First clue …

For those in the know about the Romanian music scene, these pictures should be a really big clue as to who I saw All will be revealed over the next couple of days.

10 June 2007

All the world’s a stage

I’d got there early so I could be right at the front of the stage. Even before the event took place though there were photo opportunities – this shows the buildings of Piata Mare through the gauze surrounding the stage (presumably to protect acts from the elements without being too restrictive).

10 June 2007

Sky, lamp and Piata Mare

This is Piata Mare on a beautiful sunny Sunday late afternoon. I was here for an event which I’ll be showing you over next week. Even though I already had a million pictures of Piata Mare, of the lamps, of the blue sky, I’m afraid I couldn’t resist taking more

10 June 2007

Busker

This young guy was playing his accordion on Str. Balcescu.

10 June 2007

Another Cathedral View

This is a picture of the Orthodox Cathedral taken from round the back, through the fence along Str. Xenopol. You can see the trees have been painted here too!

10 June 2007

Curious trees

Now, here’s a bit of a curiosity. Throughout Romania (and Moldova too when I was there) I noticed that pretty much every tree, especially those by roads, had their bottom 3-4ft or so painted white. To this day I’ve never had a definitive answer as to why. Some people told me it’s a special paint that prevents the tree getting infected, and others said it acts as a reflector at night along country roads that don’t have street lamps (but that doesn’t explain why they were also painted in a well-lit city road). My favourite explanation was that it helps drunks who are otherwise lost stagger their way home without wandering too far from the road which they’d otherwise be unable to see. Most people I asked though stopped and thought and realised they didn’t know, they’d never been told why – it’s just always been done. If any of my readers know the real real reason, I’d love to know!

A bit of orientation. This was taken standing outside the Orthodox seminary (where the frescoes were), opposite the Orthodox Cathedral. Where the road turns left at the pale orange building, that is the street where I lived. It was brilliant being so central

10 June 2007

[Edited because I do know left from right really!]

Final fresco

This is the last fresco I took at the Orthodox seminary (sorry I don’t have details of exactly what it depicts). I hope you enjoyed the little mini-series.

10 June 2007

Historical frescoes

Two more frescoes show historical events and figures. The top one depicts the execution of Horia and Closca, who led a revolt in 1784-5 against the lack of political equality between the Romanians and other ethnicities of Transylvania. The bottom one shows Constantin Brincoveanu who was Prince of Wallachia (one of the provinces which eventually became part of modern-day Romania) between 1689-1714. Under his rule a style of architecture known as the Brincovenesc style flourished, a synthesis of Renaissance and Byzantine architecture. He was a great patron of culture and was eventually executed by the Ottomans, supposedly for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam. His tomb is now at the Sambata de Sus monastery in Brasov county – this fresco depicts him handing the newly-built monastery to the church.

10 June 2007

Frescoes

Here are a couple more of the frescoes from the entrance to the Orthodox seminary. Jesus is the top one, and the bottom one is John the Baptist (Ioan Botezatorul).

10 June 2007

Fresco

Over the road from the Orthodox Cathedral is the Orthodox Seminary. Sibiu is one of the main centres of Orthodox theological training in Romania. Normal hoi-polloi like me aren’t allowed in as far as I know, but there is an entrance hall covered in frescoes where we were allowed to go. I’ll show some more frescoes over the next few days.

10 June 2007