BUCHAREST, ROMANIA 🇷🇴: MEMORIAL OF REBIRTH AND THE BROKEN MAN

Published on by jacquelinemhadel
“Broken Man” Iuliu Maniu: Great liberal democrat, last honest man, spent his final years in a bleak Communist prison, froze to death and was thrown into an unmarked mass grave.

This is Revolution Square, where Romania’s Communist-era dictator, Nicolae Ceauşescu, was publicly overthrown in December 1989.

Below, is the controversial “Memorial of Rebirth, (Memorialul Renaşterii)” which is a monument in central Bucharest that commemorates the struggles and victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which overthrew Communism. 

It was designed by Alexandru Ghilduş, and features a 25-metre-high marble pillar as it’s centerpiece and reaches up to the sky, and on top, a metal “crown” is encircling it.

It’s original name was going to be “Eternal Glory to the Heroes and the Romanian Revolution of December 1989” (Glorie Eternă Eroilor şi Revoluţiei Române din Decembrie 1989). The name “Memorial of Rebirth” alludes to Romania’s rebirth as a nation after the collapse of Communism. It’s an incredibly significant time in Romania’s history so it’s a shame that so many people seem to dislike the monument so passionately.

Pretty much everyone acknowledged the need for a memorial commemorating the 1989 revolution, the monument sparked major controversy when it appeared in 2005, mainly to do with its design. Many artists stated that the memorial, especially its central pillar, was devoid of any symbolism, being too abstract, and thus didn’t adequately represent the suffering and magnitude of the 1989 revolution, which claimed around 1,500 lives. (wiki)

The Memorial of Rebirth has been described as “a potato skewered on a stake”, an “olive on a toothpick”, “the potato of the revolution” and “the vector with the crown”.

Owing to its relative unpopularity, the monument is guarded round-the-clock. Despite this, on the night of 12 May 2006, it was vandalized with a stencil graffiti figure representing the fictional revolutionary character “V” on the side facing the National Museum of Art. (wiki)

In 2012 the monument was defaced a second time with a splash of bright red paint that was delivered just at the bottom of the monument’s “potato” by an unknown person. This caused the monument to look as though it is bleeding. The paint is so inaccessibly high that it has remained in place since it was placed there. (wiki)

13aug17 Bucharest, Romania 🇷🇴 

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