The Princely Academy of Bucharest ( Romanian: Academia Domnească din București, el, Αυθεντική Ακαδημία Βουκουρεστίου) was an institution of higher education, active from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century.

History

According to some scholars, the Academy was most likely founded during the reign of Şerban Cantacuzino (1678-1688). Others believe that the initiative belonged to Constantin Brâncoveanu together with his uncle, Constantin Cantacuzino, in 1694, or to

Gheorghe Duca Gheorghe Duca (born 29 February 1952) is a Moldovan academic and politician who is the current president of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, an honorary member of the Romanian Academy, and former Moldovan Minister of Environment, Public Works a ...

(1675). The institution underwent several reorganisations, under Gheorghe Ghica, Constantine Mavrocordatos, Constantin Racoviţă and

Alexandru Ipsilanti Alexandru is the Romanian form of the name Alexander. Common diminutives are Alecu, Alex, and Sandu. Origin Etymologically, the name is derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "defending men" or "protector of men", ...

. The Academy’s language of study was Greek, the universal language of culture in the Eastern Orthodox world. For the most part, the teachers were also Greek. The students of the Academy came from all over the Orthodox world. In 1818 Gheorghe Lazăr began teaching courses in Romanian. In 1821, as a consequence of the increasing activity of the Greek patriotic organization, Filiki Eteria, the Greek-speaking Academy was disestablished, and replaced with a similar institution where teaching was done in Romanian, the

Saint Sava Academy Saint Sava College was one of the earliest academic institutions in Wallachia, Romania. It was the predecessor to both Saint Sava National College and the University of Bucharest. History It was the continuator of the Princely Academy from Buchare ...

Organisation and curriculum

We do not know very much about the Academy’s structure before the reforms of Ipsilanti. From 1776, however, by the decree of Ipsilanti, the studies in the Academy were organised in 5 cycles, each of them lasting 3 years. The first three-year cycle was dedicated to the study of the Greek and Latin grammar. The following was dedicated to the study of Greek, Latin, and classic literature. In the third cycle the students studied poetics, rhetoric, Aristotle’s ethics, Italian and French. In the fourth cycle the arithmetic and the geometry, as well as the history and the geometry were taught. Finally, the last cycle was dedicated to the study of philosophy and astronomy. If at the beginning the teaching was done mostly after the commentaries of Korydaleos to the works of Aristotle, later the courses took a modern orientation. The natural sciences, the philosophy, were taught after occidental handbooks, many of them translated in Greek.

Notable teachers

* Sevastos Kyminitis (1689–1703) * Grigorios Konstantas (1782–1787) *

Lambros Photiadis Lambros Photiadis ( el, Λάμπρος Φωτιάδης, 1752-1805) was a Greek scholar, director of the Princely Academy of Bucharest and representative of the modern Greek Enlightenment. Life Photiadis was born in Ioannina (Epirus), northwester ...

(1792–1805, Principal) *

Constantinos Vardalachos Konstantinos or Constantinos (Κωνσταντίνος, ''Konstantínos'') is a Greek male given name. * Konstantinos (born 1972), occultist * Konstantinos "Kosta" Barbarouses (born 1990), New Zealand footballer * Konstantinos Chalkias (born 1 ...

(1803–1815 rincipal: 1805-1815 1820–1821) * Neophytos Doukas (1815–1818) *Stephanos Kommitas (1816–1818) * Veniamin Lesvios (1818) * Rigas Feraios (1757–1798) * Georgios Gennadios (1784–1854)

Notable alumni

* Grigorie Brâncoveanu *

Dinicu Golescu Dinicu Golescu (usual rendition of Constantin Radovici Golescu; 7 February 1777 – 5 October 1830), a member of the Golescu family of boyars, was a Wallachian Romanian man of letters, mostly noted for his travel writings and journalism. ...

Iordache Golescu Iordache is a Romanian surname. ''Iordăchescu'' and ''Iordăcheanu'' were coined from Iordache. ''Iordache'' is of Greek language origin, from Yeorgakis (Γεωργάκης), a patronym from the Modern Greek first name Yiorgos (Γιώργος), fro ...

* Ion Heliade Rădulescu * Daniel Philippidis *

Petrache Poenaru Petrache Poenaru (; 10 January 1799 – 2 October 1875) was a Romanian inventor of the Enlightenment era. Poenaru, who had studied in Paris and Vienna and, later, completed his specialized studies in England, was a mathematician, physicist, en ...

Eufrosin Poteca Eufrosin Poteca (; born Radu Poteca; 1786 – 10 December 1858) was a Romanian philosopher, theologian, and translator, professor at the Saint Sava Academy of Bucharest. Later in life he campaigned against slavery. He was the grandfather of the R ...

Barbu Ştirbei Barbu may refer to: People * Barbu (name), a list of people with the name and surname ''Barbu'' * Alejandro Barbudo Lorenzo, nicknamed ''Barbu'', Spanish footballer Places * Barbu, Iran, a village in the Bushehr Province of Iran * Barbu, Norway, ...

Alecu Văcărescu Alecu Văcărescu (1769–1798) was a Romanians, Romanian Wallachian boyar and poet, a member of the Văcărescu family that gave Romanian literature its first poets. In 1796 a collection of his poems appeared in Romania. He died as a prisoner in ...

Ienăchiță Văcărescu Ienăchiță Văcărescu (; 1740 – 11 July 1797) was a Wallachian Romanian poet, historian, philologist, and boyar belonging to the Văcărescu family. A polyglot, he was able to speak Ancient and Modern Greek, Old Church Slavonic, Arabic, P ...

* Nicolae Văcărescu * Stefan Bogoridi

References

Sources