Romani

The Italians

They arrived in Romania over a century ago, and they were skilled craftsmen and scholars. Now, even if they only represent a small community, a couple of thousand people, the Italians in Romania try to perpetuate and promote their traditional values.  Short historyItalians

She's All Eyes...And Ears

Visky András's play Juliet was launched into an international orbit. It was translated into Romanian, staged at the National Radio Theatre, and made into a CD. The play is requested in New York; the Greeks want to play it… Its success is well deserved. It is a sincere

Quote

If we contextualized the phrase 'minority culture' into a larger, European, even global, perspective, we would notice that it has lost at once its obscure, frustrating meaning of 'small', 'weak', or 'frail', because in the globalization

Juliet

Eniko Szilagyi in Juliet, directed by Tompa GaborEniko Szilagyi in Juliet, directed by Tompa Gabor at the Hungarian State Theater in Clujexcerpt An open space without setting, the scenic box in its genuine realism. To the right a bed (straw, covered with a blanket), a worn-out

Zorro In The Carpathians

When the Hungarians conquered Transylvania, several Romanian noblemen decided to adopt Hungarian language and culture, in order to get prominent positions in the establishment. The most famous is, of course, Hunyady János, called, in Romanian, Iancu de Hunedoara. He eventually

Pentecost At Csí­ksomlyó - A Hungarian National Holiday?

Situated on a hill in the midst of the Csík valley in the heart of Szeklerland, the Franciscan order in the small village of Csíksomlyó hosts the largest annual pilgrimage in Central Europe. Regardless of their religious affiliation, three to four hundred thousand Hungarians

The Hungarians

Resentments between Romanians and Hungarians feed on a twofold frustration. Until 1918, the Romanians of Transylvania were generally looked down on by the Hungarians. They were largely peasants, with few townspeople and intellectuals among them, while Hungarians made up

The Hungarians

None of the minorities living in Romania had a tenser relationship with the majority of inhabitants. Still, Romanians and Hungarians have been living together for centuries. The Hungarians in Transylvania praise their past, values and traditions within a context that permits

Ascensions

Climb… Climb… Keep climbing. Higher and higher. At the top, Love's waitingWith a bouquet of roses.  Climb. Go upward. Always higher. If you don't find a pathCarve it open. In LoveThere are no ready-made ways. You cleave them yourself.  Climb… Even if you

Balkania - Our Eternal Return

I think I would never have come to love Balkania so much, had I not met Marina Marinescu in Munich several years back. We had been acquainted since we met for the first time in Athens. Florin Marinescu, the specialist in Byzantine history to whom I was talking one day in

The Faces Of the City

Life Histories in Bucharest – the 20th Centuryexcerpt All the Greeks in the city sought to make me their son-in-law. Demostene Gramatopol, 1910-? My initial intention was to interview both Greeks belonging to the old Greek community in Bucharest, and some of those who

Greek Artists In The Romanian Principalities

If Byzantium had been a close synthesis, Romanian art would be different from Byzantine art. But the Byzantine synthesis has remained always fresh and as such incorporates everything that, with added elements, has been accomplished by Romanians. Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940) Assuming