București

Bucharest, the capital of Romania – a rather young city compared to other European capitals – was mentioned for the first time in a document in 1459.

The legend has it that first there was a "settlement of a shepherd named Bucur". However, since it was a place at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, along the routes from the West to the East and from the North to the South, we would rather fancy it, in its beginnings, as a long-awaited place to rest, on the banks of several rivers (Colentina, Dâmboviţa, and Sabar), amidst a plain, sheltered by the Vlăsiei woods, which were stretching from the Carpathians down to the Danube river. It was a place where travellers, merchants or vagrants, knights or pilgrims heading towards the holy places in Jerusalem, would regain their strength before crossing the Danube, the threshold to the Ottoman Empire.

We like to imagine these travellers setting up their camp and preparing their meals, while singing songs from their homelands. Afterwards, having quenched their hunger and thirst, the travelling journeymen, no matter where they came from and regardless of the purpose of their trip, would gather round the fire until late at night. They would tell about their adventures on the road and stories from home and they would compete in making music and dancing, each of them happy to exhibit what they deemed to be the most beautiful. They would listen to each other and watch one another in order to learn new things meant to be taken back home as a gift.

The place seemed to be a blessed one, since by and by the "travellers' halt", Bucur's settlement acquired ever more importance. Thus, in 1465, Radu the Beautiful, Prince of Wallachia, made it into his court's residence. He is the one who commissioned the construction of the first imposing buildings here in Bucharest – the most important of which was The Old Court (Curtea Veche). Its ruins with the mark of mystery, recalling times of danger and sufferance, have been an inspiration to important Romanian writers, such as Mateiu Caragiale.

More than 100 years later, Prince Mircea Ciobanul added to the Old Court a Princely Church, a place of worship fully preserved to our days. Over time, the number of churches built in Bucharest has risen to 365 – so that, according to a tourist guide of the 1970s –, the faithful could go and pray in a different church every day of the year. Nevertheless, during the last decade of communism, many churches were demolished, so their number has decreased significantly.

Bucharest was not a permanent capital of the country. For more than three centuries, the seat of the Wallachian Princes moved alternating between Bucharest and Târgovişte, a town that was less exposed to the Turkish invaders due to its location close by the Southern Carpathian Mountains. Only 500 years after its first mentioning in a document, in 1859, after the Great Union of the two Romanian Principalities - Wallachia and Moldavia – Bucharest became and remained to this day the capital of Romania.

Throughout its history, Bucharest has cultivated and guarded a spiritual and cultural life, both complex and fascinating that resulted from the original blend between the local Romanian characteristics and those of the ethnic minorities - no less than 17 today –, as well as from foreign influences, mainly European ones.

Nowadays, the eyes are captivated and rewarded by the most various architectural styles; the fine arts combine ancient folk patterns with elements of academic art, peaking out in such masterpieces as Ţuculescu's paintings or Brâncuşi's sculptures, but also in the works of many contemporary artists. The streets and the museums offer the opportunity of an enchanting journey through time and places.

Likewise, literature and the performing arts are of great importance, too. Internationally acknowledged writers, who have received their education mainly in the learning institutions of Bucharest, artists and theatre or film directors are carrying forward the aesthetic and civic message of the Romanian culture.

But, more than any other art, MUSIC claims the limelight on the cultural scene of Bucharest. A university of music and two music high schools prepare talented youths turning them into artists with a solid musical education. We find them often as members of the great international orchestras and also listen to them performing on the famous stages worldwide. Naturally, we meet them at home, in Bucharest, too, giving concerts and recitals during the musical seasons of the Romanian Atheneum and the Radio Hall or in less conventional places.

Well, we should not forget the music festivals of Bucharest! These true moments of pampering and elation. The SoNoRo Festival is no exception. With or without masks, now, at its 5th edition, it will envelop Bucharest in harmony and beauty, enhancing the city's special charm.

This is our city of Bucharest, from its beginnings to the present day, with its spirit that came into being some 550 years ago, and is rising unremittingly ever since. (c s t)