European

The inauguration of the art collection Beatrice and Hrandt Avakian, held on a torrid day in August 1974, brought together an extremely numerous public. The exceptional interest manifested was owed to the fact that two siblings living in modest conditions, from hand to mouth,

22 Spătarului Street, Bucharest (see also in Romanian with illustration)  The siblings Béatrice and Hrandt Avakian set up their collections independently, nevertheless evincing a shared predilection towards Eastern art, to be accounted for among others, perhaps, by the

(see also in Romanian with illustration) Garabet (Garbis) Avachian (1907-1967) was an eminent violin professor with the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatoire in Bucharest; among his students may be counted several laureates of international contests. This talented musician undoubtedly

Simu Museum A conservative MP in the 1888, 1891 and 1899 parliament sessions, Anastasie Simu finally became tired of the Machiavellian political life in Romania at the end of the 19th century; realising he had no prospects to achieve momentous social and cultural events

click here to see film The Peleş Castle, former royal summer residence, today a museum open to numerous visitors from the country and abroad, was built between 1875 and 1914 in two important construction phases. Placed at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains, in the upper

The year 1863 was full of events that had a significant impact on the artistic world of Paris. On the 24th of July, the new rule of the annual Salon, organized in the Palace of Industry, was announced. The rules were perceived as a way of waving the jury, formed only by

click here for Brukenthal Museum An emblem of Sibiu, the Brukenthal Museum is one of the most important abodes of culture that has garnered national and European repute. Since its official opening on February 25, 1803, it laid an indelible mark on the cultural life of the

Minimal Joys  To fully take delight in minimal joys – here is one of the irreducible experiences of joy in the East of Europe before 1989. The minimal joys mustn't be confounded with the simple joys. It is one thing to enjoy a piece of hot bread and a glass of wine

In the olden times, in the Year of Our Lord 1937, as soon as the vernal wind had started wafting, I would cross the Danube with a handful of companions, to hail the passage of woodcocks in some of the parts of the Dobrudja. We reposed in propitious places, groves and copses,

The dancing tea partyGuţă Mereuţă was indeed waiting, sad, with a proboscidean long nose. He couldn't dance. He had nothing in appearance or in speech that could have attracted a woman. His eyes pushed aside, towards the temples, by the broad root of the olfactory

I once saw a wounded crane, dying, on the edge of a forest where he had fallen while his friends were dashing away to the horizon, like a black arrow. The bright eye that ripped the horizon was shaded little by little, his long, powerful legs were sinking into the dust,

excerpts Chapter XV. Scenes of Social Life The beautiful autumn days of the year 1817 had already flitted along with the joys they bring to pass for the inhabitants of Romania. Winter had made quite an early appearance and the western wind had by now started to blow in