King Carol I Monument

Public Art: King Carol I Monument

Also Known As: King Charles I Monument

Sculptor: © Florin Codre (based on Ivan Mestrovic’s 1939 statue) 

Description: A massive bronze statue of the first King of Romania, Carol I (1839-1914) on his horse.

Date Unveiled: The original statue of King Carol I was inaugurated in 1939 but was later destroyed by the Soviets as part of a systematic erasing of the nation’s memory, following the rise of a communist regime. The new statue was inaugurated on December 6, 2010, with HRH Crown Princess Margareta of Romania, heiress of the Romanian Crown and her husband, HRH Prince Radu, present. 

Location: The statue is located on its original location, at Calea Victoriei, in Piața Palatului (a square that was renamed “The Revolution Square” after the bloody events of 1989), Bucharest, Romania.

Things you may not know about the King Carol I Monument: In 1948 the Communists melted the original statue to make a Lenin statue.

Background: The original statue by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović was erected in 1939.  In December 1947, a coup by the Soviets ousted the Romanian monarchy. The next day under, the cover of night, the Soviet regime ordered the Ivan Mestrovic statue of King Carol I be ripped from its pedestal.

In 2007 a new statue was commissioned. Despite the  Meštrović family having a small scale copy of the original statue, Codre was unable to use it. Apparently, misunderstandings and the financial issues meant an agreement was never signed. This gave sculptor Florin Codre a little bit of freedom to create a similar but not an exact copy of the original.