Radio România Internațional

Tag: memorial house

  • Cultural Bucharest

    Cultural Bucharest

    The Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest used to be a royal
    residence. Today it is the main building of the Presidential Administration.
    Right opposite to it, in the posh Cotroceni area, we can find two memorial
    houses dedicated to two of Romania’s interwar writers. They were so different
    from one another in terms of writing, yet they were so close in mundane life:
    they were actually close friends. They are prose writer Liviu Rebreanu and poet
    Ion Minulescu. In the former case, the museum-apartment bears the name of Liviu
    Rebreanu and his wife, Fanny Rebreanu, with the apartment being the only one
    such site in Bucharest where then the family’s domestic atmosphere has been
    recomposed; so was the writer’s study with his bookcase and the writer’s
    personal items. Liviu Rebreanu was a member of the Romanian Academy and a
    dignitary holding quite a few official positions. A textbook prose writer,
    Liviu Rebreanu was born in Transylvania, at a time when Transylvania was still
    part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Among other things, Liviu Rebreanu is
    remembered as the author who captured the psychology of his characters in an
    utterly realistic manner. Rebreanu was born in 1885 and died in 1944, shortly
    before the communist regime was instated in Romania. In 1934, he bought the
    apartment in Cotroceni for his adoptive daughter, Puia-Florica Rebreanu. Liviu
    Rebreanu never lived there, yet the house has emphatically preserved the daily
    life of the family’s intimacy. Here is museographer Adrian David, with details
    on that.


    The residence has quite aptly earned
    the status of Liviu Rebreanu Memorial House because, after the writer died in
    Valea Mare, near Pitesti, his wife move to this apartment with her daughter and
    son-in-law, and here they transferred whatever it was that they could retrieve from the writer’s former real estate property. The apartment, today known as the
    Rebreanu Memorial House was donated to
    the Museum of Romanian Literature in 1992 by the writer’s adoptive daughter,
    Puia Rebreanu. When the former owner dies in 1995 and following a time when the
    residence was refurbished, the apartment entered the museum circuit, in effect
    belonging to the Romanian state, together


    So those who, at present, may want to get the chance
    to know Rebreanu in the intimacy of his family, can travel to the Cotroceni
    area and visit the little block of flats where the museum-apartment can be
    found.

    Museographer Adrian David:


    Rebreanu’s desk, where he sat down and
    wrote his entire work…Those who come visit may notice, for instance, near the desk,
    the oriental table for the writer’s coffee serving set, these two items were
    always there since he was a coffee addict and a night-time writer. We’ve got
    Rebreanu’s lamp, owl-shaped and which Rebreanu had on the desk all the time. We
    have a clock Rebreanu brought for himself from his native Transylvania which
    back then was under Austrian-Hungarian occupation, It was an imperial clock, which
    took him back to the native region he had no choice other than leaving and
    relocating to the Old Kingdom. But over and above anything else,
    attention-grabbing for those who step into the memorial house is the lavish
    display of fine art. There are a great many works, most of them authored by
    some of Rebreanu’s friends, some of them were even made in Liviu Rebreanu’s
    house. For instance, in the lobby there are three portraits drawn by Iosif
    Iser. There were there after the 1913 Christmas, held in the Rebreanus’ house,
    where among the guests were painters Camil Ressu, Iosif Iser, alongside other
    very good friends. During that Christmas evening the fir-tree was on fire because
    of the candles, and, according to Puia Rebreanu’s own account, all the presents
    they received for Christmas were burned. But, she said, thank God Iosif Iser’s
    drawings remained intact, bringing back the memories of that day. Also, there
    are many icons, all of them from Transylvania. Rebreanu was very religious and
    very superstitious.


    In stark contrast with Liviu Rebreanu, another author
    lived in the adjoining apartment. He was symbolist poet Ion Minulescu, who was
    born in 1881 and who died also in 1944. His verse was extremely popular among
    the sentimental youth of that time. Even the design of that home, which was a
    lot more spacious, was different, as the imprint was that of a much more
    bohemian atmosphere as against the restraint of the Rebreanu residence.

    Adrian
    David:


    The block of flats where both memorial houses can be found, that of Ion
    Minulescu and that of Liviu Rebreanu, was brought into service in 1934. Back in
    the day it was known as the Professors’ Block of flats and was purpose-built
    for the teaching staff. Ion Minulescu’s wife, poet Claudia Millian, was a
    high-school teacher and a principal. Liviu Rebreanu got hold of the apartment
    with the help of Ion Minulescu, who facilitated Rebreanu a loan from the
    Teaching Staff Center. In the meantime, the two writers’ wives and daughters
    became friends. Actually, in the Ion Minulescu Claudia Millian Memorial
    House, all family members are represented in equal proportion, since, apart
    from Ion Minulescu, with whom we are very familiar, his wife and daughter were
    also artists and writers. Claudia graduated form the Conservatory of Dramatic
    Art, while Mioara Minulescu, their daughter, initially read Letters and the
    French language. Actually, Claudia Millian also studied with the Fine Arts
    Academy in the country and in Paris, while Mioara Minulescu studied at the Fine
    Arts Academy in Rome. And indeed, here, on the premises, there are a great many
    works signed by the two: mosaics, paintings, sculptures and various works of
    art.


    Apart from the two landlords’ works of art, the
    memorial house also plays host to the work of some friends of the family.

    Adrian David:


    With Minulescu, there are more than
    100 paintings. There are a couple of dozen sculptures. All signed by great
    names of the domestic fine arts, part of whom were very good friends of Claudia
    Milian’s. Her best friends were Cecilia Cuțescu- Storck and her sister, Ortansa
    Satmari.


    In the mid-1990s, after the death of the two writers’
    daughters, Puia Rebreanu and Mioara Minulescu, the two apartments were donated
    to the state so that they could be turned into memorial houses highlighting the
    activity of the two writers, but also the personality of the women who stood by
    their side.




  • Cultural Bucharest

    Cultural Bucharest

    The Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest used to be a royal
    residence. Today it is the main building of the Presidential Administration.
    Right opposite to it, in the posh Cotroceni area, we can find two memorial
    houses dedicated to two of Romania’s interwar writers. They were so different
    from one another in terms of writing, yet they were so close in mundane life:
    they were actually close friends. They are prose writer Liviu Rebreanu and poet
    Ion Minulescu. In the former case, the museum-apartment bears the name of Liviu
    Rebreanu and his wife, Fanny Rebreanu, with the apartment being the only one
    such site in Bucharest where then the family’s domestic atmosphere has been
    recomposed; so was the writer’s study with his bookcase and the writer’s
    personal items. Liviu Rebreanu was a member of the Romanian Academy and a
    dignitary holding quite a few official positions. A textbook prose writer,
    Liviu Rebreanu was born in Transylvania, at a time when Transylvania was still
    part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Among other things, Liviu Rebreanu is
    remembered as the author who captured the psychology of his characters in an
    utterly realistic manner. Rebreanu was born in 1885 and died in 1944, shortly
    before the communist regime was instated in Romania. In 1934, he bought the
    apartment in Cotroceni for his adoptive daughter, Puia-Florica Rebreanu. Liviu
    Rebreanu never lived there, yet the house has emphatically preserved the daily
    life of the family’s intimacy. Here is museographer Adrian David, with details
    on that.


    The residence has quite aptly earned
    the status of Liviu Rebreanu Memorial House because, after the writer died in
    Valea Mare, near Pitesti, his wife move to this apartment with her daughter and
    son-in-law, and here they transferred whatever it was that they could retrieve from the writer’s former real estate property. The apartment, today known as the
    Rebreanu Memorial House was donated to
    the Museum of Romanian Literature in 1992 by the writer’s adoptive daughter,
    Puia Rebreanu. When the former owner dies in 1995 and following a time when the
    residence was refurbished, the apartment entered the museum circuit, in effect
    belonging to the Romanian state, together


    So those who, at present, may want to get the chance
    to know Rebreanu in the intimacy of his family, can travel to the Cotroceni
    area and visit the little block of flats where the museum-apartment can be
    found.

    Museographer Adrian David:


    Rebreanu’s desk, where he sat down and
    wrote his entire work…Those who come visit may notice, for instance, near the desk,
    the oriental table for the writer’s coffee serving set, these two items were
    always there since he was a coffee addict and a night-time writer. We’ve got
    Rebreanu’s lamp, owl-shaped and which Rebreanu had on the desk all the time. We
    have a clock Rebreanu brought for himself from his native Transylvania which
    back then was under Austrian-Hungarian occupation, It was an imperial clock, which
    took him back to the native region he had no choice other than leaving and
    relocating to the Old Kingdom. But over and above anything else,
    attention-grabbing for those who step into the memorial house is the lavish
    display of fine art. There are a great many works, most of them authored by
    some of Rebreanu’s friends, some of them were even made in Liviu Rebreanu’s
    house. For instance, in the lobby there are three portraits drawn by Iosif
    Iser. There were there after the 1913 Christmas, held in the Rebreanus’ house,
    where among the guests were painters Camil Ressu, Iosif Iser, alongside other
    very good friends. During that Christmas evening the fir-tree was on fire because
    of the candles, and, according to Puia Rebreanu’s own account, all the presents
    they received for Christmas were burned. But, she said, thank God Iosif Iser’s
    drawings remained intact, bringing back the memories of that day. Also, there
    are many icons, all of them from Transylvania. Rebreanu was very religious and
    very superstitious.


    In stark contrast with Liviu Rebreanu, another author
    lived in the adjoining apartment. He was symbolist poet Ion Minulescu, who was
    born in 1881 and who died also in 1944. His verse was extremely popular among
    the sentimental youth of that time. Even the design of that home, which was a
    lot more spacious, was different, as the imprint was that of a much more
    bohemian atmosphere as against the restraint of the Rebreanu residence.

    Adrian
    David:


    The block of flats where both memorial houses can be found, that of Ion
    Minulescu and that of Liviu Rebreanu, was brought into service in 1934. Back in
    the day it was known as the Professors’ Block of flats and was purpose-built
    for the teaching staff. Ion Minulescu’s wife, poet Claudia Millian, was a
    high-school teacher and a principal. Liviu Rebreanu got hold of the apartment
    with the help of Ion Minulescu, who facilitated Rebreanu a loan from the
    Teaching Staff Center. In the meantime, the two writers’ wives and daughters
    became friends. Actually, in the Ion Minulescu Claudia Millian Memorial
    House, all family members are represented in equal proportion, since, apart
    from Ion Minulescu, with whom we are very familiar, his wife and daughter were
    also artists and writers. Claudia graduated form the Conservatory of Dramatic
    Art, while Mioara Minulescu, their daughter, initially read Letters and the
    French language. Actually, Claudia Millian also studied with the Fine Arts
    Academy in the country and in Paris, while Mioara Minulescu studied at the Fine
    Arts Academy in Rome. And indeed, here, on the premises, there are a great many
    works signed by the two: mosaics, paintings, sculptures and various works of
    art.


    Apart from the two landlords’ works of art, the
    memorial house also plays host to the work of some friends of the family.

    Adrian David:


    With Minulescu, there are more than
    100 paintings. There are a couple of dozen sculptures. All signed by great
    names of the domestic fine arts, part of whom were very good friends of Claudia
    Milian’s. Her best friends were Cecilia Cuțescu- Storck and her sister, Ortansa
    Satmari.


    In the mid-1990s, after the death of the two writers’
    daughters, Puia Rebreanu and Mioara Minulescu, the two apartments were donated
    to the state so that they could be turned into memorial houses highlighting the
    activity of the two writers, but also the personality of the women who stood by
    their side.




  • The Tudor Arghezi Memorial House

    The Tudor Arghezi Memorial House

    Tudor Arghezi changed Romanian poetry fundamentally, also writing prose and promoting the interwar avant-garde. He is also famous for his colorful life. He was born in 1880, his real name being Ion Theodorescu. He was a monk, a worker in a sugar factory, and traveled to Italy and Switzerland. He was a rebellious spirit, coming in conflict with the authorities several times between 1918 and 1919, even ending up in prison. In prison he got the idea of finding his ideal home. This became the March House, and museum curator Marieta Radoi-Mihaita told us about it:


    Marieta Radoi-Mihaita :“The story of the March House starts in 1926, when Tudor Arghezi decided to buy a piece of land with a surface of almost two hectares. The first thing he did after buying the land was to plant fruit trees and vine. He got the idea while lingering in Vacaresti prison, which is opposite March Street. That happened around 1919. Looking out the window of his prison cell, Arghezi was thinking of how his wife would have an easier time bringing him hot soup if she lived right across the street. The cherry orchard of today became part of literary history, because during the time when the poet was banned, between 1948 and 1954, the earnings from selling cherries were the main source of income for the poet and his family. He could not put anything in print at the time, and had been removed from school curricula.”



    The communist regime ended up rehabilitating him. Getting back to the interwar period, his house started getting built in 1928, and work ended in 1940. A year before, in 1927, Arghezi debuted with a volume of poetry called Proper Words. The connection between his poetry and his home seems essential now.



    Marieta Radoi- Mihaita: “The house started being built in 1928. After the first two rooms were built, around 1930 the family moved in the March house, which was built with money made from writing. Barutu, the poets son, said: When daddy finished a book, he built a new room. At that time, people still read, and you could make a decent living from writing and journalism. That is how Arghezi built his house, window by window, room by room, until he built 18 rooms, a loft and an attic. In addition, he started building a printing house to publish his works. They started building in 1937, and it lasted until 1947, but he only managed to print one brochure, because in 1948, the wave of nationalization meant that his printing machines were confiscated.”



    The Arghezi family, protected by the March House walls and orchard, at that time lying on the edges of Bucharest, became very much attached to it. Arghezi, his wife Paraschiva, their daughter Mitzura, are all buried in the courtyard of the house, in the shade of a venerable walnut tree planted by the poets wife in the early 1940s. In 1977, the communist regime wanted to turn the house into a kindergarten, then wanted to demolish it in 1987. This was prevented by Mitzura Arghezi, using the will left by the poet upon his death in 1967, since the poet had seen to the houses design and building piece by piece.



    Track Marieta Radoi-Mihaita: The houses design is largely the poets, but he was helped by famous architect G. M. Cantacuzino. Finances counted a lot too. It is a house designed on a long axis. The rooms open into one another. It looks a bit like a monastery. Seen from above, we can see the small towers, and the roof is shaped like a cross. In his will, the poet wrote that he wanted this house to become a museum 7 years after he passed away. Everything was settled in the late 1950s, when the poet donated his house to the Romanian state during his lifetime. In 1974, the home finally became a museum, as the poet had wished.”

  • Ethnography and Spirituality in Gorj

    Ethnography and Spirituality in Gorj

    Gorj County is a place worth seeing from a totally new perspective. We will be looking at traditional houses hundreds of years old, built by using equally old techniques. There is a local ethnography museum where you can admire such a house, the Traditional Architecture Museum in Curtisoara, Gorj County. Our journey, however, begins in Hobita, in Pestisani commune. Professor Ion Mocioi, PhD, told us about the museum dedicated to Constantin Brancusi, a house built in 1971 in the place where the famous sculptor was born.



    “The house is called a museum because a museum was set up here to make known Brancusi’s house and place of birth. It is known that the artist’s real house burned down before 1900. The next house was built by his sister, quite far from the former home. It has stood until recently, when it burned down too. The house has only a ground floor, with three rooms and a covered outdoor area. It is built on a river stone foundation. The foundation is fairly high; it has a staircase in the front, built of large river stones and has wooden shingles. There is an ongoing tradition here to build shingle roofs. The covered area has a clay floor. The middle room was a kitchen, and had 19th century facilities. The third room was a storage area. The attic was built so it used the smoke of the middle room hearth to smoke meat. You can see in all the rooms things that used to belong to the Brancusi brothers, just as they were about the time the sculptor was born. Brancusi inherited a piece of land from his parents. His mother sold that in order to get the money to send him to the National Fine Art School in Bucharest.”



    Victor Albinel Firescu, head of the art and ethnography section of the Gorj County Museum, said that tourists who go to Curtisoara can see the authentic, two hundred year old village there. Curtisoara is a commune around 90 km away from Hobita and only 13 km away from Targu Jiu, which is the county seat. The north of Oltenia, Gorj in particular, are areas where a complex architecture system developed, mostly wood based, according to Victor Albinel Firescu:



    “The conditions which created that were manifold. A brief analysis reveals a rich river network, which was what defined the way the villages were built. The topography imposes wood as the predominant building material. From a social point of view, free-minded people, under certain circumstances, can produce material and spiritual creations. The persistence of the free nature of communities transpires up to contemporary times through the resistance shown towards collectivization in the Communist period. The conservative and practical spirit of the inhabitants of this space shows in the ecclesiastical wooden architecture more than in the lay buildings’ architecture. The latter has different nuances depending on the social context and the historical period. In Gorj county one will find more than 120 monument churches, made of wood, which are genuine architectural gems. What is really amazing is the way they were built and ornamented so as to stand the test of time. This shows the craft of those who built them, who were not educated people but who mastered the craft of processing wood that was passed from one generation to another.”



    From a spatial point of view, the house is a space that shelters and protects the family, says Victor Albinel Firescu, the head of the ethnography and art section of the Gorj County Museum. It is the center of the world. It is a space for the harmonious development of the pure, unblemished and beautiful human being, protected from the evils of the world and in a very close relation with nature. Victor Albinel Firescu tells us what the Folk Art Museum in Gorj county is like:



    “We have households from all ethnographic areas of Gorj county. The museum covers an area of several hectares. Besides the wooden architecture, visitors can also see examples of ecclesiastical architecture. There are two churches, the Gheorghe Tatarascu Church, moved from Poiana Rovinari between 2000- 2002, and the Church “St. John the Baptist”, commissioned in 1821 by Bălaşa Cornoiu. The latter is a very beautiful stone church, with naive, peasant paintings. I would like to tell visitors about this space that gave many great personalities, including in the folk art field. People cannot understand all the things they find here after a first visit, they need to linger more in here to really grasp the meaning of the place.”



    University professor and PhD Ion Mocioi: “I want more and more tourists to come and see the place where Brancusi was born, the house made by Brancusi’s father, which is identical to that where the sculptor was born that had been built in 1870. In its garden there are still trees left standing from the time the sculptor was here. The atmosphere is special and visitors will find here the soul of Brancusi. My personal opinion is that one has to visit Brancusi’s home to really get to know him better. His house is now a museum. There are experts at the museum who can talk with the visitors and answer all their questions. This year a national museum “Constantin Brancusi” will be operational in Targu Jiu as well, a decision recently passed into law by Romania’s Parliament.”