Romania celebrated National Culture Day

Cultural events were organized, in Romania and abroad, on the occasion of the Romanian Culture Day.

Leyla Cheamil, 16.01.2024, 14:00

January 15 is National Culture Day in Romania, the day on which, in 2024, 174 years since the birth of poet Mihai Eminescu were marked. Eminescu has posthumously been seen, by literary critics, as the most important poetic voice in Romanian literature. In 2010, the Bucharest Chamber of Deputies passed a bill by which the birth day of Mihai Eminescu, a poet, prose writer, playwright and journalist, became the Romanian Culture Day. In the country, numerous of museums, libraries, concert and performance halls, cultural centres and institutes marked this special day. The Romanian Academy, in collaboration with the Moldovan Science Academy staged, in a hybrid format, a joint festive session. The event took place simultaneously at the Romanian Academy and at the Moldovan Science Academy.

The National Culture Day stands under the sign of Mihai Eminescu, a visionary, who wrote in the spirit of his people, but who also knew the harmony of the peoples of the world, the president of the Romanian Academy, Ioan-Aurel Pop, said. He did not write for a specific place and time. His works are universal and timeless. That’s why, the birth of this brilliant child who wandered freely on the hills of Ipotesti, is the lucky day of the this peoples destiny, wisely proclaimed as National Culture Day in the two Romanian states and in the souls of Romanians everywhere, Ioan-Aurel Pop also said.

The president of the Moldovan Science Academy, Ion Tighineanu, also emphasised the importance of this day in preserving and promoting national identity. He called for continuing the joint efforts to create as many bridges of collaboration as possible, to bring the two banks of the Prut river closer, until the border imposed by the geopolitical interests of some dictatorial regimes disappears.

In Bucharest, the National History Museum opened a theme exhibition entitled Monuments of ancient culture and the Romanian literary language from the institution’s collection, while the Museum of Maps venued the conference Historical myopia. How we explain history through contemporary art.

The Bucharest National Opera celebrated National Culture Day with the premiere of Oedipus by George Enescu, under the baton of Tiberiu Soare, while the National Theatre in Bucharest staged performances readings. This special day was also marked in the village of Ipotești, Botosani county, where poet Mihai Eminescu grew up. Writers, people of culture, students and professors paid tribute to this unique poet. National Culture Day was also celebrated abroad, through the Romanian Cultural Institute, which hosted, on this occasion, numerous events, inviting the public to concerts, exhibitions, theatre and ballet performances and poetry recitals. (EE)