Former US Embassy in Romania, Spy Shoes, and Intercepted Communications | Spy Spots | #SS21

Former US Embassy in Romania, Spy Shoes, and Intercepted Communications | Spy Spots | #SS21

Back in the capital of Romania, Bucharest to talk about a now abandoned 
building in the heart of the city that was the centre of 
numerous Cold War spy stories. Including the infamous spy shoe. Welcome to Spy Spots. In Spy Spots episode 18, we covered 
the headquarters of Romania Securitate. The building of the former Central 
Committee of the Communist Party. Along with the Revolution Square 
and the Memorial of Rebirth which are there as a reminder of 
the end of communism in Romania. Just a couple of blocks east of them, 
we find this abandoned building. Which was a palace of Mauriciu Blank. A famous Romanian banker and co-founder 
of the Marmorosch Blank Bank. Specifically, it was built in 1891. Designed by the famous Swiss 
architect Louis Pierre Blanc who was also the man behind several 
impressive buildings in Romania, including the headquarters of University of Iași. Victor Babeș Institute. The Palace of the Faculty of 
Medicine, and many others. For this specific one, he also received 
support from his associate Luigi Scolari. In 1938, the palace was purchased by Eduard Mirto. A Romanian lawyer and politician who served as 
parliamentarian and minister in several PNT, that is the National Peasant Party, governments. It was Mirto who was close to the 
US government and managed to get the US diplomatic mission to move there in 1939. Right at the early days of the Second World War. The palace has an L-shaped building. 2500 square metres. Large gardens with a central fountain. And a total of 50 rooms. Initially operating as a US 
legation in Bucharest, and eventually on June 1st, 1964 getting 
raised to the Embassy status with the first US ambassador to serve 
there being William A. Crawford. As you can see, it was an impressive 
building literally at the heart of the city. Walking distance from all key 
Romanian government centres. Worth noting, that during 
filming this drone footage an undercover Romanian officer kindly asked us 
to not enter and pointed us to several websites that had relatively recent photos from the 
inside of this former US embassy building. This is where all the photos that you 
see from the inside are coming from. As all our viewers should know by now every single diplomatic mission is also 
hiding some spies among its personnel. Operating under a, so-called, diplomatic cover. And of course, this applied 
to this US embassy too. Throughout the Cold War, this building was the 
home of countless CIA espionage cases in Romania. But there is one that is really well known 
as it involved the movie-like spy gadget. This spy shoe. As the international Spy Museum 
in Washington DC describes it. Shoe heel transmitter.
Romanian Secret Service, 1960s. Transmitter, microphone and batteries were 
embedded in the heel of the target’s shoe. A walking radio station, 
transmitting all conversations. The Romanian Securitate had used it in the early days of that US Embassy to spy on 
an American diplomat serving there. The full story of that was published by 
Luciano Mangiafico in this 2014 journal from the American Foreign Service Association. Let’s read it. Well before 1977, when I was assigned to 
Bucharest to head the Embassy’s consular section I was already well aware that 
Securitate, the State Security service kept closed tabs on all foreigners, 
both at work and at home. They also used a medical clinic across the street from the Embassy to observe our 
visitors and intercept communications. This is likely referring to this building. Right across the street of the US embassy. Which is still a medical centre, even to this day. When I arrived, our Ambassador was Harry 
G. Barnes Jr., a Foreign Service legend who was famous for having had a 
shoe bugged by Romanian intelligence while he was Deputy Chief of 
Mission in Bucharest years before. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security subsequently exhibited the shoe during 
Washington security briefings to illustrate the lengths to which hostile 
powers would go to obtain intelligence. As Barnes later recounted, Dick 
Davis, his Ambassador at the time wrote back to the State… Don’t you think you have to reimburse Harry 
for the price of new shoes? The Department’s response was…
We will replace the one shoe. He finally persuaded them to pay for a pair. And the same publication also reveals another 
spy story from the communist era of Romania. I also played postman for Constantin Rauta. A Romanian intelligence officer who 
had defected to the United States while on an advance trip for the 1974 visit 
of President Ceausescu to Washington DC. Rauta had left behind his young wife and child. So, I regularly delivered mail from him to them 
and collected letters she wanted sent to him. She was finally allowed to 
leave Romania late in 1979 nearly 6 years after her husband had defected. Lauren Vespoli gives another small 
piece of the puzzle saying that… America and Romania were 
enemies during World War II and continued to spy on each other for years. For instance, when one American diplomat stationed in Romania picked up a pair 
of shoes from his cobbler there was a special present from 
the Romanian secret service hidden inside the heel.
A tiny microphone. And Alyssa Danigelis of Discovery and, 
the then, International Spy Museum’s Senior Historian, Thomas Boghardt who is now working at the US Army 
Centre of Military History, said… Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Western 
diplomats in Eastern Europe avoided buying suits there preferring to mail 
order clothing and shoes from the West. In Romania, the secret service 
used this to their advantage. Working with the postal service to 
install a transmitter in shoe heels. Boghardt says that the recording 
device was discovered during a routine room sweep that revealed a signal but the signal disappeared when 
all the diplomats left the room. With 70 years of espionage activities 
taking place in this building those two spy stories are just a tiny glimpse into the clandestine and covert activities 
that took place behind those walls. Eventually, in 2011, the US Embassy 
in Romania moved to a much larger modern, newly built remote, and secure facility which is very close to the airport and almost half an hour 
drive from the city centre. And what happened to this historical 
building that we’ve seen in today’s episode? On July 4th, 2018, it was put up for sale by the Artmark Historical Estate with a 
starting price of €5.5 million. However, even 3 years later, it still wasn’t sold. In 2020, Constantin Prisecaru, an official 
from the Artmark Historical Estate, said There is an owner. Obviously, 
his name cannot be made public. We are violating the data privacy. We cannot afford to announce 
him if he does not want to. Diana Perdum, a representative 
of the company, stated… There were several auctions, 
but the building wasn’t sold. There is no question of it being rented.
We are only discussing the sale. Constantin Prisecaru details…
There is no buyer at the moment. The only thing I can tell you is that at 
the moment the building costs €4.5 million. Initially the starting price was €5.5 million. There is no clear buyer but there are 
discussions with interested people. Whoever wants to buy it can also 
do it at the price of €4.5 million. Finally, in early 2025, we learned from 
the local press that… For several years, the Maurice Blank Palace, in the centre of 
Bucharest, has finally found its owner, the state. More precisely, it is the State 
Secretariat for Religious Affairs. The institution that distributed 
over €110 million to churches in 2024 and which needed a new building 
because the activity has diversified and the complexity of managing the 
relationship between the state and religious communities has also required 
an increasing number of employees. And also says… The document also reveals the amount 
paid for the purchase of this palace where the US embassy operated until 2011. 20,198,000 lei or over €4 million. Which is great to hear because it 
means that this unique spy spot and beautiful historical site, will 
not face a slow decay and death but will soon have a new life as 
a Romanian government facility. That said, we highly recommend 
you visiting that site. And please share with us any other 
interesting spy stories that took place behind its walls in those 70 years 
of operation as the US Embassy in Romania. Such events take place on Embassies of all 
countries, all around the world, today too. But it will take years before we get to hear them. And it’s another reason why we say that… Nothing is as it seems

For this episode we travelled to Bucharest, Romania to cover the secret history of an abandoned building. From spy shoes, to intercepted communications, defectors, and more. This spy site has a unique Cold War history that very few know about.

Coordinates
– Maurice Blank Palace: 44°26’20.8″N 26°06’11.6″E // 44.439111, 26.103222
– The Marmorosch Bank: 44°26’01.2″N 26°05’56.2″E // 44.433663, 26.098933
– Headquarters of the University of Iași: 47°10’26.5″N 27°34’20.0″E // 47.174028, 27.572216
– Victor Babeș Institute: 44°25’59.3″N 26°05’00.8″E // 44.433132, 26.083541
– Palace of the Faculty of Medicine: 44°26’04.6″N 26°04’11.0″E // 44.434615, 26.069714
– US Embassy in Romania: 44°30’53.8″N 26°05’11.7″E // 44.514936, 26.086571

00:00 – Introduction
00:38 – Location
01:08 – History
02:05 – US government
02:17 – Maurice Blank Palace
02:51 – US Embassy
04:04 – Spy shoe
05:20 – Intercepted communications
05:41 – Spy shoe
06:27 – Defector Constantin Răuță
07:05 – Spy shoe
08:12 – New US Embassy
08:49 – Abandoned building
10:03 – Future
10:56 – Conclusion

References
– Facebook: Pacific Science Center: Artifact Highlight: SHOE BUG: https://www.facebook.com/PacSci/photos/a.132354883854/10152319181973855/?type=3
– Facebook: International Spy Museum: 6 Spy Gadgets You Won’t Believe Are Real: https://www.facebook.com/IntlSpyMuseum/photos/6-spy-gadgets-you-wont-believe-are-real-at-the-revamped-international-spy-museum/2576291389081858/?_rdr
– Arhiva de arhitectura: Louis Pierre Blanc: https://arhivadearhitectura.ro/arhitecti/louis-pierre-blanc/
– Galactic House: PALATUL MAURICE BLANK: https://www.galactichouse.ro/casa-vila-36-camere-de-vanzare-universitate-bucuresti-2497.html
– Wikipedia: Mauriciu Blank: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauriciu_Blank
– Wikipedia: Embassy of the United States, Bucharest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_States,_Bucharest
– Wikipedia: Eduard Mirto: https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Mirto
– YouTube: Bucuresti din povesti: Case cu blazon – Palatul Maurice Blank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkPIvy-2bzA
– Merg In: Palatul Maurice Blank: https://merg.in/bucuresti/de-povestit/cronici/palatul-maurice-blank-7409.html
– X: International Spy Museum: Shoe heel transmitter, Romanian Secret Service, 1960s: https://x.com/IntlSpyMuseum/status/1241477717306028038
– Gizmodo: The Most Fascinating Spy Gear From The Spy Museum’s Archives: https://gizmodo.com/the-most-fascinating-spy-gear-from-the-spy-museums-arch-1685241601
– American Foreign Service Association (AFSA): Spy vs. Spy, Romanian Style: https://afsa.org/spy-vs-spy-romanian-style
– Marca-ro: De vorbă cu Constantin Răuță, fost ofițer DIE condamnat la moarte de Ceaușescu: https://marca-ro.ca/2017/04/12/de-vorba-cu-constantin-rauta-fost-ofiter-die-condamnat-la-moarte-de-ceausescu/
– New York Times: Richard Davis, 59, Diplomat, is Dead: https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/27/archives/richard-davis-59-diplomat-is-dead-former-envoy-to-rumania-also.html
– Harris Online: Spy Shoe: https://harrisonline.com/spy-shoe/
– Liber Tatea: Cine e misteriosul proprietar al Palatului „Maurice Blank”?: https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/cine-e-misteriosul-proprietar-al-palatului-maurice-blank-nu-da-nimeni-45-milioane-de-euro-pe-fosta-cladire-a-ambasadei-americii-din-centrul-bucurestiului-2864766
– Bursa: Palatul Maurice Blank, fosta ambasadă a SUA la Bucureşti: https://www.bursa.ro/dupa-aproape-un-an-palatul-maurice-blank-fosta-ambasada-a-sua-la-bucuresti-nu-si-a-gasit-cumparator-05795635
– Romania Curata: Secretariatul de Stat pentru Culte și-a luat un palat de 20 de milioane de lei pentru noul sediu: https://www.romaniacurata.ro/secretariatul-stat-culte-palat-sediu-nou/