Adevĕrul Palace

On August 15, 1888, the first issue of the newspaper Adevĕrul was published in Bucharest, under the direction of Alexandru V. Beldiman. This newspaper played a crucial role in the modernization of the Romanian press, including significant technical advancements. Ten years later, Constantin Mille, the new director and owner of Adevĕrul, was preparing for the opening of the newspaper’s new headquarters. In March 1887, Mille had purchased a portion of land on Sărindar Street (now Constantin Mille) from engineer George Popovici, formerly owned by George Heliad. With great financial efforts, Adevĕrul could finally afford its own headquarters, suitable for the complex journalistic and printing activities.

The Adevĕrul “Palace,” located at 11 Sărindar Street, was intended to be Romania’s answer to the famous Figaro building in Paris. Designed by architects Șt. Ciocârlan, R. Galinger, and I. Galinger, the two-story building was expansive for the editorial, administrative, and printing needs of the newspaper in 1898, though it would soon become overcrowded.

In the early days of the year, the printing presses, as well as the editorial and administrative offices, were moved into the building. The “Telegraph Room,” tall and expansive, was flanked on both sides by galleries that housed the administration’s offices, the subscription department, and more. The printing facilities were installed in the basement. The staircase walls were adorned with large colored posters from both Romanian and foreign press. Upstairs, the editorial offices, archives, library, lithography department, phototypesetting, and management offices were located. The official inauguration of the new headquarters took place on Sunday, May 3, 1898, with around 500 guests, including notable figures such as A. Vlahuță, V. Gh. Morțun, C. D. Anghel, V. Valentineanu, V. M. Kogălniceanu, painter Jiquidi, Vintilă C. A. Rosetti, G. Ranetti, and D. Nanu.

Six years after its opening, Adevĕrul acquired a new sister publication, Dimineața. In 1912, the “palace” expanded by purchasing the neighboring building, which housed the Saint-Frères sack factory. However, the unification of the buildings was halted by the onset of World War I, and the “palace” was requisitioned by the German command, which used it to print Bukarester Tageblatt. In 1940, Constantin Mille sold both publications to banker Aristide Blank, and Constantin Graur became the new director. Graur demolished the old palace building and replaced it with a reinforced concrete one, purchased a neighboring building, and unified them with the factory. He equipped the printing press with the most modern technology of the time and began printing six other weekly publications, marking the beginning of a golden era for the newspapers under Adevĕrul’s umbrella.

In 1951, the communist regime suppressed Adevĕrul, replacing it with Luceafărul, which was privatized after the Revolution. Shortly after, the “palace” building was abandoned, and equipment, tools, and anything containing metal were stripped away. By 2020, the former waiting room and old hall still bore the empty spaces where portraits of Alexandru V. Beldiman, Constantin Mille, Gheorghe Asachi, Ion Heliade-Rădulescu, George Barițiu, and C.A. Rosetti had once hung.

In just a few years, with the tacit knowledge of those responsible for its care, the once-proud “palace” had become a ruin in every sense of the word. Everything was falling apart, with pieces breaking off from the top floor, where the laboratory of Iosif Berman, Romania’s first true photojournalist, could still be found. Berman worked here from 1925 until 1938, and his contributions to Romanian press photography were immense. Known as “the man with a thousand eyes” by Geo Bogza, Berman sent photographic material abroad to Associated Press, Scandinavian Newspaper Press, the New York Times, and several London magazines. Over a career spanning 15 years, he worked for Dimineața, Adevărul, Realitatea Ilustrată, and others. Dimitrie Gusti called him “the co-author of the image of the Romanian village and peasant,” always requesting his presence on monographic teams in rural Romania during the interwar period.

The documentary Omul cu o mie de ochi (2001), directed by Alexandru Solomon, filmed the interior of the former Adevĕrul “Palace.” Luiza Berman, the daughter of the famous photojournalist, opened the door to her father’s laboratory in the building’s printing press area. These are some of the few post-1989 images in which we can see an interior unaffected by the degradation that followed, leading to the demolition of the entire “palace” at the end of April 2021, 123 years after its inauguration.

Sources: Almanahul Ziarelor Adevĕrul și Dimineața – 1934; Tiberiu Avramescu, Adevĕrul. Mișcarea democratică și socialistă (1895-1920), Ed. Politică, 1982; Omul cu o mie de ochi (2001).

Text & photo: Alex Iacob

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