Nicolae Ghica-Budești

Nicolae Ghica-Budești (December 22, 1869 – December 16, 1943) was an influential Romanian architect who helped define the Neo-Romanian style. He studied ancient monuments in Wallachia, writing four volumes documenting the architectural history of the region. The "Muntenia and Oltenia evolution in architecture" was based on his work. His masterpiece is the Museum of the Romanian Peasant which took more than two decades to complete.

Biography Ghica-Budești was born in Iași to Eugen N. Ghika-Budești and his wife Elena Cantacuzino-Măgureanu. He attended the Collège Gaillard of Lausanne, Switzerland and the École Monge in Paris. Then, he returned and studied architecture at the School of Bridges and Roads in Bucharest from 1889 to 1893 under Anghel Saligny. He returned to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts with Victor Alexandre Frederic Laloux and earned his degree in 1901. That same year, he married Madeleine Landrieu (1869–1951) in Paris. They had two children: Ion Ghica-Budești and geologist Ștefan Ghica-Budești. Ghica-Budești was made an honorary member of the Romanian Academy and served as president of the Romanian Architects Society from 1932 to 1935. who wrote four volumes of historiography of architecture after an in-depth study of properties in Muntenia and Oltenia, Wallachia. The "Muntenia and Oltenia evolution in architecture" was based primarily on his studies and writing. He was considered one of the leading experts of his time, along with Ion Mincu and Petre Antonescu. Ghica-Budești died in 1943 in Bucharest.

Written works Mânăstirea Probota (with G. Balș), Institutul de arte grafice Carol Göbl: Bucharest (1909) (Arta românească nr. 3) Evoluția arhitecturii în Muntenia și Oltenia, I. Înrâuririle străine de la origine pâna la Neagoe Basarab, in Buletinul Comisiunii Monumentelor Istorice (BCMI) XX (1927), issues 53–54, pp. 121–158 Evoluția arhitecturii în Muntenia și Oltenia, II. Vechiul stil românesc din veacul al XVI-lea, in BCMI, XXIII (1930), issues 63–66 Evoluția arhitecturii în Muntenia și Oltenia, III. Veacul al XVII-Iea, în BCMI XXV (1932), issues 71–74 Evoluția arhitecturii în Muntenia și Oltenia, IV. Noul stil din veacul al XVIII-lea, in BCMI, XXIX (1936), issues 87–90

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