“Flame of Culture”, rekindled in several cities in the country . Projections on buildings of local and national importance. Events in 29 localities
Minister of Culture Bogdan Gheorghiu on Thursday has unveiled the events to be held as part of the celebration of National Culture Day on Friday. The holiday has been celebrated since 2010 in Romania, the majority Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova, historical ethnic Romanian communities and other Romanian communities abroad. It coincides with the anniversary of the birthday of 19th century poet Mihai Eminescu, the national poet in Romania. Romanian diplomatic and consular missions and cultural institutes abroad are hosting special events.
The “Flame of Culture” initiative will continue this year, on the National Culture Day, in several cities in the country, on Thursday announced the Minister of Culture, Bogdan Gheorghiu, who specified that various cultural actions will take place in 29 localities.
Forty-two cultural projects and actions dedicated to the National Culture Day 2021 received funding this year, when the Ministry of Culture allocated 2 million lei.
Music and poetry recitals, concerts and live theater performances will take place online in 29 cities and will be free of charge at some museums.
On Friday, at 18:00, in several localities, the “Flame of Culture” will be lit, symbolically, through light projections on buildings of local and national importance. The projections contain the mention “January 15 – National Culture Day” and the face of the poet Mihai Eminescu, whose birth took place 171 years ago, but each institution can choose the graphics keeping the theme.
Iaşi, Suceava, Craiova, Tecuci, Întorsura Buzăului, Satu Mare, Fălticeni, Botoşani, Turda, Baia Mare, Târgu Mureş, Constanţa and Bucharest are among the cities where this day will be marked. In the Capital, the facade of the Romanian Athenaeum will be illuminated, just like last year.
Gheorghiu declared himself proud of his project, saying that only an initiative was needed, because the local authorities were eager to join.
Regarding the way the events on the National Culture Day are held, he explained: “Last year I insisted that all these events take place on Culture Day itself, because it was a strange situation – some projects funded for National Culture Day were carried out somewhere through April. This year we allocated a much more consistent amount compared to other years, when they were between 150,000 and 250,000 lei. This year we allocated 2 million lei precisely to make up for the inconveniences caused by the restrictions. When you allocate such a large amount, it is difficult for these projects to be concentrated and visible, with each one taking place in a single day ”.
It is for this reason why it was agreed that the events should take place between January 15 and January 31, so that each project “has consistency and visibility.”
The Ministry of Culture and the Romanian Youth National Art Center will organize this time the concert “National Culture Day – January 15, 2021”, at the Romanian Athenaeum. The Romanian Youth Orchestra and conductor Cristian Mandeal will present a diverse repertoire, with works signed by George Enescu, Bela Bartok and Sabin Păutza, but also with modern pieces, performed together with the group Direction 5, under the baton of conductors Ionel and Andrei Tudor. The actor Adrian Păduraru, the presenter of the event, will recite from Eminescu’s creation. The event will be broadcast by TVR 1 and TVR Moldova starting with 21:10 hours.
Also at the Athenaeum, the Romanian Academy in partnership with the “George Enescu” Philharmonic, will organize an event that includes several speeches, followed by a concert of the “George Enescu” Philharmonic, under the baton of conductor Horia Andreescu. The program includes works by Ludwig van Beethoven, George Enescu, Doru Popovici, Constantin Silvestri, Bela Bartok and Dan Dediu. It will be broadcast, from 19:00, by TVR 3.
Academy President: Eminescu, the nation and culture gave us the confidence to prepare the future
National poet Eminescu, the nation and culture “vehemently challenged” by those who “don’t understand anything of universal becoming” have given the Romanians the reason to be in the Modern Age and the confidence to prepare the future, President of the Romanian Academy Ioan-Aurel Pop remarks on National Culture Day.
“Some consider National Culture Day (and the Academy as well) to be superfluous, a kind of sentimental reminiscence of a meaningless past, which some hurried contemporaries would want removed from the collective memory. A reason for such an attitude is the connection of the National Day celebration to the moment of Mihai Eminescu’s birth. What has a writer born in 1850 to do with our life? And, on top of that, a ‘nationalist’, ‘tradition-rooted’, ‘conservative’ writer who was an appreciator of Moldavia, Romania and Stephen the Great! This is how the poet is categorized in certain circles, especially online, but not only,” Pop wrote on Friday on Facebook.
The historian deplores the fact that some have “bizarre” reactions to the word culture, seen today as some sort of prerogative of “naive scholars” alone.
“What should we do today with this notion and its once sacred content, since, for some time now, the unlearned, the half-educated, the rough-mannered, the brazen, the charlatans, the arrogant, the informers, the nouveau riches who defy common sense have been scaling the social ladder higher and higher? What do we get today through culture? Culture has remained some sort of prerogative of naive scholars, of those passionate of the nowadays intensely challenged well-established values. Whoever speaks today of the traditional values and virtues that once made the glory of the past and that brought society to the heights of civilization is quickly declared passé, retrograde or nationalist,” adds Pop.
According to him, “Romanian culture is (or was, until recently) national, because it is the product of the spiritual sap of the Romanian people, coagulated at a certain moment in a form of superior unity called nation”.
“Today, the nation is almost banished by some, blamed for the greatest evils in history, even vilified, as if its supporters – the great spirits of humanity between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries – had planned to lead the world to its doom. Therefore those who celebrate nations as coagulating forces of perennial values are almost put against the wall, stigmatized as nostalgic for the domination of anachronistic forces, despised, excluded from the select society. It’s true, not all of them. Those who revere the large and powerful nations, the dominators of the world, are spared because the new ideologues want ‘equality, but not for puppies’, to quote a fable by a classic of Romanian literature who is almost forgotten today (Grigore Alexandrescu),” Ioan-Aurel Pop writes.
The President of the Academy declares himself confident that Eminescu can defend on his own and calls for the celebration of the National Culture Day with joy, “without grudges, without bravado and without resentment”.
“As we celebrate national culture, we always return to Eminescu, to the spiritual inheritance of the nation he embodies, to virtues, values and trust. Eminescu defends on his own through his creation and thus protects the national culture. (…) Let us rejoice – without grudges, without bravado and without resentment – that we stand in this world as Romanians and that we participate in the international concert, that is, in the dialogue among nations. We owe this dialogue to our national identity expressed by all the great creators of Romanian culture fronted by ‘the greatest poet the Romanian land has and will ever bring forth’,” writes Ioan-Aurel Pop.
PM Citu: Artists, writers, teachers, researchers make Romania more beautiful country
Artists, writers, teachers, researchers make Romania a more beautiful country, said on Friday, Prime Minister Florin Citu, in a message sent on the occasion of the National Culture Day.
“171 years since the birth of poet Mihai Eminescu, I would like to thank all people of culture in Romania. Our artists, writers, teachers and researchers make Romania a more beautiful country. Happy anniversary!,” Citu wrote on his Facebook page.
EduMin: Today more than ever we are bound to support and invest in Romanian education and culture
In a message on National Culture Day, Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu underlines that “more than ever”, now it’s time to support and invest in Romanian education and culture.
“We have all been through a critical period for the entire humanity. We have supported each other, we have overcome our limits, we have armed ourselves with patience and responsibility for what our national, cultural and social identity means. Today, more than ever, we are bound to support and invest in Romanian education and culture,” Cimpeanu wrote on Facebook on Friday.
He adds that mid-January comes with the opportunity to meet again with Eminescu, Romania’s “unparalleled” national poet.
“Today marks the 171st anniversary of the birth of the national poet, the one who created a bridge between school, the Church and society. We are determined to do what needs to be done, with the same perseverance and exigency for quality education and school management as those shown by our brilliant national poet,” the Minister noted.
Wreaths laid Eminescu’s bust placed under the linden tree that was his source of inspiration
Cultural and artistic officials and local administration officials of Iasi laid wreaths on Friday at the linden tree in Copou Park under which Mihai Eminescu wrote part of his literary work, on the poet’s 171st birth anniversary.
Due to the pandemic, the number of attendees was small compared to previous years, in the dozen, who had to keep their l distance and give up speeches. However, they laid wreaths at Eminescu’s bust, placed under the linden tree that was his source of inspiration. The event was broadcast live online.
However, the attendees did not miss the opportunity to take a photo under Eminescu’s Linden Tree or to send on social media pages videos with messages dedicated to the Romanian National Culture Day and the birth of the great poet.
They also had an opportunity to watch the film “Eminescu si noi” (Eminescu and Us) at the Mihai Ursachi Culture Centre, made by the centre’s employees.
Compiled from Agerpres
