Librarium Group opens Bastilia bookshop in Bucharest’s Piata Romana

Romanian bookstore chain Librarium Group has opened its fourth location and first Bucharest outlet in Piata Romana. The bookstore is located in a heritage building on the corner with Caderea Bastiliei Street.

Based in Gheorghe Petrascu House, the shop comprises three floors, with each room dedicated to a categories such as literature, science fiction and fantasy, children’s literature and school books, dictionaries or history, religion, law, art and gastronomy.

The noteworthy aspects of the bookshop start from the architecture of the building and continue with the way the books are arranged on the shelves, the small alcoves for private reading and the pleasant atmosphere brought about by the selection of wines, coffee and tea, plus the cute resident puppy Marcel and spoiled cat Asamj.

“Last Letter,” a work written by the Romanian poet Mihai Beniuc, leads shoppers to the “9th Sky,” the name of the building’s attic. Lines of the poem have been hand written on the railing that leads up the stairs to the top floor where a coffee and tea shop and Afumeria (smoking place) have been transformed into an experimental place by drawings by the artist Ion Barbu and other surrealist decorations.  

The space has been designed to host weekly events from book launches, exhibitions, series of lectures for adults and children to concerts and evening tango classes. Cooking sessions using recipes from works of literature take place twice a month, with tickets costing RON 10, under the “Pork with pepper” slogan.

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The 530-sqm Petrascu House was built in 1912 and is part of a three-house compound which belonged to the Patrascu brothers, Nicolae, Constantin and Gheorghe. The latter was a famous local painter from the interwar period. The house was designed in Neo-Romanian style by Spiridon Ceganeanu, a disciple of renowned Romanian architect Ion Mincu. It was refurbished in the 90s by architect Alexandru Beldiman. The building’s initial purpose was to host music and literary events.

Librarium Group owns several other bookstores throughout the country such as Cartea de Nisip  in Timisoara, Book Corner in Cluj Napoca and Avant Garde in Iasi. The Librarium project is run through the One Distribution Company, which is owned by businessman Cornel Nicolae Moisoiu.

More details about the events organized for children such as carnival evenings, shadows theatre and funny experiments can soon be found on the bookshop’s website, www.librariabastilia.ro. Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 10-22, Sunday 12-20.

Dana Niculescu