Stirbey: residences, estates, foundations - Oana Marinache

București: ACS Publishing House, 2014

The book is the second volume dedicated to the Stirbey's chateaus, currently being published by ACS Publishing House, Art Conservation Support Association. The preface of the book is written by prof. dr. Ruxandra Demetrescu, the foreword by arh. dr. Ruxandra Nemțeanu, and the photographic and graphic processing is by Cristian Gache.

The work is the first comprehensive monograph of the Stirbey family residences and estates in Brasov, Bucharest, Craiova, Dărmănești, Voila-Câmpina, Sinaia, Pietroșani, Mamaia, Buzău, Stoenești, Storojineț, Paris, Nice.

Oana Marinache makes pertinent observations on the basis of new documents identified in archives in the country and abroad and the corroboration of data obtained through detailed analysis of family information and the Stirbey estates. The collected documents are systematized by generation, from the 18th century to the Second World War, then by urban, suburban, rural and foreign residences. It outlines important names in Romanian and foreign architecture who collaborated with the princely and princely families.

The second volume, "Știrbey: residences, estates, foundations", broadens the historical framework, completing the series of foundations of the ancestors of the 17th and 18th centuries, continuing with the main public works to which the vicomte Barbu D. Știrbey in the first half of the 19th century and then with his achievements during his own reign (1849-1856). Știrbey, with new information about his plans to erect a summer palace in the Kiseleff Gardens, then inventories about the furnishing of the Cotroceni Monastery and the villa in Nice, where he died in 1869. Chapter IV takes us on a journey both to France, following in the footsteps of Prince George B. Stirbey and in our own country, to the various estates of the princes and princesses of Stirbey. In the last part of the second volume, the analysis turns to the third and fourth generations of the prince's descendants, how they preserve and extend the inherited landed patrimony and build new residences, but also get involved in charitable projects.

The volume is published by Art Conservation Support as part of an editorial project funded by the Romanian Union of Architects and the Romanian Order of Architects, both from the Timbrul de Arhitectură. The editorial project is supported by partners: National Archives of Romania, National Heritage Institute, National University of Arts, Romanian Order of Architects, Art History Association.