Cărturești Carusel

The façade

The interior

Cărturești Carusel /kərtureʃti karusel/ is a bookstore on Lipscani 55 Street in the old town of Bucharest, Romania. Its name is sometimes misinterpreted as "Carousel of Light", but Cărturești does not mean "light"; it is the name of the bookstore chain to which the bookstore belongs.^[1] Cărturești is probably related to the word cărturar (meaning "learned man" or "scholar"),^[2] with a toponymic suffix -ești.

The building that currently houses the bookstore was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the Chrissoveloni bankers family. During the first few decades of its existence the building housed the Chrissoveloni Bank headquarters, and afterwards it became a general store. At the end of the 1990s and early 2000s the building fell into decay, up until 2015 when a five year long rehabilitation, strengthening and conversion project was complete.^[3]