he infamously tested by peasants living on his estates, who suffered broken limbs as a result. An "airplane of his own design" was assigned to be driven by "one poor Gypsy, who got killed on his first attempt". In 1891, he was still passionate about flying, and theorized about the coming age of motorized aircraft. Sturdza's theories and experiments extended to the opera, seeing him as a critic of Richard Wagner's "dissonant and deafening music". By 1879, he had authored several fantasias, with motifs from Gaetano Donizetti and Gioachino Rossini. As reported by Lisbon's Diário Illustrado, the works were "simply impossible to perform" and "cannot be found for sale anywhere in Europe". Sturdza did however play chamber music with his Junimist friend Alexandru Grigore Suțu, and invented an instrument that was reportedly used by the Paris Conservatory. This is probably the "violin-harp", built for Sturdza by Thomas Zach. It had "extra strings made of metal, for resonance". Exhibited at the 1873 World's Fair, "it did not turn out to be the revolutionary novelty they had hoped for. Instead of being larger and powerful, the tone was nasal and blurry." Sturdza was a major art sponsor in his capacity as chairman of the Amicii Artelor Society (1885), which existed as a challenge to Junimea cultural tenets. In February 1895 the Beizadea was dedicated the poetry volume Excelsior by its sponsored author, Alexandru Macedonski, who had helped popularize Les lois. Death and legacy Sturdza's fortune grew to immense proportions after lawyer I. C. Barozzi, working on his behalf, discovered that Prince Mihail had hidden some 45 million lei in bullion on his various estates; Grigore was owed a third of this wealth. At some point between 1893 and 1899, the Beizadea bought himself a villa on Bucharest's Calea Victoriei, but never lived in it, finally presenting is to his other lawyer, Constantin Dissescu, for services performed in the family trial. Sturdza also commissioned a German architect, Julius Reinecke, to construct the Sturdza Palace of Bucharest. This building was infamous for its extreme eclecticism and its overall uselessness, its "immense rooms" only meant to be used for racing "a bicycle [Sturdza] had invented", and for various acrobatics. He "barely lived inside the place, after having spent on it more than he could handle." According to Radu Rosetti, the Palace is also a testament to its sponsor's "utter lack of artistic taste". It was