Transylvania – Transylvanity Fair

Carpe Diem et Respice Finem

What is your favorite quote?

| Carpe Diem et Respice Finem | Viscri (Brașov, România) |
© Mihai Kaizer

| Words written on a gate of a house built in Viscri (Brașov, Transylvania, România) by Michael Fernolend in 1840 and renovated in 2014 by Dietmar Gross, as an incription on the facade says. The words represent two different sayings taken from different (con)texts: the well-known „Carpe Diem” taken from the Roman poet Horace’s work „Odes” I, 11, 8 (23 BC): „Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero” (~ „Seize the day and trust, as little as you may, in tomorrow”) and „Respice finem” that apparently appears in the 103th chapter of „Gesta Romanorum” [a collection of anecdotes and tales, compiled in Latin, probably by a priest – at the end of
13th century, beginning of 14th century, first two editions published around 1440 and the third edition, probably based directly on Harleian manuscript 5369 (British Museum), was published by Wynkyn de Worde in 1524. The collection became so popular throughout Western Europe that copies were multiplied, often with local additions, so that now it isn’t possible to determine whether it was originally written in England, Germany, or France.]: „Quidquid agas, prudenter agas, et respice finem” [~ „Whatever you do, do cautiously, and look to the end ((/consider that everything has an end or/and consider the end result of your action))”].||

|| Cuvinte scrise pe poarta unei case construite în Viscri (Brașov, Transilvania, România) de Michael Fernolend în 1840 și renovată în 2014 de Dietmar Gross, așa cum spune o inscripție de pe fațadă. Cuvintele reprezintă două expresii luate din două (con)texte diferite: bine-
cunoscutul ”Carpe Diem” ce apare în opera poetului roman Horațiu ”Ode” I, 11, 8 (23 Î.Hr): „Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero” [~ „Trăiește clipa și încrede-te cât se poate de puțin în ziua de mâine”] și ”Respice Finem” ce apare în capitolul 103 din ”Gesta Romanorum” [o culegere de anecdote și povestiri, scrise în limba latină, cel mai probabil de către un preot către sfârșitul secolului al XIII-lea, începutul secolului al XIV-lea, primele două ediții apărând în jurul anului 1440 și cea de-a treia, bazată cel mai probabil pe manuscrisul Harleian 5369 (aflat în Colecția British Museum), fiind publicată de Wynkyn de Worde in 1524. Colecția a devenit atât de populară în Europa Occidentală încât s-au răspândit multe copii, adesea cu adăugiri locale, încât acum este imposibil de determinat dacă aceasta a fost scrisă prima dată în Anglia, Germania sau Franța]: ”Quidquid agas, prudenter agas, et respice finem” [~ ”Orice ai face, trebuie să faci acest lucru cu precauție, privind către sfârșit (/considerând că totul are un sfârșit sau/și luând în considerare consecințele acțiunilor tale)”].|

The nice red acoustic guitar

What is the best purchase you have ever made?

The best purchase I’ve ever made is the red acoustic guitar made of maple wood by the “Hora” factory in the city of Reghin, Transylvania. Unlike smartphones and other electronics, a wooden guitar is an instrument that never ages—except in step with you—as long as you keep playing it. The Hora Musician guitar has been my companion in moments of solitude, has traveled with me on vacations, has opened many doors for me, and has brought me many friends—including my wife, whom I made fall in love with me by playing the guitar. As long as cash exists, the guitar will be able to earn me train tickets, meals at restaurants, and spending money. But most importantly, the guitar has helped me get to know myself on the inside—to know what I like and don’t like to play, to explore my vocal and instrumental abilities, and to pour my heart into the message I convey: because anyone who doesn’t sing with passion isn’t really singing at all—they’re just going through the motions. I once saw a movie about a haunted guitar that carried the spirit of its former owner; although it seemed scary at the time, I’m convinced that a guitarist’s relationship with his first guitar can create such a fusion that the same spirit inhabiting the human body also dwells within the wooden body of the instrument. Don’t you agree? I invite you to challenge my view in the comments section.

Cea mai bună achiziție pe care am făcut-o vreodată este chitara acustică roșie făcută din lemn de paltin de fabrica „Hora” din orașul Reghin din Transilvania. Spre deosebire de smartfoane și alte electronice, chitara de lemn este un instrument ce nu îmbătrânește niciodată, decât în ritm cu tine, atâta vreme cât o folosești. Chitara Hora Musician mi-a fost tovarășă în clipe de singurătate, m-a însoțit la drum în vacanțe, mi-a deschis multe uși și mi-a adus mulți prieteni – inclusiv pe soția mea, pe care am făcut-o să se îndrăgostească de mine cântând la chitară. Atâta timp cât banii cash vor exista, chitara va putea câștiga bilete de tren, mese la restaurant și bani de buzunar. Dar, cel mai important lucru, chitara m-a făcut să mă cunosc pe mine însumi pe dinăuntru, să știu ce îmi place și ce nu-mi place să cânt, să îmi explorez calitățile vocale și instrumentale și să pun suflet în mesajul pe care îl transmit: pentru că cine nu cântă cu patimă de fapt nu cântă, ci doar mimează. Am văzut cândva într-un film o poveste despre o chitară bântuită, care căra după sine spiritul fostului ei stăpân; cu toate că mi s-a părut pe moment ceva înfricoșător, sunt convins că relația unui chitarist cu prima sa chitară poate crea o astfel de contopire încât același spirit din trupul omenesc să locuiască și în trupul de lemn. Nu credeți? Vă invit să mă contraziceți în secțiunea de comentarii.

Borsec after the narrow-gauge railway was dismantled

What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why?

I don’t want to visit Borsec in Harghita county, Transylvania, Romania because of the dismantling of the narrow-gauge railway in 1992.

Between 1912 and 1914, the former Austro-Hungarian authorities built a forest railway between Toplița (lower) and Capu-Corbului (upper).

This line was extended in 1954 to the Borsec coal mine, and a branch line to the mineral water bottling plant was also constructed at that time. A buffer depot was built at the Toplița railway station for industrial goods transported from Borsec.

The 760 mm gauge railway line was 45.5 km long and was completed in 1951, when the Borsec viaduct was also built.

On May 16, 1989, the transshipment terminal at the Toplița station was inaugurated. The line had five locomotives (three diesel and two steam) until 1992, when rail transport ceased.

One of the rare colour video footage of a steam-locomotive driven train can be watched here.

Radu Stanca, the poet who believed he were the most beautiful man in town

Radu Stanca: Poet, playwright, director

In Sibiu, on 31 May 1947, the collective of the Sibiu Theatre staged the play “Păcat de tine, Tony” by Puiu Maximilian, starring young Radu Stanca as Dorel Slăvescu. It was then that the man who has become the patron of the Sibiu Theatre joined the local theatre group.

Radu Stanca (1920-1962), acclaimed playwright, poet, essayist, director, and actor, graduated from the “King Ferdinand” School of Letters and Philosophy in Cluj, with a BA thesis on The Problem of Reading. Starting 1943, he was an assistant professor at the Philosophy Department headed by Lucian Blaga. He was a member of the Sibiu Literary Circle and editor of the magazine Curțile dorului. He won the Sburătorul Prize for his play “Dona Juana” and collaborated with numerous publications of the time, including Tribuna, Contemporanul, Viața românească.

On 13 February 1949, Sibiu saw the premiere of “Căsuța din câmpie” by Samuil Marshak, the first play directed by Radu Stanca alongside technical director Boby Tiberiu, scenographer Olga Muțiu, and actors Angela Păcuraru, Mircea Axente, Virginia Stoicescu, Sabina Mușatescu, Constantin Th. Stănescu, Mircea Hîndoreanu, Septimiu Sever, Nora Vasilescu, Anișoara Dornescu, Eugenia Dimitriu, Nicolae Albani, Vasile Bojescu. Radu Stanca’s works, whether his texts or his stagings, revolutionized theatre; an example to this end is his “A Lost Letter” directed in Sibiu as the first performance in black and white.

He worked as a director of the Sibiu Theatre until 1961, when he left for Cluj-Napoca, where he became the first director of the National Theatre.

Throughout his activity in Sibiu, Radu Stanca was an iconic director who staged numerous productions appreciated by the audience, developed and brought to life a well-oiled theatre group, thus becoming a trailblazer for the exceptional evolution in time of the Sibiu Theatre that now bears his name.

The street with 4 churches

Mitropoliei Street in Sibiu / Hermannstadt is a peculiar street which hosts four churches: The „Holy Trinity” Orthodox Cathedral, The Reformed Church, The „Holy Trinity” Roman-Catholic Church (situated between Piata Mare and Piata Mica – Big Square and Small Square) and Saint Mary Lutheran Cathedral (situated in the Huet Square). Although the last two churches have different addresses, they are united by the same line of the Mitropoliei Street.

Piata Mica (Small Square) and Piata Huet (Huet Square) are linked by the shortcut of a passageway. In the photo below you can admire the Lutheran Cathedral seen from that passageway:

But let’s go back to the Mitropoliei Street, the headquarter of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Seat of Transylvania. Its cathedral church was built in 1906 and was intended to be a smaller copy of the Byzantine Imperial Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople. And this, in compensation of the fact that, in order to build the nowadays cathedral, the Romanian Orthodox community had to demolish an older smaller Greek Orthodox church. In return, the two Orthodox communites got a copy of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral from Istanbul, the eternal nostalgia of the Greeks…

Once upon a travel

Let’s start this blog with an invitation to a journey in Transylvania, the heart of Romania. You have to take your time, because in this region the lack of speed is characteristic for all things, from people who peacefully ride their bikes to trains who take 3 – 4 hours in order to arrive from one big city to another. Meanwhile, you have plenty of time to admire the landscape, which is composed mainly of hills and mountains, covered by ancient woods. Because ‘Transylvania’ in latin means ‘the country beyond the woods’ (forests). It’s still winter time this part of the year, so feel free to enjoy the snow and gaze at the white colour of the Carpathian Mountains, while drinking some hot ‘palinka’ in order to warm up your soul!