The house of Theodor Aman (1831-1891), the founder of Romanian modern painting and a great salon portraitist, in the back streets behind the Athenaeum. Aman designed every detail of the building — including the wrought-iron balcony and the carved wooden doors — and lived here for decades. After his death the house was preserved as a museum almost unchanged.
The ground-floor studio is the highlight, with its tall windows, easels, and the master's own paintings still on the walls. The upper floors hold rooms of furniture, prints, and personal possessions. It is a small, intimate museum — easily seen in 45 minutes — and one of the most evocative ways to experience the world of 19th-century Bucharest cultural life.