, 286,598 inhabitants live in the city (making it the country's second most populous at the time, after the national capital Bucharest). The Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area had a population of 411,379 people, while the population of the peri-urban area (Romanian: zona periurbană) is approximately 420,000. The new metropolitan government of Cluj-Napoca became operational in December 2008. According to a 2007 estimate provided by the County Population Register Service, the city hosts a visible population of students and other non-residents, an average of over 20,000 people each year during 2004–2007. The city spreads out from St. Michael's Church in Unirii Square, built in the 14th century and named after the Archangel Michael, Cluj's patron saint. The municipality covers an area of 179.52 square kilometres (69.31 sq mi). (Full article...)
"Pe-o margine de lume" represented Romania in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională; their win caused several controversies. The song was also suspected of plagiarising "La magia del corazón" (2002) by David Bustamante, prompting the set up of a commission to analyze both tracks. In Belgrade, Romania qualified to the final and finished in 20th place with 45 points, one of the country's lowest placements in the contest. "Pe-o margine de lume" was promoted by endeavours in Belgium, Spain, Cyprus, Moldova and Ukraine, and by the release of an accompanying music video, shot by Petre Năstase, portraying Nico and Vlad at a beach and in an abandoned stone pit. The track won awards at the 2008 Marcel Bezençon and at the 2009 Radio România Actualități Awards. (Full article...)
Tristan Tzara (French:[tʁistɑ̃dzaʁa]; Romanian:[trisˈtanˈt͡sara]; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; 28 April [O.S. 16 April] 1896 – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, composer and film director, he was known best for being one of the founders and central figures of the anti-establishmentDada movement. Under the influence of Adrian Maniu, the adolescent Tzara became interested in Symbolism and co-founded the magazine Simbolul with Ion Vinea (with whom he also wrote experimental poetry) and painter Marcel Janco.
During World War I, after briefly collaborating on Vinea's Chemarea, he joined Janco in Switzerland. There, Tzara's shows at the Cabaret Voltaire and Zunfthaus zur Waag, as well as his poetry and art manifestos, became a main feature of early Dadaism. His work represented Dada's nihilistic side, in contrast with the more moderate approach favored by Hugo Ball. (Full article...)
Burebista (Ancient Greek: Βυρεβίστας, Βοιρεβίστας) was the king of the Getae and Dacian tribes from 82/61BC to 45/44BC. He was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian kingdom, which comprised the area located between the Danube, Tisza, and Dniester rivers, and modern day Romania and Moldova. In the 7th and 6thcenturies BC it became home to the Thracian peoples, including the Getae and the Dacians. From the 4thcentury to the middle of the 2ndcentury BC the Dacian peoples were influenced by La Tène Celts who brought new technologies with them into Dacia. Sometime in the 2ndcentury BC, the Dacians expelled the Celts from their lands. Dacians often warred with neighbouring tribes, but the relative isolation of the Dacian peoples in the Carpathian Mountains allowed them to survive and even to thrive. By the 1stcentury BC the Dacians had become the dominant power.
From 61 BC onwards Burebista pursued a series of conquests that expanded the Dacian kingdom. The tribes of the Boii and Taurisci were destroyed early in his campaigns, followed by the conquest of the Bastarnae and probably the Scordisci peoples. He led raids throughout Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyria. From 55BC the Greek cities on the west coast of the Black Sea were conquered one after another. These campaigns inevitably culminated in conflict with Rome in 48BC, at which point Burebista gave his support to Pompey. This in turn made him an enemy to Caesar, who decided to start a campaign against Dacia. This plan fell through in 44BC when Caesar was assassinated. Burebista himself was assassinated in a plot by the Dacian aristocracy at around the same time. (Full article...)
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The Middle Ages in Romania began shortly after the withdrawal of the Roman legions from the former Romanprovince of Dacia in the late 3rd century and with the start of the Early Middle Ages and the Migration Period that followed afterwards respectively. It subsequently came to an end with the reign of DomnMichael the Brave (1593–1601) who managed, for a short time between 1599 and 1600, to rule Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania together, the three principalities whose territories were to be united some three centuries later to form modern and contemporary Romania.
Over most of this period, Banat, Crișana, Maramureș, and Transylvania – now regions in Romania to the west of the Carpathian Mountains – were part of the Kingdom of Hungary. They were divided into several types of administrative units, such as "counties" and "seats". The heads of the Transylvanian counties or "counts" were subordinated to a special royal official called voivode, but the province was seldom treated as a single unit, since the Székely and Saxon seats were administered separately. In the kingdom, Romanian peasants, being Orthodox, were exempt from the tithe, an ecclesiastical tax payable by all Roman Catholic commoners. However, Romanian noblemen slowly lost the ability to participate in political life, as the 14th-century monarchs pursued a zealous pro-Catholic policy. Their position became even worse after 1437 when the so-called "Union of Three Nations", an alliance of the Hungarian noblemen, the Székelys, and the Saxons, was formed in order to crush the Bobâlna peasant uprising. (Full article...)
The Battle With Torches by Romanian painter Theodor Aman (1866)
The night attack at Târgoviște (Romanian: Atacul de noapte de la Târgoviște) was a battle fought between forces of Prince Vlad III of Wallachia, and Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on Thursday, 17 June 1462. The battle started after Mehmed II, who already had tense relations with Vlad, discovered his alliance with Hungary's king Matthias Corvinus and ordered his forces to ambush him. Vlad foiled the attack and invaded Bulgaria. In response, Mehmed raised a great army with the objective to conquer Wallachia. The two leaders fought a series of skirmishes, the most notable one being the conflict where Vlad attacked the Turkish camp in the night in an attempt to kill Mehmed. The assassination attempt failed and Mehmed marched to the Wallachian capital of Târgoviște, where he found a few men with cannons. After leaving the capital, Mehmed discovered 23,844 impaled Turks whom Vlad had killed during his invasion of Bulgaria. The number is mentioned by Vlad himself in a letter to Matthias Corvinus. The sultan and his troops then sailed to Brăila and burned it to the ground before retreating to Adrianople. Mehmed's forces returned home with many captured slaves, horses, and cattle. (Full article...)
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Glad (Bulgarian: Глад, Hungarian: Galád, Romanian: Glad, Serbian: Глад) was the ruler of Banat (in present-day Romania and Serbia) at the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 900 AD, according to the Gesta Hungarorum. The Gesta, which was written by an author known in modern scholarship as Anonymus in the second half of the 12th century or in the early 13th century, is the earliest extant Hungarian chronicle. The Gesta did not refer to the enemies of the conquering Hungarians (or Magyars), who had been mentioned in earlier annals and chronicles, but wrote of a dozen persons, including Glad, who are unknown from other primary sources of the Hungarian Conquest. Therefore, modern historians debate whether Glad was an actual enemy of the conquerors or only a "fictitious person" made up by Anonymus. In Romanian historiography, based on the mention by Anonymus some 300 years later, Glad is described as one of the three Romanian dukes who ruled a historical region of present-day Romania in the early 10th century.
According to the Gesta, Glad came from Vidin in Bulgaria. He occupied Banat with the assistance of "Cumans" before the arrival of the Magyars. Anonymus wrote that Cumans, Bulgarians, and Vlachs (or Romanians), supported Glad against the invading Magyars, but the latter annihilated their united army in a battle near the Timiș River. The Gesta presents Ahtum, who ruled Banat in the early 11th century, according to the longer version of the Life of St Gerard, as Glad's descendant. (Full article...)
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"Ra" (stylized in all caps) is a song recorded by Romanian singer Inna, digitally released on 27 September 2018 as the lead single from her sixth studio album, Yo (2019), by Global Records. It was entirely written in Spanish by Cristina Maria Chiluiza and Inna, while Sebastian Barac, Marcel Botezan and David Ciente handled the production. A ballad, the song lyrically features a female empowerment message about leaving a toxic relationship and gaining confidence. Its sound differs significantly and acts as a departure from Inna's previous, club-oriented releases.
"Ra" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics upon its release, with a number of them pointing out its catchiness. For promotion, an accompanying, minimalistic music video was uploaded onto the singer's YouTube channel simultaneously with the digital release of the song. Filmed by Bogdan Păun, it portrays Inna and five other women posing together or individually in front of a planter wall. Inna further supported the song with live performances at the 2018 Telehit Awards and on television program Hoy in Mexico in November 2018. It peaked at number 71 on Romania's Airplay 100 ranking. (Full article...)
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"Change" is a song recorded by Romanian group Hotel FM, released as a CD single in 2011 by Romanian Television (TVR). It was written by Alexandra Ivan and Gabriel Băruţă, while production was solely handled by the latter. An uptempopop ballad containing drums, piano and violins in its instrumentation, the lyrics talk about making a positive change in the world and one's life. A reviewer compared "Change" to the music of English group Take That and singer Sean Maguire.
The track represented Romania in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, Germany after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. Hotel FM eventually came 17th in the contest's Grand Final, gathering a total of 77 points. During their performance, the group was joined by two female background dancers, while the LED screen showed pulsating circles and ovals. Music critics gave mixed reviews of "Change", praising its instrumentation, but criticising the song as "unspectacular" and "cheesy". The track was promoted by endeavours in several European countries, as well as by the release of an accompanying music video produced by TVR and Schneider Production. Uploaded onto YouTube on 18 March 2011, the visual features shots of various Romanian tourist attractions. (Full article...)
"Yodel It!" is a song recorded by Romanian singers Ilinca and Alex Florea, released on 30 January 2017 by Cat Music. The track was written by Alexandra Niculae and produced by Mihai Alexandru for the Swiss band Timebelle who rejected it. It was then given to Ilinca to record. Florea was chosen as a featured artist as both Alexandru and Ilinca felt her version was incomplete. "Yodel It!" is a mixture of rock, pop and hip hop music, including Ilinca yodeling during the chorus and Florea's rap vocals. The track's optimistic lyrical message was compared to that of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" (2014).
"Yodel It!" represented Romania in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. The country reached seventh place in a field of 26, scoring a total of 282 points. During their show, Ilinca and Florea were accompanied by a variety of colorful imagery displayed in the background. The song received mixed reviews from music critics. While it was praised for its catchiness and appeal, the yodeling sequences were criticized as being atypical of Romanian culture. Some parts of the recording were also likened to the band The Script and will.i.am's song "Hall of Fame" (2012). "Yodel It!" won in the Song of the Year category at the 2017 Radar de Media Awards in Romania. (Full article...)
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"Tell Me Why" is a song recorded by Romanian singers Monica Anghel and Marcel Pavel. It was recorded at the Midi Sound Studio in Bucharest, and was released as a CD single in 2002 by Transglobal EMI. A ballad, "Tell Me Why" was written by Mirela Fugaru and produced by Ionel Tudor, containing a saxophone, guitar and keyboards in its instrumentation. The track represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia after winning the pre-selection show Selecția Națională. In Tallinn, the artists finished in ninth place with 71 points. This remained Romania's best result until 2005 and qualified the country for the contest's next edition. (Full article...)
Hot is the debut studio album by Romanian singer Inna, released on 4 August 2009 by Magic Records. Inna collaborated on the record with Romanian trio Play & Win, who entirely wrote, produced and arranged Hot at their Play & Win Studios in Constanța, Romania. It was described as an electronic dance music (EDM) album, with influences varying from trance, electro house and techno to Hi-NRG, synth-pop and chillout. Lyrically, Hot deals with love themes. Music critics gave the album positive to mixed reviews, praising the danceable style but criticizing its lack of innovation. At the 2010 Romanian Music Awards, Hot won in the Best Album category, while also receiving an award at the 2011 Radio România Actualităţi Awards in the Pop/Dance Album of the Year section.
As of December 2011, the record has sold 500,000 copies worldwide, with revenue amounting to €8 million from sales and accompanying concert tours. Commercially, it experienced success in Europe, peaking within the top 20 in multiple countries. Hot was also awarded Gold and Platinum certifications in Romania and France, respectively. It was aided by the release of five singles, "Hot" (2008), "Love" (2009), "Déjà Vu" (2009), "Amazing" (2009) and "10 Minutes" (2010), which achieved success on record charts. "Hot" and "Amazing" were both number ones in Romania. Inna performed over 200 concerts to promote the album. (Full article...)
Volcanic activity at Ciomadul commenced with effusive activity about one million years ago. Most of the volcano was constructed between 650,000 – 500,000 years ago. (Full article...)
Tchinarova in the ballet Les Presages, Sydney, between 6 Dec. 1936 & Jan. 1939
Tamara Tchinarova (tr. Chinarova, Russian: Тамара Чинарова), also known as Tamara Finch, (18 July 1919 – 31 August 2017) was a Romanian-born émigré Russian and French ballerina who contributed significantly to the development of Australian dance companies and was a Russian/English interpreter for touring ballet companies. She was a dance writer and author, as Tamara Finch, of a number of non-fiction books. She was the first wife of actor Peter Finch. (Full article...)
Bran Castle is situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Brașov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania, and is commonly known outside Romania as Dracula's Castle.
Image 34Romania after the territorial losses of 1940. The recovery of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was the catalyst for Romania's entry into the war on Germany's side. (from History of Romania)
Image 35Ethnic map of Greater Romania according to the 1930 census. Sizeable ethnic minorities put Romania at odds with Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union throughout the interwar period. (from History of Romania)
Image 44The Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1786, Italian map by G. Pittori, since the geographer Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni (from History of Romania)
Image 45Territories inhabited by Romanians before WWI (from History of Romania)
Image 46Lieutenant Emil Rebreanu was awarded the Medal for Bravery in gold, the highest military award given by the Austrian command to an ethnic Romanian; he would later be hanged for desertion while trying to escape to Romania. (from History of Romania)
Image 521941 stamp depicting a Romanian and a German soldier in reference to the two countries' common participation in Operation Barbarossa. The text below reads the holy war against Bolshevism. (from History of Romania)
Image 53A 19th century depiction of Dacian women (from History of Romania)
Image 54Baked pumpkin with powdered sugar and cinnamon (from Culture of Romania)
Image 75Romania has seen its largest waves of protests against judicial reform ordinances of the PSD-ALDE coalition during the 2017–2019 Romanian protests. (from History of Romania)
Image 81Bran Castle (German: Törzburg, Hungarian: Törcsvár) built in 1212, is commonly known as Dracula's Castle and is situated in the centre of present-day Romania. In addition to its unique architecture, the castle is famous because of persistent myths that it was once the home of Vlad III Dracula. (from History of Romania)
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