Nature has been viewed, in the past
\ntwo and a half centuries, as the cradle of humankind, of the individual human
\nbeing, of their families and of the nation. Nature has become a cult of the modern
\nman; therefore, plants, animals, air, water or stones have also become an
\nobject of study for naturalists. In
\nRomania, priest Alexandru Borza was one of the most important botanists. He was
\nborn in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1887 and died in Romania in 1971, at the
\nage of 84. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Borza’s educational background was a little bit unusual
\nfor a scientist. Borza graduated from a Catholic theological seminary, then he
\npursued a university program
\nwith the Faculty of Sciences in Budapest. At the age of 26, Borza earned his
\ndoctoral degree in natural sciences, in 1913. Until 1918, when the Romanian-inhabited
\nterritories that had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were included in then
\nthe Kingdom of Romania, Borza was a teacher of natural sciences with the boys’ high-school in Blaj. After 1918, Borza’s career became increasingly
\neffervescent. Among other things, Borza was a rector of the University of Cluj,
\na director of the Cluj Botanical gardens and a scientific director of the Nature
\nMonuments Commission. Alexandru Borza discovered more than 80 species of plants,
\nwhile other 20 were named in his honor. Alexandru Borza published around
\n500 texts and an ethnobotanic dictionary of Romania, with 11 common names for 2,
\n095 species of plants and also supervised the issuing of nine scientific periodicals.
\nAlexandru Borza was involved in strong awareness-raising campaigns regarding
\nthe importance of nature in people’s lives through the articles he contributed
\nto the printed press, through pamphlets, public or radio-broadcast conferences.
\nBorza also made a leap forward, from the research of nature to the anthropological-folkloric
\nand eugenic research. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The fact that the Romanian
\nspecialists participated in the Fourth Botany Congress in New York, in 1926,
\ngave them an impetus in their involvement in the defense of the environment. Here
\nis the historian Cosmin Koszor-Codrea explaining how the American model also
\ninspired the Romanians in their subsequent undertakings:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 1926, the 4th International Botanical Congress
\nwas held in New York, which gathered botanists from around the world. Borza was
\nalso present and delivered a paper on insular flowers in the ecology section. Beside
\nthe daily presentation sessions, the daily agenda included visits to the botanical
\ngarden, excursions to the natural division of the Yellowstone natural park,
\nNiagara Falls and Rocky Mountains. After he returned to Romania he planned,
\ntogether with the zoologist Popovici-Dimbosanu the first Romanian National
\nCongress of Naturists, to be held in Cluj, in 1928. Here they gathered, on the
\nsame agenda, secondary school teachers, representatives of Hungarian, Romanian,
\nand German alpine associations, officials and living scientists of the period.
\nAmongst their aims there were many resolutions, the participants pushed forward
\non the political agenda the reorganization of the natural history teaching
\nprogram in secondary schools, the recognition of the fact that the Danube Delta
\nis an ecological region, a region rich in bird species, and that the Retezat
\nMountains should become a national park.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The following steps were the logical consequences of
\nthe assumed objectives. With details on that, here is Cosmin Koszor-Codrea once again:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Agriculture and Domains, based on
\ntheir proposals, enacted in 1930 the Law of the protection of natural monuments.
\nThe following year, the Royal Decree officially recognized the existence of the
\nCommission of Natural Monuments. In doing so, the law written by the commission
\ndefined the following, QUOTE, the monuments of nature are those lands which,
\ndue to the inhabitancy of animals and plants, have a special scientific and aesthetical
\nimportance, as well as those which, through their natural beauty, scientific
\ninterest, are meaning to be conserved and passed over to posterity. Within the
\nprotection law fall also animals and plant species, as well as rocks, minerals
\nand fossils, UNQUOTE. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The history of the Retezat Nature Park,
\nfounded in 1935, is proudly linked to the name of Alexandru Borza. There the preservation
\nof nature was taken to its highest, thanks to the involvement of the state and
\nthe regulations that were put in place. In 1939, in The Carpathians magazine,
\nBorza published a list of 17 protected plant species. Among them, the
\nrhododendron, the Edelweiss and the white Egyptian lotus. Cosmin Koszor-Codrea told
\nus the ecologists focused on the Retezat
\nMassif the right from the
\nstart.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The first region that matched this definition was the Retezat
\nMountains, due to its unique geological formation, its fauna and flora, as well
\nas the answer it gave to the Romanian national identity. In the words of Borza,
\nQUOTE, The Retezat is, from all points of view, a holy land for science, is a sacred
\nmonument of nature that has no comparison to other massifs in Romania. That is
\nwhy all our naturalists are considering it predestined by nature to become our
\nnatural park, the Yellowstone of Romania. Here the young will carry the patriotic
\neducation, they will feel in these mountains the air of freedom, that as
\ninherited by the Dacian king Decebalus, while it will feed their hearts with
\npride by knowing this piece of land as something unique, in its own way, as a
\nsymbol of our natural health, UNQUOTE. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alexandru Borza was one of the most
\nprominent names of environment protection in inter-war Romania. Borza was also
\none of the scientists who supported the necessity of Romanians’ being taught
\nbasic natural history notions as part of the Romanian nation’s specific characteristics.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A remarkable scientific approach to Romania’s rich nature<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45517,42949,45749,43784,35011,43850],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-170249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-names","tag-nature","tag-plants","tag-preservation","tag-science","tag-species"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n