Dinicu Golescu (usual rendition of Constantin Radovici Golescu; 7 February 1777 – 5 October 1830), a member of the Golescu family of

boyars A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars wer ...

, was a

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 s ...

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 ...

man of letters, mostly noted for his travel writings and journalism. Born in Ștefănești, Argeș County, Dinicu was the son of Radu Golescu. Together with his older brother George (or Iordache), he studied at 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 ...

-founded

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Academy in

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. In 1804, he married Zoe Farfara (?–1879), with whom he had five children: Ana (1805–1878), Ştefan (1809–1874), Nicolae (1810–1877), Radu (1814–1882), and Alexandru Golescu Albu (1818–1873). All of his sons were to play prominent parts in the

Wallachian Revolution of 1848 The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought ...

and in the politics of

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, as would his nephew, Alexandru Golescu Negru. In 1826, he published an account of his travels through

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, '' Însemnarea călătoriei mele'' ("Account of My Travel"), which is the first travelogue of a Romanian in Western Europe.Al. ''Piru, Istoria literaturii române'', Ed. Grai și suflet-Cultura națională, București. 1994, p. 34 He uses his

travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or ...

to study the administration and production systems in various countries, which he describes and recommends through comparisons with the situation at home. The text contains a plea for a general reform of domestic institutions in a "European" direction (based on Enlightenment ideas). Viewing European culture as more advanced, he managed, despite his middle age and the considerable difficulties he had in expressing himself, to convey a message of change. His travel journal had a great influence on the Romanian intelligentsia of the time. One of the founding members of the Bucharest Literary Society (1827), Golescu contributed to the issuing of the first Romanian-language newspaper to be published outside the country, ''Fama Lipschii pentru Daţia'' (1827,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

; its title translated as "The Fame of Leipzig for

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"). He also helped

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, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writ ...

launch '' Curierul Românesc'', on 8 April 1829. Dinicu Golescu died in Bucharest. His

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

, written by Rădulescu, was published on 9 October 1830 in ''Curierul''; it reads:

"Tu ai dispărut, scrierile tale îţi vor supravieţui, şi numele tău va rămîne scump ştiinţei precum şi celor ce se adapă de la izvoarele tale." ("You have vanished, utyour writings will have outlived you, and your name shall remain treasured by science and by those who drink from the same sources as you.")

Bucharest's

Gara de Nord Bucharest North railway station ( ro, Gara București Nord; officially Bucharest North Group A) is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania. The vast majority of mainline trains to and from Bucharest origi ...

was built on land owned by Dinicu Golescu. A nearby park and boulevard currently bear his name.

References

Alex Drace-Francis, ''Dinicu Golescu's Account of My Travels (1826): Eurotopia as manifesto''
Berghahn Books, 2005 *Alex Drace-Francis, ''The Making of Modern Romanian Culture: Literacy and the Development of National Identity'', 2006
Juan José Ortega Román, ''Dinicu Golescu: Escritor y Viajero por Europa''

Universidad Complutense de Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university lo ...

, 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Golescu, Dinicu 1777 births 1830 deaths Romanian magazine editors Romanian magazine founders Romanian newspaper editors Romanian newspaper founders Romanian travel writers Age of Enlightenment People from Ștefănești, Argeș Dinicu