Union Hall, Alba Iulia

The Union Hall stands inside the Alba Carolina Citadel in Alba Iulia, opposite the Babilon building, home of the National Museum of the Union. On 1 December 1918 it hosted the assembly of delegates that voted for the union of Transylvania with Romania. The building was erected between 1898 and 1900, on the site of a former restaurant, as a military casino for the Austro-Hungarian garrison of the citadel. On 1 December 1918 the 1,228 accredited delegates gathered here; the hall could not hold them all, and some stayed in the surrounding streets. On the same day more than 100,000 people came to Alba Iulia. Before the coronation of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie in 1922 the interior was remodelled: a vestibule, side niches and a semicircular vault were added, and the entrance was turned into a triumphal arch with a Latin inscription written by Nicolae Iorga. The hall can be visited and admission is free. Inside are red marble walls, a white marble floor, the canvases of the French painter Pierre Bellet showing Romanian princes and cultural figures, the mural by Horea Cucerzan (1992) and the busts of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie by Vlad Ciobanu. The building was restored in 2018. The Union Hall (the former Military Casino) is a category A historic monument, LMI code AB-II-m-A-00127. Did you know that Pierre Bellet's canvases were taken down by the communist authorities in 1968 and only rediscovered in 2012? After restoration at the Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu, they were put back on display in the hall.