Calea Victoriei, one of the oldest avenues in the city, includes many major old buildings that have survived two World Wars and the Communist fury of the 80s. It was established by Voyevode Constantin Brâncoveanu starting with 1692, as a road paved with oak beams that made the connection between his palace on the shore of Dâmbovița (in the area of the actual 17 floors reddish building) and his domain in Mogoșoaia (where one can still see the Brâncoveanu Palace). At first it was called Podul Mogoșoaiei (En. the Bridge to Mogoșoaia), exactly because of the wooden beams. In 1878 the victorious Romanian army returned from the Independence War and crossed Bucharest along this avenue and this is why it was afterwards called Calea Victoriei (En. the Victory Avenue).
A stroll along this 2700 m. long street, starting from Dâmbovița River and ending in Victoria Square starts in Națiunile Unite Square (GPS - N44 25.816 E26 05.812). Immediately after we start, to the left, there is the imposing CEC building (1896-1900), hosting one of the oldest banks in the city set up in Eclectic style (see my special tip for this building). Just across the street there is the former Palace of the Post Company (built in 1894-1900) that nowadays hosts the biggest museum in the country, namely The National History Museum, in a grand, Neoclassical building (see my special tip for this building). After passing by Zlătari Church (built in 1850-1852 and formerly surrounded by Zlătari Inn, demolished in 1903), we notice to the left the Police headquarters and just across the street the entrance towards Vilacrosse Passage, a glass covered street that continues with Macca Passage and exits 200 m. later on the same avenue (GPS - N44 26.014 E26 05.862). On the main avenue we continue and, just after passing by a fashion store, we notice, through the narrow passage under a new building, a church to the right: Doamnei Church (1683). The church borrows some features for the window frame decorations from the Moldavian style, also having a rich sculpture on the doors and beautiful frescoes made by Konstantinos.
Returning on Victory Avenue, we immediately cross Regina Elisabeta Avenue. To the left there is the “Cercul Militar National” (The National Army Club), a French Neoclassical building with an imposing 21 m. tall facade and Corrinthean columns (1912). To the right there soon appears Capșa Restaurant (established in 1881), one of the classical places in the interwar city (nowadays quite expensive) and then, behind Ataturk statue, there is one of the smallest and still loveliest theaters in Bucharest, Odeon Theatre (GPS - N44 26.145 E26 05.908). On the opposite side of the street there is the Phone Palace (the first high building in the city, built in 1933 by two American architects, Louis Weeks and Walter Froy) and on the right, one of the oldest hotels in the city, namely Continental Hotel (1886). Across the street from the Continental there is a strange building. Otherwise an ugly and misplaced glass covered box (I find even communist apartment buildings more appealing than these characterless glass covered boxes), they have recreated in front of it the old facade of the National Theatre, bombed in WW2 (and rebuilt in University Square).
Soon afterwards we enter the wide Revolution Square (Piața Revoluției), which concentrates a few interesting buildings, also playing host to the 1989 revolution with most of the buildings here suffering from the shootings. The first to be noticed is Crețulescu Church (1720-1722) to our left, a typical monument built in the Brâncoveanu style (the only sort of a Romanian architectural style, blending elements from the traditional households with a trace of baroque and the Orthodox church structure). On the same side of the street there is Romania’s finest museum and possibly the sole good legacy of the shooting, because it was damaged in such a way that they had to entirely refurbish it and therefore make it a modern museum: The Royal Palace (see my separate tip regarding to the Royal Palace / National Art Museum); GPS - N44 26.390 E26 05.790.
Just across the street from Crețulescu Church there are the former headquarters of the Communist Party in Romania (“the Central Committee”), from the roof of which former President Ceaușescu left Bucharest by helicopter in December 1989, just to be caught hours later; GPS - N44 26.318 E26 05.886. Just North of this structure there is the 19th century Grigore Păucescu House; after WW2 it hosted the Communist secret service 5th department and it was severely damaged during the shooting in December 1989; it was restored 11 years later, when the Architects’ Union (that is nowadays hosted inside) developed a “rebirth” project that resulted with the actual glass box rising from the old carcass; GPS - N44 26.360 E26 05.904. Across the street from the Royal Palace there is another building that suffered severely from the shooting in the 1989: the Central University Library (built in 1891-1893 by King Charles the 1st and which lost all its books, as well as all decorations and statues inside during the 1989 events); just behind the library and its new wing one can spot the single floor, Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Classical structure of Theodor Aman House. Then, to the right, we can notice possibly the most beautiful building in the whole city: the domed Ateneul Român (The Romanian Athenaeum); GPS - N44 26.468 E26 05.815.
Continuing along the Calea Victoriei, we meet, just past the Athenaeum, the Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel (1912), formerly built in French style and transformed in the 30s in the actual modernism outlook, it was the first building in Romania to be conceived on a reinforced concrete structure. Walking on the same side of the street, we soon meet a small church to the right: the White Church (18th century, bearing a great iconostasis, brought here from the Episcopie Church that used to lie in the place of the Romanian Athenaeum). After a short while, just before crossing Dacia Avenue, we meet a sample of the interwar architecture in Bucharest: the 1934-1941 former State Monopolies Building, nowadays hosting the Ministry of Industry and Trade. We cross the Dacia and meet to the right Plaza Casino, hosted in a very nice building, then, across the street, through the dense trees one can notice the Romanian Academy (1890) and soon another gambling paradise: Palace Casino, hosted by the elegant Vernescu House (built in the beginning of the 19th century); GPS - N44 26.858 E26 05.376.
A short while afterwards, on the same left side of the street we meet George Enescu Museum, hosted by a great and monumental building, Cantacuzino Palace (see my special tip for this building); GPS - N44 26.929 E26 05.311. Across the street from it there is the former Italian Legation, nowadays hosting the Art History Institute; the building was designed by architects Grigore Cerchez and Alexandre Clavel, a fine sample of the Eclectic style that was prevailing during the end of the 19th century, with Neoclassical decoration. Soon afterwards we enter Victoria Square in which there are also a few places to mention. To the left, between Ion Mihalache Avenue and Kiseleff Road there is Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum (as we enter from Victoria Avenue, we turn left, cross the tram lines, turn right and cross Titulescu Avenue on top of the passage, then cross once again the tram lines to the right and reach the Antipa). Farther up the Kiseleff there is the Romanian Peasant Museum and across the street from it there is the Geology Museum; GPS - N44 27.285 E26 05.090. See my special posts about them. After crossing Kiseleff Road and Aviatorilor Avenue, we can cast a look at the Romanian Government building (1937-1952, originally meant for the Foreign Affairs Ministry); GPS - N44 27.188 E26 05.187.