The culture of Romania is an umbrella term used to encapsulate the ideas, customs and social behaviours of the people of Romania that developed due to the country's distinct geopolitical history and evolution. It is theorized and speculated that
Romanians
The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Roman ...
and related peoples (
Aromanians
The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and ...
,
Megleno-Romanians
The Megleno-Romanians, also known as Meglenites ( ruq, Miglinits), Moglenite Vlachs or simply Vlachs ( ruq, Vlaș), are a small Eastern Romance people, originally inhabiting seven villages in the Moglena region spanning the Pella and Kilkis re ...
, and
Istro-Romanians
The Istro-Romanians ( ruo, rumeri or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to or associated with the Istrian Peninsula. Historically, they inhabited vast parts of it, as well as the western side of the island of Krk until 1875. However, due to se ...
) are the combinations of descendants of Roman colonists and people indigenous to the region who were
Romanized.
The
Dacian people, one of the major indigenous peoples of
southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
, are one of the predecessors of the Proto-Romanians. It is believed that a mixture of
Dacians,
Thracians
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...
,
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, and
Illyrians
The Illyrians ( grc, Ἰλλυριοί, ''Illyrioi''; la, Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, a ...
are the predecessors of the modern Romanians, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians. In addition, Romanian culture shares several similarities with other ancient cultures, such as that of the
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...
.
Background
![Symbols of Romania](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Symbols_of_Romania.png)
During the Late Antiquity and Middle Ages, the major influences came from medieval
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
and the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
; from the
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...
; from the
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
, especially (
Saxon settlers in Transylvania) as well as from several other neighboring peoples.
Romania's history has been full of rebounds: the culturally productive epochs were those of stability when the people proved quite an impressive resourcefulness in the making up for less propitious periods and were able to rejoin the mainstream of
European culture
The culture of Europe is rooted in its art, architecture, film, different types of music, economics, literature, and philosophy. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage".
Definition ...
. This stands true for the years after the
Phanariote
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenic ...
-
Ottoman period, at the beginning of the 19th century, when Romanians had a historical context and Romania started to become westernized, mainly with
French influences, which they pursued steadily and at a very fast pace. From the end of the 18th century, the sons of the upper classes started having their education in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, and
French became (and was until the communist years) a genuine second language of culture for Romanians.
The modeling role of France, especially in the fields of political ideas, administration, and law, as well as in literature, was paralleled, from the mid-19th century down to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, by German culture as well, which also triggered constant relationships with the German world not only at a cultural level but in daily life as well. With the arrival of Soviet Communism in the area, Romania quickly adopted many soviet influences, and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
was also widely taught in the country during Romania's socialist years.
History
Middle Ages
![Turla Biserica Sfântul Nicolae din Densuș](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Turla_Biserica_Sf%C3%A2ntul_Nicolae_din_Densu%C8%99.jpg)
Until the 14th century, small states (
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
: ''voievodate'') were spread across the territory of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
,
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 ...
, and
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 ...
. The medieval principalities Wallachia and Moldavia arose around that time in the area on the southern and eastern sides of the
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
.
Moldavia and Wallachia were both situated on important commercial routes often crossed by Polish, Saxon, Greek, Armenian,
Genovese
Genovese is an Italian surname meaning, properly, someone from Genoa. Its Italian plural form '' Genovesi'' has also developed into a surname.
People
* Alfred Genovese (1931–2011), American oboist
* Alfredo Genovese (born 1964), Argentine ar ...
, and
Venetian merchants, connecting them well to the evolving culture of medieval Europe.
Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche (; 1590–1647) was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his ''Letopisețul Țării Moldovei'' ('' Chronicles of the Land of Moldavia''), covering the period from 1359 to 1594.
Biography
Grigore Ureche was th ...
's
chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
, ''Letopisețul Țărîi Moldovei'' (''The Chronicles of the land of Moldavia''), covering the period from 1359 to 1594, is a very important source of information about life, events, and personalities in Moldavia. It is among the first non-religious Romanian literary texts; due to its size and the information that it contains, it is, probably, the most important Romanian document from the 17th century.
The first printed book, a prayer book in
Slavonic, was produced in Wallachia in 1508, and the first book in Romanian, a
catechism
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
, was printed in Transylvania, in 1544. At the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, European
humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
influenced the works of
Miron Costin and
Ion Neculce
Ion Neculce (1672–1745) was a Moldavian chronicler. His main work, ''Letopisețul Țărâi Moldovei e la Dabija Vodă până la a doua domnie a lui Constantin Mavrocordat' (''The Chronicles of the land of Moldavia Constantin Mavrocordat'') w ...
, the Moldavian
chroniclers
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
who continued Ureche's work.
Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu (; 1654 – August 15, 1714) was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.
Biography
Ascension
A descendant of the Craiovești boyar family and heir through his grandfather Preda of a considerable part of Matei Ba ...
,
prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
of Wallachia, was a great patron of the arts and was a local
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
figure. During
Șerban Cantacuzino
Șerban Cantacuzino (), (1634/1640 – 29 October 1688) was a Prince of Wallachia between 1678 and 1688.
Life and career
Cantacuzino took part in the Ottoman campaign which ended in their defeat at the Battle of Vienna. According to Gaster (191 ...
's reign, the monks at the monastery of
Snagov
Snagov (population: 7,272) is a commune, located north of Bucharest, in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. According to the 2011 census, 92% of the population is ethnic Romanian. The commune is composed of five villages: Ciofliceni, Ghermăneșt ...
, near
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 ...
, published in 1688 the first translated and printed Romanian
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
(''Biblia de la București'' – The
Bucharest Bible). The first successful attempts at written Romanian-language poetry were made in 1673 when
Dosoftei
Dimitrie Barilă (), better known under his monastical name Dosoftei (; October 26, 1624—December 13, 1693), was a Moldavian Metropolitan, scholar, poet and translator.
Born in Suceava, he attended the school of the "Trei Ierarhi" Monaste ...
, a
Moldavian metropolitan 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 ...
, published a Romanian metrical
psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...
.
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir (, russian: Дмитрий Кантемир; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723), also known by other spellings, was a Romanian prince, statesman, and man of letters, regarded as one of the most significant e ...
, a Moldavian prince, was an important personality of the medieval period in Moldavia. His interests included philosophy, history, music, linguistics, ethnography, and geography. The most important works containing information about the Romanian regions were ''
Descriptio Moldaviae'' published in 1769 and ''Hronicul vechimii a romano-moldo-valahilor'' (roughly, ''Chronicle of the durability of Romans-Moldavians-Wallachians''), the first critical history of Romania. His works were also known in western Europe, as he authored writings in Latin: ''Descriptio Moldaviae'' (commissioned by the Academy of Berlin, the member of which he became in 1714) and ''Incrementa atque decrementa aulae othomanicae'', which was printed in English in 1734–1735 (second edition in 1756), in French (1743) and German (1745); the latter was a major reference work in European science and culture until the 19th century.
Classical Age
![Welcoming the Prince of Saxa-Coburg by the Metropolitan and boyars, 1789](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Welcoming_the_Prince_of_Saxa-Coburg_by_the_Metropolitan_and_boyars%2C_1789.jpg)
In
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, although they formed the majority of the population, Romanians were merely seen as a "tolerated nation" by the Austrian leadership of the province, and were not proportionally represented in political life and the
Transylvanian Diet
The Transylvanian Diet (german: Siebenbürgischer Landtag; hu, erdélyi országgyűlés; ro, Dieta Transilvaniei) was an important legislative, administrative and judicial body of the Principality (from 1765 Grand Principality) of Transylvania ...
. At the end of the 18th century an emancipation movement known as the ''
Transylvanian School
The Transylvanian School ( ro, Școala Ardeleană) was a cultural movement which was founded after part of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Habsburg-ruled Transylvania accepted the leadership of the pope and became the Greek-Catholic Church (). The ...
'' (''Școala Ardeleană'') was formed, which tried to emphasize that the Romanian people were of Roman origin, and also adopted the modern Latin-based
Romanian alphabet
The Romanian alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Romanian language. It is a modification of the classical Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used b ...
(which eventually supplanted an earlier
Cyrillic
, bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця
, fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs
, fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic
, fam3 = Phoenician
, fam4 = G ...
script). It also accepted the leadership of the pope over the Romanian church of Transylvania, thus forming the
Romanian Greek-Catholic Church
The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic ( la, Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Romaniae; ro, Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the ...
. In 1791, they issued a petition to Emperor
Leopold II of Austria, named ''
Supplex Libellus Valachorum'' based on the French
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789, links=no), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolu ...
, demanding equal political rights with the other ethnicities for the Romanians in Transylvania. This movement, however, leaned more towards westernization in general, when in fact, the origin of the Romanian people is not only from the peoples of the former Roman Empire, but also from the ancient Dacians, predating the arrival of the Romans, not to mention that from around the 1600s to the 1800s Romanian culture was heavily influenced by Eastern influences as emphasized through the Ottomans, and the Phanariotes.
The end of the 18th century, and the beginning of the 19th century was marked 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 ...
and
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 ...
by the reigns of
Phanariote
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumeni ...
Princes; thus, the two principalities were heavily influenced by the Greek world. Greek schools appeared in the principalities, and in 1818, the first Romanian School was founded in Bucharest by
Gheorghe Lazăr
Gheorghe Lazăr (5 June 1779 – 17 September 1823), born and died in Avrig, Sibiu County, was a Transylvanian, later Romanian scholar, the founder of the first Romanian language school in Bucharest, 1817.
Biography
A Habsburg Empire subject, ...
and
Ion Heliade Rădulescu
Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade (also known as ''Eliade'' or ''Eliade Rădulescu''; ; January 6, 1802 – April 27, 1872) was a Wallachian, later Romanian academic, Romanticism, Romantic and Classicism, Classicist poet, essayist, mem ...
.
Anton Pann
Anton Pann (; born Antonie Pantoleon-Petroveanu , and also mentioned as ''Anton Pantoleon'' or ''Petrovici''; 1790s—2 November 1854) was an Ottoman-born Wallachian composer, musicologist, and Romanian-language poet, also noted for his act ...
was a successful novelist,
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 ...
wrote the first
Romanian grammar, and his nephew
Iancu Văcărescu
Iancu Văcărescu (1786–1863) was a Romanians, Romanian Wallachian boyar and poet, member of the Văcărescu family.
Biography
The son of Alecu Văcărescu, descending from a long line of Wallachian Intellectual, men of letters — his pater ...
is considered to be the first important Romanian poet. In 1821, an
uprising in Wallachia took place against Ottoman rule. This uprising was led by the Romanian revolutionary and militia leader
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu (; c. 1780 – ) was a Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri (''Tudor from Vladimiri'') or, occasionally, as Domnul Tudor ...
.
The revolutionary year 1848 had its echoes in the Romanian principalities and in Transylvania, and a new elite from the middle of the 19th century emerged from the revolutions:
Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogălniceanu (; also known as Mihail Cogâlniceanu, Michel de Kogalnitchan; September 6, 1817 – July 1, 1891) was a Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania on October 11, 1863, ...
(writer, politician, and the first prime minister of Romania),
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri (; 21 July 182122 August 1890) was a Romanian patriot, poet, dramatist, politician and diplomat. He was one of the key figures during the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia. He fought for the unification of the Romani ...
(politician, playwright, and poet),
Andrei Mureșanu
Andrei Mureșanu (; November 16, 1816 in Bistrița – October 12, 1863 in Brașov) was a Romanian poet and revolutionary of Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867), Transylvania.
Born in a family of a small business owner in the count ...
(publicist and the writer of the current
Romanian National Anthem) and
Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu () (29 June 181929 November 1852) was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.
Early life
Born in Bucharest to a family of low-ranking nobility, he used his mother's ...
(historian, writer and revolutionary).
The
union between Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 brought a growing consolidation of Romanian life and culture. Universities were opened 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 ...
and 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 ...
, and the number of new cultural establishments grew significantly. The new prince from 1866 and then
King of Romania
The King of Romania (Romanian: ''Regele României'') or King of the Romanians (Romanian: ''Regele Românilor''), was the title of the monarch of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when the Romanian Workers' Party proclaimed the Romanian ...
,
Carol I
Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...
, was a devoted king, and he and his wife
Elisabeth were among the main patrons of arts. Of great impact in Romanian literature was the literary circle
Junimea
''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost personali ...
, founded by a group of people around the literary critic
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of ...
in 1863. It published its cultural journal ''Convorbiri Literare'' where, among others,
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
, Romania's greatest poet,
Ion Creangă
Ion Creangă (; also known as Nică al lui Ștefan a Petrei, Ion Torcălău and Ioan Ștefănescu; March 1, 1837 – December 31, 1889) was a Moldavian, later Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th-century Romania ...
, a storyteller of genius, and
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale (; commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale; According to his birth certificate, published and discussed by Constantin Popescu-Cadem in ''Manuscriptum'', Vol. VIII, Nr. 2, 1977, pp. 179-184 – 9 June 1912) was a Romanian playw ...
, novelist and Romania's greatest playwright published most of their works. During the same period,
Nicolae Grigorescu
Nicolae Grigorescu (; 15 May 1838 – 21 July 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting.
There is a metro station named after Grigorescu in Bucharest. It was given his name in 1990, before which it was named after Communist army ...
and
Ștefan Luchian
Ștefan Luchian (, last name also spelled Lukian; 1 February 1868 – 28 June 1916) was a Romanian painter, famous for his landscapes and still life works.
Biography Early life
Luchian was born in Ștefănești, a village of Botoșani County, ...
founded modern Romanian painting; composer
Ciprian Porumbescu
Ciprian Porumbescu (; born Cyprian Gołęmbiowski on 14 October 1853 – 6 June 1883) was a Romanian composer born in Șipotele Sucevei in Bukovina (now Shepit, Vyzhnytsia Raion, Ukraine). He was among the most celebrated Romanian composers ...
was also from this time.
In Transylvania, the emancipation movement became better organized, and in 1861, an important cultural organization
ASTRA (''The Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and the Culture of the Romanian People''), was founded in
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
under the close supervision of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan
Andrei Șaguna
Andrei Șaguna (; 20 January 1808, Miskolc, Hungary – 28 June 1873, Nagyszeben, Hungary) was a Metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania, and one of the Romanian community political leaders in the Habsburg monarchy, ...
. It helped publish a great number of
Romanian language
Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Moldova, Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communi ...
books and newspapers, and between 1898 and 1904, it published a Romanian Encyclopedia. Among the greatest personalities from this period are the novelist and publicist
Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici (; 18 January 1848 – 17 August 1925) was a Romanian writer and journalist from Hungary, later from Romania.
He made his debut in ''Convorbiri literare'' ("Literary Conversations") (1871), with the comedy ''Fata de birău'' ("The M ...
, the prose writer
Panait Istrati
Panait Istrati (; sometimes rendered as ''Panaït Istrati''; August 10, 1884 – April 16, 1935) was a Romanian working class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed ''The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans''. Istrati appears to be the ...
, the poet and writer
Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea
Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea ; pen name of Barbu Ștefan; April 11, 1858 in Bucharest – April 29, 1918 in Iași) was a Romanian writer and poet, considered one of the greatest figures in the National awakening of Romania.
Early life and ...
, the poet and publicist
George Coșbuc
George Coșbuc (; 20 September 1866 – 9 May 1918) was a Romanian poet, translator, teacher, and journalist, best remembered for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life, its many travails but also its occasions for joy. In 19 ...
, the poet
Ștefan Octavian Iosif
Ștefan Octavian Iosif (; 11 October 1875 – 22 June 1913) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian poet and translator.
Life
Born in Brașov, Transylvania (part of Austria-Hungary at the time), he studied in his native town and in Sibiu before ...
, the historian and founder of Romanian press in Transylvania
George Barițiu and
Badea Cârțan, a simple peasant shepherd from Southern Transylvania who, through his actions became a symbol of the emancipation movement.
File:Ion D. Negulici - C. A. Rosetti, desen ILR 166.jpg, C.A. Rosetti
Constantin Alexandru Rosetti (; 2 June 1816 – 8 April 1885) was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into the princely Rosetti family.
Biography Before 1848
Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was born in Bucharest, the so ...
File:Ion Heliade Radulescu Popp.jpg, Ion Heliade Rădulescu
Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade (also known as ''Eliade'' or ''Eliade Rădulescu''; ; January 6, 1802 – April 27, 1872) was a Wallachian, later Romanian academic, Romanticism, Romantic and Classicism, Classicist poet, essayist, mem ...
File:Calistrat Hogas - Foto01.JPG, Calistrat Hogaș
File:Duiliu Zamfirescu - Foto01.jpg, Duiliu Zamfirescu
Duiliu Zamfirescu (30 October 1858 – 3 June 1922) was a Romanian novelist, poet, short story writer, lawyer, Nationalism, nationalist politician, journalist, diplomat and memoirist. In 1909, he was elected a list of members of the Romanian Acade ...
File:George Demetrescu Mirea - Portretul lui Alexandru Odobescu.jpg, Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu (; 23 June 1834 – 10 November 1895) was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.
Biography
He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava ...
File:Nestor Heck - Vasile Alecsandri.jpg, Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri (; 21 July 182122 August 1890) was a Romanian patriot, poet, dramatist, politician and diplomat. He was one of the key figures during the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia. He fought for the unification of the Romani ...
File:eminescu.jpg, Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
, national poet of Romania and Moldova
File:Ion Creanga-Foto03.jpg, Ion Creangă
Ion Creangă (; also known as Nică al lui Ștefan a Petrei, Ion Torcălău and Ioan Ștefănescu; March 1, 1837 – December 31, 1889) was a Moldavian, later Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th-century Romania ...
File:Ion Luca Caragiale - Foto03.jpg, Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale (; commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale; According to his birth certificate, published and discussed by Constantin Popescu-Cadem in ''Manuscriptum'', Vol. VIII, Nr. 2, 1977, pp. 179-184 – 9 June 1912) was a Romanian playw ...
File:Mateiu Caragiale - Foto01.jpg, Mateiu Caragiale
Mateiu Ion Caragiale (; – January 17, 1936), also credited as Matei or Matheiu, or in the antiquated version Mateiŭ,Sorin Antohi"Romania and the Balkans. From Geocultural Bovarism to Ethnic Ontology" in ''Tr@nsit online'', Institut für die ...
File:Ioan Slavici.jpg, Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici (; 18 January 1848 – 17 August 1925) was a Romanian writer and journalist from Hungary, later from Romania.
He made his debut in ''Convorbiri literare'' ("Literary Conversations") (1871), with the comedy ''Fata de birău'' ("The M ...
File:D. William - T. Majorescu - Ancien Ministre et Député.jpg, Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of ...
File:George Cosbuc - Foto02.jpg, George Coșbuc
George Coșbuc (; 20 September 1866 – 9 May 1918) was a Romanian poet, translator, teacher, and journalist, best remembered for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life, its many travails but also its occasions for joy. In 19 ...
File:Misu Popp - Portretul lui Andrei Muresanu.jpg, Andrei Mureșanu
Andrei Mureșanu (; November 16, 1816 in Bistrița – October 12, 1863 in Brașov) was a Romanian poet and revolutionary of Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867), Transylvania.
Born in a family of a small business owner in the count ...
File:Ciprian Porumbescu - Foto.jpg, Ciprian Porumbescu
Ciprian Porumbescu (; born Cyprian Gołęmbiowski on 14 October 1853 – 6 June 1883) was a Romanian composer born in Șipotele Sucevei in Bukovina (now Shepit, Vyzhnytsia Raion, Ukraine). He was among the most celebrated Romanian composers ...
File:GeorgeBarit.jpg, George Barițiu
File:Ncolae Grigorescu (1860).JPG, Nicolae Grigorescu
Nicolae Grigorescu (; 15 May 1838 – 21 July 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting.
There is a metro station named after Grigorescu in Bucharest. It was given his name in 1990, before which it was named after Communist army ...
File:Luchian - Un zugrav.jpg, Ștefan Luchian
Ștefan Luchian (, last name also spelled Lukian; 1 February 1868 – 28 June 1916) was a Romanian painter, famous for his landscapes and still life works.
Biography Early life
Luchian was born in Ștefănești, a village of Botoșani County, ...
Golden Age
![Victory boulevard near Post Palace Bucharest Romania](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Victory_boulevard_near_Post_Palace_Bucharest_Romania.jpg)
The first half of the 20th century is regarded by many as the golden age of Romanian culture, and it is the period when it reached its main level of international affirmation and a strong connection to
European cultural trends. The most important artist who had a great influence on the world culture was the
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
Constantin Brâncuși
Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...
(1876–1957), a central figure of the modern movement and a pioneer of abstraction, an innovator of world sculpture by immersion in the primordial sources of folk creation.
The relationship between traditional and Western European trends was a subject of heated polemics, and outstanding personalities sustained the debates. The playwright,
expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
poet, and philosopher
Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga (; 9 May 1895 – 6 May 1961) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, playwright, poetry translator and novelist. He was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period.
Biography
Blaga was born on 9 May 1895 ...
can be cited as a member of the traditionalist group and the literary critic founder of the literary circle and cultural journal ''
Sburătorul ''Sburătorul'' was a Romanian Modernism, modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, rangi ...
'',
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the u ...
, represents the so-called Westernizing group, which sought to bring Romanian culture closer to Western European culture. Also,
George Călinescu
George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899, Bucharest – 12 March 1965, Otopeni) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the mos ...
was a more complex writer who, among different literary creations, produced the monumental ''"History of the Romanian literature, from its origins till present day"''.
The beginning of the 20th century was also a prolific period for Romanian prose, with personalities such as the
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu (; November 27, 1885 – September 1, 1944) was a Romanian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and journalist.
Life
Born in Felsőilosva (now Târlișua, Bistrița-Năsăud County, Transylvania), then part of the Kingd ...
, who described the struggles in the traditional society and the horrors of war,
Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu (; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; November 5, 1880 – October 19, 1961) was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting head of state for the communis ...
, a writer of novels of epic proportions with inspiration from the medieval history of Moldavia, and
Camil Petrescu
Camil Petrescu (; 9/21 April 1894 – 14 May 1957) was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era in Romania.
Life
Petrescu was born in Bu ...
, a more modern writer distinguishing himself through his analytical prose writing. In
dramaturgy
Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the Representation (arts), representation of the main elements of drama on the stage.
The term first appears in the eponymous work ''Hamburg Dramaturgy'' (1767–69) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ...
,
Mihail Sebastian
Mihail Sebastian (; born Iosif Mendel Hechter; October 18, 1907 – May 29, 1945) was a Romanian playwright, essayist, journalist and novelist.
Life
Sebastian was born to a Jewish family in Brăila, the son of Mendel and Clara Hechter. After ...
was an influential writer, and as the number of theaters grew, also did the number of actors,
Lucia Sturdza Bulandra being an actress representative of this period.
Alongside the prominent poet
George Topîrceanu
George Topîrceanu (; March 20, 1886 – May 7, 1937) was a Romanian poet, short story writer, and humourist.
Biography
He was born in Bucharest, the son of Ion Topîrceanu, a furrier and his wife, Paraschiva (née Cosma), a carpet weaver. Th ...
, a poet of equal importance was
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi (; 21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer, best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest, he explained that his pen name was related to ''Argesis'', th ...
, who was the first to revolutionize poetry in the last 50 years. One should not neglect the poems of
George Bacovia
George Bacovia (; the pen name of Gheorghe Vasiliu ; – 22 May 1957) was a Romanian symbolist poet. While he initially belonged to the local Symbolist movement, launched as a poet by Alexandru Macedonski with the poem and poetry collection ( ...
, a
symbolist
Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...
poet of neurosis, and despair and those of
Ion Barbu
Ion Barbu (, pen name of Dan Barbilian; 18 March 1895 –11 August 1961) was a Romanian mathematician and poet. His name is associated with the Mathematics Subject Classification number 51C05, which is a major posthumous recognition reserved ...
, a brilliant mathematician who wrote a series of very successful cryptic poems.
Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...
and
Marcel Janco
Marcel Janco (, ; common rendition of the Romanian language, Romanian name Marcel Hermann Iancu ; 24 May 1895 – 21 April 1984) was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading ...
, founders of the
Dadaist
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...
movement, were also of Romanian origin.
Also during the golden age came the epoch of
Romanian philosophy
Romanian philosophy is a name covering either:
a) the philosophy done in Romania or by Romanians, or
b) an ethnic philosophy, which expresses at a high level the fundamental features of the Romanian spirituality, or which elevates to a philosop ...
with such figures as
Mircea Vulcănescu
Mircea Aurel Vulcănescu (3 March 1904 – 28 October 1952) was a Romanian philosopher, economist, ethics teacher, sociologist, and far-right politics, far-right politician. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance from 1941 to 1944 in the ...
,
Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister of ...
,
Alexandru Dragomir, and
Vasile Conta
Vasile Conta (; hy, Վասիլե Գրիգորեիի Կոնտա (Գոնտա); November 15, 1845 – April 21, 1882) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, and politician.
He was born in Ghindăoani, a village in Bălțătești commune, Neamț County ...
. The period was dominated by the overwhelming personality of the historian and politician
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 ...
, who, during his lifetime, published over 1,250 books and wrote more than 25,000 articles. In music, the composers
George Enescu
George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei.
Biog ...
and
Constantin Dimitrescu
Constantin Dimitrescu (; 19 March 1847 in Blejoi, Romania – 9 May 1928) was a Romanian classic composer and music teacher, one of the most prominent representatives of the late Romantic period.
Background
Born in Blejoi, Prahova County, he w ...
and the pianist
Dinu Lipatti
Constantin "Dinu" Lipatti (; 2 December 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from effects related to Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy. He comp ...
became world-famous. The number of important Romanian painters also grew, and the most significant ones were:
Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza (; April 13, 1886 – February 27, 1940) was a Romanian painter, engraver, lithographer, journalist and art critic. Drawing inspiration from Post-impressionism and Expressionism, he had a major role in introducing modernist g ...
,
Camil Ressu
Camil Ressu (; 28 January 1880 – 1 April 1962) was a Romanian painter and academic, one of the most significant art figures of Romania.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in Galați, Ressu originated from an Aromanian family that migrated ...
,
Francisc Șirato
Francisc Şirato (August 15, 1877, Craiova, Principality of Romania - August 4, 1953, Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania) was a Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Sout ...
,
Ignat Bednarik,
Lucian Grigorescu Lucian Grigorescu (; 1 February 1894, Medgidia – 28 October 1965, Bucharest) was a Romanian post-impressionist painter.
He graduated from the Mircea cel Bătrân High School in Constanța.
In 1948, he was elected corresponding member of the R ...
, and
Theodor Pallady
Theodor Pallady (; 11 April 1871 – 16 August 1956) was a Romanian painter.
Biography
Theodor Pallady was the son of Ioan Pallady and Maria Cantacuzino, the older sister of Romanian diplomat Neculai B. Cantacuzino. He was born in Iași, Romani ...
. In medicine, a great contribution to human society was the discovery of
insulin
Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...
by the Romanian scientist
Nicolae Paulescu
Nicolae Constantin Paulescu (; 30 October 1869 (O.S.) – 17 July 1931) was a Romanian physiologist, professor of medicine, and politician, most famous for his work on diabetes, including patenting ''pancreine'' (a pancreatic extract containing ...
.
Gheorghe Marinescu
Gheorghe Marinescu (; 28 February 1863 – 15 May 1938) was a Romanian neurologist, founder of the Romanian School of Neurology.
History
After attending the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bucharest, Marinescu received most of his medi ...
was an important
neurologist
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
and
Victor Babeș was one of the earliest bacteriologists. In mathematics,
Gheorghe Țițeica
Gheorghe Țițeica (; 4 October 1873 – 5 February 1939) publishing as George or Georges Tzitzéica) was a Romanian mathematician who made important contributions in geometry. He is recognized as the founder of the Romanian school of differentia ...
was one of Romania's greatest mathematicians, and also an important personality was the mathematician/poet
Dan Barbilian.
File:Georges Enesco 1930.jpg, George Enescu
George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei.
Biog ...
File:Constantin Brancusi c.1905.jpg, Constantin Brâncuși
Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...
File:Victor Babes.jpg, Victor Babeș
File:TonitzaTonitzacca1923.PNG, Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza (; April 13, 1886 – February 27, 1940) was a Romanian painter, engraver, lithographer, journalist and art critic. Drawing inspiration from Post-impressionism and Expressionism, he had a major role in introducing modernist g ...
File:Tudor Arghezi.jpg, Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi (; 21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer, best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest, he explained that his pen name was related to ''Argesis'', th ...
File:Gheorghe Țițeica.jpg, Gheorghe Țițeica
Gheorghe Țițeica (; 4 October 1873 – 5 February 1939) publishing as George or Georges Tzitzéica) was a Romanian mathematician who made important contributions in geometry. He is recognized as the founder of the Romanian school of differentia ...
Post-war period
In Romania, the
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
imposed heavy censorship on almost all elements of life, and they used the cultural world as a means to better control the population. The freedom of expression was constantly restricted in various ways: the Sovietization period was an attempt at building up a new cultural identity on the basis of socialist realism and lending legitimacy to the new order by rejecting traditional values. Two currents appeared: one that glorified the regime and another that tried to avoid censorship. The first is probably of no lasting cultural value, but the second managed to create valuable works, successfully avoiding censorship and being very well received by the general public. From this period, the most outstanding personalities are those of the writer
Marin Preda
Marin Preda (; 5 August 1922, Siliștea Gumești, Teleorman County, Kingdom of Romania – 16 May 1980, Mogoșoaia, Ilfov County, Socialist Republic of Romania) was a Romanian novelist, post-war writer and director of Cartea Românească publis ...
, the poets
Nichita Stănescu
Nichita Stănescu (; born Nichita Hristea Stănescu; 31 March 1933 – 13 December 1983) was a Romanian poet and essayist.
Biography
Stănescu's father was Nicolae Hristea Stănescu (1908–1982). His mother, Tatiana Cereaciuchin, was Russian ...
and
Marin Sorescu
Marin Sorescu (; 29 February 1936 – 8 December 1996) was a Romanian poet, playwright, and novelist.
His works were translated into more than 20 countries, and the total number of his books that were published abroad rises up to 60 books. He ha ...
, and the literary critics
Nicolae Manolescu
Nicolae Manolescu (; b. 27 November 1939, Râmnicu Vâlcea) is a Romanian literary critic. As an editor of '' România Literară'' literary magazine, he has reached a record in reviewing books for almost 30 years. Elected a corresponding member ...
and
Eugen Simion
Eugen Simion (25 May 1933 – 18 October 2022) was a Romanian literary critic and historian, editor, essayist and academic.
Born in Chiojdeanca, Prahova County, the son of two farmers, Simion completed his secondary education at the Saints P ...
. Most dissidents who chose not to emigrate lived a life closely watched by the regime, either in "house arrest" or in "forced domicile"; some chose to retreat to remote monasteries. Most of their work was published after the
1989 Revolution. Among the most notable examples are the philosophers
Constantin Noica
Constantin Noica (; – 4 December 1987) was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics, ...
,
Petre Țuțea
Petre Țuțea (; 6 October 1902 – 3 December 1991) was a Romanian philosopher, journalist, and economist.
Biography
Early years and the Legionary Movement
Petre Țuțea was born in the village of Boteni, Muscel County (now in Argeș Co ...
, and
Nicolae Steinhardt
Nicolae Steinhardt (; born Nicu-Aurelian Steinhardt; July 29, 1912 – March 29, 1989) was a Romanian writer, Orthodox monk and lawyer. His main book, ''Jurnalul Fericirii'', is regarded as a major text of 20th century Romanian literature and ...
.
There was a chasm between the official, communist culture and genuine culture. On the one hand, against the authorities' intentions, the outstanding works were perceived as a realm of moral truths, and the significant representatives of genuine cultural achievement were held in very high esteem by the public opinion. On the other hand, the slogans disseminated nationwide through the forms of official culture helped spread simplistic views, which were relatively successful among some ranks of the population. The tension between these two directions can still be perceived at the level of society as a whole.
File:Petre Țuțea.jpg, Petre Țuțea
Petre Țuțea (; 6 October 1902 – 3 December 1991) was a Romanian philosopher, journalist, and economist.
Biography
Early years and the Legionary Movement
Petre Țuțea was born in the village of Boteni, Muscel County (now in Argeș Co ...
File:Constantin Noica 3.jpg, Constantin Noica
Constantin Noica (; – 4 December 1987) was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics, ...
File:Sorin Adam - Nichita Stanescu - portret.jpg, Nichita Stănescu
Nichita Stănescu (; born Nichita Hristea Stănescu; 31 March 1933 – 13 December 1983) was a Romanian poet and essayist.
Biography
Stănescu's father was Nicolae Hristea Stănescu (1908–1982). His mother, Tatiana Cereaciuchin, was Russian ...
File:Marin Preda1.jpg, Marin Preda
Marin Preda (; 5 August 1922, Siliștea Gumești, Teleorman County, Kingdom of Romania – 16 May 1980, Mogoșoaia, Ilfov County, Socialist Republic of Romania) was a Romanian novelist, post-war writer and director of Cartea Românească publis ...
File:MarinSorescu.jpg, Marin Sorescu
Marin Sorescu (; 29 February 1936 – 8 December 1996) was a Romanian poet, playwright, and novelist.
His works were translated into more than 20 countries, and the total number of his books that were published abroad rises up to 60 books. He ha ...
File:Mihail Sadoveanu.jpg, Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu (; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; November 5, 1880 – October 19, 1961) was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting head of state for the communis ...
Culture inside communist Romania
![Piata Universitatii, Bucuresti -a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Piata_Universitatii%2C_Bucuresti_-a.jpg)
A strong editorial activity took place during the Communist regime. With the purpose of educating the large masses of peoples, a huge number of books were published. Large-scale editing houses such as ''Cartea Românească'', ''Editura Eminescu,'' and others appeared, which published huge collections of books, such as the ''Biblioteca pentru Toţi'' ("The Library for Everyone") with over 5,000 titles. Generally, a book was never published in an edition of less than 50,000 copies. Libraries appeared in every village, and almost all were kept up to date with the newest books published. Also, due to low prices, almost everyone could afford to have their own collection of books at home. The negative part was that all the books were heavily censored. Also, due to rationing in every aspect of life, the quality of the printing and the paper also was very low, and the books, therefore, degraded easily.
During this period, there was a significant increase in the number of theatres, as they appeared even in the smallest towns. Many new establishments were built, and in the big cities they became important landmarks, such as the building of the
National Theatre of Bucharest, situated right in the middle of the city, immediately adjacent to
Romania's kilometre zero. In the smaller towns, there existed the so-called "Worker's Theatre", a semi-professional institution. Partly due to the lack of other entertainment venues, the theatre was highly popular, and the number of actors increased. All of the theatres had a stable, state-funded budget. Again, however, the drawback was the heavy control imposed on them by the regime: censorship was ever-present, and only ideologically-accepted plays were allowed. More progressive theatres managed to survive in some remote cities that became favorite destinations for young actors, but they generally had only a local audience.
Cinemas evolved the same way as the theatres; sometimes, the same establishment served both purposes. Movies were very popular, and from the 1960s, foreign films started becoming quite widespread.
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
films, when shown, were heavily censored: entire sections were cut, and dialogue was translated only using ideologically accepted words. Domestic or "friendly" foreign productions constituted the bulk of films in cinemas. During this period, cinematography started to develop in Romania, and the first successful short films were made based on
Caragiale's plays. Financed by the government, during the 1960s, a whole industry developed at
Buftea, a town close to
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 ...
, and some films, especially gangster,
Western-genre, and historical movies, were very well received by the public. The most prolific director was
Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Florin Nicolaescu (; 13 April 1930 – 3 January 2013) was a Romanian film director, actor and politician.
He was best known for his historical films, such as ''Mihai Viteazul'' (1970, released in English both under the equivalent titl ...
, and probably the most-acclaimed actor from that period was
Amza Pellea
Amza Pellea (; 7 April 1931 – 12 December 1983) was a Romanian actor noted for playing Romanian national heroes on film.
He was born in Băilești, Oltenia, and attended the Carol I High School in Craiova. He later played at the Craiova T ...
.
Romanians in exile
A consequence of the communist attitude towards the bourgeoisie elites in general, was the creation, for the first time in Romania's history, of a
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
. Three individuals emerged as the most important Romanians abroad: playwright
Eugen Ionescu (1909–1994) (who became known in France as Eugène Ionesco), creator of the
Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style of ...
and eventual member of the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
; religious historian and writer
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
(1907–1986); and the essayist and philosopher
Emil Cioran
Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. H ...
(1911–1996), the greatest French-writing master of style after Pascal. Fellow Romanian
Ioan Petre Culianu continued Eliade's work with great success, in the United States. Another member of the diaspora who distinguished himself was the philosopher and logician
Stephane Lupasco.
The communist rule in Romania, unlike most of the other countries of the Eastern bloc, permanently repudiated the Romanians who had left their country and labeled them as traitors to the motherland. So, neither Mircea Eliade, nor Eugène Ionesco, nor Emil Cioran, whose works would be published in this country sporadically after 1960, could see their native land again. It was only after 1989 that the process of regaining the values of the diaspora and of reintegrating its personalities into this country's culture could be started seriously, a process marked in its turn by tension and disagreements.
Well-known Romanian musicians outside of Romania during this period include conductors
Sergiu Celibidache
Sergiu Celibidache (; 14 August 1996) was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as ...
—the main conductor at the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
and later of
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Rad ...
—and
Constantin Silvestri
Constantin-Nicolae Silvestri (; 31 May 1913, Bucharest – 23 February 1969, London) was a Romanian conductor and composer.
Early life
Silvestri, born of Austro-Italian-Romanian stock, was brought up mostly by his mother, his father dying fro ...
, main conductor at the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...
.
Gheorghe Zamfir
Gheorghe Zamfir (; born April 6, 1941) is a Romanian nai (pan flute) musician.
Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of normally 20-pipe nai, with 22, 25, 28 or even 30 pipes, to increase its range, and obtaining as many as eight ove ...
was a virtuoso of the
pan pipes
A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have bee ...
and made this instrument known to a modern worldwide audience, and was also a composer or interpreter for a great number of movies. Composer and architect
Iannis Xenakis
Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...
was born in Romania and spent his childhood there.
George Emil Palade
George Emil Palade (; November 19, 1912 – October 7, 2008) was a Romanian cell biologist. Described as "the most influential cell biologist ever", , a
cell biologist
Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...
and a teacher, became the first Romanian to receive the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
, winning the 1974
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
for ''describing the structure and function of organelles in cells''.
Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...
, who received the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
in 1986, was born in the Romanian town of
Sighetu Marmaţiei.
File:Mircea Eliade young.jpg, Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
File:Eugene Ionesco 01.jpg, Eugen Ionescu
File:Cioran in Romania.jpg, Emil Cioran
Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. H ...
File:Neagu Djuvara.JPG, Neagu Djuvara
Neagu Bunea Djuvara (; 18 August 1916 – 25 January 2018) was a Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.
Biography
Early life
A native of Bucharest, he was descended from an aristocratic Aromanian family ...
File:Celibidache At Curtis Single.jpg, Sergiu Celibidache
Sergiu Celibidache (; 14 August 1996) was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as ...
File:StephaneLupasco.jpg, Stéphane Lupasco
Stéphane Lupasco (born Ştefan Lupaşcu; 11 August 1900 – 7 October 1988) was a Romanian philosopher who developed non-Aristotelian logic.
Early years
Stéphane Lupasco was born in Bucharest on 11 August 1900. His family belonged to the old M ...
Evolutions after 1989
The fall of soviet-style communism in 1989 elated the cultural world, but the experience hasn't been an easy one due to problems in the transition period and the adoption of a free market economy. The discontinuation of state and political control of culture brought about the long dreamt freedom of expression, but, at the same time, the state subsidies also stopped, and Romania's culture was seriously affected by the side-effects of the incipient, still very imperfect, free-market economy and by inadequate material resources. Culture has had to cope with a variety of problems, one of them being a shift in people's interest towards other areas such as the press and television. The search for a new cultural policy, relying on decentralization, seems to prevail now. People speak about a crisis of culture in this country, but if there is a crisis of culture, it is only at an institutional level.
![Humanitasheadquarters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Humanitasheadquarters.JPG)
After the
fall of communism in 1989, there was an almost immediate explosion of publication of books previously censored by the regime. Books were published in huge numbers per edition, sales were high, and a great number of publishing houses appeared. However, this soon reached a saturation point, and publishing houses began to decline due to a combination of bad management, a rapid drop in sales, and the absence of subsidies. Many closed after publishing only a few titles; some changed their profile and started printing commercial literature – mainly translations – and the state-owned publishers entered a "state of lethargy". The latter survived due to state financing, but their publishing activity diminished. Despite this, some publishing houses managed to survive and develop by implementing market-oriented policies, and by improving the quality and overall appearance of the books they published. Among the most notable contemporary Romanian publishers are
Humanitas
''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below.
Classical origins of term
The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...
in Bucharest,
Polirom
Polirom or Editura Polirom ("Polirom" Publishing House) is a Romanian publishing house with a tradition of publishing classics of international literature and also various titles in the fields of social sciences, such as psychology, sociology and a ...
in Iași, and
Teora
Teora is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of southern Italy.
Geography
Teora is bordered by the towns of Caposele, Conza della Campania, Lioni and Morra De Sanctis.
History
The origin of the v ...
, which specializes in technical topics and dictionaries. Some publishing houses developed their own chains or bookstores, and also other new, privately owned bookstore chains opened, replacing the old state-owned ones.
Culturally oriented newsprint periodicals followed a similar trajectory of boom and bust. A few have survived and managed to raise their quality and to maintain a critical spirit despite the hardships they encountered. ''
Dilema Veche
''Dilema veche'' (English: "Old Dilemma") is a Romanian weekly magazine that covers culture, social topics, and politics. It was founded in 2004 as the successor to the magazine ''Dilema'', which was founded in 1993. Both magazines were founded by ...
'' (''Old Dilemma'') and ''
Revista 22
''Revista 22'' (''22 Magazine'') is a Romanian weekly magazine, issued by the Group for Social Dialogue and focused mainly on politics and culture.
History and profile
''Revista 22'' was started in 1990. The first edition of the magazine was print ...
'' (''Magazine 22'') remain respected forces in Romanian culture, with ''Observator Cultural'' a lesser, but also respected, weekly paper. Also, a state-financed radio (''Radio România Cultural'') and a television channel (''
TVR Cultural
TVR Cultural () is the cultural channel of Romania's government-funded television network Televiziunea Română (TVR). It provided cultural news, documentaries about the arts, as well as various shows, musicals and theatrical pieces. It was clos ...
'') with a cultural programme exist, but they are not highly popular.
Many new young writers appeared, but due to financial constraints, only those who have gained a strong reputation could get the financial backing to publish their works. The
Writers's Union, which should, in principle, support these writers' efforts, hasn't undergone much change since 1989, and there is much controversy surrounding its activity and purpose. The most successful writers, like
Mircea Cărtărescu
Mircea Cărtărescu (; born 1 June 1956) is a Romanian novelist, poet, short-story writer, literary critic, and essayist.
Biography
Born in Bucharest in 1956, he attended Cantemir Vodă National College during the early 1970s. During his school ...
,
Horia-Roman Patapievici
Horia-Roman Patapievici (; born March 18, 1957) is a Romanian physicist and essayist who served as the head of the Romanian Cultural Institute from 2005 until August 2012. Between 2000 and 2005, he was a member of the National Council for the Stud ...
,
Andrei Pleşu,
Gabriel Liiceanu
Gabriel Liiceanu (; b. May 23, 1942, Râmnicu Vâlcea) is a Romanian philosopher.
He graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy in 1965, and from Faculty of Classical Languages in 1973. He earned a doctorate in philosoph ...
, and
Herta Müller
Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Nițchidorf (german: Nitzkydorf, link=no), Timiș County in Romania, her native language is G ...
, are respected personalities in Romanian life, but they have to devote some of their would-be writing time to other activities, mainly journalism. The ties with the Romanian diaspora are now very strong, and even foreign-language Romanian writers like
Andrei Codrescu
Andrei Codrescu (; born December 20, 1946) is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He is the winner of the Peabody Award for his film ''Road Scholar'' and the Ovid Prize for p ...
(who now writes primarily in English) are very popular.
File:Mircea cartarescu by cosmin bumbutz.jpg, Mircea Cărtărescu
Mircea Cărtărescu (; born 1 June 1956) is a Romanian novelist, poet, short-story writer, literary critic, and essayist.
Biography
Born in Bucharest in 1956, he attended Cantemir Vodă National College during the early 1970s. During his school ...
File:Horia-Roman Patapievici (2).jpg, Horia-Roman Patapievici
Horia-Roman Patapievici (; born March 18, 1957) is a Romanian physicist and essayist who served as the head of the Romanian Cultural Institute from 2005 until August 2012. Between 2000 and 2005, he was a member of the National Council for the Stud ...
File:Gabriel Liiceanu (2).jpg, Gabriel Liiceanu
Gabriel Liiceanu (; b. May 23, 1942, Râmnicu Vâlcea) is a Romanian philosopher.
He graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy in 1965, and from Faculty of Classical Languages in 1973. He earned a doctorate in philosoph ...
File:Andrei Pleșu (1).jpg, Andrei Pleșu
Andrei Gabriel Pleșu (; born 23 August 1948) is a Romanian philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic. He has been intermittently involved in politics, having been appointed Minister of Culture (1989–91), Minister of Foreign Af ...
File:AndreiCodrescu.jpg, Andrei Codrescu
Andrei Codrescu (; born December 20, 1946) is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He is the winner of the Peabody Award for his film ''Road Scholar'' and the Ovid Prize for p ...
File:Müller, Herta.IMG 9379 cropped.JPG, Herta Müller
Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Nițchidorf (german: Nitzkydorf, link=no), Timiș County in Romania, her native language is G ...
Romanian theatre also suffered from economic hardships, and its popularity decreased drastically due to the increased popularity of television and other entertainment channels. Some theatres survived due to their prestige (and some continued subsidies); others survived through good management, investing in themselves, and earning a steady audience through the high quality of their productions. Experimental or independent theatres appeared and are quite popular in university cities.
Uniter – ''The Romanian Theatres Association'' – gives yearly awards to the best performances. Some of the most critically acclaimed directors in contemporary Romania are
Silviu Purcărete Silviu may refer to:
*Silviu Bălace (born 1978), Romanian football player
*Silviu Berejan (1927–2007), Bessarabian writer from Moldova and member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova
*Silviu Bindea (1912–1992), Romanian football player
* Silv ...
,
Mihai Maniutiu Mihai () is a Romanian language, Romanian given name for males or a surname. It is equivalent to the English language, English name Michael (given name), Michael. A variant of the name is Mihail. Its female form is Mihaela.
As a given name
*Michael ...
,
Tompa Gabor,
Alexandru Dabija
Alexandru Dabija (born February 13, 1955) is a stage director and actor in Romanian theater and film.
Born in Piatra Neamț, he graduated from the I.L. Caragiale Institute of Theatre and Film Arts in Bucharest. Dabija debuted in 1976 with Phili ...
and
Alexandru Darie
Alexandru Darie (14 June 1959 – 18 September 2019) was a Romanian theater director. Born into an acting family, the son of Iurie Darie and Consuela Roșu, he graduated from the Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography in Buch ...
. Also, among the most appreciated actors, both from the new and old generation, one can name
Ștefan Iordache
Ştefan Iordache (; 3 February 1941 – 14 September 2008) was a Romanian actor.
Iordache was born in Calafat. In 2006, he was voted the best actor in Romania.
He died, aged 67, in Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = A ...
,
Victor Rebengiuc
Victor Rebengiuc (; known in full as Victor-George Rebengiuc; born 10 February 1933) is a Romanian film and stage actor, also known as a civil society activist.
Since 1957, he has been a member of the Bulandra Theater company, acting in more th ...
,
Maia Morgenstern
Maia Emilia Ninel Morgenstern (; born 1 May 1962) is a Romanian film and stage actress, Gabriela DumbaPur și SIMPLU, Maia Morgenstern, ("Pure and simple, Maia Morgenstern", but with a pun, because Simplu is a Romanian musical group with whom ...
,
Marcel Iureș
Marcel Iureș (; born 2 August 1951) is a Romanian actor. He is one of Romania's most acclaimed stage and film actors. He has acted in films and on stage both in Romania and internationally, and has played at least ten roles on Romanian and Briti ...
,
Horațiu Mălăele
Horațiu-Valentin Mălăele (born 31 iulie 1952That is according to , accessed 2016-11-21. ThHorațiu Mălăelepage on the Romanian site cinemagia.ro places his birth one day earlier, on July 31, 1952, and gives the fuller form of his name, ''Hora ...
,
Ion Caramitru
Ion Horia Leonida Caramitru, OBE (; 9 March 1942 – 5 September 2021) was a Romanian stage and film actor, stage director, and political figure. He was Minister of Culture between 1996 and 2000, in the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR) cabi ...
,
Mircea Diaconu
Mircea Diaconu (; born 24 December 1949) is a Romanian actor, writer, and politician. First appearing on stage in 1970, and on screen two years later, Diaconu pursued a lengthy career in both formats, working with a series of prominent directors ...
,
Marius Chivu and others.
File:Victor Rebengiuc1.jpg, Victor Rebengiuc
Victor Rebengiuc (; known in full as Victor-George Rebengiuc; born 10 February 1933) is a Romanian film and stage actor, also known as a civil society activist.
Since 1957, he has been a member of the Bulandra Theater company, acting in more th ...
File:Marcel Iures.png, Marcel Iureș
Marcel Iureș (; born 2 August 1951) is a Romanian actor. He is one of Romania's most acclaimed stage and film actors. He has acted in films and on stage both in Romania and internationally, and has played at least ten roles on Romanian and Briti ...
File:Cristian Mungiu Cannes 2012.jpg, Cristian Mungiu
Cristian Mungiu (; born 27 April 1968) is a Romanian filmmaker. He won the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for his film '' 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'', which he wrote and directed. He has also won the awards for Best Screenplay and ...
File:Tudor Giurgiu 03.jpg, Tudor Giurgiu
Tudor Giurgiu (born 1972 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania) is a Romanian film director. He was President of Romanian Television, Romanian National Television, TVR between 2005 and 2007. Tudor Giurgiu is also a director of music videos and has made document ...
File:MJK 16773 Adina Pintilie (Touch Me Not) crop.jpg, Adina Pintilie
Adina Pintilie (born January 12, 1980, with the birth name Adina-Elena Pintilie) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. Her feature length debut film '' Touch Me Not'' was awarded the Golden Bear
The Golden Bear (german: Goldener B ...
File:Calin Peter Netzer.jpg, Călin Peter Netzer
Călin Peter Netzer (; born 1 May 1975) is a Romanian film director who won the Golden Bear at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Born in Petroșani to a family of Romanian and German origins, Netzer emigrated with his family to West G ...
Due to the lack of funds, Romanian film-making suffered heavily in the 1990s; even now, as of 2005, a lot of controversy surrounds state aid for movies. Well-known directors such as
Dan Piţa and
Lucian Pintilie
Lucian Pintilie (; 9 November 1933 – 16 May 2018[Lucian Pi ...](_blank)
have had a certain degree of continued success, and younger directors such as
Nae Caranfil
Nae Caranfil (; also Nicolae Caranfil) (born 7 September 1960) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter.
Career
Born in Bucharest, Nae Caranfil is the son of important Romanian film historian and critic Tudor Caranfil. He graduated in 1984 f ...
and
Cristi Puiu
Cristi Puiu (; born 3 April 1967) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. With Anca Puiu and Alex Munteanu, in 2004 he founded a cinema production company, naming it Mandragora.
Early life, education and career
Cristian Emilian Puiu wa ...
have become highly respected. Caranfil's film ''
Filantropica
''Filantropica'' (alternate spellings ''Philanthropy'', ''Philanthropique'') is a 2002 Romanian dark comedy film directed by Nae Caranfil and starring Mircea Diaconu. Critically acclaimed and considered a landmark film of the Romanian New Wave, it ...
'' and Puiu's ''
The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu
''The Death of Mr. Lazarescu'' ( ro, Moartea domnului Lăzărescu) is a 2005 Romanian dark comedy film by director Cristi Puiu. In the film an old man (Ioan Fiscuteanu) is carried by an ambulance from hospital to hospital all night long, as doctor ...
'' were extremely well received and gained awards at international festivals in Paris and
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
. Besides domestic production, Romania became a favorite destination for international producers due to the low cost of filming there, and big investments have been made in large studios.
![The Small Square of Sibiu, during the closing gala - 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/The_Small_Square_of_Sibiu%2C_during_the_closing_gala_-_2016.jpg)
The number of cultural events held yearly in Romania has increased over the past few years. Some sporadic events like the "2005 Bucharest
CowParade
CowParade is an international public art exhibit that has featured in major world cities. Fiberglass sculptures of cows are decorated by local artists, and distributed over the city centre, in public places such as train stations, important avenu ...
" have been well received, and yearly events and festivals have continually attracted interest. Medieval festivals held in cities in Transylvania, which combine street theatre with music and battle reenactments to create a very lively atmosphere, are some of the most popular events. In theatre, a yearly National Festival takes place, and one of the most important international theatre festivals is ''"The Sibiu Theatre Festival",'' while in filmmaking, the ''"TIFF" Film Festival'' in
Cluj
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status
, subdivision_name2 ...
, the ''"Dakino" Film Festival'' 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 ...
and the ''"Anonimul" Film Festival'' in the
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...
have an ever-stronger international presence. In music, the most important event is the ''"George Enescu" Classical Music Festival,'' but festivals like ''"Jeunesses Musicales" International Festival'' and
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
festivals in
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
, Cluj and Bucharest are also appreciated. An important event took place in 2007 when the city of Sibiu was, along with
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, the
European Capital of Culture.
Traditions
Folklore
![Harvest time in Romania, 1920](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Harvest_time_in_Romania%2C_1920.jpg)
The most striking thing about Romanian culture is the strong folk traditions which have survived to this day due to the rural character of the Romanian communities, which has resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Romania's rich folk traditions have been nourished by many sources, some of which predate the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
occupation. Traditional folk arts include
wood carving
Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...
,
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
,
weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...
, and embroidery of costumes, household decorations,
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
, and richly varied
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. Ethnographers have tried to collect in the last two centuries as many elements as possible: the
Museum of the Romanian Peasant
The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant ( ro, Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român) is a museum in Bucharest, Romania, with a collection of textiles (especially costumes), icons, ceramics, and other artifacts of Romanian peasant life. One ...
and 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 ...
are currently the main institutions which systematically organize the data and continue the research.
The wood used to be the main construction material, and heavily ornamented wooden objects were common in old houses. In
Maramureș
Maramureș or Marmaroshchyna ( ro, Maramureș ; uk, Мармарощина, Marmaroshchyna; hu, Máramaros) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpath ...
, wood was used to create impressive structures such as churches or gates; in
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
, windmills were made of wood, and in mountainous regions, hardwood was used even for covering the roof. To preserve traditional houses, many village museums have been created in the last century throughout Romania, such as the
Village Museum
The Village Museum formally National Museum of the Village "Dimitrie Gusti" (''Muzeul Național al Satului "Dimitrie Gusti"'' in Romanian) is an open-air ethnographic museum located in the King Michael I Park (Bucharest, Romania), showcasing tra ...
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 ...
, the
Traditional Popular Civilization ASTRA Museum in
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
, or the
Oltenian Village Museum in
Râmnicu Vâlcea
Râmnicu Vâlcea (also spelled ''Rîmnicu Vîlcea'' or, in the past, ''Rîmnic-Vâlcea'', ) (population: 92,573 as per the 2011 Romanian census) is the county capital ( ro, Reședință de județ) and also the largest town of Vâlcea County, cent ...
.
Linen
Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...
was the most common material for clothing, combined with
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
during the winter or colder periods. These are embroidered with traditional motifs that vary from region to region. Black is the most common color used, but red and blue are predominant in certain areas. Traditionally, men wore a white shirt and pants (if made of wool, they are called ''iţari'') with a wide leather belt, usually over the shirt, and a vest sometimes made of leather and embroidered. They wore either boots or a simple shoe made of leather and tied around the foot called ''opincă,'' and they wore a hat which differs in design from region to region. Women also wore a white skirt and a shirt with a vest. They wore an apron called ''şorţ'' or ''cătrinţă'' which is also embroidered, and a headscarf called ''basma''; on special occasions, they wore more elaborate outfits.
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
and
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
represent a lively part of the
Romanian folklore
The folklore of Romania is the collection of traditions of the Romanians. A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian ...
, and there are a great variety of musical genres and dances. Party music is very lively and shows both
Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
and
Hungarian influences. Sentimental music, however, is the most valued, and Romanians consider their ''
doina
The doina () is a Romanian musical tune style, possibly with Middle Eastern roots, customary in Romanian peasant music, as well as in Lăutărească. It was also adopted into klezmer music.
Similar tunes are found throughout Eastern Europe an ...
'' (a sad song either about one's home or about love, composed like an epic ballad) unique in the world.
Maria Tănase
Maria Tănase (; 25 September 1913 – 22 June 1963) was a Romanian singer and actress. Her music ranged from traditional Romanian music to romance, tango, chanson and operetta.
Tănase has a similar importance in Romania as Édith Piaf in F ...
,
Maria Lătărețu,
Maria Ciobanu
Maria Ciobanu (born 3 September 1937 in Roșiile) is a Romanian folk music, folk singer. Her repertoire include more than 700 recorded songs for Romanian, Yugoslavian and Holland Record Companies, Romanian Radio and TV... Some of her famous so ...
, and
Ileana Sararoiu
Ileana (also Illeana, Iliana, Eleana, Eliana) is a female given name. It is the feminine form of the male name Elijah. It has been adapted for Romanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Italian and Spanish (in Spanish there is also Ilean and in Romanian Il ...
are considered to be some of the greatest Romanian folk singers, and today
Grigore Leșe
Grigore Leșe (born in 1954) is a Romanian musician.
Biography
Leşe was born in 1954 in Stoiceni village, Maramureș County in northern Romania. He graduated from the Music College in Baia Mare, followed by the Music Academy in Cluj.
In 2003 h ...
and
Taraful Haiducilor are two of the most famous musicians. The dances are lively and are practiced throughout Romania by a large number of professional and amateur groups, thus keeping the tradition alive;
Hora is one of the most famous group dances, but men's folk dances such as
călușari
The Călușari ( ro, Călușari, ; bg, Калушари or ; mk, Русалии) are the members of a fraternal secret society who practice a ritual acrobatic dance known as the . Originally Romanian, the practice later spread to Bulgaria and ...
are extremely complex and have been declared by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
to be "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritages of Humanity".
Mythology
![Nadia Bulighin - Scenă de basm 1927, 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Nadia_Bulighin_-_Scen%C4%83_de_basm_1927%2C_1.png)
Romanians have had, from time immemorial, a myriad of customs, tales, and poems about love, faith, kings, princesses, and witches. The ethnologists, poets, writers, and historians have tried in recent centuries to collect and to preserve tales, poems, ballads and have tried to describe as well as possible the customs and habits related to different events and times of the year. Customs related to certain times of year are the ''
colinde'', Romanian
Christmas carols
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...
, ''
sorcova
Sorcova is a Romanian popular custom, practiced on the morning of 1 January. This custom is very old and is spread throughout the country, being practiced mainly by children. Sorcova is also used to describe the object that characterizes this cust ...
'' on New Year's Eve, or the ''
Mărțișor
Mărțișor () is the Romanian name of a tradition celebrated at the beginning of spring, in the month of March, and the name of the associated object made from two intertwined red and white strings with hanging tassel in Romania and Moldova, ve ...
'' custom on the first day of March, marking the spring. Other customs are presumably of pre-Christian
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
origin, like the ''
Paparuda
Dodola (also spelled ''Dodole'', ''Dudola'', ''Dudula'' etc.) and Perperuna (also spelled ''Peperuda'', ''Preperuda'', ''Preperuša'', ''Prporuša'', ''Papaluga'' etc.), are Balkan rainmaking pagan customs practiced until the 20th century. The t ...
'' rain enchanting custom in the summer, or the masked folk theatre or ''Ursul'' (the bear) and ''Capra'' (the goat) in winter.
Perhaps the most successful collector of folk tales was the novelist and storyteller
Ion Creangă
Ion Creangă (; also known as Nică al lui Ștefan a Petrei, Ion Torcălău and Ioan Ștefănescu; March 1, 1837 – December 31, 1889) was a Moldavian, later Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th-century Romania ...
, who in very picturesque language, shaped into their now-classic form stories like ''Harap Alb'' ("The White Moor") or ''Fata babei și fata moșului'' (roughly, "The old woman's daughter and the old man's daughter").
Also, the poet
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri (; 21 July 182122 August 1890) was a Romanian patriot, poet, dramatist, politician and diplomat. He was one of the key figures during the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia. He fought for the unification of the Romani ...
published the most successful version of the ballad ''
Miorița
"Miorița" (ad. ''mioriță'', lit. 'The Little Ewe Lamb'), also transliterated as "Mioritza", is an old Romanian pastoral ballad considered to be one of the most important pieces of Romanian folklore. It has numerous versions with quite differe ...
'' (''The Little Ewe''), a sad, philosophical poem, centered on a simple action: the plot by two shepherds to kill a third shepherd because they envied his wealth. Another prolific editor of folk tales was
Petre Ispirescu
Petre Ispirescu (; January 1830 – 21 November 1887) was a Romanian editor, folklorist, printer, and publicist. He is best known for his work as a gatherer of Romanian folk tales, recounting them with a remarkable talent.
Career
Petre Ispiresc ...
, who, in the 19th century, published an impressive number of volumes containing a large number of short novels and tales from popular mythology. They are centered on popular characters like the prince ''
Făt-Frumos
Făt-Frumos (from Romanian ''făt'': son, infant; ''frumos'': handsome) is a knight hero in Romanian folklore, usually present in fairy tales.
Akin to Prince Charming, he possesses such essential attributes as courage, purity, justness, physica ...
'' (the Romanian "
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, incl ...
"), the princess
Ileana Cosânzeana
Ileana Cosânzeana is a figure in Romanian mythology. She is represented as a beautiful good-natured princess or daughter of an Emperor,[Zmeu
The ''Zmeu'' (plural: ''zmei'', feminine: ''zmeoaică'' / ''zmeoaice'') is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology.
Though referred by some sources as a dragon, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has c ...]
'' or ''
Căpcăun'', the dragon ''
Balaur
A balaur ( pl. ''balauri'') in Romanian folklore is a type of many-headed dragon or monstrous serpent, sometimes said to be equipped with wings. The number of heads is usually around three, but they can also have seven heads or even twelve head ...
,'' or fantastic superbeings like the good ''
Zână
''Zână'' (plural ''zâne''; ''zînă'' and ''zîne'', ''d̦ână'' and ''d̦âne'' in old spellings) is the Romanian equivalent of the Greek Charites or the fairy godmother. They are the opposite of monsters like Muma Pădurii. These characters ...
'' and the evil ''
Muma Pădurii
In Romanian folklore, Muma Pădurii () is an ugly and mischievous or mad old woman living in the forest (in the heart of virgin forests, in a hut/cabin or an old tree). She is the opposite of fairies such as Zână. She is also the protector of th ...
''.
Spirituality and religion
![Manastirea putna1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Manastirea_putna1.jpg)
Romanian spirituality is greatly influenced by its strong connections with the
Eastern Christian
Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...
world. The modern national mythology contends Romanians are ''An island of Latinity in a Slavic sea'' and ''The only
Orthodox Christian
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...
Latin people''. There are only a few Romanian Catholics (of both the Roman and Greek rites) and a small number of
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
, the vast majority of Romanians being
Romanian Orthodox
The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...
(over 81%).
Despite the diminishing importance of the church in recent generations, it remains the most trusted institution in Romania. Church attendance is high in rural communities and among the elders in the cities. Also, despite accusations of collaborationism with the
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
, which continue to plague the Romanian Church, some clerics such as
Dumitru Stăniloae
Dumitru Stăniloae (; – 4 October 1993) was a Romanian Orthodox Christian priest, theologian and professor. He worked for over 45 years on a comprehensive Romanian translation of the Greek Philokalia, a collection of writings on prayer by the ...
and Richard Wurmbrand openly protested against political interventions in religious business. There are also some
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
living in the country.
![Mănăstirea Chiajna - Giulești](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/M%C4%83n%C4%83stirea_Chiajna_-_Giule%C8%99ti.jpg)
Romanian Orthodox monasteries and churches exist throughout Romania, but traditionally, few are constructed on a monumental scale. A great number of wooden churches are still intact in the
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
villages, but by far, the most impressive is the
Wooden Churches of Maramureș
The wooden churches of Maramureș in the Maramureș region of northern Transylvania are a group of almost one hundred Orthodox churches, and occasionally Greek-Catholic ones, of different architectural solutions from different periods and areas. ...
, which push wood building technique to its limits. Byzantine influences can be found in most Romanian church buildings, but domestic styles have evolved in different periods of time and in different regions. In
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 ...
, a particular style was used in the construction of the monasteries, of which some of the most important are the
churches of northern Moldavia –
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Sites
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...
, such as those of
Moldovița
Moldovița ( uk, Молдовіца; german: Russ Moldawitza) is a commune located in Suceava County, Bukovina, northeastern Romania. It is composed of four villages: namely Argel, Demăcușa, Moldovița, and Rașca.
A Latin-rite Catholic Dio ...
,
Putna,
Sucevița
Sucevița (german: Suczawitza or Kloster Suczawita) is a commune in Suceava County, in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania. It is composed of two villages, namely Sucevița and Voievodeasa (german: Fürstenthal). Sucevița Mon ...
, or
Voroneț. 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 ...
,
Curtea de Argeș Cathedral
The Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș (early 16th century) is a Romanian Orthodox cathedral in Curtea de Argeș, Romania. It is located on the grounds of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery, and is dedicated to Dormition of the Mother of God. The buildin ...
was built in a
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
style with Moorish influences, and a great number of churches show Greek influences, especially those built in the 18th century, such as
Stavropoleos Church in central Bucharest. Romania also evolved the distinctive
Brâncovenesc style: the monasteries of
Snagov
Snagov (population: 7,272) is a commune, located north of Bucharest, in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. According to the 2011 census, 92% of the population is ethnic Romanian. The commune is composed of five villages: Ciofliceni, Ghermăneșt ...
and of
Sâmbăta de Sus
Sâmbăta de Sus (german: Obermühlendorf; hu, Felsőszombatfalva) is a commune in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Sâmbăta de Sus and Stațiunea Climaterică Sâmbăta (''Felsőszombatfalvi üdülőtelep'') ...
in Transylvania are classic examples.
Cuisine
![Pancake with jam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Pancake_with_jam.jpg)
The cuisine of Romania has the same influences as the rest of Romanian culture; from Roman times, there still exists the simple pie called, in
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
, ''
plăcintă
''Plăcintă'' () is a Romanian and Moldovan traditional pastry resembling a thin, small round or square-shaped cake, usually filled with apples or a soft cheese such as Urdă.
Etymology
The word ''plăcintă'' comes from Latin ''pla ...
'' and keeping the initial meaning of the Latin word ''placenta''.
The Turks brought
meatball
A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, egg (food), eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are ...
s (fried ''
mititei
Mititei () or mici (; both Romanian words meaning "little ones", "small ones") is a dish from the Romanian cuisine, consisting of grilled ground meat rolls in cylindrical shape made from a mixture of beef, lamb with spices, such as garlic, bla ...
'' or ''
perişoare'' in a soup called ''
ciorbă
Chorba or shorba (from dialectal Arabic ; from , 'to drink') is a broad class of stews or rich soups found in national cuisines across the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It is often prepared w ...
''); from the Greeks, there is the ''
musaca'' (moussaka) and ''
covrigi
Covrigi are Romanian baked goods similar to pretzels. They consist of salted bread topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds or large salt grains. They do not usually contain any added sweeteners such as sugar.
Covrigi is the plural form of the Ro ...
'' (hot
pretzels
A pretzel (), from German pronunciation, standard german: Breze(l) ( and French / Alsatian: ''Bretzel'') is a type of baked bread made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical ...
); from the Bulgarians, a wide variety of vegetable dishes like ''
zacuscă
Zacuscă () is a vegetable spread popular in Romania and Moldova. Similar spreads are found in other countries in the Balkan region, and bordering regions.
Ingredients
The main ingredients are roasted eggplant, sauteed onions, tomato paste, ...
''; from the Austrians there is the ''
şniţel'' (
schnitzel
A schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutton, ...
); from the Hungarians, their ornate pastries; and the list could go on.
Without a doubt, one of the most popular dishes in Romania, and perhaps can be called the national dish, is ''
Sarmale'', or ''Sarma'' in other cultures of the Balkans, and the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
; a mixture of pork, beef, and lamb, or just plain pork, with onions and rice, wrapped in semi-sour cabbage or grape leaves, and then placed usually in a porcelain pot with tomato paste and pork cuts. This dish is then slow-cooked, and commonly served with
cornmeal
Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', ...
(
mămăligă
Mămăligă (;) is a porridge made out of yellow maize flour, traditional in Romania, Moldova and West Ukraine. Poles from the Lviv area also prepare this traditional dish. It is also a traditional dish in Thessaly and Fthiotis, Greece. In Ita ...
, which is a type of
polenta
Polenta (, ) is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. ...
). One of the most common meals is the ''
mămăligă
Mămăligă (;) is a porridge made out of yellow maize flour, traditional in Romania, Moldova and West Ukraine. Poles from the Lviv area also prepare this traditional dish. It is also a traditional dish in Thessaly and Fthiotis, Greece. In Ita ...
'', a cornmeal mush, for a long time considered the "poor man's meal" (''N-are nici o mămăligă pe masă'' – "He hasn't even a mămăligă on the table"), but it has become very appreciated in recent times.
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
is the main meat used in Romanian cuisine, but also
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...
is consumed and a good lamb or fish dish is never to be refused. In conjunction with special events or periods, different recipes are prepared.
During
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
, nearly every family slaughters a
pig
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
and cooks it using a wide variety of traditional recipes like ''
cârnați'' – a type of long sausage with meat; ''
caltaboși'' – sausages made with liver and other internal organs; ''
piftie
Aspic or meat jelly () is a savory gelatin made with a meat stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as ''aspic gelée'' or ' ...
'' – a jelly made from parts like the feet, head and ears; ''
tochitură
Tochitură () is a traditional Romanian and Moldovan dish made from pork cut into small cubes, (tochitura comes from the verb "a topi" which means "melted slow fried meat in fat") cooked over low fire in its own fat and juices usually in a cast- ...
'' (a kind of stew) – served along with mămăligă and
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
("so that the pork can swim"); and ''
tobă
''Tobă'', "caș de cap de porc" (which means "pig head cheese"), is a kind of a traditional Romanian delicatessen item which looks like a wide sausage, around four inches in diameter, usually using a pig's stomach, stuffed with pork jelly, liver ...
'' (head cheese). The meal is sweetened with the traditional ''
cozonac
, region = Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia, Moldova
, creator =
, course = Dessert
, type = Yeast cake
, served =
, main_ingredient = Wheat flour, butter, milk,eggs,sugar,yeas ...
'' (sweet bread with nuts, poppy seeds or
lokum – ''rahat'' in Romanian, known in English as
Turkish delight
Turkish delight or lokum ( ota, لوقوم) is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often f ...
).
Lamb
Lamb or The Lamb may refer to:
* A young sheep
* Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep
Arts and media Film, television, and theatre
* ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut
* ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...
is traditional for
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
; the main dishes are ''borș de miel'' (lamb sour soup), roast lamb, and ''
drob
Drob, fully named Drob de Miel (''Lamb Drob'') or Drob de Paște (''Easter Drob''), is a traditional Romanian dish of lamb offals (liver, lungs, spleen, heart, kidney), green onions, herbs (dill, parsley, garlic, lovage), eggs (boiled or fresh), ...
'' – a cooked mix of offal, meat and fresh vegetables, which is quite similar to Scottish
haggis
Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an a ...
, served with ''
pască
Paska ( uk, пáска, , "Easter"; ka, პასკა, , "Easter"; ro, pască; ultimately from arc, פסחא, , "Passover") is a Ukrainian Easter bread tradition and particularly spread in countries with predominant Eastern Orthodox r ...
'' (a pie made with cottage cheese) as a sweetener.
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
is the main drink and has been a tradition for over three millennia. Romania is currently the world's ninth-largest wine producer, and exports have increased in recent years. A wide variety of domestic (
Grasă,
Tămâioasă) and worldwide (Italian Riesling,
Merlot
Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...
,
Sauvignon blanc
is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...
,
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...
,
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...
,
Muscat Ottonel
Muscat Ottonel or Muskat-Ottonel (in Germany) is a white wine grape variety that is a member of the Muscat family of ''Vitis vinifera''.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including ...
) varieties are produced. Romania is the world's second-largest grower of
plums
A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes.
History
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...
, and almost all of those plums become either the famous ''
țuică
Țuică (; sometimes spelled tuica, tzuika, tsuika, tsuica, or tzuica) is a traditional Romanian spirit that contains ~ 24–65% alcohol by volume (usually 40–55%), prepared only from plums. Other spirits that are produced from other fruit or f ...
'' (a once-refined plum brandy) or ''
palincă'' (twice-or-more-refined plum brandy).
Beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
is also highly appreciated, generally
blonde pilsener beer, after the German style.
A great number of proverbs and sayings have developed around the activity of eating. From the innocent child's thank you: ''Săru-mâna pentru masă, c-a fost bună şi gustoasă, și bucătăreasa frumoasa'' ("Thank you for the meal, it was good and tasty, and the cook was beautiful"), to the more philosophical ''Mulțumescu-ți ție Doamne, c-am mâncat și iar mi-e foame'' ("Thank you Lord, for I have eaten, but I am hungry again"), ''Dragostea trece prin stomac'' ("Love passes through the stomach"), the simple ''Pofta vine mâncănd'' ("Appetite comes while eating"), the sarcastic ''Porcul mănâncă orice, dar se-ngrașă pentru alții'' ("The pig would eat anything but it gets fat for others"), or the expression of total fulfillment, ''Mâncat bine, băut bine, dimineața sculat mort'' ("Ate well, drank well, in the morning woke up dead").
Romanian script
![Romanian keyboard letters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Romanian_keyboard_letters.jpg)
During the 16th century, Romanian first appeared in writing, usually in religious texts and other written documents. A letter dating from 1521, from Neacșu of Câmpulung to the mayor of Brașov, is considered to be the earliest known text written in Romanian. The letter was written in a script which was used mainly in Wallachia and Moldavia until the year 1859. This script was a version of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, a version of the
Cyrillic alphabet
, bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця
, fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs
, fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic
, fam3 = Phoenician
, fam4 = G ...
.
A version of the Cyrillic alphabet was used in the
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...
until 1991, when they switched to the Romanian version of the Latin alphabet.
Contribution of the minorities
![Sighisoara](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Sighisoara._Biserica_din_deal.jpg)
Minorities have made a major cultural contribution to Romania. Influences came from, most notably, minority groups such as
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
,
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
,
Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
, and
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...
. The
Székely and the
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
living in Transylvania made many important architectural contributions to the region, including numerous churches, fortifications, and town centers. Also, they figured in some landmarks in the development of ethnic Romanian culture: the first letter written in Romanian was addressed to the mayor of Kronstadt (Romanian:
Brașov
Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County.
According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a popu ...
), and the first book printed in Romanian was in Hermannstadt (Romanian:
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
). Romania was once also the cradle of
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues ...
, and to this day, Bucharest is home to a
State Jewish Theater, despite the small number of
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
remaining in the country.
Architecture and engineering
In the technical domain, one can note the achievements in the field of aviation made by
Traian Vuia
Traian Vuia or Trajan Vuia (; August 17, 1872 – September 3, 1950) was a Romanian inventor and aviation pioneer who designed, built and tested the first tractor monoplane. He was the first to demonstrate that a flying machine could rise into the ...
,
Aurel Vlaicu
Aurel Vlaicu (; 19 November 1882 – 13 September 1913) was a Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor and early pilot.Gheorghiu, 1960
Early years and education
Aurel Vlaicu was born in the village of Binținți in Transylvania, Aus ...
,
Aurel Persu
Aurel Persu (26 December 1890 – 5 May 1977) was a Romanian engineer and pioneer car designer, the first to place the wheels inside the body of the car as part of his attempt to reach the perfect aerodynamic shape for automobiles. , and
Henri Coandă
Henri Marie Coandă (; 7 June 1886 – 25 November 1972)''Flight'' 1973 was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer, and builder of an experimental aircraft, the Coandă-1910 described by Coandă in the mid-1950s as the world's first jet, a co ...
and also the works of
George Constantinescu
George "Gogu" Constantinescu (; last name also Constantinesco; 4 October 1881 – 11 December 1965) was a Romanian scientist, engineer and inventor. During his career, he registered over 130 inventions. He is the creator of the ''theory of son ...
in the fields of engineering and
sonics
Sonic or Sonics may refer to:
Companies
*Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain
* Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities
* Sonic Foundry, a computer software company wh ...
. Also, many achievements have been made in the architectural and engineering domain; thus,
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 ...
became known as ''the small Paris''. The longest bridge in Europe was constructed by
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 ...
, linking
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
with the rest of Romania; the
Peleș Castle
Peleș Castle ( ro, Castelul Peleș ) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inaugura ...
became one of the most beautiful and modern castles in Europe.
File:Sanctuarele de andezit.JPG, Ancient Dacian ruins at Sarmizegetusa Regia
Sarmizegetusa Regia, also Sarmisegetusa, Sarmisegethusa, Sarmisegethuza, Ζαρμιζεγεθούσα (''Zarmizegethoúsa'') or Ζερμιζεγεθούση (''Zermizegethoúsē''), was the capital and the most important military, religious an ...
File:Southern side of the Mogosoaia Palace at sunset.jpg, Mogoșoaia Palace
Mogoșoaia Palace ( ro, Palatul Mogoșoaia, ) is situated about from Bucharest, Romania. It was built between 1698 and 1702 by Constantin Brâncoveanu in what is called the Romanian Renaissance style or Brâncovenesc style. The palace bears the ...
, view from the garden
File:Ateneul Roman.jpg, Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum ( ro, Ateneul Român) is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania, and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's most prestigious concert hall an ...
File:Peles-Castle-Sinaia-Romania.jpg, Peleș Castle
Peleș Castle ( ro, Castelul Peleș ) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inaugura ...
File:Podul Regele Carol I.jpg, King Carol I bridge
File:A Vlaicu III 03.png, Early airplane model – the A Vlaicu III
The A Vlaicu III was the world's first metal-built aircraft, designed and built in Romania prior to World War I. It was the third powered aircraft designed by pioneering Romanian aviator Aurel Vlaicu.
Design and development
Engineer and invento ...
Media and television
Music
![Jazz EUROPAFest2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Jazz_EUROPAFest2010.JPG)
Folk music is the oldest form of Romanian musical creation, characterized by great vitality; it is the defining source of the cultured musical creation, both religious and lay. Conservation of Romanian folk music has been aided by a large and enduring audience, and by numerous performers who helped propagate and further develop the folk sound. Two of them, Vasile Pandelescu, and Dumnitru Zamfira are some of the most famous examples of Romanian folk musicians.
Before the major incorporation of more modern instruments that found their way into Romanian folk music, older instruments such as the Tobă (double-headed drum, also known as the Tabul or Davul), Surlă (also known as the Zurna in other parts of the Balkans), Caval (ancient shepherd's pipe),
Cobza
The ''cobza'' (also ''cobsa'', ''cobuz'', ''koboz'') is a multi-stringed instrument of the lute family of folk origin popular in the Romanian folklore from both Romania and Republic of Moldova (it is considered the oldest accompaniment instrumen ...
(an ancient instrument related to the Arabic Oud), Vioară (violin), Cimpoi (Balkan bagpipe), and the Tamburină (tambourine, more commonly used during the times under Phanariote and Ottoman influence), were also commonly used in folk music before the introduction on some slightly more modern elements such as the widely used accordion, and clarinet. Folk music, often is accentuated with clapping, yells of tongue rolling, shouts, and whistles.
The religious musical creation, born under the influence of Byzantine music adjusted to the intonations of the local folk music, saw a period of glory between the 15th-17th centuries, when reputed schools of liturgical music developed within Romanian monasteries. Russian and Western influences brought about the introduction of polyphony in religious music in the 18th century, a genre developed by a series of Romanian composers in the 19th and 20th centuries.
See also
*
Languages of Romania
Beyond the official Romanian language, multiple other languages are spoken in Romania. Laws regarding the rights of minority languages are in place, and some of them have co-official status at a local level. Although having no native speakers, Fr ...
*
Literature of Romania
Romanian literature () is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language.
History
The development of the Romanian literature took place in parallel with that ...
*
Architecture of Romania
*
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad. It has been home to many internationally acclaimed films and directors.
As with much of the world's early cinema, the rava ...
*
Famous Romanian people
Note: Names that cannot be confirmed in Wikipedia database nor through given sources are subject to removal. If you would like to add a new name please consider writing about the person first. If a notable Romanian is missing and without article, ...
*
Romanian humour
Romanian humour, like many other Romanian cultural aspects, has many affinities with four other groups: the Latins (namely the French and Italians), the Balkan people (Greeks, the Slavs, and Turks), the Germans and the Hungarians.
Characters
...
*
Byzantium after Byzantium, a cultural movement which sprung during the Medieval Romanian history.
*
Sport in Romania
Sport in Romania are an important part of the country's culture. Romania has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Association football is the most popular sport in Romania, a nation of 20 million. The most successfu ...
*
Culture of Moldova
References
External links
Sibiu International Theatre Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSfSH16tFXU
cIMeC – The Institute For Cultural Memory a key Romanian cultural institution.
on itcnet.ro
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150821141931/http://brancusi.com/bio.html Constantin Brâncuși biographical noteson brancusi.com
Cultural aspects an extensive site on ici.ro about Romanian culture.
Official Romanian Travel and Tourism Information websiteSibiul.ro an extensive site about Sibiu (in Romanian)
Onlinegallery.roNews, events, venues and extensive coverage of Romanian cultural acts
* Manuela Preoteasa
("Television in Romania – domination by entertainment and non-news"), 30 November 2005, in a mix of Romanian and English.
Romanian spirituality(mostly in Romanian, some portions translated into English)
("The ''calus'' dance in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritages of Humanity") (in Romanian)
(in Romanian)
Romanian recipesSOS Romania NewsLost Trails web site has free downloads of Romanian folk music and Photography of many Romanian villagesRomania – cultural and regional differencesRolandia– Travel agency that blogs about Romania's culture and traditions
{{Culture of Europe