Jan 142010
One of the attractions in Herăstrău park is the small “Island of roses” which can be reached via two arched bridges. There, among flowerbeds and walking alleys you can find the “Monument of the Founding Fathers of the European Union”, a collection of 12 sculpted heads arranged in a circle, each statue about 1.2 meters tall, and showing like its name says, the famous people involved in the founding of the EU. Their author is the artist Ionel Stoicescu and the monument was unveiled on Europe Day, May 9, 2006 when Romania was still a candidate to join the EU. More photos from the island following:
the sculptures are imposing! never seen big heads like that before! ^0^
i think the sculptor is very talented, to think that he could do 12 heads of all the EU founders?! ^-^
is the weather gloomy when you shot this?
nonetheless, it's a perfect capture and a good angle.
the 3rd foto is very expressive too, i wonder what it's depicting….
I think the regular visitors to Herăstrău Park are the only Europeans that could name more than one founding father of the EU. Most Europeans could not even manage one.
Definitely more traditional than Cerny's metaphors for the EU 🙂
Thank you for choosing Herastrau – I haven't been there in ages and it's nice to see it again.
I love this park with the view on the lake and all these statues. I knew (but I'm not so sure) that the founding fathers were six and I could name only three: Alcide De Gasperi, Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schumann, the others are a mystery you have to solve for us. When you have time…
Lia: I didn't know about Cerny's sculpture so I looked it up and I have to say I had quite a laugh reading the wikipedia page about Entropa. Glad we're not in Bulgaria's shoes 🙂 All of a sudden being stereotyped as a country of vampires doesn't sound so bad 🙂
VP: I only shot pictures of three of the heads but I was able to find them listed on a site belonging to the City Hall. The people depicted are: Joseph Bech (1887-1975), Jean Rey (1902-1983), Paul Henri Spaak (1899-1972), Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), Walter Hallstein (1901-1982), Robert Schumann (1886-1963), Jean Pierre Monnet (1888-1979), Sicco Mansholt (1908-1995), Johan Willem Beyen (1897-1976), Altiero Spinelli (1907-1986), Alcide de Gasperi (1881-1954) si Pierre Werner (1913-2002).
arabesque: Yes, the weather is gloomy, that's how winter in Bucharest looks like most of the time 🙁 I think the third photo depicts Hercules fighting the centaur but that's just my interpretation, I might be wrong.
That is a beautiful park in many respects. I would guess it's very popular in the summertime.
And the sculptures are to be expected. I mean famous people often get big heads!
Thank you for the detailed answer. I am glad I picked three out of twelve…