Poet Mihai Eminescu paid homage at 172nd birth anniversary in Moldova

Chisinau, 15 January /MOLDPRES/ - National poet Mihai Eminescu was paid homage at his 172nd birthday anniversary in Chisinau today. The event is part of a string of actions organized on the National Culture Day, marked in Moldova on the same day.  

On this occasion, today morning, President Maia Sandu, Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, representatives of the central and local public administration, politicians, writers, culture people, admirers of Eminescu’s works laid flowers at the bust to Mihai Eminescu of the Alley of Classics of the Romanian Literature from the Stefan cel Mare Public Garden.  

A literary and artistic event, held by culture and art people, took place at the bust to the great poet. In his speech, the head of the Moldovan Writers’ Union (USM), the event’s moderator Teo Chiriac said that the National Culture Day was identified with the birthday of the national poet Mihai Eminescu. ‘’And this is only natural, as, through his work, Eminescu synthesized the spiritual values of the Romanian nation. We came to this space to lay living flowers at the statues of the great precursors and to pay them our homages. The true culture, the arts and literature, in all their forms, go beyond the linguistic borders and barriers. The culture transcends not only the space, but also the time; it is just as an ineffable rainbow, a miraculous bridge uniting the past, present and future,’’ the USM head said.          

At the same time, Teo Chiriac referred to the sorrow which had come to the national culture and literature on the pandemic period. In the last year alone, 14 writers passed away: Nicolae Dabija, Ioan Mânăscurtă, Ion Ciocanu, Andrei Strâmbeanu, Mihail Gheorghe Cibotaru, Ion Vicol, Pavel Pelin, Vlad Olărescu, Efim Josanu, Tudor Colac, Grigore Botezatu, Nicolae Bilețchi, Ion Bradu and Gheorghe Chiriță. The people participating in the event stood silent for a minute in their memory.

Attending the event, Culture Minister Sergiu Prodan stressed that, on this day, they were paying homage to the people who had dedicated their lives to culture. ‘’The task of all of us, of the Culture Ministry is to re-bring the status of the culture man to an honourable place,’’ the official noted.

In his greeting speech, Ambassador of Romania to Moldova Daniel Ionita said that it was for the fifth time when he was marking Mihai Eminescu’s birthday and the national culture day in Chisinau. ‘’Let us have respect for the Romanian culture in continuation. I wish you to have Eminescu’s poems in your souls,’’ the ambassador said. For his part, the Chisinau general mayor, Ion Ceban, referred to the development of the cooperation relations with diverse settlements of Romania, stressing, at the same time, the fact the we must deeply know the works of Mihai Eminescu.    

Mihai Eminescu, regarded by the posthumous literary critique as the most important poet of the Romanian literature, was born in Botosani, Romania, on 15 January 1850. Eminescu died in Bucharest on 15 June 1889 and was buried at the Bellu Cemetery from Bucharest. On 28 October 1948, Mihai Eminescu was posthumously elected as member of the Romanian Academy.

The National Culture Day was established under a parliament decision from 2012, and is aimed at promoting the national culture, authentic cultural values, as well as the outstanding personalities from the culture sector.