The Little Trianon from Floresti

The architecture of the Cantacuzino Palace in Floresti is similar to that of the Little Trianon in Versailles, so this building is called the Little Trianon. The construction was made with builders and masonry from France, for the palace to look as close to the original as possible.

Little Trianon from Floresti was erected by Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (Nababul) and designed by architect Ion Berindei. Prior to the construction of the Little Trianon, it seems that Nababul called a famous French landscape artist, Emile Pinard, to restore the park and gardens already in the field.

For the construction of this palace, which Nababul raised to give to his niece Alice Cantacuzino, the latest techniques and the best materials of the era (reinforced concrete, railway tracks, granite) were used. The exterior walls have a thickness of over one meter, and the foundation and basement of the building were made of stone, which explains the building’s strength. The palace was built on three unequal levels (just like the Little Trianon in France), and there were several ballrooms in the interior.

On the facade there are several spectacular elements: bas-relief sculpture representing two angels bearing the family coat of arms, columns grouped in pairs, frames of carved stone windows, which at each level have a different motive.

Unfortunately, both the park and the palace remained unfinished due to the death of Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino in 1913 (81 years old after a pneumonia), but also because of the outbreak of World War I. The construction suffered during the First World War when the roof was destroyed, which caused the general degradation of the palace. After its completion, it seems that the Cantacuzino family would not have invested money in continuing the work at Little Trianon. In the meantime, the building and the park began to deteriorate, the walls plated with the stone of Albesti being infested with the bacillus Kock, a fungus attacking the stone, a kind of stone cancer.

At present, there are plans to restore the Trianon, so that this building becomes a cultural center.

The palace is in the middle of a park that is said to have been made by a famous Austrian landscape artist, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer, who apparently had been called by Grigore Cantacuzino (around 1840). In this park, Grigore Cantacuzino built between 1826 and 1830 a church, restored by his wife in 1876 and painted by Gh. Tattarescu. Along with the church, he also built a mansion, where today a sanitarium works.

On the way to Little Trianon you can visit the ruins of the Draghici Cantacuzino Palace, the Magureni Church and the ruins of the Mavros Cantacuzino Palace

  • com. Floresti, str. Grigore Cantacuzino nr. 44 Jud. Prahova
  • 45.028238, 25.793302
  • 7.7 km
  • 11 minutes