# Bucharest Cinemas

You buy popcorn at the mall without knowing the city once had 61 halls: in 1964, Bucharest buzzed with cinemas with summer gardens, with names like Aro, Corso, Rex or Femina. Then came the multiplexes, the seismic law and the demolitions — and five art houses survived. The map below pins 13 cinemas to today's streets.

In short: the first elegant halls are interwar (Clasic/Capitol 1912, Patria 1934, Scala 1935); the peak is in 1964, with 61 halls; after 1990 they fall one by one — Capitol, Festival and Lumina in 2002, Patria and Studio in 2015 (seismic), Scala in 2016, Favorit demolished in 2019. Today five still run: Eforie, Union, Europa, Elvire Popesco and Apollo111. Below you can look up your street and see which cinema was on it.

## The map: 13 cinemas, 1989 is the year when nearly all were running

Green are the 5 cinemas still running today: Eforie, Union, Europa, Elvire Popesco, Apollo111. Amber are 8 ghosts: Patria, Scala, Studio, Capitol, Festival, Lumina, Corso, Favorit — pinned to today's streets as points, not surveys. Drag the slider or press Play the years and see what was running in the chosen year — in 1989, 12 of 13 were running; only Apollo was missing.

### 1912–1944: the elegant halls

Clasic opens on 26 May 1912, with the Alhambra garden from 1916; Patria in Creangă's ARO block (1934); Frankel's Scala on 2 December 1935, with 860 seats. In 1944, Scânteia lists 57 halls. The first lights come on across the map.

### 1944–1989: 61 halls

The state renames everything: Scala becomes Republica (1951–1967), Capitol becomes I.C. Frimu; in 1964 there are 61 halls, summer gardens included. Favorit opens in the Drumul Taberei complex (1965). In 1989, 12 of the 13 mapped halls are running.

### 1990–2026: multiplexes and ghosts

Capitol, Festival and Lumina fall in 2002, killed by the multiplexes; Patria and Studio in 2015, by the seismic law; Scala in 2016; Favorit is demolished in 2019. On the map, the ghosts fade one by one; five art houses stay green.

Points are anchors on the verified address (display only, not surveys and not footprints). The start year is the opening (Patria 1934, Scala 1935, Capitol 1912, Elvire 1979, Favorit 1965, Apollo111 2016) or the first attestation in the lists of the time: Corso 1944 (the name; the hall's continuity is uncertain), Eforie 1947, Lumina 1950, Studio 1963 (the Magheru 29 hall), Union and Festival 1964, Europa 1944 (the Miorița hall). End years are attested closures. Halls without a verified address or year (Dacia, Gloria, Excelsior, București, PRO, the Peasant Museum) are counted in the text, never mapped.

## From Clasic to Apollo111

A century of halls: who built them, who closed them, and what is left of them.

The beginnings are elegant. The Clasic hall opens on 26 May 1912 on Elisabeta boulevard, and behind it, on Constantin Mille, the Alhambra garden (May 1916, architect Nenciulescu, baroque facade). In 1938, Clasic is remodelled art deco and becomes Capitol; Alhambra becomes the Capitol garden. Patria opens in 1934 on the ground floor of Creangă's ARO block (Magheru 12-14), and Scala on 2 December 1935, to the German Frankel's plans: 860 seats, marble and Western comfort. In 1944, the city had 57 halls — Aro, Corso, Rex, Femina, Colorado.

The peak is communist and is measured in lists: 45 halls in 1947, 37 in 1950, 57 in 1963, 61 in 1964, 43 in 1965, 45 in 1974. The state renames everything it touches: Scala becomes Republica between 1951 and 1967, Capitol becomes I.C. Frimu after nationalisation (Frimu in the 1963–1964 lists, Capitol again in 1974), Magheru becomes Carpați, Maxim Gorki becomes Union. Favorit opens in 1965 in the Drumul Taberei complex; Eforie runs from 1947, Lumina from 1950, Miorița (today Europa) from 1944. Summer gardens are everywhere: Dinamo, Festival, Arta, Capitol.

The end comes in two waves. First the multiplexes: Capitol, Festival and Lumina — three neighbours on Elisabeta — fall in 2002; Favorit closes around 1998 and is demolished in 2019. Then the seismic law: Studio closes on 19 November 2015, Patria also in 2015, Scala in 2016 (for sale, still empty in 2024), Corso around 2017. Studio flickers once more: reopened as Cassandra in February 2019, closed in May 2019. Five stay green: Eforie, Union, Europa, Elvire (1979, renovated 2011–2012) and Apollo111 (2016).

Three halls deserve a dossier of their own. Studio (Magheru 29): the same hall that was Magheru and Carpați — seismically closed in 2015, the ghost with two deaths (2015, 2019). Corso (Elisabeta 27): attested from 1944, renovated around 2009 with Dolby, closed around 2017 — the boulevard's last mohican. Europa (Moșilor 127): the former Miorița, attested from 1944 — the only neighbourhood hall to reach the multiplex era alive.

## The people: two architects and a director

A modernist with a ten-storey block, a German with 860 armchairs, and a Palme d'Or asking the state to save the halls.

### Creangă: the ten-storey block with a cinema on the ground floor

Horia Creangă: the ARO block (designed 1929, finished 1931) — Patria on the ground floor, flats above.

In 1929, Horia Creangă designs for the ARO insurance company a modernist ten-storey block on Magheru 12-14 — finished in 1931. On the ground floor: the Patria cinema, with 1,000 seats, a “Western atmosphere”, the last word in technology. Above: flats. It is the perfect interwar recipe: culture below, homes above.

Patria lasts 81 years: closed in November 2015, from seismic risk, together with Studio, Scala and PRO — the four halls hit by the seismic law. The ARO block is a historic monument; the hall waits for consolidation.

- 1929–1931: designed and finished
- 1,000: seats at Patria
- 2015: seismically closed

### Frankel: the German with 860 armchairs

Rudolf Frankel: Scala, opened on 2 December 1935 — Hollywood and European films at small prices.

The German architect Rudolf Frankel draws Scala: 860 seats in stalls and balcony, marble walls, Western comfort. The opening — 2 December 1935 — promises Hollywood and European films “at bargain prices”. It is so famous that Timișoara names its own Scala after it, in 1938.

In 1951, the state takes it and renames it Republica; on 9 February 1967 it returns to private hands and regains its name. Closed in 2016, put up for sale, still empty in 2024 — 30 metres from Patria, on the same street.

- 02.12.1935: the opening
- 1951–1967: called Republica
- 2016: closed, for sale

### Mungiu: “it is not right for film to come last”

Cristian Mungiu asks the state in 2012 to save the halls; in 2015, the seismic law hits four at once.

In 2012, a Palme d'Or laureate (2007), Cristian Mungiu asks the government to save the cinemas: “it is not right for the film industry to always come last on the list of cultural priorities”. The last three large cinemas in Bucharest had just closed, all in seismically risky buildings.

In November 2015, the verdict: Studio, PRO, Scala and Patria are hit by the law at once. Studio closes on 19 November 2015, Patria at the same time; Scala holds out until 2016. Mungiu was right, but the law had the earthquake on its side.

- 2012: Mungiu's appeal
- 4: halls hit by the law
- 19.11.2015: Studio falls

## Which cinema was on your street?

Type the street name: the page knows, for 4,878 streets, which of the 13 mapped cinemas was on it. Only 8 streets have mapped cinemas; the rest — the halls without a verified address — are counted in the text, never mapped.

Streets are from OpenStreetMap (October 2026); hall points are anchors on the verified address (display only). If your street once had a hall without an address in the sources, it is not on the map — but it is in the text.

## Method: how we know

Every year on the page has a source; every point is marked as an anchor, not a survey.

The backbone is the Wikipedia list “Lista cinematografelor din București”: snapshots from the press of the time — Scânteia (1944, 1947), România Liberă (1950), Informația Bucureștiului (1963), Scânteia (1964, 1965), 1974 — with the counts 57/45/37/57/61/43/45 and the addresses from 1963–1974. The per-hall histories (openings, renamings, closures) are from CinemaTreasures (Ken Roe, David Simpson, thomastace), with addresses and coordinates, plus the press (Eventbook 1979, EAIPA 2016, bucharest.ro 2015).

The geometry is anchoring, not surveying: each hall is a point on the verified address (CinemaTreasures/Nominatim), with small offsets so they do not overlap. The start year is the opening or the first attestation in the lists; the end years are attested closures (summer 2002 for Capitol/Festival/Lumina, 2015 seismic for Patria/Studio, 2016 Scala, 2017 Corso, ~1998 Favorit, 2019 Cassandra). The lookup only matches street names; it measures no distances.

What we do not know we do not invent: halls without a verified address or year (Dacia, Gloria, Excelsior, București, PRO, the Peasant Museum, the multiplexes) are counted, never mapped; for Corso, 1944 is the first attestation of the name (the hall's continuity is uncertain); the Patria hall is from 1934, the ARO block from 1931; Festival may date from the 1930s (CinemaTreasures), but its first attestation in the lists is 1964; the Frimu years differ between CinemaTreasures (1947–1977) and the lists (Frimu in 1963–1964, Capitol again in 1974); Europa stands on the Miorița hall (same address, Moșilor 127); Studio starts in 1963, when the Magheru 29 hall is attested; the number conflict at Capitol (16 in the 1963 list, 36 at CinemaTreasures) is resolved in favour of CinemaTreasures — the street is the same.

## Quiz: six questions from the page

All the answers are above, with sources. Three out of six is human; six out of six is from the days of the summer gardens.

- **How many cinemas are pinned to the map?** 13
- **When did Scala open?** On 2 December 1935
- **Who designed the ARO block with Patria on the ground floor?** Horia Creangă
- **How many halls did Bucharest have in 1964?** 61
- **When did Studio close on seismic grounds?** On 19 November 2015
- **What happened to Favorit?** Closed around 1998, demolished in 2019

## Old questions, short answers

- **How many cinemas are on the map?** 13 — 5 running (Eforie, Union, Europa, Elvire Popesco, Apollo111) and 8 ghosts (Patria, Scala, Studio, Capitol, Festival, Lumina, Corso, Favorit). Other halls (Dacia, Gloria, Excelsior, București, PRO) are counted in the text, without a verified address or year.
- **Why does Capitol stand on 1912?** The Clasic hall opened on 26 May 1912; in 1938 it was remodelled art deco and renamed Capitol. After the 1947 nationalisation it was called I.C. Frimu; the lists of the time show it as Capitol again in 1974. Closed in the summer of 2002.
- **What was Republica at Scala?** The communist name of the Scala hall: the state took it in 1951 and renamed it Republica; on 9 February 1967 it returned to private hands and to the name Scala. Closed in 2016.
- **Why did Patria and Studio close in 2015?** The seismic law: in November 2015, Studio, PRO, Scala and Patria were hit at once. Studio closed on 19 November 2015, Patria at the same time. Scala held out until 2016.
- **Where is Miorița?** On Calea Moșilor 127 — today it is called Europa. The hall is attested from 1944 as Miorița; it is the only neighbourhood hall to reach the multiplex era alive.
- **What about Cassandra?** Studio's last flicker: seismically closed in 2015, reopened as Cinema Cassandra in February 2019, closed in May 2019. Three months of festivals, then the grille again.
- **Which cinemas still run today?** Five: Eforie and Union (the Cinematheque), Europa, Elvire Popesco (the French Institute) and Apollo111 (an independent theatre with cinema projection). Plus the mall multiplexes, unmapped.

## Sources

- Wikipedia română — „Lista cinematografelor din București”: instantanee 1944–1974, numărători 57/45/37/57/61/43/45 / cinema lists 1944–1974 https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_cinematografelor_din_Bucure%C8%99ti
- CinemaTreasures (Ken Roe, David Simpson, thomastace) — istoriile pe săli: Patria, Scala, Capitol, Festival, Corso, Lumina, Cassandra / per-hall histories https://cinematreasures.org/
- Eventbook 1979, EAIPA 2016, bucharest.ro 2015 — Elvire, Scala, Patria / the press https://www.cinemagia.ro/
- OpenStreetMap (ODbL), octombrie 2026 — 4.878 de străzi, geometria de fond / 4,878 streets, background geometry https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

https://mariuscomper.uk/cinematografele-bucurestilor/en/