[Hip Priest]

THE SEVEN WONDERS OF ROMANIA (18.09.07)

Following a campaign run by the daily Evenimentul Zilei, some 60 thousand Romanians have designated what the press called “the seven wonders of Romania”. The campaign involved the participation of local communities, interested in ‘putting their wonders on the map of Romania’. In random order, these wonders are: The Brancusi Ensemble in Targu Jiu, the Corvin Castle, the Alba Iulia fortified town, the Dacian fortresses in the Orastie Mountains, the cultural centre of Iasi, the painted monasteries in northern Moldavia, and the historical centre of Sibiu.

The ensemble in Tg. Jiu was built by great Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, in memory of the WWI heroes. It includes the Gate of the Kiss, the Alley of Stools, the Table of Silence and the Endless Column, the central piece of Brancusi’s creation, symbol of the ups and downs of life, and of the souls’ ascension to the sky. The Corvin Castle in Hunedoara, western Romania, is the largest medieval building in the country, which saw its development peak in the 15th century. Last year, the castle was visited by 160 thousand tourists. The fortified town of Alba Iulia, in the historical province of Transylvania, was built between 1714 and 1738 in the shape of a star.

The complex of Dacian fortresses in the Orastie Mountains, in central Romania, has joined the UNESCO heritage list as ‘symbol of European history’. In the centre, there lies Sarmisegetusa, the capital of Dacia, a kingdom conquered by the Romans in 106 and turned into a province of the Empire. The town of Iasi, in north-eastern Romania, boasts the Culture Palace, the Metropolitan Bishopric, the Trei Ierarhi Church, erected between 1637-1639, and the University Building, the first in Romania, inaugurated in 1860.

The monasteries in Northern Moldavia, also part of the UNESCO heritage, are famous for their mural paintings, whose colours have remained as clear as they were 400 years ago. Among them is the Voronet blue, whose fabrication secret has not been revealed yet and the Sucevita green. The 7th wonder, the historical centre of Sibiu, a genuine medieval gem, built by the Saxon settlers starting with the 13th century, was designated, together with Luxembourg, European capital of culture in 2007.