The Razing of Romania's Past (English and Romanian Edition) - Softcover

Giurescu, Dinu C.

9781854547606: The Razing of Romania's Past (English and Romanian Edition)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1854547607 ISBN 13: 9781854547606

Publisher: Architecture Design & Technology Press, 1990

Architecturally, Romania was long regarded as one of the most interesting and beautiful countries In Europe. This book documents the systematic destruction of that heritage by the Ceausescu regime, a process of "systematization" intended to destroy the cultural indentity of a nation on a huge scale. The programme, only halted by the regime's downfall at the end of 1989, has meant the almost complete destruction of at least 29 towns, with large-scale demolition underway in another 37. The plan called for rural restructuring involving the razing of more than half Romania's 13,000 villages, and vast areas of Bucharest have been levelled. By the turn of the century the whole nation was to have been housed in towns with virtually nothing remaining from the country's history and its traditional civilization - a social engineering feat never before accomplished in European history. Dinu Giurescu's book records the demolished and threatened buildings - family homes, mansions, churches, civic buildings - and analyzes the phases of the policy of restructuring.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From Library Journal:

Giurescu, a prominent Romanian historian and scholar who only recently left his country, here offers a detailed assessment of the widespread destruction of Romania's architectural heritage under former president Nicolae Ceausescu. Commissioned by the World Monuments Fund, and published shortly before Romania's magnificent leap to freedom, this work includes 300 black-and-white photographs of homes, churches, synagogues, and monuments before and after being razed. Though this leveling of nearly 30 towns and a quarter of Bucharest was supposedly aimed at modernizing the country, its real purpose, argues Giurescu, was homogenization and control. A chilling reminder of what has been lost and what must never be allowed to happen again.
-Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.