Sep 272009
This serious looking building is Bucharest’s Law Faculty which is part of the University of Bucharest. It was designed by architect Petre Antonescu in neoclassical style and was finished in 1935. On the facade are the statues of five great lawmakers, lawyers and jurists of the ancient times: Lycurgus of Sparta, Solon, Cicero, Papinian and Justinian. The statues are the work of sculptors Ion Jalea and Costin Georgescu. Romania’s Civil Code is based on the Napoleonic Code (the French Civil Code) established under Napoléon I in 1804, which was adopted by Romania in 1864 (with some modifications) and is still in use.
Very imposing building. I'm sure the law students feel like insignificant ants the first time they find out who those five statues represent.
I'd be curious to know how do you call the large vases in the garden, in front of the building. The left one is practically alike a Tuscan 'coppo', a large vase to store oil or water.
I think I would call them "amforă" even though an amphora has to have handles. Otherwise I would call them something like "a large vase" 🙂 We have the word "cupă" in Romanian but it's usually used for a glass or a cup, something smaller than the ones in the picture; For example World Cup in Romanian would be "Cupa mondială".
Being these names of old things probably you named them from Latin, so are practically the same here: coppa is used as your cupă and our anfora sounds the same of yours.
A suitable building for a school of law, I suppose. But frankly, I always wonder why law faculties are mostly so bombastic. The law school in Buenos Aires is also very impressive. I'm thinking the time period in which they were erected may have contributed to the architectural style.