August 03, 2005
Maniu (2)
So there's this statue of Iuliu Maniu in front of the Senate here in Bucharest.
I blogged about a visit to the Senate a while back. But I didn't mention the memorials out in front.
There are two. One is a small, but very tasteful monument to the dead of the Revolution, immediately in front of the building. The other is a statue of Iuliu Maniu, who I blogged about last week.
I can't find an online photograph of the statue of Maniu, but: it's ugly. Hideous, really.
It's a bronze, slightly large than life size. Maniu is sitting in a chair, with a tree behind him. But the tree is leafless and rather abstract; it's like an ugly, spiky bronze candelabrum, giving no shade or shelter. Meanwhile Maniu himself has these big... cracks running all through his body. Like he's disintegrating, or someone is trying to chop him apart. And he's subtly disproportioned; his clothes are hanging on him, and his limbs are too thin, almost emaciated.
All in all, it's a nasty looking thing. Most people recoil a little. So did I, when I first saw it.
But: look again, and remember Maniu's story. 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. The face of the statue is sad but calm; there's no hope in those eyes, but he's not broken either. The hands on the chair are turned upward, palms open. The body language is helplessness but not despair; he's accepting his fate, but will never admit it is right or fair.
If you know the story... the cracks in his body make it look like he's been, well, frozen and then thawed out. Well: there's Romanian democracy for you. Frozen for years under Communism, now thawed out, maybe not beautiful but present and accounted for. It's very appropriate that he sits in front of the Senate.
It's still an ugly statue. But the more you look at it, the more you realize how good it is. It's very rare in this part of the world to see the painful past acknowledged in this way. I think it's one of the best and bravest pieces of public statuary I've ever seen, and maybe the best in Eastern Europe. If you're ever in central Bucharest, make a point of stopping by.
(Unfortunately, it's not the only piece of public statuary in front of the Senate. More on this anon.)
Posted by douglas at August 3, 2005 10:33 PMIt's a damn fine statue, although this is not the best image of it.
Didn't we agree that the US equivalent of Maniu would be a rock-ribbed small-c conservative farm-state Senator? Who died in the Gulag, which is where the analogy breaks down.
Posted by: Carlos at August 5, 2005 02:49 AMThere are other views of the Maniu statue at the site I linked as well. Does anyone know who the sculptor is? I'd love to see more of his or her work.
Posted by: Carlos at August 7, 2005 12:34 AMYes, there's something oddly American about Maniu -- the optimism, the meliorism, the relentless faith in progress and human goodness. About the only way he resembled his contemporary colleagues and rivals was in his large ego, which may have played a part in his final martyrdom. (A more humble man might have fled while the getting was good.) But it's hard to hold that against him.
That may be why I find his story so very poignant. Good man, wrong time, wrong place.
Don't know the sculptor; in fact, I've never been able to find much about the statue. It's not given any play in tourist books or websites about Bucharest; the Romanian establishment seems almost embarrassed by it. But, yeah, I'd love to see other works too.
Doug M.
Posted by: Douglas at August 9, 2005 04:58 PMHere is another picture of the statue; or view the original large picture on my site
