Foto by Dan Dinescu
Many people think Transylvania is a fictitious land, like Ruritania or Narnia. That is the birthplace of Dracula. It is the place where dragons live in Harry Potter and the country to which the Pied Piper spirited the children of Hamelin. Indeed, although Transylvania is a real place, truth here is often stranger than fiction. Streams run with silver, the mountains are full of gold, dinosaur nests are found in river beds and haystacks in trees. It is a country of striking cultural contrasts: of Orthodox monasteries, Gothic churches and Communist follies. While the 'King of the Gypsies' lives in a grandiose modern palace, the future King of England has bought a modest peasant's house in a remote village. Transylvania only recently awakened from the deep sleep of Communism and, though life is now changing fast, traditions remain here that elsewhere died out long ago. Published by France Lincoln, Bronwen Riley and Dan Dinescu's "Transylvania" captures this vanishing world in words and pictures.
Bronwen Riley has been hooked on Romania for over 10 years. She lived among villagers in the remote mountains of Transylvania, studying traditions and magic beliefs and has shared her enthusiasm for Romania on cultural tours she has organised and led. An Oxford classics graduate, she specialised in the post-Byzantine art of Romania at the Courtauld Institute, London. She worked for a number of British newspapers and magazines and is now managing editor of guidebooks at English Heritage. She also gives illustrated lectures on Transylvania.
Bucharest-born Dan Dinescu is best known for his marvellous documentation of Maramures, a region in north-west Romania where life stayed unchanged for centuries. Over the course of 25 years, he has captured the people and places of this remote region in luminous, memorable images. He has worked at Bucharest's National History Museum's Aerial Photography Section and at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant. He has exhibited in Romania and abroad.
Balkan music band Mukka and their repertoire of Transylvanian ballads and high speed instrumentals will provide the best possible backdrop for the evening.
The event is part of the "Romania Days in the UK" series of events organised by the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce to mark its 10th anniversary.
When: Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 7 - 9 pm;
Where: Romanian Cultural Institute, London
Admission: by invitation. Please contact us if you would like to attend.
