Towards a Carol II style in Romanian architecture

For some time now, the question of a style of the times has been raised in our country, - and since the times bear the seal of great personalities, there has been talk and writing - and rightly so - about the style of KING CHARLES CHARLES II.

In the minds of many people the belief may take hold that style is a more or less felicitous contrivance, which may be received with enthusiasm or regarded with indifference. - Or a sort of whim, or fad, or fashion launched by houses of commerce or artistic circles; and which might, if need be, be created or obtained by competition among artists. - This is why the question of style needs to be clarified, not only for the layman, but even for the specialist.

Style mirrors a conception of life, which is bound up with an epoch, with a shorter or longer duration, depending on whether that conception corresponds to more transient or more stable needs and realities.

The style is not only related to a single field of spiritual or material manifestation, but, mirroring the conception of life of the age, it sets its seal on all human acts and deeds - today even more than in the past.

The conception of life of Christianity has mirrored itself in all the manifestations of the Christian world; - just as the conceptions of life of Judaism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, are mirrored in all that is related to these beliefs.

The differences in temperament from people to people also appear in the differences in the conceptions of life; and these in the differences by which each people externalizes these conceptions. The specifics of these externalizations constitute what is meant by style.

But people mold their nature and their way of thinking under the influence of the environment in which they live and of the personalities who have risen above the common level of others. In all that remains to us of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Indians, - we distinguish the artistic temperament of some, the admirable organizers of others, or the contemplative and mystical temperament of the latter. But all these characteristics were brought to light and exploited everywhere by the personalities who gave a creative and creative impetus to a people and an epoch, to which history has linked their names.

The two determining elements, the environment and the outstanding personalities, have always and everywhere given a special touch to the times and to people - a touch which can easily be traced and distinguished throughout human life and activity.

Thus a style is based on tradition, that is to say, on the link with the environment, with the land, with the past; and on the creative impulses which the outstanding leaders of peoples know how to impose on men and human institutions.

A style alien to the native environment and genius - in other words, a borrowed, imported style - cannot last and cannot create outstanding works.

We have had ample proof of this in all the time that has elapsed since the war and up to now. A time of disorientation, of alienation, of borrowing, with ease, from everything and from everyone, without considering whether it suits us and serves us or not. A time in which we have allowed ourselves to be deceived by the forms of others rather than by the substance of our realities, - adopting a garment unsuited to the body of our life's demands and desires.

We have built everything from the outside inwards - and as to be expected, we have ended up with rooms that stifle the normal development of our nation. It was not understood - or easily forgotten - that any kind of architecture, spatial or social, starts from the inside out, both spatially and spiritually. And that style is the expression of the interior, with all its content, and not an artificial play of impressions for the exterior.

Interior means life with all its possible manifestations. Or more precisely interior means the creation and development of these possibilities.

The interior contains and applies a conception whose effects manifest themselves organically in the exterior.

This is what has been understood too little by our statesmen, but more, fortunately, by our King.

His Majesty King Charles II has understood the meaning of today's times, in which, more than ever, the problem of internal, indigenous development and valorization through the creative virtues of the nation is more than ever at stake. By proceeding methodically from the very beginning, he removed everything that hindered the manifestation and development of creative activities. A connoisseur of our past, he has unearthed and restored all that binds us to this past, using it as a source of encouragement and teaching and as a foundation on which to build the great work of the future: our national rebirth.

Throughout Romania and in all Romanian souls, the King has established a new conception of life: one of work and faith, based on the past and adapted to the needs of the present and the demands of the future. Of work through which we can create a better destiny for the Romanian nation. - Of faith in the God of our ancestors, of faith in the power of unity and solidarity of the Romanian nation, embodied in the King of the country; - of faith in honor, the cornerstone and cornerstone of all our public and private actions.

It is in this new conception of life that our children are growing up today - and it is to this conception to which we are all turning today, from the path of so many wanderings and humiliations. - It is this outlook on life that we will imprint on all our acts and deeds, - cementing it in all our creative works.

The style which is spoken and written of will spring naturally from this conception of life, and will manifest itself in everything and everywhere, mirroring our soul's reformation.

Who will ever again be able to make literature an occasion for commercializing human passions? Or of painting, sculpture or music as a means of perverting taste and sense?

We turn, under the guidance of our Great Leader, to the springs of the past, in which the good sense and good taste of our ancestors are reflected - and from the crystal-clear streams of these springs we shall draw the living water of our creations of today and tomorrow.

Architecture, which is the spatial representation of a people's degree of civilization, but above all of its conception of life, can be none other than the architecture of our times and of our tradition.

Raising the peasantry's standard of living will mean raising the peasant's standard of living will also mean raising the peasant's dwelling to give him more light and health.

The social and national solidarity achieved by the King will also be reflected in the unity and solidarity of the constituent parts of the monument or architectural edifice - instead of a diversity of forms and decorative motifs, architecture will create harmonious and unified ensembles, from which the strength of the nation and the stability of its natural settlements will be drawn. - In place of the broken, interrupted, unbroken line, there will be a continuous line, framing in extension and making the most of the height of all the elements that make up the spatial edifice, recalling the social one. - From small openings that express fear, insecurity or fear of light, we shall not move on to complete and imprudent openings, through which anyone could look or enter; - but to openings that express safety, but also prudence, that do not extinguish the view and the light, but that offer, if necessary, the possibility of defense. The spatial horizontality of the buildings will remind us of the greater expanse of today's Romania, and of our determination to be present, in constructive or defensive action, throughout the whole of that expanse.

Our cities will no longer be a mixture of morals, of civilization and primitivism, of opposing interests, of feuding social classes, of narrow and crooked streets, of public monuments without perspective. But they will be settlements or concentrations of social life, with the care to make this life as conducive as possible to the development of human life.

Settlements that will spatially represent freedom of action but also the necessary discipline of life together, the right to manifest one's desires, but also the unity of leadership and management, with the normal hierarchization of moral and social values.

A social settlement, the city, like any other settlement, has a base and a top or crown. The center of the city will be the civic center, with its public institutions housed in buildings that rise up from the sky for all to see and see and be present for all. From this center, which spatially represents the highest point, the height of the buildings should gradually rise towards the edges of the city, thus leaving the possibility of light and ventilation for all. Organized and laid out in this way, the city will form a harmonious whole, in which all shadows and shadows, literally or figuratively, are removed.

Public buildings will portray and express the prestige of state authority, but also the sense of protection and justice for all. The open view, with wide squares and boulevards around public establishments, reinforces the conviction that these institutions belong to all and have nothing to hide.

Unimpeded movement, symbolizing not only freedom but also the protection of creative activities, not only the movement of material values but also the movement of spiritual values, which ensure the prosperity of a nation, will be the chief concern of those who are responsible for this prosperity.

This is the new style of life and, therefore, of all the creations connected with the individual, social and national life of the Romanian people, which will mark the epoch of its rebirth.

How will this style be realized and what will it be called?

For the social and national life of a nation, the capital is to a large extent what the civic center is to the local and social life of the city.

The capital is the brain of the whole nervous system of the Nation, - it is the center of command and directives for all spheres of activity throughout the whole of Romania. - And His Majesty the King has understood this most clearly and best, and has ordered that the Capital be restored the power to fulfill this role of effective guidance towards the new life of Romania, - as a living example for the new work to be accomplished throughout the Country. - The capital portrays, in all and everywhere, the new spirit of the Renaissance.

The Royal Palace, rebuilt to fit in with the Great Romania, and which from today will have in front of it a large square, framed by the Romanian Athenaeum, the Carol I Cultural Foundation and the Ministry of the Interior - a symbolic arrangement embodying prosperity through solidarity around the Crown, through order - guarantee of the fruits of labor - and through culture to make work easier and life more ennobling.

The monument to King Charles I, the man who laid the foundations of today's Romania, was recently erected on this square, which was then greatly enlarged by King Ferdinand I. But the foundation is only the beginning, with the definition of the settlement to be built.

The great work, however, the erection and completion of the edifice that would shelter and facilitate the prosperity of the Romanian nation, would be the work of King Carol II. - It is a work that has begun to rise so happily and on which work is going on steadily and with unwavering determination.

The style of the work is the author's style. - This is why, without searching for it, without specifying it beforehand, in all its details, the KING KING CHARLES II-LEA'S STYLE will be a reality and will encompass one of the most significant epochs in the history of the Romanian people. The era of creative efforts in all fields, through which the Romanian nation will prove its own endowments, and through which it will take its rightful place among the peoples with a precious contribution to the great work of progress and civilization of mankind.

Radio University broadcast, July 17, 8 p.m., SSR Archive, file no. 7/1939, 6 tabs, with the author's own insc. This lecture also contains excerpts from other articles by the architect I.D. Enescu.

The architect Ion D. Enescu (1884-1973) graduated from the Higher School of Architecture in Bucharest in 1912. He made numerous contributions to the magazine "Arhitectura" during the inter-war period, in particular with articles on housing problems, the specific urbanistic features of the Capital, sanitary buildings or communal management issues. Since the 1920s he has been a member of the leadership of the Romanian Society of Architects and the Romanian College of Architects, including serving as vice-president and president. For over 20 years, he held the position of Director of the Directorate of Architecture of the Ministry of Health.

Among his works are: Amzei Church 10 (1912), Rosetti Square 3 (1913-1914), Rosetti Square 5 - Hotel Banatul (1914), Brezoianu Street 31, Bd. Elisabeta 9 (1919-1920), str. Franklin 9 (1925-1926), str. Cobălcescu 16 (1927), Calea Griviței 33 (1929-1926), Bd. Hristo Botev 5 (1930-1931), the building of the General Association of Doctors, Izvor str. (1919), the Episcopal Palace in Constanța (1929-1932), the Institute of Zootechnical Research, Dr. Staicovici str. (1929-1932), the University Clinics Palace in Cluj (1932-1943, collaboration with Arch. Ivașcu), the Sanatorium in Valea Iașului, jud. Argeș (1939-1945), hospitals in Abrud, Brașov, Drobeta-Turnu Severin and Reșița, the TB sanatoriums in Aiud, Geoagiu, Agigea and Mangalia (Paul Constantin, Dicționar universal al arhitecților, Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, București, 1986, pp. 103-104).