One word at a time: “Picior”
One body part without which graceful activities such as dancing would be almost impossible is the key word in many useful Romanian...
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Ilinca Stroe
Apr 8, 20193 min read
Communism’s Emptied Tomb: the Carol Park Mausoleum
A 20-minute walk from Piaţa Unirii in city centre Bucharest lies Parcul Carol I, located on the Filaret Hill, designed by French...
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Ilinca Stroe
Mar 26, 20193 min read
Nicolae Titulescu: the Diplomat Who Fought War
Born in 1882 in the capital city of Oltenia, Nicolae Titulescu is undoubtedly that region’s most internationally influential native. The...
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Ilinca Stroe
Mar 13, 20194 min read
One word at a time: “Ochi”
When it comes to phrases and idioms based on body parts, one such body part is especially prolific, the key word in many expressions: the...
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Ilinca Stroe
Feb 27, 20193 min read
A Star-Bound House: The Astronomical Observatory Admiral “Vasile Urseanu”
Out of a love of sea a star-bound house was born: the Astronomical Observatory in Bucharest. It was 1908 when Admiral Vasile Urseanu was...
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Ilinca Stroe
Feb 13, 20195 min read
Ana Pauker, the Iron Lady of Romanian Communism
“Stout, with unruly short greying hair, sharp blue eyes beneath the low eyebrows and a fascinating smile . . ., she made everyone feel...
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Ilinca Stroe
Jan 23, 20194 min read
A People’s Masterpiece: Atheneul Român (the Romanian Athenaeum)
As you walk past the elegant statue of national poet Mihai Eminescu, located in the little park in front of it, as you climb up the...
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Ilinca Stroe
Dec 19, 20183 min read
Christmas Wishes, Romanian Style
To a nation where people wish each other things on a wildly wide range of occasions, from having a haircut to getting down to work or...
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Ilinca Stroe
Dec 5, 20182 min read
Moş Nicolae, the saintly “culprit” for surprises in your boots
It’s winter. Unless you are the victim of Ionel, a spoilt brat who poured jam into his mother’s guest’s boots (in satirist Ion Luca...
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Ilinca Stroe
Nov 28, 201813 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the Jewish Romanians
Romania’s Jewish community has dwindled dramatically over the past decades: while in 1930 more than 4% of the country’s population was...
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Ilinca Stroe
Nov 21, 201811 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the Hungarian Romanians
When talking about Hungarian ethnics in Romania, one encounters a problem of scope and of historical positioning. Most of Romania’s...
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Ilinca Stroe
Nov 14, 201811 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the German Romanians
“When the Germans came to the country . . . they built a city for the Romanians, they taught them professions, they gave them land when...
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Ilinca Stroe
Nov 7, 201812 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the Roma Romanians
In her Memoirs, Zoe Cămărăşescu, a Romanian aristocrat whose mother had been a lady-in-waiting at the belle époque Court of King Carol I...
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Ilinca Stroe
Oct 31, 201812 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the Romanianists
100 years of Romania. What Romanians have done for their country this past century in areas ranging from the humanities to science and...
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Ilinca Stroe
Oct 25, 201823 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the Artists
There is little doubt that modern Romanian cultivated painting stemmed from religious painting done around and for monasteries by artists...
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Ilinca Stroe
Sep 26, 20189 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the Entrepreneurs
Looking into entrepreneurship in contemporary Romania can be a bit like entering perilous territory. As a recent documentary shows...
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Ilinca Stroe
Aug 22, 201813 min read
Romania’s Treasures: the Actors
If we were to search back in time for images of the first Romanian actors, we might well have to put up with scattered blurry memories of...
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Ilinca Stroe
Aug 15, 20183 min read
Making Wishes in Romanian: Occasions and Phrases
If you’re an expat who has lived in Romania for a few good months, you are very likely to have been told, when you got a haircut or a new...
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Ilinca Stroe
Aug 8, 20183 min read
Recognising and Expressing Moods: Putting a Phrase to the Feeling
Among the trending topics recently popularised in glossy magazines and in the world of publishing there are two emotions: hygge, marketed...
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Ilinca Stroe
Aug 2, 20183 min read
Proof of Endearment: Diminutive Suffixes in Romanian
Those of you who are naturally inclined to read a restaurant menu not only for nutritional purposes but also to pick on typos,...
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