Romanian Academy's Pop: Ion C. Bratianu built Romania

Chairman of the Romanian Academy Ioan-Aurel Pop said on Thursday that Ion C. Bratianu built Romania, "its hardcore," emphasising that the liberal Bratianus "set a perfect lesson in civic virtues."

"Ion C. Bratianu built the country, more precisely its hardcore, when he made the 1848 Revolution, when he went to Dusseldorf to bring Prince Carol, when he laid the foundations for the National Liberal Party, when he led for 12 years the most solid and longest-lived government of modern Romania, when it advocated for a national currency, for independence, for the transformation of Romania into a kingdom and for many other things," Pop told a symposium on Bratianu's 200th birth anniversary hosted by the of the Ion Heliade Radulescu Auditorium of the Library of the Romanian Academy, agerpres reports.

He pointed out that "the liberal Bratianus set a perfect lesson in civic virtues."

"Two centuries after the birth of the great Ion C. Bratianu, it is good to remember, but remembering is not enough. We have to learn from his message. He is the maker of modern Romania, and other family members contributed to the organization and operation of Romania (...) No other family of uncrowned Romanians managed to do so much for the country," said Pop.

The historian also mentioned Bratianu's other son, Gheorghe Bratianu, who would become one of the greatest Romanian medievalists of all time.

In a speech to the event, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Ludovic Orban pointed out that Ion C. Bratianu was the protagonist of the most important events that led to the establishment of the modern Romanian state, mentioning his contributions to the 1848 Revolution, to the achievement of the Union of the Romanian Principalities and setting it in stone by bringing Prince Carol I to Romania.

"Ion C. Bratianu's generation achieved Romania as a country of European vocations and Romanians as a nation belonging to Europe," said Orban.

The symposium was followed by the opening of an eponymous exhibition at the Theodor Pallady Hall by the Cabinet of Manuscripts, Rare Books and the Cabinet of Prints, Photography, Maps, showcasing collections of documents and photographs from the Library of the Romanian Academy. Archive documents, correspondence with politicians of the time or with family members, photographs, diplomas, medals, anthologies of speeches, monographic volumes are just as many exhibits on display.

Born on June 2, 1821, in Pitesti, Ion C. Bratianu was educated in the revolutionary atmosphere of Paris in the middle of the 19th century, which provided him with both the enthusiasm and the diplomatic and political knowledge necessary for a future national construction. Founder of the National Liberal Party, in 1875 and its first national chairman, Ion C. Bratianu's was a key player in important moments in the history of modern Romania.