“Run, run. Run as fast as you can!” That was my interpretation when I saw this sculpture on Victory Road (Calea Victoriei in Romanian). So I smiled when I found out that the name of the sculpture is – what else – “The Runners”. Maybe I should switch careers and become an art critic 🙂 To my surprise, the artist is a French sculptor, Alfred Boucher which was, according to wikipedia, a mentor to Camille Claudel and friend of Auguste Rodin.
A group of tourists is listening to their guide in front of one of Bucharest’s most beautiful buildings: the Romanian Athenaeum. This concert hall was built in 1888 in neoclassical style after a design by the French architect Albert Galleron. The project was conceived by the diplomat Constantin Exarcu and a portion of the money for the completion of the building were gathered in a public collection in which people were asked to “give a leu for the Athenaeum” (The “leu” being the currency of Romania). With its 40 m high dome and the eight Ionic columns it resembles an ancient temple. The Athenaeum is the place to hear classical music in Bucharest. The resident orchestra is George Enescu Philarmonic.
Yesterday’s photo of Noah’s Ark was like a premonition, cause yesterday evening Bucharest has seen one of the strongest storms of this summer. Many streets were flooded and some cars were hit by falling trees. The rain caught me without an umbrella, downtown at University Square where I tried to find some means of transportation to Titan to meet some friends for dinner. Not that an umbrella would have helped much, the wind was so strong that umbrellas were useless. The bus closed its doors right in my nose and there was no taxi in sight. In the end my husband Cris came to pick me up and we headed for the restaurant. When we got there we realized Cris had forgotten the umbrella too so we spent the next 15 minutes in the car, 50 meters away from the door of the restaurant, waiting for a break in the rain – with no luck because it was pooring like crazy. The weather in Bucharest has been pretty moody this summer, with frequent violent storms.
I’ve noticed this installation as soon as it was put up in front of Cărtureşti library but I didn’t think about its meaning until I heard someone mention “the ark in front of Cărtureşti”. And then it hit me. Of course, it’s Noah’s Ark. I searched the Internet and found out that it was made by the Romanian artist Virgil Scripcariu for the Europalia, Agorafolly 2007 festival, when it was placed for almost a month in Place du Musée, in the courtyard of the palace of Charles of Lorraine in central Bruxelles. I like how the giraffe is located in front of the ark looking like the mast of a ship.
Versiune în română
Carol Park has gone through many changes since its inauguration in 1906, including a change of name, being called Liberty Park (Parcul Libertăţii) during the communist regime, but one of the attractions that has withstood the passing of the time is the Zodiac Fountain. Located in front of the park’s main entrance, the fountain dates from 1935 when it was built for the first edition of a popular celebration called “The Bucharest Month”. “The Bucharest Month” had only six editions being held every year between May 9 and June 9 until the starting of the war in 1940. The fountain, looking like a huge footed serving bowl was designed by architect Octav Doicescu and erected by the architects August Schmiedigen and Dorin Pavel. Its name comes from the twelve mosaic representations of the zodiac signs made by scultptor Mac Constantinescu.
This photo opens up a hopefully long series of photographs of churches of Bucharest. The reasons for this is that first, many Bucharest churches are among the oldest and most beautiful buildings in the city and second, many of them have a very interesting history. The White Church is located at 110 Calea Victoriei and will have to qualify for the beauty contest because I wasn’t able to find out too much about its history despite reading through 10 books on Bucharest history and architecture and doing extensive searches on the web. What I was able to learn is that it’s called The White Church because it was always painted stark white (duh!). It was built at the beginning of the eighteen century under the guiding of priest Neagu Dărvaş and was restored a few times since then. I hope that one of these days I will be able to take a picture of the interior which was painted in 1873 by one of Romania’s foremost painters Gheorghe Tattarescu.
Iuliu Maniu (January 8, 1873 – February 5, 1953) was one of Romania’s foremost politicians, serving as the Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933. He was an adversary of Russian influence and for this reason he was imprisoned in 1947 when the communists came to power. He died in 1953 in Sighet prison. His statue, the work of artist Mircea Spătaru is located in the Revolution Square, in front of the former Communist Party Headquarters which are now housing governmental offices. I like the statues because it is modern, expressive and full of pathos, something different among the standard 19th century statues which fill Bucharest.
As a follow-up of from yesterday’s post, today’s photo is a close-up of the University roundabout. You can see the exit from the underground passage, the one on the southwestern corner which leads to the Bucharest History Museum. In the little green island in the lower part of the picture a few stone crosses that pay homage to those killed during the 1989 Revolution.
Today’s photo is an aerial view of the true heart of the city, the area around Bucharest University. In the last 19 years University Square has proved to be a popular railing point at the time of national crisis as well as celebration: people gathered here during the 1989 revolution and the events of June 1990 and they continue to gather here every time the national team wins a soccer game (which unfortunatelly doesn’t happen very often these days). To be correct, even though most people call the entire area University Square, the actual University Square is the one with the four statues located in front of the University of Bucharest building (this square is not visible in the picture being obscured by the University building), while the area in front of the National Theatre and Intercontinental Hotel appear on the maps as the 21 December 1989 Square. It’s a place buzzing with crowds and traffic, a true center of activity. The roundabout is of course called the University roundabout and below it there’s an underground passage which was just recently renovated and which allows pedestrians to cross to from one side of the square to another and also leads to the subway station.
Today’s photo is of a green pianist who is playing his quiet music on the green space in front of the National Theatre.