The Romanian Academy (Academia Română) is the highest scientific and cultural forum in Romania, headquartered on Victory Avenue in Bucharest.
The institute was founded as the Romanian Literary Society (Societatea Literară Română) on 1 April 1866, at the initiative of C.A. Rosetti. In 1867, the name was changed to Romanian Academic Society (Societatea Academică Română) and in 1879 its current name was adopted, the Romanian Academy.
The institution’s main goals are the cultivation of the Romanian language and literature, the study of the national history of Romania, and research into major scientific domains. The first president of the academy was Ion Heliade Rădulescu, who’s statue can be found on University Square.
The institute was initially headquartered in a private house owned by the ban Constantin Gr. Ghica near Cișmigiu Garden. In 1869, the academy moved its activities to the left wing of the University Palace, where it operated until 1890.
The current headquarters of the Romanian Academy is a building called the Academy Palace on Victory Avenue no. 125. The palace was built in several stages from 1890, when two adjacent noble houses owned by Constantin Șt. Cesianu and Ștefan Bellu were bought and remodeled. In 1896, the houses were connected by a new central body.
The Romanian Academy is surrounded by a park where the Romanian Academy Library is also located. The library has a collection of over 7 million books and other items, including drawings, engravings, maps, and coins. The academy also has branches in Cluj-Napoca, Iași, and Timișoara, and has several other institutes under its auspices, including the George Oprescu Institute of Art History and the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History.
