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Tag: Golden Apple Award

  • The Golden Apple Award for the Town of Targu Jiu

    The Golden Apple Award for the Town of Targu Jiu

    The town of Targu Jiu is now a tourist destination of excellence on the map of the World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers- FIJET, from which it received the Golden Apple Award, the equivalent of the Oscar in the tourism industry. This town in southwestern Romania is famous for the sculptures of the reputed Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi. Considered the most outstanding sculptor of the 20th century and one of the most valuable of all times, Constantin Brancusi created in Targu Jiu his only open air sculpture ensemble, which is unique both in Romania and the world, to honor the memory of those who died in the town during WW I. Built between 1937 and 1938, the sculpture ensemble includes the Table of Silence, the Gate of the Kiss and the Endless Column, the latter being the most photographed of his works. It is made up of modules in the shape of an hourglass placed on top of each other and is 29-meter high. In an exclusive interview to Radio Romania International the FIJET president Tijani Haddad, said:



    “Our federation has a committee which decides on granting the Golden Apple Award, and the committee received nominations from 5 countries. This year the committee chose only three destinations, and it gave its approval for FIJET to award the Golden Apple Award to the town of Constantin Brancusi. We saw a film and studied the documents, and I believe that this town truly deserves the distinction”.



    The ensemble Constantin Brancusi created in Targu Jiu, a genuine magnet for tourists, is a magical, spiritual place, say the local authorities and invite tourists who want to visit the area to also explore other attractions such as Tismana, Polovragi and Lainici monasteries. The Targu Jiu area is a mountainous one with glacial lakes, caves, of which some were declared natural monuments, and narrow gorges carved out in the mountains by fast flowing rivers. The region is also a destination for adventure tourism lovers.



    Since 1971 the Golden Apple Award has been granted each year, to various towns and tourist attractions. The award granted this year to the town of Targu Jiu is the 5th received by Romania, which consequently ranks first, alongside Belgium and Spain, in the classification of most popular tourist destinations. In the past the “Golden Apple” Award was granted to Marginimea Sibiului, a region in central Romania known for its unique ethnographic, cultural, architectural and historical heritage, to the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, included on the UNESCO heritage list, to the Orthodox churches with exterior frescoes of Bukovina and to the Blue Air airlines, for the strongest development reported by an air company in the south east of Europe.

  • The city of Targu Jiu is to receive Golden Apple Award

    The city of Targu Jiu is to receive Golden Apple Award

    The open-air works by Brancusi displayed in the city of Targu Jiu had a decisive role in the decision made by FIJET. Marian Constantinescu, editor-in-chief with the Traveller Magazine and the president of the Travel Press Club in Romania, says the Golden Apple is seen by FIJET as the most important international award for excellence to be granted in the field of tourism:



    “This award is a kind of Oscar for tourism granted by travel journalists worldwide. The Travel Press Club is the representative, in Romania, of this international organisation numbering about 600 journalists from all over the world, who work in the audio-visual field, as well as CD and film producers in the travel industry. The award is granted to a community. This time, the award goes to the tourist, administrative and economic community in Targu Jiu, for the way they promoted the open-air works of Brancusi, a project proposed by FIJET four years ago. The project was entitled The Brancusi Axis and comprises the Heroes’ Path, which boasts an artistic area unique in the world and not only in Romania and Europe: it is the only outdoor sculptural ensemble ever created by Constantin Brancusi.”



    Targu-Jiu truly deserves this trophy, awarded in recognition of the special efforts deployed for the promotion of tourism. The city is a genuine open-air museum, says Ramona Ivulescu, a spokeswomen for the Targu Jiu City Hall:



    “This is Constantin Brancusi’s heritage. We also have The Gate of The Kiss in Targu Jiu. Each of the supporting pillars is embossed with Barncusi’s symbol of a kiss — a circle split in two, on each face of the structure. This motif of two semicircles facing each other also serves to represent eyes looking into the gate, and, we hope, into the souls of those visiting Targu Jiu. This is one of Brancusi’s most important works. Then there is the Chair Alley, which is extremely beautiful. The chairs mark the path towards the Table of Silence, which is a reinterpretation of a traditional table. The sculptural ensemble in Targu Jiu, consisting of three large pieces, The Table of Silence, The Gate of the Kiss and the Endless Column, were built as a tribute to the Romanian heroes of WWI who defended the city from German troops in 1916.”



    The Golden Apple award will be granted to the city of Targu Jiu in early October, and will also be marked at the FIJET international congress due at the beginning of September in Budapest. Marian Constantinescu:



    “The decision to hold an award ceremony will be announced at the FIJET congress. The event will be officially announced before hundreds of journalists from all over the world and the personalities who attend the congress. This is not the first Golden Apple award to be received by Romania, but the fifth. The fist dates back to 1975 and was awarded to Bukovina. Another three awards were received in 2009. Romania is the only country to have received 3 awards in a single year. They were received for Marginimea Sibiului and its surroundings, the Danube Delta and an air company. This definitely improves Romania’s image abroad.”



    The Endless Column is one of the most popular sculptures by Brancusi. It is considered a “spiritual testament” of the great artist and was defined by the renowned writer, sculptor and art critic Sidney Geist as a peak of modern art. The Endless Column stacks 16 rhomboidal modules with a half-unit at the top. Each module is 1.80 meters high and weighs 860 kilograms. Marian Constantinescu also recommends tourists to visit the village of Hobita, Brancusi’s birthplace:



    “I would recommend those interested in the life and work of Constantin Brancusi to also visit Hobita, for two important reasons. Brancusi’s house has finally been restored and turned into a museum. Vasile Brancusi, aged 50, is a relative of the artist and still lives in Hobita. He did two extraordinary things for the village: he set up a tourist tour of the village, by tractor, which also stops at Brancusi’s memorial house, and established the Constantin Brancusi International Sculpture Camp in his own yard. The first edition was held last year. I recommend this tourist destination, which is not far from Targu Jiu.”



    Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) is considered a pioneer of modern sculpture. His bronze and marble works are defined by elegant shapes and refined finish. He also made wooden sculptures of folk inspiration. Among his best-known works are Bust of a Boy, The Prayer, Sleeping Muse and Mademoiselle Pogany.