1989

Who’s Left In Bucharest

The house painter. He has a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and his appetite for work is equal to nothing. His torn t-shirt doesn't give you any clue on the fee he will demand at the end of the day after slothfully varnishing a wall which can neither resist nor

Current Houses

Several TV channels have been offering lately, especially on the lazier weekend days, shows about houses. They're filmed at more than sluggish speeds, with repeated shots and, usually, presented by voices that just can't contain their admiration for the ideas of

Bughettorest

Just another day in Bucharest, in the year 2006, in summer. My friend, an architect, who accompanies me on my visit to a “bedroom suburb”, feels shivers down his spine. Maybe it is because he doesn’t like “the poetry of concrete”. Or maybe he has a problem with

The City's Ugliest Square

Clockwise from top left: Revolution Square, Maniu statue, Coposu bust, Hilton Athenee Palace, Kretzulescu Church, University Library, Ataturk bust, Carol I equestrian statue. Post-revolutionary administrators of the capital city have managed to turn the birth place of the

A Showcase For Kalodont

Gregor von Rezzori has never been part of Romanian-German literature, a fact regretted even beyond his death. The writer, who was born in 1914 in Czernowitz and died in 1998 in his home in Florence, would have, nonetheless, met some of the conditions for qualification. But,

Bucharest – An Oddity Surviving Against All Odds

Bucharest (Rom. Bucureşti) has been some sort of oddity since the very first days of its existence. The legend has it that it was founded by a shepherd, named Bucur, and it was later named after him. Not remotely as glorious a godparent as the goddess of wisdom (the case

A Tale Of A City

Dimbovitza river from Izvor bridge, Old Court ruins, Patriarchate Palace, old house on Gabroveni St. Romania's capital city Bucharest lies in the south-eastern part of the country: there, several centuries ago, the Vlasia Forests were reigning, from which just a few

The History Of Nothing: Contemporary Architecture And Public Space In Romania

Richard Rogers Partnership proposal, 1996People's House (Parliament) After 1989: Methods of researching the built environmentResearching Communist architecture is a tricky endeavor in contemporary Romania, where some major actors of that era are still alive, some even

A Century Of Our Past And Our European Identity Are Being Destroyed

Armenian Church; St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral; Stirbey house on Calea Victoriei excerpts from the debate organized by Ileana Foundation for Contemporary Fine Arts and Modern Architecture in Romania, hosted at UNA Gallery on May 12th 2008 Nowadays, the oldest

Mascaras Para El Rostro Del Mundo

„Amer savoir, celui qu'on tire du voyage ! Le monde monotone et petit, aujourd'hui, Hier, demain, toujours, nous fait voir notre image: Une oisis d'horreur dans un désert d'ennui ! (Ch. Baudelaire, Le voyage) („ ¡Amarga enseňanza que uno saca

Exitos Liricos Rumanos En España: Viorica Cortez

“Enciclopedia de una carrera” por Adolf Armbruster Barcelona, Gran Teatro del LiceoG. Donizetti: La Favorita / el papel: Leonora di GuzmanDirector de orquesta: Adolfo Camozzo / Director de escena: Diego Monjocon: Jaime Aragall / Luigi Ottolini (23 de noviembre), Vicente

Eternamente Envuelte En Pixeles

Me sucedió en esta vida la cosa más triste posible: de poeta he llegado a ser autor. Creo que fui un poeta verdadero alguna vez, en mi adolescencia, cuando aún no había publicado – y, salvo mi diario íntimo, tampoco había escrito – nada. Es mi estado ideal, perdido