Nicolae Minovici and his Villa

Founder of the first ambulance service in Bucharest in 1906, doctor Nicolae Minovici is better known as the owner of the Crystal Bells Villa. Located in the far north of the capital Bucharest, the building is worth visiting when in Bucharest

Christine Leșcu, 25.06.2016, 14:37

The name Minovici is related to several important institutions and two museums in Bucharest. Actually, important chapters in Romanias modern history such as research in chemistry and the emergence of crucial medical services were written by the Minovici family. The three Minovici siblings – Mina, Nicolae and Stefan –also contributed to the development of modern Romania through pioneering actions and research in the fields of chemistry, crucial medical services and the practice of forensic medicine. Founder of the first ambulance service in Bucharest in 1906, doctor Nicolae Minovici is better known as the owner of the Crystal Bells Villa. Located in the far north of the capital Bucharest, on the road leading to the Baneasa and Otopeni airports, the building was also the terminus point for the rides down the main city boulevard, which Bucharesters used to take in horse-driven coaches during holidays. Designed in Neo-Romanian style by architect Cristofi Cerchez, a good friend of the doctor, the building was erected for a clear purpose.

Adrian Majuru, the director of the Bucharest Museum has the details: “Minovici was in permanent contact with the West and western experts who knew him very well, but they didn’t know much about his country. In order to avoid giving explanations about his country, Minovici decided to finalize a small-scale project about Romania that was to include national values. So he called on Cristofi Cerchez to build a house in the Neo Romanian style with the structure following a stylized, modernized form. It was a fortified building typical of the rural areas and of the Balkans called ‘kula’ – tower. He decided on this model to include a chapel into the house. Meanwhile, he purchased national artefacts. If at the end of the 19th century until the beginning of WWI he collected artefacts in a less organized manner, after the war he moved to Cluj where he spent 20 years to organize the academic medical education there. While in Cluj he paid more attention and focused on distinct ethnographic areas. He opened the museum in 1906, the building being started in 1905. It was a private museum and Minovici did not live there. He called his project ‘The National Art Museum’ and it was the first such museum opened in Bucharest.

Entry to the museum was free and it became known to Bucharest quite fast also due to the 40 bells adorned with goose down and placed in a gazebo. In the Romanian ethnography the significance of bells is related to the ritual of warding off evil spirits. When the bells ring in the wind, they say the evil spirits get scared and go away. The bells of the Minovici villa are made of glass and they have been recently reconditioned and placed in their initial location. Also recently a large-scale restoration process of the building has come to end. EU funds have been used for that purpose.

Adrian Majuru: “On one of the buildings ends there is an area that is now being turned into a park. 100 years ago in this place there used to be a farm with orchards, beehives and domestic birds. Minovici set up this farm for social and charitable purposes. In 1906 he set up a society called “Salvarea- Ambulance, a building that also included the office for labour assistance destined for the Bucharest beggars with the clear purpose of making them give up begging and getting reintegrated into society. The food for the beggars came from that farm where former beggars were working, who were hired by the doctor for a monthly wage.

In 1936 doctor Nicolae Minovici donated the museum to the Romanian state and the museum has been administered by the Bucharest City Hall ever since. The other museum linked to the Minovici family is located right behind the Crystal Bells Villa and it’s called “The Old Western Art Museum. It was set up by a nephew of the Minovici brothers, engineer Dumitru Furnică.