The Little Trianon - Romania from above in 4K

In the village of Floresti, in Prahova county, some 80 km North of Bucharest, the Cantacuzino family, a family with a long-standing history in Romania, built a palace called Le Petit Trianon (The Little Trianon). Conservative politician Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, nicknamed "The Nabob" for his immense fortune, started building the mansion in 1911, at the request of his niece, Alice. It was a palace like none before in Romania. As requested by Alice Cantacuzino, the mansion had 150 bedrooms, seven ballrooms, and a tree park of 150 hectares, with rare trees, aqueducts, hunting grounds, golf courses, and horse riding grounds. However, the mansion was never finished. In 1913, Gheorghe Cantacuzino died without seeing the palace to completion. In 1914, French, Italian and Greek builders had finished the exterior and were starting on the roof. The walls were built of thick brick coated with travertine. The objects to decorate the interior were stored in the basement, and were never set up. They were stolen along the years. After the death of the magnate, no one took care of the castle, and no one ever lived in it. Princess Alice left to live abroad, and her uncle’s gift, the Princess’ Palace, as it was known, went into oblivion, and still lies forgotten. The Little Trianon in Floresti is nowadays gutted. The roof and interior compartments are no longer, but the outer walls still stand, almost intact. The interior walls are ruined, and the bricks that escaped the thieves are scattered on the floor. The effects of time, disrepair and vandalism were disastrous. It all started in world war one, when German troops stripped the roof of its copper sheet, took out the terracotta stoves, and furnishings. Devastating events were to follow. In 1944, the Red Army took a few Ionic columns from the building. Then locals started breaking off the exterior Baroque, neo-Classical, and Renaissance decorations, decorating their stables and pigpens. As the stone was stolen, the building lost support. The earthquake of 1977 brought down the chimneys and some of the interior walls. During the communist regime, the building hosted a state farm, a dog training school, a military barracks. The drama of Little Trianon is that is lies forgotten, in spite of promises made by the authorities. With a name like Trianon, it should have a better fate. More videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7rxv05nKJM