Radio România Internațional

Tag: Church

  • February 4, 2025 UPDATE 2

    February 4, 2025 UPDATE 2

    BUDGET In Bucharest, the draft law on the 2025 state budget and social security budget were discussed in Parliament’s specialist committees on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will meet in a plenary session to review the two bills, and the final vote is scheduled for Thursday. The discussions and the vote in Parliament are predictable, as the MPs of the ruling coalition (PSD-PNL-UDMR) have a majority. The draft budget for this year, based on a 2.5% economic growth rate and a budget deficit of 7% of GDP, was passed by the Cabinet on Saturday. ‘It is a restrained budget, based on a prudent forecast. It is a balanced budget, and in addition to investments, we have enough funds to pay salaries and pensions,’ the finance minister Tanczos Barna said.

     

    ECONOMY Romania is ‘a politically and economically stable and safe country,’ oriented towards investment and reform, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday at a meeting with World Bank officials in Bucharest. ‘Our country is a regional pillar of security and economic stability for Europe and for the Strategic Partnership with the US,’ the PM added. According to a news release issued by the government, Bucharest sees the WB as a partner for its goals and continues to rely on the funding and know-how provided by the group. During the meeting, the participants reviewed jointly-developed projects in the fields of healthcare and emergency management. The World Bank officials welcomed the Government’s reform plan and the attention paid to investments, noting that Romania is a strong and resilient partner. I am confident that together we will continue to implement the ongoing projects and expand the portfolio with new investments in energy, green transition, infrastructure and other areas with growth potential, WB executive director Eugene Rhuggenaath said. The institution’s representatives also appreciated the support offered by Romania to the neighboring Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, as well as its contribution to ensuring stability in the region.

     

    MEETING At a meeting on Tuesday with the European Commission executive vice-president in charge of social rights and skills, quality jobs and training, Roxana Mînzatu, President Klaus Iohannis emphasised the critical role of education in fighting disinformation and manipulation, as well as in strengthening the democratic resilience of European societies. According to a news release issued by the Presidency, the topics on the agenda included the social dimension of European Union policies, ways to increase the EU’s global competitiveness, the Union’s strategy with respect to preparedness and resilience in the face of challenges, EU approaches to education and the involvement of the Romanian education system in the European context. In turn, the EC executive vice-president presented the main priorities of the new Commission, including in the areas of employment, social rights and EU-funded educational programs in Romania, as well as preparedness for crisis situations. On Monday and Tuesday in Bucharest Roxana Mînzatu also had talks with PM Marcel Ciolacu, with the Senate Speaker Ilie Bolojan, and with the Chamber of Deputies Speaker, Ciprian Şerban, about key EU and national priorities, with an emphasis on education, the labor market, social cohesion and the management of European funds.

     

    CHURCH The Romanian Orthodox Church (the majority denomination in Romania) Tuesday celebrated 100 years since its promotion to the rank of Patriarchate. According to Patriarch Daniel, this anniversary is not only a celebration of the past, but also a call to gratitude towards our ancestors and a reflection on the role of our Church in the life of the Romanian people. The Romanian Patriarchate was, throughout its 100-year existence, an unquenchable torch of faith and national unity, he said. In turn, president Klaus Iohannis said the centennial of the Romanian Patriarchate is a moment of historic importance for the entire Romanian Orthodox Church and for believers in the country and in Romanian communities abroad.  According to experts, Specialists recall that the Romanian Patriarchate was born on February 4, 1925, in a historical context marked by the Great Union of 1918, which brought together all the historical Romanian provinces in a one nation state.

     

    MOLDOVA The European Union Tuesday allocated a new EUR 250 mln financial envelope to support the Republic of Moldova in 2025 in the face of Moscow’s ‘energy blackmail,’ after the halt in Russian gas supplies to the breakaway region of Transnistria, AFP reports. ‘Today we are taking an essential step to (…) help the Republic of Moldova regain control over its energy destiny,’ the EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who is on an official visit to Chisinau, posted on a social network. In turn, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen denounced Moscow’s use of ‘energy to blackmail people’, promising to offer the former Soviet republic ‘full integration into the EU energy market, decoupling it from Russia ‘. After the war started in neighboring Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova says a ‘hybrid war’ is orchestrated by Russia, including the energy crisis, disinformation and electoral interference. Chisinau is facing a suspension of Gazprom supplies to Transnistria via Ukraine, after a transit agreement between Kiyv and Moscow came to an end. (AMP)

  • The Old Orhei Museum Compound

    The Old Orhei Museum Compound

    The Old Orhei, Orheiul Vechi, in Romanian, is a museum compound on the valley of river Raut, a right-hand side tributary of river Dniester, in Republic of Moldova. The Old Orhei cultural-natural reserve enjoys a special status and is Republic of Moldova’s most important site. Currently a process is ongoing, for the Old Orhei to be included on UNESCO’s World heritage List.

    The compound is made of several dozens of hectares of Orhei medieval town. Orhei is a settlement of the 13th and the 16th centuries. It is known as Old Orhei. We recall initially the settlement was deserted and a new city was established in a different location, bearing the same name, today’s Orhei, a town in Republic of Moldova’s Orhei district.

    Part of the compound are two large promontories, Pestere and Butuceni. Added to them are three smaller adjoining promontories, Potarca, Selitra and Scoc. On the territory of the promontories the ruins of several fortifications can be found, as well as dwelling places, baths, worship sites, that including cave monasteries, dating from the Tartar-Mongolian period, the 13th to 14th centuries, but also from the Moldavian period, 14th to 16th centuries.

    The Old Orhei Compound is a system made of cultural and nature elements, such as a natural archaic landscape, biodiversity, an exceptional archaeological environment, historical-architectural diversity, a rural traditional habitat and ethnographic originality.

    The medieval settlement of Old Orhei saw its heyday several times. During the 12th to the 14th centuries, the period before the Tartar-Mongolian invasion. In the early days of the medieval settlement, the wooden and earth citadel is believed to have been erected in that period of time. The Golden Horde Age of the 14th century, the period the stone fortress dates from. Between the 14th and the 16th centuries, the settlement was included in the Moldavian state, for the town, it was a period of transformation, from an Oriental settlement into a Moldavian town.

    During Stephen the Great’s reign (1438-1504) the stone fortress was repaired, and strengthened. In the 60s of the 15th century, the Orhei citadel was erected. It was a defense centre of the country’s eastern borders against the Tartar invasions. The Tartar invasions in the summer of 1469 prompted Stephen the Great to take measures, in a bid to strengthen the country’s defence capacity along Dniester River, initiating important works, carried in order to build a strengthened citadel in Orhei.

    The archaeological excavations that made possible the discovery of the citadel’s foundation speak about those events. Similarly, the official documents of that time speak about that as well. So, in Stephen the Great’s charter of April 1st, 1470, for the first time the mention is made of a burgrave, that is a military commander of the Orhei citadel. We recall at that time the burgrave had military but also administrative responsibilities of the Orhei district.

    The period of decay begins in mid-16th century and lasts until the early 17th century, when the inhabitants abandon the Old Orhei, moving into the new settlement, today’s Orhei. The stone citadel is destroyed.

    Stefan Chelban is the Reserve’s Head of Archelogy and Ethnography Service. We sat down and talked to Stefan Chelban about the history of the Old Orhei:

    „The Old Orhei is a nature cultural reserve set up in 1968, yet, in time, it has been going through several restructuring and reorganizing processes. The reserve is made of several localities and its purpose is to preserve the region’s natural heritage, but also its cultural heritage.

    Actually, it was one of the main reasons why the reserve was set up. Arguably, it is one of the areas with the biggest number of assets part of the archaeological and ethnographic heritage, but also of assets of the immaterial heritage and such like. So, it is a region where the cultural heritage has been acceptably well preserved, to this day. “

    The Old Orhei’s cave monasteries are part of a cave remains compound. They are located in the lime rocks on the Raut River valley. The compound is extremely attractive in terms of tourism; it includes roughly 350 cave remains, of which around 100 are man-dug rooms, while the remaining 200 are karstic formations, grouped in six compounds. They include well-defined monasteries, underground churches, galleries and cells.

    Here is Stefan Chelban once again, this time speaking about the cave monasteries and about the reserve:
    Track: ”This is likely to be the central point for many, yet the reserve has a lot more to offer. For instance, the ruins of the Tartar city, a city that used to be here in the 14th century, albeit for a short period of time yet worth visiting all the same, that including the ruins of an old mosque which, judging by its surface area, it was allegedly South-east Europe’s biggest mosque.

    Ștefan Chelban also told us something about the Old Orhei museum compound:

    “The Ethnography Museum is a model of traditional architecture, specific for the late 19th century and the late 20th century. This house has been restored, refurbished with EU funds, using only traditional material and techniques.”

    Here is Ștefan Chelban once again, giving us further details on the monastic life of the Cave monastery in the Old Orhei:

    „We understand initially the monastery was inhabited by 12 monks since there are 12 cells by means of which we can tell each cell was individual, so there were 12 monks. We do not know exactly the year when it was built, yet that happened somewhere between 14th to 15th centuries. ”

  • August 6, 2023 UPDATE

    August 6, 2023 UPDATE

    WAR President Klaus Iohannis Sunday released a message occasioned by
    the centennial of the War Heroes Mausoleum in Mărăşeşti (east). The president
    points out in the message that in the most important battle of the 1917 campaign
    in World War I, in Mărăşeşti, the Romanian Army with support from the Allies
    managed to stop the offensive of the Central Powers and stabilised the front
    line for the rest of the war. Construction works on the Mausoleum, erected in
    memory of the over 5,000 officers and soldiers who died then, started on August
    6, 1923, at the initiative of the Romanian Orthodox Women Society, and ended in
    1938. The president’s message also says that the current military conflict in
    Ukraine is a reminder of the horrors of war and of the duty to strengthen
    Romania’s resilience and defence capacity. A NATO and EU member state, Romania is
    at present a pillar of regional stability, a major security provider in
    South-Eastern Europe, and it benefits from the most reliable security
    guarantees in its history, Klaus Iohannis also says in his message.


    HEALTHCARE The task group entrusted with drawing up Romania’s
    healthcare digitisation strategy had a first meeting in Bucharest on Sunday. According
    to the line minister, Alexandru Rafila, electronic and information technologies
    will improve Romanians’ access to healthcare services, will help reduce errors
    and optimise management and resource planning in the sector. Calls for
    proposals have already been opened for the introduction of electronic
    technologies in 200 hospitals and the National Health Insurance Agency, and in
    mid-August further calls will be opened for the development of the national
    telemedicine system. Romania can spend EUR 400 mln for the digitisation of the public
    healthcare sector, under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.


    FIRES The Romanian
    fire-fighters deployed to Greece worked on Saturday and Sunday together with
    their Greek colleagues to put out a fire in the Aragonitis area, around 55 km
    from the village of Vilia, in the region of Attica, the General Inspectorate
    for Emergencies announced. According to the institution, at the request of the
    Greek liaison officers, the Romanian unit supported the Greek fire-fighters
    with 4 fire engines, personnel rotating every 4 hours, and additional lighting
    equipment. Scores of Romanian fire-fighters have already taken part, over the
    past few weeks, in similar missions to support the Greek authorities manage
    extensive wildfires.


    CATHOLICS The South
    Korean capital city Seoul will host the next edition of World Youth Day, in
    2027, Pope Francis announced on Sunday during a religious service in Lisbon
    held at the end of the 16th edition of the event. Initiated in 1986 by
    Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day, the largest international gathering of
    Catholic youth, is organised every 2 or 3 years and comprises cultural and
    religious events. The 2023 edition, postponed by a year because of the Covid-19
    pandemic, brought 1.5 million worshippers to Lisbon, where Pope Francis, 86, Sunday
    concluded a 5-day visit to Portugal, his 42nd international trip since his election in 2013.
    The World Youth Day editions with the largest numbers of participants were in Manila
    in 1995 (5 million people), Rio de Janeiro (3.7 million) and Krakow (3 million).
    Around 11% of South Korea’s 52-million population are Catholic.


    GAMES Romania came
    out 2nd in the Francophonie Games hosted by Kinshasa (Congo), after
    Morocco, with a total 17 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals. Third came
    Cameroon. On Saturday, the Romanian athletes won 2 medals, a silver and a
    bronze, in African wrestling. Romania participated in the Games with 57
    athletes, competing in athletics, women’s basketball, freestyle and African
    wrestling, road cycling, table tennis and judo. The 9th Francophonie
    Games were held between July 28 and August 6. (AMP)

  • If you gift away, you stand to gain

    If you gift away, you stand to gain

    Central Africa…somewhere, far, far away. In Rwanda….
    Orthodox Christians pray, together with their priests. Inspiring them is Father
    Nectarios, a Romanian missionary monk.


    Hailing from Tulcea in the south-east Father Nectarios,
    whose layperson’s name is Alexandru Dima, is only 30 years old. Young as he may
    be, Father Nectarios has had very special spiritual experiences. It was not by
    chance that upon his ordination he was given the name Nectarios, while his presence
    on the African continent is not a happenstance one, either.


    The urge to depart there came from Father Damaskin the
    Gregorian, of the Gregoriou Monastery in Mount Athos


    Father Nectarios:

    ʺI arrived in Burundi, Africa, on
    September 11, 2019, at the Orthodox Archdiocese of Burundi and Rwanda.
    Therefore, my Bishop is colored, he is African and pastorates two countries.
    There, not having any knowledge of Swahili of the Chirunde local idiom, I started
    learning Swahili. The Swahili Language is
    spoken in, like, 17 countries of the African Continent. There are 56 or 57 countries
    on the African Continent, while Swahili is being spoken in the central, Western
    and Eastern part. It is some sort of African English, just as English is in
    Europe, for us, so is Swahili for Africa. I learned that language, I perform the divine service
    in Swahili and that’s how I got to find my bearings, in the places I also travelled
    to, as well, in Africa or in other countries. After a month, the Bishop had me come
    to Rwanda, he told me It is here you are needed as in Burundi we have a cathedral
    of the Greeks, but in Rwanda we had nothing. I performed the Holy Mass outdoors,
    in tents, in rented rooms or in the field. And the Bishop told me I was needed
    here, in Rwanda, and, with God’s help, if I can, I should build a church.


    And he did build it !


    Father Nectarios:

    ʺThe cathedral that was built, for it, the plot of
    land was bought by my Bishop, Inokentios, and only the foundation was laid, that was the best he could do in 2014, while nothing else had been done, from that
    year and until 2020-2021. I took over the work and, with the help of God, this
    year we also had its consecration, on October 30. We worked day in, day out,
    for the cathedral, masonry, plastering, painting. I brought a painter, a boy
    who was very skilled, from Iasi, Alexandru, he painted the church in three
    months, he works uninterruptedly, that boy. As for the iconostasis, the wood,
    the sculpture for the iconostasis, the lectern, the pulpit or everything else
    that was manufactured there, the iconostasis, we brought in a boy from Congo,
    who was skilled in carpentry manufacturing work. We do not have the machines so
    that we can work fast, and with perfection, but we did try manufacturing work,
    and to the best of our abilities, everything came out fine.


    The church is scanty for the Rwandians stepping in,
    that is why many of them continue to listen to the mass in the courtyard. In the
    lectern, a couple of dozens of children sing, also in Romanian. Father Nectarios learned Swahili, so why shouldn’t they
    learn a little bit of his mother tongue too !


    Father Nectarios:

    ʺIn time, I carried a lot and I brought priest’s garbs from Romania, I take care of the communion wine, of candles, of
    everything related to performing the divine service proper. When I got here,
    the priests didn’t have win for the Holy Communion and they were performing the
    divine service with fruit juice. They bought fruit juice from the shop, the cheapest
    one, to perform the Holy Communion or, instead of frankincense, in order for
    the smoke to come out of the incense burner they put a little bit of white wax
    from the Catholic churches. And that was a kind of choking smoke, like the one
    of a train locomotive. They are very poor! In Rwanda, Orthodoxy has been
    accepted since 2012, but very little has been done to that effect. When I came, in 2019, I started everything from
    scratch. What we’ve got so far are two small parishes and the cathedral that has
    been built. When I arrived, there were roughly 2,000 believers, baptized by
    Bishop Inokentios, while this year – we built a cross-shaped baptistery, with a
    stairwell, a nice one, we put water in there and we perform the baptizing
    there, since April and until now, recently, we have baptized 3,500 to 4,000
    people, or thereabouts.


    However, quite a few of the Rwandans who embraced the Orthodox Church also do that because, apart from the spiritual aid, they receive material
    aid as well. When he doesn’t perform the divine service, Father Nectarios…the
    Romanian…travels across Rwanda, far and wide, in a bid to discover the needy of
    the land.


    Father Nectarios:

    ʺThe Christians come to the church also
    for poverty reasons, since we gift away, and the Orthodox Church does indeed gift
    away. I put a lot of passion so that I can gift away as much as I can, with
    every Divine Service, no matter how tiny that gift is, but I make sure I gift
    away from the bottom of my heart, a candy, a piece of cake, a little loaf of bread,
    a bottle of milk… while in my day-to-day life, in the morning…today I skipped
    that…we perform the Morning Service, while on Saturdays and Sundays, the Holy
    Mass. After the Morning Service, on weekdays, I am off to do my fieldwork. I
    set off in the morning and I find myself still at it in the evening, when it
    gets dark outside, as a lot of people wait for me, quite a few of them write
    letters…Father, I need a house, Father, I need clothes, I need something to
    wear, my children are sick! I focus on a situation; I am exposed to other situations.
    And there’s nowhere I can run, you know, I want to run, but I can’t. Oftentimes
    I felt I cannot cope with it any more and even this week I said to myself it is
    too much for me. But I have no choice!


    Whenever he comes to Romania, Father Nectarios is busy replenishing the stocks, so to say, that including the donations he receives from his fellow citizens, dozens
    of suitcases he then takes with him to Rwanda. Communion
    wine, priestly garbs, candelabra, paints…and many, many other things.


    ʺMy record high is made of
    82 trolleys, this very year, in April. They were so many! When I departed from
    Bucharest, I have a staging post in Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam I have a
    non-stop flight to the Airport of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. So what I’m
    saying is, for the 82 trolleys I had, we boarded the plane, but the plane had an
    hour and a half delay and the flight attendant kept saying on the phone, though
    the receptionist’s we apologize for the delay, it s because of too much
    baggage. I didn’t say anything, can you imagine how I got holed up in there,
    in my chair? Because they were all mine!


    Whoever wants to, they can support the orthodox Mission in Rwanda
    – it is an appeal made by Father Nectarios, who recalled an urge made by one of
    the Romanian Orthodox Church’s famous spiritual advisers, Nicolae Steinhardt, who
    used to say that if we gift away, we stand to gain! But paradoxically, we gain
    not that which we have plenty of, but that which we lack.


    And, since the Winter Holidays are drawing near, here is
    Father Nectarios once again, this time with a well-wishing thought.


    I am 8,000 kilometers away
    from Romania. I think the distance between us is rather big, but I should like
    to take this opportunity and thank you for the fact
    that I can go public and extend a heartfelt well-wishing thought to all our Christian
    Romanians from everywhere, in Romania and in the diaspora, so from the bottom
    of my heart, may the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ fill their
    souls with joy! I wish them all a blessed 2023, a year with spiritual fulfilment
    and joy, harmony and a united family! (EN)




  • May 28, 2022

    May 28, 2022

    FILM The Romanian
    filmmaker Alexandru Belc Friday night won the award for best director in the Un
    Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival, for his film ‘Metronome’. This is the first fiction feature of the
    Romanian director, previously known for his documentaries ‘Cinema, mon amour’
    (2015) and ‘8 March’ (2012). The Un Certain Regard section is
    devoted to films with unusual styles by emerging directors seeking
    international recognition. The awards in the official competition of the 75th
    Cannes Film Festival will be presented tonight. Eighteen films compete for the Palme
    d’Or trophy, including R.M.N by the Romanian director Cristian
    Mungiu.




    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu was received
    on Friday by the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of
    a trilateral security meeting that brought together the foreign ministers of
    Romania, Poland and Turkey in Istanbul. Erdogan commended Romania’s and
    Poland’s management of the humanitarian crisis entailed by Russia’s aggression
    in Ukraine, while Bogdan Aurescu highlighted Turkey’s role at the Black Sea. The
    Romanian foreign minister also voiced support for NATO’s open door policy and
    for the accession of Sweden and Finland. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bogdan Aurescu also emphasised the relevance
    of the bilateral strategic partnership signed in 2011,
    in the current geopolitical circumstances.




    REFUGEES On Friday 8,730 Ukrainian nationals entered Romania, down 2.6%
    since the previous day. A total of nearly 1,050,000 refugees have crossed the
    border from Ukraine since the start of the conflict on February 24th.
    According to the Romanian border police, measures have been taken to strengthen
    border surveillance and to improve information and data exchanges with other
    relevant institutions, in order to handle possible problems.




    CHURCH The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, previously subordinated to the
    Russian Patriarchy, announced it would separate from the latter as a result of
    the invasion in Ukraine, and declared its independence and autonomy. This
    historic move comes after Russia’s Patriarch Kirill voiced full support for
    president Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Part of the Ukrainian Orthodox
    Church had already splintered from Moscow in 2019. Hundreds of priests have
    recently signed an open letter calling for Kirill to be tried before a
    religious tribunal over his stand regarding the conflict in Ukraine.




    CONCERT London hosted on Friday night the first concert of the
    Swedish group ABBA after 40 years. The show, the first in a series of 7, was
    non-conventional in that it featured digital versions of the 4 artists. The
    group has been preparing the performances since 2016, using state-of-the-art
    technology. The musicians attended the show in London as members of the
    audience. The band separated in 1982, but their music continues to sell, and recently they put out a new album,
    called Voyage.




    TENNIS The Romanian Irina Begu is playing today against Leolia
    Jeanjean of France, in the 3rd round of the Roland Garros. On
    Thursday Begu defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, to be
    the only Romanian player left in the singles competition of the tournament in
    Paris. (AMP)

  • The Wooden Church in the village of Urși

    The Wooden Church in the village of Urși

    The
    restauration of this small church in Valcea county, southern Romania, which
    started in 2009 and was completed in 2020 thanks to the funds obtained through
    donations and the volunteer work of numerous students, architects and
    professional painting conservators, has become not only a model to imitate but
    also a way to learn how they used to build things at that time. According to
    architect Raluca Munteanu, who got involved with the restoration works, the
    church, which was dedicated to the Annunciation and the Archangel Michael, was
    built between 1757-1784.






    Raluca Munteanu: The church we see today isn’t likely to be
    the church that was built first, as we ‘ve learnt that it survived a
    devastating fire in 1883 and subsequently underwent a series of restauration
    works. An 1843 inscription placed at its entrance mentions founder Nicolae
    Milcoveanu who did the restauration works and the church’s extremely valuable
    wall paintings date back to the same year. Nicolae Milcoveanu wasn’t a boyar, but a
    wealthy local who got actively involved in the community life like they used to
    back then. He repaired the church and gave it back to the community.


    However,
    the woodcarvers, those who actually built the church, remained anonymous until
    nowadays, though the painters were mentioned, Gheorghe, Nicolaie and Ioan.
    Gheorghe was seemingly one of the locals, as architect Raluca Munteanu
    believes.






    Raluca Munteanu: They could have been locals who got their
    inspiration from the monasteries in the area, mainly from the Hurezi monastery,
    which served, as one can easily notice, as model for the other churches in the
    area. However, documents are pretty scare in the area and it is possible that
    the names of the builders had been known to the locals, but as they didn’t have
    the routine of documenting events, their names remain unknown to us. A strange
    thing though is that we know the names of the painters… In the case of these
    village churches, few names of their builders are known. We only know they were
    well-trained professionals and went from one place to the other to build
    churches in the neighborhood. An expert painter can nowadays identify the way
    in which local style was passed down from generation to generation.




    The
    dimensions of this church are also illustrative for the village community but
    also for the wood exploitation capabilities of the region. The small church in
    Ursi is almost 8 meters long, 6 meters wide and maybe measures 2 meters and 40
    centimeters from the floor up to its ceiling. With its roof, the church’s total
    height stands at 4 meters and 50 centimeters, says Raluca Munteanu adding that its
    architecture doesn’t belong to any particular style.




    Raluca Munteanu: This is a vernacular church built as
    pragmatically as they possibly could at that time. It is a simple construction
    made with the materials they abundantly had at that time, like wood, for
    instance. This type of dovetail joints can be found all over Europe as it was
    the easiest and cheapest way to build something. At the same time, wood was
    also cheap and easy to come by in these mountainous areas. The church was
    functional and adjusted to meet the requirements of the religious services of
    the Orthodox Church and it doesn’t have anything special as compared to the
    other wooden churches in the region. It complies with the requirements of the
    Orthodox religion and the pattern of its buildings, both in terms of interior
    compartmentalization and functionality. Like I said its decorations were
    influenced by the paintings of the Hurezi monastery and are organized in keeping
    with the Orthodox rituals. What is special, not only for this region but for a
    larger area is the builders’ decision to adorn the church with wooden frescoes
    as these two techniques, the frescoes and the wooden paintings are known to be
    incompatible. Painters here employed a technique used at wall-painted
    monasteries, also known as fresco painting, which is executed upon freshly laid
    lime plaster and is different from secco painting techniques, which are applied
    to dried plaster.




    The church’s frail mural painting and its
    premises have been completely refurbished and given back to the parishioners
    concurrently with another concrete church recently built in the village.




    (bill)



  • Fortified Churches in Transylvania

    Fortified Churches in Transylvania

    Today we are going to Transylvania, in the counties of Brasov and Sibiu, to some of the oldest and most beautiful fortified churches. Placed in beautiful natural scenery, some of them are still the venue for masses and cultural events. The circuits including these churches afford tourists unparallelled access to local legends and culture.

    Our first stopover is Harman, or Huntschprich, as it is known in the Saxon dialect, which means Honey Mountain. This is a small and tranquil village in the center of Romania, 10 km away from Brasov. The most impressive venue here is the fortified church, a very well preserved 12th century building. You can see from afar the main church tower, which has around it four smaller towers. This is not a common image in villages, because the presence of such a tower meant that local law enforcement had the right to mete out punishment by death, which was unusual in small localities. Then you can make out the massive walls and the moat that initially went around the village. The peasants had no military training, and relied on these medieval defenses, says Dan Ilica-Popescu, custodian of Harman fortress:

    “They had four gates to pass through to get into the courtyard. From there you can see the massive church, surrounded by little houses for the locals, which is unusual for Barsa Country. They were built next to the church. Unfortunately, only the ones on the south side have been preserved. Right now they are museums: one museum showcases Saxon garb, another is an old school where you can still hear the local German dialect. We offer guides who speak Romanian, German, and English. We also have a printed guide with the description of the citadel and the objects in museums. It is available in Romanian, German, Italian, Spanish, French, and Hebrew. We are also preparing the Polish and Russian versions. We are trying to cover as much ground as we can.

    Also in Brasov County, on one of the northern sides of Magura Codlei Mountain, more than 800 years ago, the Teutonic Knights erected a fortress. The Black Fortress, as it was dubbed, was turned then into a peasant fortress. This happened in 1432. right now, the impressive walls are still a wonder for tourists. They are between eight and ten meters tall and two meters thick. If you go to Codlea Fortress, you can meet there Ileana Nica. She has been volunteering since she was five, and is host for the visitors:

    “The church dates back to the 13th century. It was initially a Catholic church, and only the back part was built back then. Which is why it is so strange to see two styles in the same church. The back part is Roman in style, the front part is Gothic. The Gothic part was built in the 15th century, along with the defensive walls, when it was turned from a Catholic to an Evangelical church.

    The ceiling is the main attraction in the fortified church, according to Ileana Nica. Also there you can admire an impressive collection of paintings:

    “The ceiling is unique. It has 252 sections, each of them a representation of Martin Luther. They are all different. The painting differs. This is a unique sectioned ceiling. There are more, but none like that. One was made in the 18th century by a painter called Johannes Stolz. The painting collection belonged to the man who repainted the church in the 20th century, restoring all the paintings. He is a local painter who lived between 1886 and 1980. It is interesting that he captured all the important historical events, which is reflected in his paintings. He has paintings of women in peasant garb working in the fields. At the same time, you can see a painting of women in the field during the communist period, when clothing was completely different. We had tourists who told us that they heard of this painter in Vienna. He made over 2,000 paintings in his lifetime.

    To the west, we get to Cisnadie, a locality in Sibiu County. The town is well known for its fortified church, dedicated to Saint Walpurga. It was built by Saxons 800 years ago, and in the Middle Ages it was known as Heltau, and was famous for its workshops that made farming tools and fabrics. In Cisnadie you can also see the belfry of the local Evangelical fortified church. It was an innovation for the Middle Ages. It was the first clock tower in Transylvania, and the first tower east of Vienna to have a lightning rod. Bell Ioan is the curator of the Evangelical church in Cisnadie:

    “It was built in the early 13th century. It is a former Roman basilica, turned Catholic until 1544, when it was turned into an Evangelical church. The foundation is the same, but along the generations there were many stages of building. Along the years, the church has defended the locals against invaders. It was the first Gothic style building. The middle nave is still Gothic in style. Three defense towers were built on top of the church, north, south, and over the altar. You could shoot guns from the top of the towers. That was not always successful, since invaders kept coming. First there were the Mongols, then the Tatars, the Huns, then the Hapsburgs.

    In a relatively small area of Transylvania you can find over 200 churches, fortified churches, church castles, and fortifications. Some of them are part of the UNESCO world heritage. You can also find a multitude of town churches and fortifications. Many of the are part of a program called ‘Discover the Soul of Transylvania’. The program is aimed a restoring and maintaining monuments by promoting the Transylvania Card program. This card offers discounts from various partners, as well as free of charge access to fortified cities and their events. The card costs 55 lei, 12 Euro, and may be purchased on the website transilvania-card.ro.

  • Rural Tourism in Bukovina

    Rural Tourism in Bukovina

    The region is also a travel destination very popular with those interested in active tourism. In todays edition we invite you to rediscover this region as a summer destination and for this reason our first stop is going to be in Marginea to visit an ethnographic museum on the premises of a 100-year-old house. However, its not the age of the building, which is impressing, but the traditional costumes, textiles, necklaces and ceramics on display in this museum.



    Visitors here have the chance to admire various artifacts and even see these artisans at work. Corneliu Magopat is a potter who started learning this craft from his parents when he was 7.



    Corneliu Magopat: “We stand out among pottery centers because the colours we use here are special. These colours are natural free of oxides or other artificial ingredients and this makes us unique in Romania and Europe. This is the first tourist attraction here, then there is the environment as we are located in a region of breath-taking beauty. Tourists can visit our exhibitions and even buy some of the artifacts that we produce. They can have a look at our workshops and we can assist those who are curious to try their hand at pottery. Tourists feel great here.



    New and diversified travel packages have been added every year to the already rich offer promoting rural tourism in Bukovina. In essence, agritourism and wellness tourism in the countryside is all about a comeback to nature, organic food and a healthy lifestyle.



    Besides, it brings one closer to the Romanian village and its values. And if traditional artisans in Bukovina are famous worldwide for the artifacts they make by means of centuries-old techniques passed down from generation to generation, the regions churches and monasteries take pride of place for their history and interesting aspect. Catalina Velniciuc higher advisor with the Centre for Travel Information and Promotion in Suceava has more on these monuments.



    Catalina Velniciuc: “This is the first question tourists who are visiting this information center usually ask; ‘where are the painted monasteries, which have been mostly included in the UNESCO heritage list? These are the monasteries of Arbore, Patrauti, Probota, St. John the New in Suceava, Voronet, the Humor Monastery, Sucevita and Moldovita. So, we have eight UNESCO monasteries and all of them are extremely beautiful. All were built around the second half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century. They are different from one another through their indoor and outdoor paintings presenting various Biblical scenes.



    Although less visited than the famous Voronet, Putna or Moldovita, Probota is a must-see in Bukovina. One of the nuns here gives us a presentation of this 500-year old church.



    Nun: “Probota is the first painted church. It was erected around 1530 and was painted by a team of monks between 1530 and 1532. From an architectural point of view it observes the pattern of big medieval necropolis combining three styles, the gothic one, which is predominant, the renaissance and local style. In the 19th century, the church suffered a series of changes under the Greek administration. Exterior walls were being repainted, the windows of the narthex and the porch were refurbished and the interior walls were also repainted. Since 1864, after monasteries had been secularized, until the 1989 anti-communist revolution, it functioned as the church of the Probota village. It became a nun monastery after 1989 and in 1993 was included on the UNESCO heritage list for its architecture. Upon the restoration works, held under the UNESCO auspices, and mainly funded by the Romanian and Japanese governments, the churchs interior walls were washed to reveal the original paintings of 1532, which actually constituted a unique, exceptional iconographic programme, which prompted experts to declare it the best-preserved and most accurate church from a theological point of view. The church thoroughly complies with the liturgical standards and the artistic style of a Byzantine church and that brought it a UNESCO award for the value of its interior paintings in 2001. And if the outdoor paintings are no longer what they used to be because of the refurbishment works, its interior paintings remain unique.




    Those interested in spending an active and special holiday need to set out for the Dorna Land. Monica David, communication expert with the Tara Dornelor Association for Ecotourism has recently announced the region is about to become Romanias fifth ecotourism destination and the first of its kind in Bukovina. The aforementioned tourist association has issued ten travel packages including various outdoor activities such as mountain hiking, bicycle rides, easy rafting, skiing and horse riding.



    Monica David: “Tourists coming mainly from Poland, the Czech Republic, France and Germany have mostly opted for guided tours provided by the Visiting Centre of the Calimani National Park. The centre has managed to bring to the attention of our tourists the regions culture and nature. The centre hosts various exhibitions aimed at presenting the Calimani outcrop, Romanias youngest and highest volcanic mountain. There are also bird watching trips and film screenings as well as sessions featuring the parks wildlife and flora.



    As one can see, the region offers a series of varied and complex travel packages at affordable prices. For more information we invite you to access ‘taradornelor.ro.


  • The Church and Communism

    The Church and Communism

    However, upon its consolidation, the regime started allowing religious practices as they were no longer considered a threat but a method of currying favour with the population.



    In theory, the communist ideology made a clear distinction between religion and church, although it was blaming both to a certain extent. While religion was considered the primitive mans way of seeing the world, the church was believed to be an instrument for exploiting people. And for this reason, in the communist society, religion was benefitting from mitigating circumstances, something which was denied to the church.



    Once in power, the Communist Party reconsidered its attitude towards religion and Church, which it later included in its cultural policy as elements of national identity. In fact a similar mechanism was in place, with local particularities of course, in all Central and East European Countries, occupied by the USSR after 1945, and Romania was no exception to the rule.



    Engineer Stefan Barlea used to be one of the dignitaries in the communist chain of command and began his activity in the mid 1940s. In an interview to the Oral History Centre of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, back in 2002, he admitted that although he wasnt a practising Christian he had nothing against religion and the Church and hadnt opposed the religious baptism of his two sons, but he hadnt married his wife in church.



    Stefan Barlea: “I didnt have a particular stance on that matter, but my mother, mother-in-law and my grandmother decided to take the situation in their own hands. I realized they had gone to church because I sensed a certain scent of basil in the house. ‘May they live long! we all said about the kids and that was all. I know that one of them was baptized in the Church of Casin Monastery, the second was baptized as well but I dont know where. I let the women know I wouldnt attend the religious service but didnt oppose them either. My wife and I didnt have a wedding ceremony in church. We thought of getting one in secret but we eventually gave up the idea. I wasnt particularly against churches, even visited some with family and got some religious education as a child. I recall my grandpa taking me to a church in Prahova and I still carry in my pocket a small icon I got when I was ten or twelve. I wasnt exactly what they called a freethinker.



    Barlea admitted that even before 1989, together with two of his colleagues he conceived a theory combining science and religious representations: “At a certain point, while doing scientific research in the field of cybernetics, I was talking to several prominent figures of Romanias scientific life, engineer Edmond Nicolau and Balaceanu-Stolnici (…) I did some scientific research together with Balaceanu and we came to the conclusion that from a cybernetic viewpoint, intelligent beings on other planets should be very similar to humans because one must have a vertical position to be able to process a wide range of visual information. Why are all the senses located so high in our bodies? Because nature tends to simplify things and there should be a grain of truth in the Bible saying that ‘God created man in His image. I remember I was working at the time with the National Council for Science and Technology and wasnt reluctant to say that.



    Although religion wasnt encouraged, people avoided going to church because there was some sort of mild persecution against those showing a keen interest in religious issues.



    Stefan Barlea: “I dont remember any cases of people being criticized for having their children baptized or for attending a certain religious service in a church or another. I dont remember these people being criticized either in our party meetings or during any of the meetings staged by the Communist Youth Organisation. I dont want to say there werent abuses, but I personally heard of none. Ceausescu was tolerant of these things but his wife was against them. I understand that she was angry that their children, Nicu and Zoe, had visited some famous monasteries in Romania.



    The relationship between the communist regime, on the one hand, and Church and religion, on the other, was a difficult one. Back in the day, the two tried to get along with each other but the social, economic and political deadlock the regime was in made of peoples refuge in religion an acceptable compromise.

  • The Evangelical Church in Bistrita

    The Evangelical Church in Bistrita

    First documented in 1241, the city of Bistrita, in central Romania, actually started to develop a century earlier when the first German settlers, also known as Transylvanian Saxons, had arrived in the area. Bistrita was built after the model of the medieval cities in Western Europe to later grow into one the main seven Saxon-inhabited cities of Siebenburgen, as Transylvania was called back in the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Like most of Transylvanias medieval burgs, Bistrita developed around a church, which was Catholic at first then turned into a Reformed one. Here is historian Vasile Duda with more on the issue.



    Vasile Duda: “The church, a Roman-Catholic one at first had St. Nicholas as its patron. Upon the Reformation in 1543 it was turned into the Evangelical church we see today. Its history includes several construction stages, beginning with the Gothic style, which is still visible today, with a series of architectural elements reminiscent of the style before the 14th century. The church has also seen a series of reconstruction stages but initially it was built as a basilica with one central and two lateral naves as well as two steeples on its western side. In late 15th century, the church was more imposing and through its masonry elements belonged more to the Gothic style. Around 1560, an Italian stonemason called Petru Italus of Lugano added it a series of architectural elements specific to Renaissance. The final result was a Gothic structure with properly assimilated Renaissance elements.



    A distinctive element of the church in Bistrita is its 76 meter high steeple, which is believed to be the highest in Transylvania.



    Vasile Duda: “There is also an interesting legend recalling the rivalry with other medieval burgs in Transylvania, particularly with Sibiu, which wanted a higher steeple for their church. One of these legends has it that when the authorities of Medias started the construction of their church, those from Bistrita came and secretly cut their reel measuring tape so that they could not build a taller steeple. And that is true: the tower in Bistrita is taller than the ones in Sibiu and Medias. Even the famous Clock Tower in Timisoara is not much taller than that. Even the Black Church in Brasov, the tallest medieval church in Transylvania, doesn’t have a taller steeple than the one in Bistrita.



    What makes the Evangelical Church unique is not just its steeple, but also the furnishings, a few centuries old:



    Vasile Duda: “One memorable piece, a downright landmark, is the so called Master Anton’s Pew, which was made in 1508, signed by the latter. Another signature on the bench, dating back to 1516, was that of a master Johannes Begler. He wrote there himself: ‘Johannes Begler fecit’. It is a beautiful Renaissance pew, with insertions and carvings. It is spectacular because it is similar with furniture made in France. It shows us the ties between these distant regions were fairly close through workshops and monasteries.



    In addition to the furnishings, the banners of the guilds in the church are another important piece of the heritage. It is true that they were replaced in 1852, but the traditional symbols were preserved, as well as the pews of the guilds, depending on their weight within the community, with the most important being closer to the altar. The Evangelical Church in Bistrita, recently renovated after the fire in 2008 that destroyed the steeples, the bells, as well as the clock, has made a comeback as a major tourism and cultural objective, as well as a symbol of the city.


    (translated by: Daniel Bilt, Calin Cotoiu)