North of the Ateneul Roman is the Museum of Art Collections, occupying the Ghica Palace, or Casa Romanit, an early-19th-century building that housed the country's supreme court from 1883 until the Communist takeover. The art collections of the bourgeoisie were stored here during the time when wealth was dangerously unfashionable. Today, the museum offers a condensed, manageable version of the extensive National Art Museum farther south, enjoyed in peace -- don't be surprised if you are alone among a group of 20 museum attendants. At least that common attendance prior to the museum's closing for extensive renovations -- it may come back to life as a revitalized, popular attraction. The collection includes a rich survey of notable 19th- and 20th-century Romanian artists, together with some good, if anachronistic, religious icons. Particularly lovely are sculptures by Bucharest-born artist Oscar Han (1891-1976), and the paintings by Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907). Other favorites include fabulous nudes by Nicolae Tonzita (1886-1940), Theodor Pallady's Femei în peisaj (six pale naked maidens frolicking in the bushes, 1920), and Iosif Iser's intense yet playful Dancer in an Armchair, directly opposite a series of cartoons by Marcel Iancu (1895-1984).
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