Sweating it out between sculptures
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2007
1
89
144
Trip End
Oct 01, 2007
Târgu Jiu,
Romania
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The thing is, you can tell that it used to be a very charming place. A number of grand old buildings have survived - often hemmed in between shockingly unattractive apartment blocks or stuck in a group in the corner of a square, stripped of the surrounding townscape that they once blended into
01: Main street into town from the station
. The university building, former central high school, town hall and rector's palace are all gorgeous examples of Romania's indigenous Brāncovenesc architecture. Some backstreets desperately cling to an elegant 19th century air, despite the awful 1970s functionalism that dominates and towers over them. The funny thing is, the older buildings look far better than the ones built only a couple decades ago. Most of the housing blocks and "modern" public buildings look slapped together and crumbling, as if made of spare parts to keep the costs down. Communism really built things to last, apparently.Looking at it all, it makes one wonder what exactly the point was. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the layout of the modern constructions. Most look like they were put there for the explicit purpose of disturbing the old urban environment and depriving the citizens of their past. They don't conform to any sort of logical design or greater plan other than to house industrial workers smack in the town center. It would have made much more sense to line the suburbs with apartment blocks and keep the old core whole and intact. It's often said that Communism was the great preserver in Europe, preventing modernization and forcing the retention of old customs and outdated methods. Here though, it was more like a parasite, slowly devouring the society and sucking it dry of its lifeblood and heritage.
There are positives to Tārgu Jiu, however. Back when it was still a lovely provincial town on the edge of the mountains, it was blessed with an amazing ensemble of structures by the artist and sculptor Constantin Brāncusi
02: Historic Tudor Vladimirescu High School
. Unlike other parts of the city, this ensemble has survived completely intact and undisturbed, and has even undergone careful restoration in recent years. The works were made in commemoration of the soldiers that died defending Romania in the Battle of the Jiu in October of 1916 during World War II. Arranged in a straight line across the heart of town, they stretch from the river's edge in a leafy park in perfect symmetry with the distant 1927 St. Apostles' Church before coming to a culmination on the far side of town. An austere table and set of chairs known as the Masa Tacerii (Table of Silence) begins the ensemble, with a symmetrical grouping of several sets of three stools facing each other extending outwards as the Aleea Scaunilor (the Alley of Chairs). Beyond that sits the distinctly "Arc de Triomphe"-style Poarta Sarutorului (Gate of the Kiss), marking the point where the park merges into the old town. As mentioned before, most of the historic townscape that fused seamlessly into the arrangement is now gone, but far down the road you can still see the church and beyond that, in a distant field, rises the incredibly perfect Endless Column.Walking this ensemble takes at most a couple of hours, and that's about the lot of Tārgu Jiu's attractions, other than a pleasant art museum highlighting 19th and 20th century Romanian artists. Unfortunately, I had to deal with the annoying headache of trying to find a place to stay in between the strolling. Despite assertions to the contrary within my guidebook, the tourist office by the station was decidedly unhelpful about helping me find a cheap room, offering a room at a 3-star hotel for 36 Euros as the "cheapest." They acted clueless about any other options, yet frustratingly tried to lead me on with the potential promise of something "later." I finally just tracked down a room for about 23 Euros on my own, then walked back to the station - for the 3rd time! - to get my bag out and settle in
03: Tudor Vladimirescu Park
. That blew my other plan for the day: spending the afternoon at the UNESCO-listed monastery of Horezu in the hills east of town. There was a bus out at 1:10, but I missed it by a good hour after finally sorting out a place to stay, and by the time I got to the bus station, there was no way for me to go and actually get back by public transport. In fact, I'm not even convinced that there would have been return buses available had I even taken the first bus, but it was irritating all the same.So the rest of the day was spent poking around Tārgu Jiu proper, getting as many good shots of the sculptures as possible, and seeing if any of the town's old charm lurked in some hidden backstreet. Undoubtedly I spent more time than necessary here, but it wasn't necessarily a waste. There are certainly prettier corners of the country (by far), but it was nice to have a look around, even if I spent most of the day drenched in perspiration. The heat wave looks set to remain for another two or three days at least, so it's going to be an uncomfortable week. Tomorrow I head down to the Wallachian plains and the university town of Craiova, where it will almost definitely be worse. I guess I'll just be buying a lot of water and washing more clothes in the sink! Not a whole lot of choice otherwise.
