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At approximately 30km from the city of Buzau, sculptures cut in stone from the limestone quarries of Naeni and Ciuta adorn scattered clearings in the hills of Magura. They are a tribute to local ancient stonecutting traditions and were created for the largest exhibition of its kind in the country and one of the biggest in the world. The Sculpture Camp, held between 1970 and 1985, was initiated by sculptor Gheorghe Coman and supported by the Union of Romanian Artists to mark 16 centuries since the first documentation of Buzau. The... [Lire la suite]

In Odobesti, jud. Vrancea, southern Moldova stands a church. Or the remains of a church. More the shell of a church. If there is anything left to see of it at all, it is no thanks to contemporary efforts made, but to a spankingly solid structure built to last two and a half centuries ago. It is a masterpiece in architecture boasting impressive quality material and majestral ornamentation. But one can see very little of that today. Found on str. Cazaclii in the Satul Nou neighbourhood, the history of the church dedicated to Saints... [Lire la suite]

Last week on a trip to Vrancea, I visited the impressive mausoleum of Marasesti built in 1919. An imposing site and final resting place to a prestigious list of Romanian military names amongst them Henrik Cihoski and Eremiah Grigorescu, the mausoleum holds the remains of 5,073 Romanian soldiers and officers killed in the First World War. It is dedicated to the commemoration of the Battle of Mărăşeşti and the Romanian army. The memorial took architects George Cristinel and Constantin Pomponiu 15 years to build and was unveiled on 18... [Lire la suite]

(Photo by Sarah In Romania) It's not often I write blogposts recommending restaurants, but this is an exception to the rule. Just before leaving Bucharest for yet another great jaunt, I was invited to lunch by a friend on str General Berthelot here in Bucharest. We went to Chez Marie, a lovely pad style 1930's owned by Maria Popa who is something of a star. With her thirty year career as head chef at the British Embassy behind her, she has cooked for an impressive list of British PMs visiting Romania over the years along with Prince... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) I think I'm hallucinating. As you may know from reading my last blog update, Roxana Dascalu contacted the BOR spokesman this morning to tell him about our experience at Snagov Monastery yesterday. He was appalled, told her that there is NO charge to enter a church and neither is there a tax for photography. Please bear in mind the following facts: a) There was no sign either outside the monastery nor outside the church stating payment was required. b) The sum of 20 euros (90 lei on today's exchange rate) as a camera... [Lire la suite]

EXCELLENT news this morning on the corruption scam I wrote about yesterday following a visit to Snagov Monastery with Roxana Dascalu and Emil Berdeli (both Romanian journalists). Roxana has refused point blank to rest on her laurels and called the spokesman of the BOR, Parintele Stoica, earlier today. She explained what had happened and spared him no details as to the whole sorry turn of events along with her humiliation a) for having to pay to enter her OWN church and b) for having her English friend who loves Romania so much... [Lire la suite]

Today found me in Snagov, about 30km from Bucharest. I have never been to the monastery, though goodness knows I've tried to find it twice to no avail. Today, however, my friend Roxana, her friend Emil and I came up trumps. It was an experience on oh so many levels and I'm still livid. Please make yourselves comfortable and I'll tell you the tale... First, a little background on this monastery snuggled on a remote island in the middle of a lake. Founded in the early XIVc by Mircea cel Batran and refounded by Vladislav II and Vlad... [Lire la suite]

On the top of a hill overlooking the Sinoe Lake near the mouths of the Danube on the western coast of the Black Sea, the ancient city of Histria - Istria in Greek - stands proud and nostalgic but distressfully neglected. If you know your history and/or have an active imagination however, the atmosphere of Histria cannot fail to evoke visions of an ancient era. Who walked on the stones upon which you walk? Who stood in that doorway? Who sat sewing at that window? I felt myself transported to a time of leather sandals and white togas,... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) sorin oprescu, Bucharest's grotesquely corrupt and incompetent mayor, ploughs on in his frenzied, hell-bent determination to destroy the city's patrimony where Ceausescu left off. Those who care and grieve these losses at his hands are a tragic, shameful minority seen as nutty eccentrics standing against progress and modernity. Doubtless, if there were to be an election tomorrow, oprescu and all those others intent on eradicating the Bucharest we know and love would win again. And again. And again and again and again.... [Lire la suite]

(Photo source) Oprescu's 'pasaj rutier' destined for Piata Presei Libere has been deemed useless by the OAB in an open letter, and rightly so. It does not take the traffic coming from the Bucharest-Ploiesti motorway into any consideration whatsoever, and, apart from that rather erroneous oversight, it will destroy the beautiful zone of Kiseleff itself - one of the very few left in the capital today. It is nothing more than another example of megalomanic emperor oprescu's hell-bent determination to mutilate and slaughter what remains... [Lire la suite]