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THE ARDEALUL HOTEL
An important building on the Boulevard that draws the attention of visitors
is the Ardealul Hotel. The building is a historical and architectural monument
built in Classic style in 1841. During the 18th century, the location housed the
coach station of Arad. The coaches stopped in Eminescu street in the area of the
present Mures Cinema; Arad was an important crossing point of the roads that went
towards Sibiu-Turnu Rosu- Bucuresti and towards Oradea, Timisoara, Craiova.
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In 1841 at the location of the old inn, a new building was erected according to the plans of Franz Mahler. The groundfloor of the building had a large festivity hall, which lodged, for decades, the most important cultural and political events of the town. After the First World War, this hall was transformed into a cinema hall (what we know today).
In 1872, the festivity hall was the place where more than 300 famous Romanians from the western side of Transylvania came under the leadership of Alexandru Mocioni to sign a program for national rights and the foundation of a Romanian political organisation. In 1863, the same hall was chosen to house the general meeting for the foundation of the Arad Culture Association, which had similar targets as ASTRA from Sibiu. Famous worldwide personalities played concerts in this hall such as Franz Liszt (1846), Johan Straus - son (1847), Johanes Brahms (1879), the great cello player Pablo Casals (1912) and others.
The memory of the "WHITE CROSS" HOTEL, as it was named in the past, evokes some famous names of Romanian cultural personalities such as George Cosbuc, Duiliu Zamfirescu, Octavian Goga, Cincinat Pavelescu and George Enescu. When travelling towards or from Berlin, the famous writer Ion Luca Caragiale use to overnight here. When travelling across Transylvania, Nicolae Iorga use to stop here in Arad; he left us a very special description of our town at the beginning of the century.
In time, the building suffered restoring actions of both outside and inside. The Museum of Arad has as an exhibited piece the piano used by Liszt and other already mentioned celebrities. Its ornamental work and especially its history make the Ardealul Hotel (The White Cross) a unique building.
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