried there becuse they died during the communist area.)
more info about the palace and its last owners here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogo%C5%9Foaia_Palace
http://palatebrancovenesti.ro/en/2011/07/25/presentation/
or just google it !

now part 2
 Constantin Brâncoveanu
was the voivod of wallachia between1654 and 1714. during his time this land met an era of prosperity. at first he was suppoerted by his uncle, constantin cantacuzino, but they ended up facing eachother. cantacuzino was exiled and started advocating his son's Ştefan's candidacy to the throne, while competing with Brâncoveanu for the support of the ottoman empire - wallachia's overlord at the time.
meanwhile brâncoveanu took steps in negotiating anti-ottoman alliances first with the habsburg monarchy, and then with peter the great's russia. unfortunately, brâncoveanu made some mistakes and it all went downhill. long story short, his bad moves and the fact that his throne was wanted [when did that not happen, in general?] and therefore the plots made against him[such as, the sultan was told that brâncoveanu had saved large amounts of fortune and hid them] ended up with him being brought to constantinopole in 1714, with his 4 sons, imprisoned at the fortress of the 7 towers and tortured, the sultan hoping to find out where the believed fortunes were located.
how did they die? you may ask. well. not by torture.
here
let me explain.

basically. heads chopped off.  the sultan ordered for the bodies to be thrown in the bosphorus. his wife, with the help of the orthodox comunity in constantinopolis [if i remember correctly], fished the bodies from the water and burried them at a monastery nearby. [nowadays his body is in a church found in the center of bukarest, church also built by him].http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Brancoveanu
or, you know, google him.

ok. have i bored you enough yet?
good.
now time for pics :))
i wasn't allowed to take pics inside, which sucks. especially since i love the chancery chamber and they still don't have any postcards [or anything for that matter] of it.
soo. this is the main gate. right at its left is a church built by him.

and now the palace

[from what i remember from what i've learned, that outside gazebo balcony thingy is smth characteristic for the brancovenesc style]
view of the balcony from the inside:

back to the palace now

 view of the palace from that main gate's tower thingy:

this is a pic of the inside that i took from the balcony:

right on the left is the chancery chamber!
i did take 2 pics on the inside. couldn't help. i love spiral stairs

 yeah i have to wash the bastards
 and at the bottom of the stairs i took a pic of the view. imagine having this view every morning [especially since i am pretty sure 300 years ago there were trees there, not houses. which makes it even better]

and now. pics of other properties of the palace.
view from the balcony. that s the main gate. [obviously] and over the wall you can see the church.

view from the gate's tower.

another one

this is under the palace, under the balcony:
 what it hosts depends. now there were religious paintings, for example.

and a statuary group representing minerva [the same thing can be seen on top of the targoviste gate. picture later on]

and noow. doors and gates. :))
entrance to what you just saw:

 main entrance to the palace

 see:D. mineeerva

aand last but not least, the bibescu chappel

 and i remembered from my last visit that the crypt is closed. so imagine my suprise when i tried the gate and i actualy could open it [and it made that awesome semi-creepy sound of rusty gate movement...thingy] [yeah. could swear it's not rusty :))]

but my dream of visiting it was soon to be over, as i reached the actual door and saw this

i obviously saw that before, but didn't remember. oh well. still would be so awesome to see the inside of the crypt.
 anyway.
it has stairs on both sides and you can get on top of the cript where you can find 3 tomb stones

and in the front of the crypt, on the left of the entrance, there's this thing

basically, it talks about george bibescu's life and all the good things he did.
but i really like the what's above the book.

really. really. like that.
i actually wanted to visit the palace again today and try to take a pic of the chancery chamber [well. there's a part of it i especially find absolutely awesome. you'll just have to wait!] but it was closed. today it's easter here. so almost everything is closed. but they would've made a looot of money if they would've had it open. the park [the palace has a lot of land around it, also belonging to it] was full of people and someone asked me about getting to the palace. they were there to visit it. too bad..


now i ll just have to check their opening hours and mybe i ll go back there this week for that pic i oh so much want.
hopefully i will manage to actually take it. hah.
 ok now, bye bye then.

p.s. guess who booked the room in sighisoara [medieval city in transylvania. also known for the fact that vlad tepes was born there. now that house is a restaurant with really good food!]
here
take a look
http://www.360tourist.net/view-tour/2883/360wa507d2e82eb41d
and the i'll be staying right in the heart of it, 1 minute away from the clock tower!

Update

haaaaa

hallo, peopleee!


Hyvää Vappua kaikille!


haha
haven't written here in sooo long.
no idea why. but meh.
sooo. yess
[Basically bragging due to a hyper mood and some good news that i found out lately. feel free not to read.]

what happened.
nothing interesting from August to December... and not much now either.
but.
i did see Helloween again in March. and it was pretty awesome. and they had Gamma Ray as opening band. which adds to the awesomenes [not to mention that i got 2 picks from Gamma Ray yey me:D:))] and Shadowside. which, as instrumental, weren't bad. but I couldn't understand a word the chick was singing. aand i got myself one of their tshirts.
glad i got to see Helloween again, this time WITHOUT a massive headache like the one i had at ArtMania [which made me remember close to nothing from that night. i know they sang i want out. and i left right after they were done and before Tarja got on stage. had seen her already so it wasn't much of a miss.]
anyway
this show was pretty awesome. and i got the best place in the venue. and they sang If I Could Fly. so that made me the happiest soul there :)).
i should've written about the gig right after.. while i was still all excited and stuff. oh well.next time!
speaking of gigs. these past 2 weeks have been awesome gigs-wise. first, CoB confirmed a show here. in November.
then maximum rock festival announced the 1st band for the fest. and it was The 69 Eyes. and i went .. well.. basically... apeshit. i finally. get. to. see. them.
GOOD.
but as this wasn't enough, not long after, they announced the 2nd band to sing. and it's My Dying Bride.
not like The 69 Eyes convinced me already of going. sweet mother nature.
i saw MDB last year at ArtMania.. but really don't mind seeing them again. really. i don't haha.
moreover, i might get to also see Megadeth and Iron Maiden for free. Megadeth as a b-day present, Maiden, well, hopefully with the same technique i used at AC/DC and Bon Jovi.
uhuh yes and also Haggard and Withing Temptation at ArtMania. still waiting for the headliner for the 2nd day, since so far nothing interests me then. hopefully they will surprise us with some Nightwish. yes. that would be nice. Floor is awesome.
In mid July, if stuff go as i want, I'll also be going to Sighisoara [BEAUTIFUL medieval city in Transylvania, also known for the fact that Vlad Tepes was born there. it's such a peaceful place!]. MAYBE now the torture chambers are open for visiting.
and to the mountains. <3 aaaah="" days="" frabjous="" p="">[damn so much bragging wtf. see. this is what happens when my tumblr post limit is reached and i am up to date with all tv shows. haha]
oh
i would like to apologize for our Eurovision contestant. i only heard a bit of his song. but. just. no.


oh
oh
oh

something DID happen last year.

on Christmas eve i got myself a great present.
GREAT present
haha
let's just say that
i will be seeing this beautiful place sooner that i expected last July.


and i will be staying longer than i did in July, and this time in Helsinki. SO MUCH VISITING. AND WONDERING AROUND. AND PHOTOS. AAHHHH YEEES!

haha
yeah.
maybe i am a bit excited.
ah and also, i will be meeting a mate from Malta and will be the annoying tour guide for her. which will be interesting. and fun. and i will see her more excited than i will be since i've been there before. haha. one more happy human.
i am really hoping for shitload of snow and for at least a gig...
Harmaja. yes. i would like that. but any Finn band that i listen to works.
and i will update the Finland blog after my trip. no reason to do that now.


on Sunday i will be visiting Brancoveanu's palace from Mogosoaia. i think i will put some pics here then. if not here, then they will be for sure on Deviant anyway. i hope it will be sunny. everything is green and nice already, so yeah..

[you just killed some precious minutes of your life reading this. :)))]

ok now.

bye bye then


p.s. by the time i posted this, 1st of May was over. haha


oh and since i mentioned them and i had this song on repeat today, here.
enjoy

[not a fan of the video since i have no idea what chicks in corsets dusting the furniture and the floor have to do with the lyrics, but i like the song. so yes.]