Cotroceni Palace

Cotroceni Palace, in Bucharest, was originally built in the seventeenth century as a monastery and was later rebuilt in the late nineteenth century as a royal residence for Crown Prince Ferdinand and Princess Marie of Romania, blending French Baroque stylistic elements introduced by the French architect Paul Gottereau with the surviving monastic core of the site. It served the Romanian royal family until the abolition of the monarchy in 1947 and was used for state purposes under the subsequent socialist republic. Since 1991 it has served as the official residence and workplace of the President of Romania, with part of the complex maintained as a National Museum.