Gheorghe Balș (April 24, 1868 – September 22, 1934) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n engineer, architect and art historian. Born in

Adjud Adjud (; hu, Egyedhalma) is a municipiu, city in Vrancea County, Western Moldavia, Romania. It has a population of 14,670 inhabitants (2011). It lies at a railway junction which has a classification yard and a passenger station. Adjud, situated ...

Vrancea County Vrancea () is a county ( județ) in Romania, with its seat at Focșani. It is mostly in the historical region of Moldavia but the southern part, below the Milcov River, is in Muntenia. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 340,310 and ...

, his parents Alecu Balș (1838-1894) and Roxanda Sturdza (d. 1878) were descended from prominent

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

n ''

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...

'' families. He studied in Lausanne, where he completed high school, and at the

Zürich Polytechnic (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

, where he earned an engineer's diploma. In 1891, after returning home, he was hired at the bridge inspection service of ''

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) is the state railway carrier of Romania. As of 2014, the railway network of Romania consists of , of which (37.4%) are electrified. The total track length is , of which (38.5%) are electrifie ...

'' state railway carrier. He worked with

Anghel Saligny Anghel Saligny (; 19 April 1854, Șerbănești, Moldavia – 17 June 1925, Bucharest, Romania) was a Romanian engineer, most famous for designing the Fetești-Cernavodă railway bridge (1895) over the Danube, the longest bridge in Europe at tha ...

and possibly

Louis Blanc Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (; ; 29 October 1811 – 6 December 1882) was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor. Alth ...

on the

King Carol I Bridge The Anghel Saligny Bridge (formerly King Carol I Bridge) is a complex of two railroad truss bridges in Romania, across the Danube River and the Borcea branch of the Danube, connecting the regions of Muntenia and Dobruja. The bridge is listed i ...

Cernavodă Cernavodă () is a town in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania with a population of 20,514. The town's name is derived from the Bulgarian ''černa voda'' (черна вода in Cyrillic), meaning 'black water'. This name is regarded by ...

and on the lighthouse in

Tuzla Tuzla (, ) is the third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inhabitants. Tuzla is the economic, cultural, ed ...

. He worked on the

Port of Constanța The Port of Constanța is located in Constanța, Romania, on the western coast of the Black Sea, from the Bosphorus Strait and from the Sulina Branch, through which the Danube river flows into the sea. It covers , of which is land and the rest, ...

together with George Duca.Gheorghe Balș
at Arhiva de arhitectură From 1908 to 1911, he worked in the technical service of the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

's public health division. He collaborated closely with his brother-in-law

Ioan Cantacuzino Ioan I. Cantacuzino (; also Ion Cantacuzino; 25 November 1863 – 14 January 1934) was a renowned Romanian physician and bacteriologist, a professor at the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of the University of Bucharest, and a titular member of ...

in the fight against tuberculosis, and was president of the

Romanian Red Cross The Romanian Red Cross (CRR), also known as the National Society of Red Cross from Romania (''Societatea Naționalǎ de Cruce Roșie din România''), is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relie ...

. Together with

Nicolae Ghica-Budești Nicolae Ghica-Budești (December 22, 1869 – December 16, 1943) was an influential Romanian architect who helped define the Neo-Romanian style. He studied ancient monuments in Wallachia, writing four volumes documenting the architectural history o ...

, he built the Cantacuzino Institute in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

in 1921. He was involved with the committee for historic monuments, joining in 1913 and later becoming vice president. In 1923, Balș was elected a titular member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

. He died in Bucharest in 1934.Ștefan Ștefănescu, Adolf Armbruster, ''Enciclopedia istoriografiei române̦sti'', p. 44. Bucharest: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, 1978 Together with Ghica-Budești and

Nicolae Iorga Nicolae Iorga (; sometimes Neculai Iorga, Nicolas Jorga, Nicolai Jorga or Nicola Jorga, born Nicu N. Iorga;Iova, p. xxvii. 17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet ...

, he sought to identify the influences that shaped

Romanian architecture Romanian architecture is very diverse, including medieval, pre-World War I, interwar, postwar, and contemporary 21st century architecture. In Romania, there are also regional differences with regard to architectural styles. Architecture, as the r ...

both in Moldavia and in

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

. His research took him to Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Turkey and the Russian Empire. Balș pointed to Armenian and Georgian as well as Serbian contributions, and his work on 15th and 16th-century Moldavian architecture was favorably received. He sat on numerous company boards, including those of a mine and of a credit bank for encouraging industrial firms. The Balș family had extensive rural properties in Moldavia, but his parents gradually had to sell their lands in order to pay off debts and losses by their administrators. In 1880, his father sold the imposing residence in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

that today houses the

Music Conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

. In 1897, Balș married Maria Știrbey, the daughter of prince Alexandru B. Știrbei and the sister of

Barbu Știrbey Prince Barbu Alexandru Știrbey (; 4 November 1872 – 24 March 1946) was 30th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Romania in 1927. He was the son of Prince Alexandru Știrbey and his wife Princess Maria Ghika-Comănești, and grandson of another ...

. The marriage contract specifies that the bride received a trousseau of 25,000 lei, and that she wished to invest 200,000 lei of her parents' inheritance for building and furnishing a house. The couple had four children: Zoe (1897-1991), Alexandru (1898-1950s), Ion (1901-1980) and Matei (1905–1976). A high school in Adjud was named after Balș in 2006.Colegiul Tehnic Gheorghe Balș
site

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bals, Gheorghe 1868 births 1934 deaths People from Adjud

Gheorghe Gheorghe is a Romanian given name and surname. It is a variant of George, also a name in Romanian but with soft Gs. It may refer to: Given name * Gheorghe Adamescu * Gheorghe Albu * Gheorghe Alexandrescu * Gheorghe Andriev * Gheorghe Apostol * ...

Sturdza family ETH Zurich alumni Romanian engineers Romanian art historians Romanian architects Romanian expatriates in Switzerland Căile Ferate Române people Titular members of the Romanian Academy