Today is Theme Day at the City Daily Photo community, a monthly event that happens the first day of every month, when all participating blogs will post a picture that relates to the theme day’s description. Today’s theme is: Changes. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
Once again I will tell you a story that has to do with the communist dictatorship that has ruled over Romania for over 40 years. I know this topic shows up a lot in my posts but that’s only because it’s part of recent history and it left marks on Bucharest and its people that are still visible.
When the communists came to power in 1945 they took down all the statues of kings and famous politicians in an attempt to erase the memories of a past that was not linked to their ideology. Most of them were destroyed, melted away. But the wheel of history rolls on, and eventually it came the turn of communists to give up power and to have their statues removed from public display. The statue of Lenin that you can see in today’s theme photo was taken down in 1989 when the communist dictatorship came to an end, and these days is slowly degrading behind the summer kitchen of Mogoşoaia Palace, located 10km northwest of Bucharest. It once stood in front of the House of the Press, called Casa Scânteii during communism, now the House of the Free Press. I would call this quite a change of location 🙂 The other statue that you see in the photo is of Petru Groza, the first communist ruler of Romania.
That is change we can all live with!
I think those guys are having a "tete 'a tete", non? Great CHANGE photo and great that CHANGE came to Romania!
A very good interpretation of this theme day and a perfectly deserved collocation for these two guys. I remember that in Vilnius, Lithuania, they had a yard full of these statues…
Beautiful illustration of the theme.
Text and photo goes well together! Important not to forget the history, but learn from it!!
The photo is made even better by the story about the previous changes, the previous rulers whose statues were taken down.
Three Rivers Daily Photo
This is a great entry indeed!
Happy New Year!
Dust we are and to dust we shall return – even so far as our statues are concerned. Powerful images here, not only about chance, but the nature of power and how it can shift relatively quickly.
Thanks Andreea for your kind comments and while I'll be blogging only sporadically for a time, I want to wish you and yours a wonderful and prosperous new year!
Great post! Happy New Year 🙂
this a a truly great post for theme day, it is good that you teach us the history with your posts. well done. Happy New Year and I wish you many photographic opportunities in 2010.
What a great image! Well spotted.
Wow! What a great representation of change. I particularly like that, at first glance, he appears to be sleeping but on closer examination, it becomes clear that something's amiss since his eyes are open.
Fascinating! An example of the old saying "what goes around, comes around." I bet most Communists in 1945 never guessed what would happen to THEIR statues.
Nice take on the 'change' theme!