Casele Băniei

Casa Băniei, also known as Casele Băniei, is the oldest civil building in Craiova, Dolj County, and a medieval architectural monument of national importance. The edifice was built at the end of the 15th century by the Craiovești boyars, the most influential noble family in Oltenia, and is attributed, according to most historical accounts, to the great ban Barbu Craiovescu. The building served as the residence of the bans — the officials who governed the Bania (Marea Bănie) of Oltenia, the second most important political institution in Țara Românească after the ruling prince — and as the meeting place of the Divan of Craiova. The building was reconstructed in a form close to its present appearance in 1699 by ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu, a descendant of the Craiovești family, who rebuilt it using taxes collected from the counties of Oltenia, in the Brâncovenesc style, with brick-vaulted rooms on the ground floor and covered porches on the upper floor, similar to the palaces at Mogoșoaia and Potlogi; of the Craiovești's original construction, only part of the cellars survives today. Over the centuries, the building was set on fire several times and served many different purposes: during the Austrian occupation of Oltenia (1718–1739) it became the seat of the Habsburg administration, which fortified it; in 1750 it was handed over to the Episcopia Râmnicului, and from the 19th century onwards it successively housed the Craiova Tribunal, the Frații Buzești High School, the Theological Seminary and the State Archives. From 1933 it housed the Muzeul Olteniei for a period, and since 1966 it has been home to the museum's Ethnography Section, with a collection of thousands of pieces of Oltenian folk art — ceramics (including pottery from Oboga), wall rugs and folk costumes, icons on glass and wood, traditional tools and objects. Casa Băniei is located in the central area of the city, in the immediate vicinity of the Sfântul Dumitru Metropolitan Cathedral and Parcul Sfântul Dumitru.