Uivar, a Neolithic akropolis

Uivar is a late Neolithic - early Eneolithic fortified tell site belonging to the Vinča culture, located in Timiş County, Banat, western Romania. Ten years ago, the archaeologists Florin Draşovean from Timişoara and Wolfram Schier from Wurtzburg began the exploration of the site in Uivar, making several discoveries which had revolutionized the way the Neolithic society was considered by now.

The fortress
The study of the archeomagnetic plan, whose precise outline has been generally confirmed by the excavation, permits a very accurate model of the settlement organization to be constructed. It can clearly be seen that the settlement was protected by a fortification system made up of several concentric ditches that enclosed a central area, a settlement with proto-urban character, a real "akropolis". The fortification system of Uivar is one of the most elaborate and complex ones from this part of Europe. Though built in several stages, it is the result of a unitary defense conception being made up of a double ditch ring and stockades that protected the central area and additional concentric ditches, 3.5 m deep, outwardly laid out beyond the central ring. The digging of defense ditches at Uivar led to the removal of more than 10,000 cubic m (!) of soil of which more than half is yellow clay.The fortification ditches, in addition to protecting a certain area of the site, were also used to delimit several areas for specific functions within the social space. While the akropolis was meant for habitation-, social life-, and spiritual life-related purposes, the inner ring space and the outer ring space had different purposes.

The akropolis
It is apparent that most houses are laid out on two concentric circles surrounding a possible square at the heart of the tell. At the same time, most houses are perpendicular to the inner fortification ring that belongs to the final, third stage, of the defense system development. All this information bears out the idea of a well-conceived settlement plan that was followed by the Neolithic inhabitants of Uivar. This plan underwent alterations over time due to the necessity of the enlarging the habitation area beyond the akropolis, under the standing conflict for space between the area outlined by the fortification and the continuously expanding population. This conflict was resolved very efficiently and, using a modern term, with professionalism, via the already mentioned southward enlargement of the area allotted for dwelling.

Neolithic villas
This need for more room is also reflected by the enlargement and two-storied design of some houses. One of these is a feature, whose development could be determined throughout its use life. Having its long axis running north-east to south-west, the structure has imposing dimensions (14 m x 6 m) and was made up of ground floor and upper floor. Most significant is its final stage in which the structure was to have three rooms of which the one to the west was covered by the flooring of an upper storey. This organization into three rooms and two stories did not exist in the structure’s first stage, and was added only in the last construction stage. This building had a purpose beyond its profane use, thus taking on a ritual role, and namely that of a sanctuary. Two-storey houses crop up in the Carpathian area in the late Neolithic and are strongly correlated with the appearance of tells.

The mask
In the Neolithic settlement were discovered pots, carved and polished stone tools, clay idols. But by far the most sensational discovery is a fragment of a mask of clay, brought to the surface in 2001, which, so far, is unique in Europe. "The piece is a half of a mask, one can see the eyes and mouth. It is a ritual mask used by tribal shamans, which was intended to turn a man into god. An analogy might be a statue discovered in Caraş-Severin, who has in hand a mask such as this one, because in the primitive world, this was an accessory of those who practiced magic", explains Florin Draşovean the meaning of the mask.

From Muzeul Banatului and other minor sources.

Sandu Popescu

Sandu Popescu, born in Oradea, Romania, is Professor of Physics at the University of Bristol, and also a visiting Professor in the Mathematics Institute at Berkeley. Between 1996 and 2008 he was also associated with Hewlett-Packard. He is one of the world's foremost experts in the field of Quantum Information theory, and also in the foundations of quantum mechanics.

Sandu Popescu is the world's first physicist who managed a particle teleportation using an optical technology. This memorable event took place on July 4, 1997, in the Hewlett Packard Laboratories in Bristol, England.

His research interests center on fundamental aspects of quantum physics, in particular gaining a better understanding of the nature of quantum behavior. A major focus of his research has been quantum nonlocality. This led him to establish some of the central concepts in the area of quantum information and computation. Dr. Popescu has also worked on many other aspects of quantum theory, ranging from the very fundamental, to designing practical experiments (such as the first quantum teleportation experiment) to patentable commercial applications. He was awarded the Adams Prize 2000 for contributions to quantum information.

Dumitru Daponte and the 3D cinema

Dumitru Daponte (1894-1956) was a Romanian engineer, who invented in 1924 the 3D cinema.

After World War I began the boom of film industry. It was the silent film era, black and white, interrupted every 10 minutes to change the film coil. The dialogues were designed separately, on a black background and some film scenes were interrupted to provide the necessary explanation for the action understanding. However, the theaters were full and it was obvious that the new industry had a golden future.

One of the problems that Dumitru Daponte tried to solve is related to playback images in relief (the classic projection has only width and height, not depth, making the screen to be viewed as a sequence of shots). Techniques used in this way were different: the use of glasses with colored lenses, the projection of images on a curved screen etc.

Before Daponte, another Romanian had made a similar attempt: N. Iliescu Brînceni developed a kind of binoculars, which each spectator had to hold to eyes to see on a screen two distinct sets of images superposed to obtain the sensation of relief.

Dumitru Daponte began to work on his invention in 1916, doing research and experimentation in Italy and England, countries where the film enjoyed a great interest. He then made a device for obtaining a stereoscopic effect, based on the idea that the relief conditions must be created since the time of registration of the film. Daponte built a camera with two objectives (the ones by then had one), at approximately 6 cm distance from each other, trying to get the relief effect by projecting simultaneously each pair of captured images. The engineer based his invention by the fact that man sees with two eyes and the perception of relief is due to this double simultaneous reception of the image. His apparatus also contained a device allowing the adjustment of the distance between the two objectives. The two films thus obtained were then entered into a special recording device, such as the two images to be implemented on a single film. His invention was patented in France (Patent no. 592963) and England (Patent no. 222173).

Daponte's invention, introduced in 1924, enjoyed great interest and represented a step forward in addressing this crucial issue for the future of film industry.

Orban, the 'Dacian' cannon founder

The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire which occurred after a siege laid by an army of 80-100,000 soldiers of Ottoman Empire, under the command of Sultan Mehmed II. The siege lasted from Thursday, 5 April 1453 until Tuesday, 29 May 1453 (according to the Julian Calendar), when the city was conquered by the Ottomans. Constantinople was defended by the army of 7000 defenders of Emperor Constantine XI. The event marked the end of the political independence of the millennium-old Byzantine Empire, which was by then already fragmented into several Greek monarchies.

The fortifications of Constantinople in the 15th century

Prior to the siege of Constantinople it was known that the Ottomans had the ability to cast medium-sized cannons, but the range of some pieces they were able to put to field far surpassed the defenders' expectations. One cannon was 9 m long, and able to fire 750 kg over the distance of 2 km. The Greeks called it the Basilica cannon (the royal gun). Instrumental to this Ottoman advancement in arms production was a somewhat mysterious figure by the name of Orban.

The Dardanelles Gun, cast in 1464 and based on the Orban bombard.

The origins of Orban remains uncertain. According to some scholars he was Hungarian; John Julius Norwich, in A Short History of Byzantium (1997), suggest he was German. Laonicus Chalcondyles (c. 1423–1490), a Byzantine Greek scholar from Athens who lived in the time of siege, in his work Proofs of Histories says that Orban was a 'Dacian' - '[...] but the Emperor had a Dacian cannon founder named Orban, creator of weapons and tools for breking the walls. [...] Orban was a man between two ages, with blond mustache and rosy-cheeked'. Chalcondyles named in his works the Romanians as 'Dacians'. 'Orban' is indeed a Hungarian name, but it is frequent also in Belgium and Holland; spelled 'Urban', it has a Latin ascendancy. Probably, Orban was a Transylvanian-born Hungarian or Romanian, but the hypothesis remains unverified.

Mehmed II by Bellini

The master founder initially tried to sell his services to the Byzantines, who were, however, unable to secure the funds needed to hire him. Orban then left Constantinople and approached Mehmed II. Accordingly, Orban's arrival at Edirne must have seemed providential. The sultan welcomed the master founder and questioned him closely. Mehmed asked if he could cast a cannon to project a stone ball large enough to smash the walls at Constantinople. Orban's reply was emphatic: 'I can cast a cannon of bronze with the capacity of the stone you want. I have examined the walls of the city in great detail. I can shatter to dust not only these walls with the stones from my gun, but the very walls of Babylon itself'. Mehmed ordered him to make the gun. Given abundant funds and materials, the engineer built the gun within three months at Adrianople, from which it was dragged by sixty oxen to Constantinople. In the meantime, Orban also produced other cannons instrumental for the Turkish siege forces.

Constantine XI

Orban's cannon had several drawbacks, however: it could only be fired seven times a day; it took three hours to reload; the cannon balls were in very short supply; after each shot, crews soaked the barrel in warm oil to prevent cold air from penetrating and enlarging the fissures; and the cannon is said to have collapsed under its own recoil after six weeks (this fact however is disputed, being only reported in the letter of Archbishop Leonardo di Chio and the later and often unreliable Russian chronicle of Nestor Iskander). Having previously established a large foundry approximately 150 miles away, Mehmed now had to undergo the painstaking process of transporting his massive pieces of artillery. Orban's giant cannon was said to have been accompanied by a crew of 60 oxen and over 400 men (Doukas or Dukas, The Turkish-Byzantine History, (1341-1462)).

The Ottoman army and the Basilica cannon

And when it had caught fire, faster than you can say it, there was first a terrifying roar and a violent shaking of the ground beneath and for a great distance around, and a din such as has never been heard. Then, with a monstrous thundering and an awful explosion and a flame that illuminated everything round about and scorched it, the wooden wad was forced out by the hot blast of dry air and propelled the stone ball powerfully out. Projected with incredible force and power, the stone struck the wall, which it immediately shook and demolished, and it was itself shattered into many fragments, and the pieces were hurled everywhere, dealing death to those standing nearby.

The bombard technology from which Orban drew had been established between 1400 and 1450 in Western European siege warfare, with some pieces like the Dulle Griet, Mons Meg and the Pumhart von Steyr still extant from the period. He, along with an entire crew, is assumed to have been killed during the siege by one of his superguns exploding, then not an unusual occurrence (Volker Schmidtchen, 1977). One of a growing band of technical mercenaries who plied their trade across the Balkans, he offered to the two Emperors one of the most highly prized skills of the age: the ability to cast large bronze guns. The Orban's cannon symbolized the end of outmoded medieval techniques of castle construction and siege warfare and opened a terrible new chapter in military history. The use of massed artillery bombardment would prevail.

500+

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Cantacuzino Palace

Built in 1899–1902 by Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (known as “The Nabob”, former mayor of Bucharest, leader of the Conservative Party, and one of the richest men in Romania ever), the architectural ensemble was designed by architect Ioan D. Berindei.

The Cantacuzino Palace can be found at 141, Calea Victoriei (Victoria Road), Bucharest. After G. G. Cantacuzino died in 1913, the palace was inherited by his son, Mihail G. Cantacuzino and his wife, Maria (also known as Princess Maruca, born Rosetti-Tescanu); after the premature death of her first husband, Maruca re-married in 1939, becoming the wife of George Enescu, Romania's greatest composer. In the 40’s, the palace hosted the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and since 1947 the Institute for Romanian-Soviet Studies.

After the death of George Enescu, in 1955, his wife donated the domain to the Museum and to the Composers’ and Musicologists’ Union of Romania, to be dedicated to the memory of the musician. Thus, on the 19th of June 1956, George Enescu Museum was opened. The museum gathers documents and pictures referring to the composer’s life and work. Among other exhibits, there also is the violin the composer received as a present when he turned 4 year old. There are regular classical music concerts hosted by the palace (many of them being organized by the Polish Cultural Institute), and this is a good time to visit the building (for otherwise, the main hall of the palace is not included in the regular museum visit).

The palace was set in French Baroque style with Art Nouveau elements. The façade’s richness in sculptural decoration is notable. On the top of the entrance, the circular fronton bears the princely coat of arms of the Cantacuzino family. The facade is dominated by the main entrance; above it there is a giant shell-shaped porte-cochére and two stone lions guard the stairs and the door that mingle harmoniously with the statues and other ornaments in the Baroque style, and wrought iron balconies surround the home's tall windows.

For the decoration of the building, the architect collaborated with several recognized artists of the time. The mural paintings were made by George Demetrescu Mirea, Nicolae Vermont, Costin Petrescu and Arthur Verona, the sculptures and the ornamentation are made by Emil Wilhelm Becker, while the artfulness of Krieger House in Paris can be admired in the interior decoration (tapestry, chandeliers, lamps, stained-glasses).

Floriile (The Palm Sunday)

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast which always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The feast commemorates an event mentioned by all four Canonical Gospels Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19: the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. It is also called Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion.

Floriile or Duminica Floriilor (the Palm Sunday) open to all Romanian the Easter cycle, which ends once the Ascension of Jesus (40 days after Easter). Evoking the entering of Jesus into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, welcomed with a lot of flowers and cheers, Palm Sunday is both a celebration in which the pre-Christian and Christian elements combine happily, resulting in extremely beautiful customs and traditions. It is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year, and is the beginning of Holy Week.

The day before is known as Lazarus Saturday, and commemorates the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. On this day, is known the Lăzărelul tradition, a practice that recalls the ancient god of vegetation that died and reborn at the beginning of each spring.

The name of the feast in Romanian (Florii) comes from the Roman goddess Flora. The green branches used this day, employed both in domestic and church rituals, embodies the symbol of chastity and the annual rebirth of vegetation, a fitomorphe substitute of the goddess. The day before people gather willow branches, tie them in bundles and go to church to be sanctified by a priest. After sanctification, the branches called 'mâţişori' (approx. 'kitties') are taken home by the faithful to adorn with the icons, windows, doors, entrances to sheds or to put in wells and the eaves of houses. The women stick them on newly seeded layers, put them into animal feed or on the graves. The beekeepers go around the beehives with those willow branches, and the villagers do the same with their cattle - rituals of fertility.

Another belief said that how weather is like on Palm Sunday, so will be on Easter Day. On this day celebrate the name-day those who bear a flower name (around 1.5 million Romanians).