„The Golden Chrysanthemum” – the longest-running music festival in Romania

The first edition of the "Golden Chrysanthemum" national contest took place between 19th and 21st of December, 1968, the initiators being professors Paul Bǎnicǎ, director of the county's House of Popular Creation, Gheorghe Vǎlcescu, Methodist at the same institution and Constantin Manolescu, inspector at the Committee for Culture and Art of Dâmbovița County.

The jury, at each edition, included prestigious names of Romanian musical and literary life: Victor Eftimiu, Ioana Radu, Octav Enigǎrescu, Ludovic Spiess, Voicu Enǎchescu, Rodica Bujor, Ion Luican, Temistocle Popa, Felicia Filip and many others.

The recitals featured famous names such as: Gicǎ Petrescu, Ioana Radu, Ileana Sǎrǎroiu, Alina Mavrodin, Tudor Gheorghe, Florin Georgescu, Dida Drǎgan or Daniela Vlǎdescu.

Romanian romances resounded year after year from Târgoviște, the "Golden Chrysanthemum" festival being the longest-running music festival in Romania, which promotes Romance as a musical genre of national cultural heritage, and this year reached its 55th edition.

In the building where the birth certificate of the "Golden Chrysanthemum" National Festival was signed in 1968, on King Carol I Boulevard, no. 3 was inaugurated in 2017, to mark the 50th anniversary of the festival, a unique museum space in Romania – Casa Romanței (The House of Romance).