On Sunday, December 17, 2023, at 12:30 p.m., the grand opening of the sculptural ensemble of Virgil Skripkariou took place in Kotrocen, on the square that opens at the meeting of Dr. Erescu, Dr. Dreghiescu and Dr. Romnicanu Streets, on St. the presence of hundreds of people dedicated to Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Jerunca.

In this “opening dossier” I collected two speeches – one by Mrs. Ioana Beldiman, an art historian, and the other mine – as well as three already published texts dedicated to comments on the monument. They belong to Ms. Aurelia Mokanau (art critic), Ms. Tetiana Niculescu and Mr. Andrii Plesh. Thank you all.

Gabriel Liichanu

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Because I want to talk to you production thought which this event has produced in me, I beg you to let me look at the notes by which I shall express it, which were printed on paper in the perfect silence of Cotrocen last evening. At least I’m going through a major moment in my life today, and maybe I’m not alone.

Perhaps it is better that we gather here now, on December 17, than on November 19, the day that marked Monica Lovinescu’s 100th birthday, the day that we initially chose and announced in press releases as the crown of this century. (See note*) Perhaps today’s date, December 17, is more suitable for the ceremonial opening of the monument. All because two memorable ones, Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Yerunka, directed their destinies to fight with unprecedented perseverance for our freedom, and for the fact that today marks the 34th anniversary of what began in Timisoara on December 17 and led to the fall of communism in Romania. All because two memorable ones, Monica Lovinescu and Virgili Yerunka, directed their life destiny to the struggle of unparalleled perseverance for our freedom, and also because today marks the 34th anniversary of what began in Timisoara on December 17 and led to the fall of communism in Romania. Therefore, I will quote the words written these days on the wall by one artist (whose name you will find out yourself), which equate freedom with the creation of the creators of the world, words that could be what we owe, here and starting today – I do not doubt what I say -, this unique work of art in Romania:

“I will never forget that my freedom as an artist and as a person began in Timisoara in December 1989.”

What happened then, on that December 17 in Timisoara, of which today marks the 34th anniversary?

After negotiations with and under pressure from Ceausescu, Defense Minister Vasile Milja told the entire army at 1:30 p.m. on December 17, 1989: “The situation in Timisoara has escalated. This is the army’s order to intervene. The army goes into combat mode. A state of emergency is in force in Timiş County.”

In the afternoon that day, the army and security forces opened fire on approximately 4,000 people who were marching through the streets of the city because, unthinkable under communism, that they wanted freedom. They scattered them with ammunition and bayonets. 66 dead, 196 wounded.

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So, we are gathered here to conclude in beauty The centenary of Monica Lovinescu. And we do this by inaugurating this monument, initiated by the Humanitas Foundation and created by the sculptor Virgil Skripkariou. It is dedicated to Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Yerunza. Who were they and will they remain for us? Once I liked to say about two words that I repeat here:

“Speaking for several decades in Free Europe, Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunka entered our human constellation as “voices” for the first time. They became a function, they were the revenge of that part of us that could no longer express itself. What a formidable “couple” they made with us! History has turned us into cripples of self-expression; they gave us back the gift of speech. What a wonderful therapy their performance was for us! Have the courage to ask, who would we be without them? Isn’t it time, at least now, on the centenary of Monica Lovinescu’s birthday, to remember how much we owe them and how little we have honored their memory?”

Until 1990, they spoke, and we remained silent and swallowed unchewed words of whores and lies. The rain poured down on us, and we ourselves could not do anything against them. We spoke in whispers, they spoke openly, and every now and then they paid for their boldness – two men against the security of 14,000 employees! – with an attempt on life. Or with Ceausescu’s recommendation to the killers that the punishment should be only the ripping out of Monica’s “defiled tongue”. Now they are silent, at the discretion of their death, and it is our turn to speak. And today we will speak through this public forum monument.

Once upon a time, Hannah Arendt, one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, was the author of a famous work The origins of totalitarianismsaid:

“Justice must first restore the destroyed order. It is a healing process that cannot be achieved unless the destroyers, that is, these people, are brought to justice.”

Two things emerge from Hannah Arendt’s words. The first is that we are not cured, that we are still sick because destroyers not only were they not convicted, but they are still regretting them. A people who regret their destroyers by 50% (a recent survey shows: “it was better under communism”) cannot be considered cured, and this is the burden of our disease that we carry after 34 years since the fall of communism. .

The second thing. Not only were the destroyers not legally condemned, but it seems that even their memory was not cursed 23 years ago in the Chamber of the People through the address of the then President of Romania to the Parliament on December 18, 2006. booed in the great hall of the PRM parliament and booed by Vadym Tudor, a message condemning our communist regime as an “illegitimate and criminal regime”. As though Final Report of the Presidential Commission on the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania, developed by a large group of historians, experts and analysts, the 879-page report that formed the basis of the president’s message and was published the following year by Humanitas, would not exist. There is only one thing left for us now: to honor the memory of those who for 40 years did not get tired of reminding every day that “our historical order has been destroyed.”

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In the year of Lovinescu’s centenary, two clear gestures stand out in this sense: the monograph-album written by Cristina Choabe based on impressive documentation, Monica Lovinescu: Life, voice, destinyand StatuaryLovinescu-Yerunkawhich we are inaugurating today, the work of the sculptor Virgil Skripkariou. Descendants of these two will be based on them from now on.

Both have behind them, in the first case – the album – editorial work in the exceptional conditions of the Humanitas publishing house, in the second – a project of the Humanitas Foundation. And both benefit from the hard-to-estimate – er, easy-to-estimate: €220,000 – support from Dedeman. Instead, the spiritual openness and intelligence of an exceptional entrepreneur – Mr. Dragoš Pavlo – who understood that a real society is not created with promises nor when the freedom of creation and perseverance to complete a well-started work disappear.

A final word of thanks. It is not easy to make a gift of hundreds of thousands of euros to the Romanian state. There are rules, there are caveats, the project must convince that it is valuable. And then the urban planning certificate, dozens of approvals are just as many hurdles that seem to multiply, branch out, self-generate as soon as you start jumping over them. Without the understanding and participation from the shadows of administrative forums, state institutions – ministries, town halls – some people who have preserved their humanity in an inhospitable landscape, we would not have reached the end. That is why we have invited Minister Raluka Turkan, Mayor General of Bucharest Nikusor Dan and Councilor General of the Mayor’s Office Nicorel Nicorescu (leader of the USR Parliamentary Group) to be with us at a joint event. that we would not be able to finish the exhausting obstacle course of countless approvals imposed on the installation of this monument.

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I want to dwell for a moment on the symbolism of Virgil Skripkariou’s sculptural composition. Anyone who looks closely at this monument will notice three distinct elements:

Two bronze statues – which, “avoiding the description of the costume of the body” (Aurelia Mocanu), emphasize the spiritual nobility of the two, the One Couple, marked as such by the hand of Monica Lovinescu, gently and with complete trust lying on the forearm of Virgil Yerunka.

Clothes made of stainless steel – an unprecedented performance of solid material processing, as it leaves the impression of a curtain thrown over the silhouettes of two, the highest embraces in a unique destiny.

This work, which seems to be made by the artist with a single gesture and from a single sheet of steel, actually has behind the scenes of its birth the careful welding of hundreds of steel pieces that sit, impossibly undulating, on the curves of a woman’s body. figures of Monica Lovinescu. mantle – at the same time Union wagon (symbol of an unbroken pair) and badge, places of wounds and scars, crushed by received blows. The most gruesome of them is the murder of Sekuritate’s mother in the Vaquereşti Penitentiary.=Read the full article and comment on Contributors.ro