To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, 2026 was declared by the President of Romania the Year of Constantin Brâncuși. Constantin Brâncuși, one of the greatest sculptors of the twentieth century, was born in 1876 in Hobița, Gorj County, and passed away in 1957 in Paris; he was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery. In 1904 he arrived in Paris, where he attended courses at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. There he also worked in the studio of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the founder of modern sculpture, and met Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920), the Italian sculptor settled in France. Inspired by the work of these artists, he perfected his artistic training in Paris. His works are held in museums both at home and abroad, in the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, France, and the United States of America. For his outstanding merits he was awarded the Order of the Star of Romania in 1923; in 1931 Nicolae Iorga proposed him for the Order of Cultural Merit; and only in 1990 was he posthumously elected a member of the Romanian Academy. One of the artist's most famous creations is the sculpture Mademoiselle Pogany, considered a national symbol of modern Romanian art. Its protagonist was Margaret Pogany (1879-1964), a young Hungarian painter who came to Paris in 1909 to study painting techniques. Visiting her studio, she asked the sculptor to make her portrait, even leaving him a photograph and a self-portrait. In 1911 Brâncuși sculpted her likeness from memory in marble and in bronze, focusing on the deep, large, almond-shaped eyes, the subdued eyebrows, the narrow nose, the small mouth, the austere hairstyle and the modest gesture of the hands, rested against the face. Between 1912 and 1933 he produced nineteen versions of Mademoiselle Pogany. The commemorative medal "Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1976). Expoziție Filatelică Omagială - București 1976" was struck in Romania at the State Mint by the engraver Ștefan Grudinschi. Executed in bronze with a diameter of 60 mm and a weight of 113.73 g, the medal is remarkable for its memorial and artistic value. Obverse: the sculptor's bust facing left, with the semicircular legend "CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUȘI - 1876-1976." Reverse: a fragment of the triptych The Gate of the Kiss. Semicircular legend: "EXPOZIȚIA FILATELICĂ OMAGIALĂ - BUCUREȘTI 1976." The medal "Constantin Brâncuși. Mademoiselle Pogany. Craiova Art Museum. 1987" was also executed in bronze at the State Mint (Bucharest); it has a nominal diameter of 60 mm (because of the circular cutting the actual dimensions are D: 45 mm; weight: 53.55 g). The obverse shows, in the central field, an image of the Craiova Art Museum framed by the semicircular legend "MUZEUL DE ARTĂ - CRAIOVA / 1987." The reverse depicts a replica of the sculpture Mademoiselle Pogany made by Brâncuși's pupil O. Moșescu, accompanied by the inscription "CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUȘI - M-elle POGANY / 1913."
On publishing activity of Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni (1808-1812, 1813-1821) and the presence of old Romanian books in the collections of Northern Dobrudja
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IX [XXIV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2015
Abstract
One of the factors which contributed to the support of the Romanians and their culture in Bessarabia was the Church, and Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni (born 1746 <1750?> died 1821, ChiТinău) was deeply aware of it, bringing the area between the Prut and Dniester to the consciousness and spirituality of the Romanian space before and especially after 1812.
In 1808-1812, after his appointment as a member of the Holy Synod of St. Petersburg and exarch of Moldavia and Wallachia (March 27 1808), in terms of establishing a Russian military occupation regime in the Romanian principalities, the great hierarch initiated the cultural program for the dissemination of Romanian books published in Moldavian printing centers (Iași, Neamț). He successfully led the Archdiocese of Moldavia prior to the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest on May 16, 1812.
As a patron, editor, preface writer and translator, Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni published several Romanian books during this period. Copies of some publications we found in the secular and monastic collections in Northern Dobrudja: Cărticică pentru datoria și stăpânirea blagocinilor (Booklet about the duty and power of rural deans) (Iaѯi, 1808) and Carte de rugăciuni pentru cerere de biruință (Book of Prayers for Victory) (IaТi, 1809) at the Gavrilă Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute from Tulcea; Kyriakodromion (Sunday Book) (Neamt, 1811) and volumes from the Lives of the Saints (Viețile Sfinților) (Neamt, 1807-1815) at the monasteries of Celic Dere and CocoТ, established in the first decades of the 19th century. These publications must have been common in Bessarabia too, but most of them were destroyed during the Russian rule.
But the most important cultural and historical activities of Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni occurred in the first years after the annexation of Bessarabia to the Russian Empire in 1812, after the creation of the new Archbishopry of ChiТinău and Khotin, the head of which he was appointed on August 21, 1813 and remained until the end of his life. On May 31, 1814 the Diocesan Printing House was opened in ChiТinău, with the purpose of printing religious books in Romanian, which should have been translated from the Old Church Slavonic. Under the Metropolitan's leadership, sometimes deceiving the vigilance of the Holy Synod, there were published several books, including Liturghierul (Liturgikon) in 1815, a copy of which is kept in the monastery of Celic Dere, the Tulcea County.
On both sides of the Prut there also circulated editions of the New Testament (1817, 1819) and the Bible (1819) printed by the Russian Bible Society in St. Petersburg and intended for the Romanians in Bessarabia; their publisher and proofreader was also Gavriil. The collection of Tulcea museum contains one copy of the Bible and the New Testament of 1819 edition, and in Celic Dere there are three copies of the New Testament of 1817 edition.
In our opinion, the presence of books published under the patronage of Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni in Northern Dobrudja can only be explained by two major aspects: by the personality of the Metropolitan, who fought for the preservation of Romanian spirit in Bessarabia by means of language, culture and the Church, and by the fact that the books entered this area from or through Moldavia more intensely than from other Romanian provinces.
List of illustrations: 1. Booklet about the duty and power of rural deans, Iaѯi, 1808. Title page (Gavrilă Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute, Tulcea). 2-3. Book of Prayers for victory, IaТi, 1809. Front and back sides of the title page (Gavrilă Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute, Tulcea).
4. Kyriakodromion, Neamt, 1811. Title page (Cocoѯ Monastery, Tulcea). 5. The Lives of the Saints for the month of October, Neamț, 1809. Title page (Celic Dere Monastery, Tulcea). 6-7. Liturgikon, ChiТinău, 1815. Front and back sides of the title page (Celic Dere Monastery, Tulcea).
Lăcrămioara Manea
Notes and the ex-libris of Archimandrite Dosoftei Crihană. Case study
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, 2026 was declared by the President of Romania the Year of Constantin Brâncuși. Constantin Brâncuși, one of the greatest sculptors of the twentieth century, was born in 1876 in Hobița, Gorj County, and passed away in 1957 in Paris; he was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery. In 1904 he arrived in Paris, where he attended courses at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
