Bucharest’s Athenee Palace Hilton celebrates a century of history with photo exhibition this fall

A photo exhibition marking a century since the Athenee Palace, the building which hosts the five-star hotel Athenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest, will be organized in the hotel’s lobby this autumn. The hotel’s management has called on everyone who has pictures, postal cards or invitations from a century ago which include the hotel’s building to hand them over at the reception, or send by post for the exhibition that will take place between October and December 2014. The postal address where photo document should be sent is 1-3 Episcopiei St., Bucharest. Athenee Palace was built in 1914 based on plans by French architect Teophile Bradeau. The building has survived bombing during the Second World War, after hosting the Inter-War elite and witnessing important historic events. Athenee Palace hosted over the years kings, prime Ministers, ambassadors, generals, writers and Hollywood divas, journalists and world war spies. The hotel inspired writers and is the center point of a novel written by Countess Waldeck, “Athenee Palace”. The countess, who back in 1940 was a journalist and correspondent for Newsweek, stayed at Athenee Palace in Bucharest for seven months, as Bucharest was not occupied and had diplomatic ties with all countries in the conflict. In 1942, when back to New York, she wrote in a couple of months the book that made her – and the place – famous. Under the Hilton hotel brand since 1997, the hotel is currently run by Jan Thomsen, as general manager. Athenee Palace Hilton is owned by the Ana Hotels Group, which also runs hotels and spas on the Romanian seaside and in the mountains area. editor@romania-insider.com