156
CERCUL MILITAR NAŢIONAL
charest; letting some spaces, etc. All these demarches
proved either fruitless, either inefficient.
As the building risked to be put to auction, the
Steering Committee renewed its request for a loan to
the Ministry of War. Thanks to the efforts of Generals
Ion Istrati and Ion Răşcanu and Intendent General C.
Zaharia, the cabinet headed by Army Corps General
Alexandru Averescu approved, through the Decision
no. 3771 of November 28, 1920, a free of interest loan
of 6,000,000 lei for a 15 year period with an annual in-
stallment of 400,000 lei.
With this sum, the Military Club paid its debts to
the Central Service of Manutention and the Donation
House of the Army. The remaining money, 1,114,064
lei, was used to fund the activities of the Military Club
and to finalize the construction. Despite all this, the
financial problem remained difficult, given that the
officers no longer paid their subscriptions in the first
years after the war. As a consequence, the Military
Club was forced to let parts of the building, mostly for
commercial ventures, something that proved to be a
hindrance to its activity. It was more than a few times
when the Military Club was forced to settle various
contractual disputes through courts.
Despite all this, it had a relatively rich activity dur-
ing the first years after the war. Although the palace
was still not completed – and several parts of building
were rented –, the library, the fencing hall and the can-
teen resumed their activity. At the same time, a series
of recreation and training activities (conferences, map
exercises, etc.) were organized. The palace also hosted
numerous foreign delegations that visited the country
during those years. Among them, it is worth mention-
ing the visit of Marshal Pietro Badoglio (May 29, 1921),
who paid homage to the city of Bucharest in the name
of the Italian royal family, British Admiral John Robeck
Baronett (September 29, 1921), Marshal Ferdinand
Foch and General Henri Mathias Bethelot (October 19,
1922) etc.
The construction works ended in late 1922 and,
on February 4, 1923, the Palace was inaugurated. The
festivities were attended by King Ferdinand, Queen
Maria, prince Nicolae (crown prince Carol was on a
visit to Italy), General Gheorghe Mărdărescu, minis-
ter of war, General Constantin Christescu, Chief of the
General Staff, General Ştefan Holban, commander of
the Second Army Corps, Eracle Nicoleanu, prefect of
Bucharest Police, Paul Angelescu, marshal of the Royal
Court, Alexandru Tell, veteran of the War of Indepen-
dence, etc.
The festivities started at 11:30 with a religious ser-
vice in the Festive Hall, held by Metropolitan-Primate
Miron Cristea, who was assisted by archimandrites
Gordun Galaction and Gheronte Nicolae and archdea-
cons Antonie and Nicodim. Miron Cristea consecrated
the Palace and, in a short speech, reminded the audi-
ence that the sumptuous edifice was built on the loca-
tion of a well known religious site. In his short speech,
King Ferdinand expressed his hopes that the Palace
will be “a temple of true camaraderie, a place of rest
after daily work, a place of recreation where the offi-
cers from all garrisons can have access to knowledge
among their fellows, as the Palace is destined not only
for the garrison of Bucharest, but for the entire Roma-
nian army”. At 9:00 in the evening, the halls of the Mili-
tary Club hosted a ball, the royal family being among
the attendees.
The inauguration of the Palace drew the atten-
tion of the press, although it did not make the head-
lines. The major newspapers – “Universul”, “Dimineaţa”,
“Adevărul”, “Neamul Românesc” – recorded the event,
informing their readers about the program of the fes-
tivities and the significance of the new edifice.
