Radio România Internațional

Tag: The Wisdom of the Earth

  • September 30, 2016

    September 30, 2016

    STATE FUNERALS – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has today travelled to Jerusalem to pay his final respects to Israel’s former Prime Minister and President, Shimon Peres. The last of the country’s founding fathers and Nobel Prize winner, Peres died on Wednesday at the age of 93 after suffering a stroke. Dozens of world leaders and public figures, such as the presidents of the US, Germany, and France, the European Council president and the UN Secretary General are expected in Jerusalem on Friday, where Shimon Perez will officially be laid to rest. Romania is represented at the funeral by President Klaus Iohannis, Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu and head of the Jewish Federation in Romania, Aurel Vainer.




    BRANCUSI – September 30 is the deadline for the public donation campaign initiated by the Romanian state for the purchase of the sculpture The Wisdom of the Earth by Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi. The work was first sold in 1911, it was confiscated by the communists in 1957 and became the subject of a lengthy legal battle after the fall of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, ending in 2008 with it returned to the family of its original owner. In September 2014 when the family announced it was putting Brancusi’s statue, an artwork considered a national treasure up for sale, the Romanian Government announced its intention to buy it. The work costs 11 million euros of which the state covers 5 millions and the remaining 6 millions are to be collected from donations. Nevertheless, only 1 million euros have been gathered following the public donation campaign.




    RadiRo – The RadiRo 2016 symphonic music radio orchestra festival has reached its seventh day. This evening, the Radio Romania Orchestra will give its second concert within the festival, under the baton of Leo Hussain with violinist Alexandru Tomescu as a soloist. The festival runs until October 1st, when it ends with a concert held by the BBC Orchestra.




    ELECTION – The presidential election campaign has started today in the Republic of Moldova. Moldovan citizens are expected to cast their vote on October 30, and elect their president through direct voting for the first time in 15 years. As many as eight candidates are running for president, and opinion polls present the leader of the pro-Russian socialists, Igor Dodon, as favourite.




    STOCK EXCHANGE – Romania was officially included on the Watchlist of countries that show a substantial potential to become emerging markets, according to a decision of the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE), made public on Thursday. According to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, it will be possible to make it to the emergent markets category by meeting the liquidities conditions of the overall market.




    SYRIA – Over 9,300 people of whom 3,800 civilians have been killed by the Russian air strikes since the beginning of the Russian intervention in Syria, on September 30, 2015, in support of Bachar al-Assad’s regime, the Syrian Observer of Human Right announced. Over 2,700 victims were ISIS militants, while more than 2,800 were members of some groups that fought against the regime. Moscow has been harshly criticised at the UN Security Council meeting by the American ambassador, who defined Russia’s intervention in Syria as barbaric. Russia’s actions were also denounced by the ambassadors of France and Britain.




    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep , no. 5 in the world, is today up against Czech Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals of the tournament in Wuhan, China, with 2.6 million dollars up for grabs. If she makes it to the final, Halep will play against the winner of the game between the Slovak Dominika Cibulkova and the Russian Svetlana Kuznetova. Simona Halep has already secured her participation in the 2016 WTA Finals in Singapore.



    (Translated by Elena Enache)

  • Public subscription campaign for one of Brancusi’s sculptures

    Public subscription campaign for one of Brancusi’s sculptures

    Whereas until recently Romanians didn’t want, didn’t know how or simply couldn’t protect and promote the legacy of their famous sculptor Constantin Brancusi, they now have the ideal opportunity to prove they care! On Monday the official public subscription campaign was launched to acquire one of the artist’s sculptures, The Wisdom of the Earth. Culture Minister Vlad Alexandrescu has made a public appeal, arguing that bank accounts have been opened where Romanians at home and abroad, natural or legal persons, can contribute to purchase the work of art from its current owners.



    Vlad Alexandrescu: “We have opened bank accounts in Euros, USD and of course, in Lei with the State Treasury and another six commercial banks, that decided to apply no commissions for the deposits: BCR, BRD, UniCredit Bank, Banca Transilvania, CEC Bank and Raiffeisen Bank. The list of accounts has already been made public on the website of the Ministry of Culture and has also been published on a dedicated webpage, cuminteniapamantului.ro, which will underlie the awareness raising campaign that we are about to start really soon”.



    Vlad Alexandrescu himself started the national subscription campaign by contributing 100 euros, as a symbolic gesture. Vlad Alexandrescu: “It will take a national effort, involving the joint efforts of all good-willing citizens who want to help the state keep hold of this extraordinary sculpture by Brancusi. This is an unprecedented action, the first time a public subscription campaign is launched in order to preserve the national identity and keep this work of art public”.



    The idea has been the object of many controversies, some voices pointing to the state’s weakness. Created in 1907 at the peak of his work, The Wisdom of the Earth’s negotiated cost is 11 million euros. The state has pledged to pay half of that sum, namely 5 million. The remaining 6 million is to be raised by September 30 from public subscriptions. High or low, the price matters little, as Constantin Brancusi is one of the most internationally acclaimed Romanian artists. What matters more is Romanians’ contribution to this campaign, as a tribute paid to their great compatriot, whom the former communist regime dismissed as a mere product of formalism and decadence.

  • Brancusi sculpture to be bought by public subscription

    Brancusi sculpture to be bought by public subscription

    The Romanian Athenaeum, which is one of Bucharest’s most iconic venues, was built thanks to the small donations made by 500,000 inhabitants of the city in 1886. 128 years later, a similar campaign has been initiated to raise money for the purchase of Constantin Brancusi’s masterpiece “The Wisdom of the Earth”. The work could become the property of the Romanian state provided that 6 million euro is raised by the end of September. The sculpture costs 11 million euro, but the state is able to provide 5 million. The Romanian prime minister Dacian Ciolos said on television that the public subscription to purchase the Brancusi sculpture is a form of partnership between the state and society.



    Dacian Ciolos: “We are launching this public subscription as a way of working together, the state and society. If we can’t raise the money in time, it means we have decided to give up. A public document will be available detailing the history of the work, including its legal situation, so as to make everything transparent and eliminate any suspicion over possible hidden interests.”



    To be able to purchase the Brancusi sculpture, the Romanian state will invoke its right of pre-emption. Culture minister Vlad Alexandrescu explains in an interview on Radio Romania: “No private company will make any profit from this operation, which has to be perfectly transparent, and which comes to an end on 30th September. So people who wish to contribute to this purchase may do so by this date. Everybody can donate as much as they want and only if they want to, there is no obligation to contribute. This is not a form of taxation, but a donation, which people are free to make or not, depending on whether they believe in this initiative. The Romanian people now have the opportunity to demonstrate whether they believe this work deserves to remain in the public circuit”.



    Minister Alexandrescu also said that Brancusi’s sculpture “The Wisdom of the Earth” is exceptional because it illustrates a decisive stage in the artist’s development and style and, in particular, because it is unique, unlike “The Kiss”, for example, which has six different versions.