The Old Giurgiu City Hall (Primăria Veche a Orașului Giurgiu) is a historic municipal building in central Giurgiu, now housing the Victor Karpis Art Gymnasium. Built in 1889, it served as the city’s administrative headquarters for more than a century before being converted for educational use.
In October 1922, the building received a French delegation led by Marshal Ferdinand Foch, who presented honors to Giurgiu in recognition of the city’s destruction and suffering during the First World War. A commemorative plaque preserved inside the former municipal offices recalls the visit. The building was subsequently enlarged with additional wings during the communist period.
In 1996, the Romanian government transferred a former Ministry of Education property on Bulevardul București to the Giurgiu Municipality for use as its new headquarters. The municipal administration relocated there in the late 1990s, ending more than a century of City Hall operations in the 1889 building.
The former City Hall subsequently became home to the Victor Karpis Art Gymnasium, which provides specialized education in music and visual arts. The school was established in 1958 and is named after the Giurgiu-born conductor, composer, and music teacher Victor Karpis. Its students study instruments including piano, violin, flute, oboe, and clarinet, alongside drawing, painting, and modeling.
