The daily press
\nhas an almost 200-year long history in Romania, with the first newspapers
\nappearing at the end of the 1820s. However, the earliest Romanian publication
\nis considered Courier de la Moldavie,
\nwhich first appeared in Ia\u0219i in 1790, was published in French, and contained
\ndomestic news from Moldavia, as well as foreign news. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We find this
\nfrom an exhibition hosted by the Romanian Academy Library called The Romanian
\npress between tradition and modernity and which looks back at the beginning of
\nthe press in these parts. The Romanian Academy Library has in fact the biggest
\ncollection of newspapers and periodicals published on Romanian territory or from
\nabroad. Out of a total of 14 million items evaluated at 3 billion euros that
\nare currently in the Library’s possession, more than a half, namely around 8.5
\nmillion, are newspapers and periodicals.
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The curator of
\nthe exhibition Daniela Stanciu told the opening of the exhibition that the
\npress is one of the best ways to find out what the people who lived before us
\nexperienced:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
When we speak
\nof the press in general, we don’t speak only of newspapers and magazines, but
\nalso of other publications appearing regularly, including annuals, specialist
\njournals from various fields and even conference papers. So, the journalistic
\nheritage of a nation is in fact its most extensive history: a history that was
\nbeing written at the very moment the events were taking place. The reporters’
\naccounts reflect the events as they took place, providing first-hand
\ninformation to the public. The witness accounts of important events in the
\nhistory of the world are also important because they provide aspects that may
\nescape the historians’ retrospective and analytical gaze. Moreover, the news
\nreports capture the ineffable thrill of the daily lives of the people living in
\nthose days, with their mentalities, habits, beliefs and values. When we reread
\nthem decades or even centuries later, they provide a quite clear image of what
\nthe French call l’air du temps, the spirit of the times.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The emergence and development of the press is
\nconnected to the development of technology. The printing press played a
\ndecisive role in the dissemination of information. Daniela Stanciu explains:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The development of the printing press led to
\nthe development of the press and the fast spread of information through
\nnewspapers. Before that, leaflets were the only means of informing the
\npopulation. Apart from newspapers and magazines published in the Romanian lands
\nin the 19th century, the exhibition also features a number of
\nleaflets. One announces the publication of Curierul Bucure\u0219tilor, later
\nto become Curierul rom\u00e2nesc, and the leaflet with the Proclamation of
\nIzlaz, the manifesto of the 1848 movement which is considered the first modern
\nconstitution. The proclamation was read by Ioan
\nHeliade R\u0103dulescu on 9th June 1848 in Izlaz, a small port
\ntown on the Danube that was not under Turkish control, which is why it was
\nchosen. The exhibition also features a leaflet about the establishment of the
\nprinting house of the Metropolitan Church in 1859 and a leaflet containing the
\nspeech given by Alexandru Ioan Cuza before the Elective Assembly in 1860, and
\nanother in which King Carol I urges Romanians to cross the Danube.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
What else can we
\nsee in this exhibition? Curator Daniela Stanciu tells us more:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The newspapers
\non display are part of the so-called S\u0103rindar press, like Adev\u0103rul and Diminea\u021ba,
\nwhich are well-known. The 1836 issue of the magazine Muzeul Na\u021bional. Gazet\u0103
\nliterar\u0103 \u0219i industrial\u0103 is the first to include a section about the
\nweather, on the last page. This paper also published the letters between Constantin Negruzzi and Heliade R\u0103dulescu
\nunder the heading ‘Correspondence between two Romanians’, one from Wallachia
\nand the other from Moldavia. Also on
\nshow is a copy of the magazine Claponul. Foi\u021b\u0103 hazlie \u0219i popular\u0103, which
\nwas written entirely by Ion Luca Caragiale and of which only six copies appeared
\nin 1877, but which contains sections such as ‘Doughnuts’ and ‘The final hot
\ndoughnuts’, which provide commentary on current political events in typical
\nhumorous Caragiale fashion. We also have the newspaper Adev\u0103rul, which
\nfirst appeared in 1871 in Ia\u0219i and was moved to Bucharest in 1872. Very few
\npeople in Romania know it, but this is the first paper to publish caricature;
\nthe first to publish telegrams from abroad and the first Romanian paper to have
\nits own building, its own library, publishing house and archive. As shown by
\nrecords, it was also the first paper whose employees benefited from secure, and
\nalso quite big, wages.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New exhibition looks at the 200-year long history of the press in Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":131640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n