17th century “Stone Palace” in Romania put up for sale

The 17th century “Stone Palace”, built for Wallachian boyar and scholar Udriste Nasturel Herescu around the year 1640, is on sale at Artmark Historical Estate. The palace, located in Herasti commune in Giurgiu county (some 30 km south of Bucharest), has been valued at EUR 1.5-1.8 million and has a starting price of EUR 1.1 million. This is the only monument of Romanian civil architecture built entirely of stone, which has survived time. It is classified as a historic monument of national and universal importance (class A). Udriste Nasturel Herescu, a famous scholar at that time and the brother-in-law of Wallachian ruler Matei Basarab, built the palace in the early 17th century. Milos Obrenovic, a Serbian prince, bought the property in the 19th century, and added several elements to the construction, including a tower that was destroyed by a fire in 1931. After Obrenovic’s death, the property was sold in 1881 to the Anastase Stolojan family. The communists took over the palace after the World War II and, in 1949, wanted to destroy it and use the stone for other buildings. However, in 1950, the palace was saved as the building’s management is transferred to the Commission of Historical Monuments. Fast forward 20 years, to 1970, the palace is once again transferred to the Romanian Peasant Museum, and used for wood and iron object exhibitions. The property was recently returned to its legal owner. The property consists of 3 buildings, the Stone House, the Stolojan building, and an administration building. It comes with 3.79 hectares of land. Find out more about it here. French millionaire sells his holiday estate in Romania for EUR 2.5 mln Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Artmarkhistoricalestate.ro; photos by Cristina Budușan)