Background
Romania's history has been full of rebounds: the culturally productive epochs were those of stability when the people proved quite an impressive resourcefulness in the making up for less propitious periods and were able to rejoin the mainstream ofHistory
Middle Ages
Until the 14th century, small states (Classical Age
Golden Age
Post-war period
In Romania, theCulture inside communist Romania
A strong editorial activity took place during the Communist regime. With the purpose of educating the large masses of peoples, a huge number of books were published. Large-scale editing houses such as ''Cartea Românească'', ''Editura Eminescu,'' and others appeared, which published huge collections of books, such as the ''Biblioteca pentru Toţi'' ("The Library for Everyone") with over 5,000 titles. Generally, a book was never published in an edition of less than 50,000 copies. Libraries appeared in every village, and almost all were kept up to date with the newest books published. Also, due to low prices, almost everyone could afford to have their own collection of books at home. The negative part was that all the books were heavily censored. Also, due to rationing in every aspect of life, the quality of the printing and the paper also was very low, and the books, therefore, degraded easily. During this period, there was a significant increase in the number of theatres, as they appeared even in the smallest towns. Many new establishments were built, and in the big cities they became important landmarks, such as the building of the National Theatre of Bucharest, situated right in the middle of the city, immediately adjacent to Romania's kilometre zero. In the smaller towns, there existed the so-called "Worker's Theatre", a semi-professional institution. Partly due to the lack of other entertainment venues, the theatre was highly popular, and the number of actors increased. All of the theatres had a stable, state-funded budget. Again, however, the drawback was the heavy control imposed on them by the regime: censorship was ever-present, and only ideologically-accepted plays were allowed. More progressive theatres managed to survive in some remote cities that became favorite destinations for young actors, but they generally had only a local audience. Cinemas evolved the same way as the theatres; sometimes, the same establishment served both purposes. Movies were very popular, and from the 1960s, foreign films started becoming quite widespread.Romanians in exile
A consequence of the communist attitude towards the bourgeoisie elites in general, was the creation, for the first time in Romania's history, of aEvolutions after 1989
The fall of soviet-style communism in 1989 elated the cultural world, but the experience hasn't been an easy one due to problems in the transition period and the adoption of a free market economy. The discontinuation of state and political control of culture brought about the long dreamt freedom of expression, but, at the same time, the state subsidies also stopped, and Romania's culture was seriously affected by the side-effects of the incipient, still very imperfect, free-market economy and by inadequate material resources. Culture has had to cope with a variety of problems, one of them being a shift in people's interest towards other areas such as the press and television. The search for a new cultural policy, relying on decentralization, seems to prevail now. People speak about a crisis of culture in this country, but if there is a crisis of culture, it is only at an institutional level.Culture
Folklore in Romania Southern traditional Romanian costumes from Bucharest, late 19th century The most striking thing about Romanian culture is the strong folk traditions which have survived to this day due to the rural character of the Romanian communities, which has resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Romania's rich folk traditions have been nourished by many sources, some of which predate the Ancient Rome, Roman occupation. Traditional folk arts include wood carving, Pottery, ceramics, weaving, and embroidery of costumes, household decorations, dance, and richly varied folk music. Ethnographers have tried to collect in the last two centuries as many elements as possible: the Museum of the Romanian Peasant and the Romanian Academy are currently the main institutions which systematically organize the data and continue the research of these elements. The wood used to be the main construction material, and heavily ornamented wooden objects were common in old houses. In MaramureÈ™ region, MaramureÈ™, wood was used to create impressive structures such as churches or gates; in Dobruja, windmills were made of wood, and in mountainous regions, hardwood was used even for covering the roof. To preserve traditional houses, many village museums have been created in the last century throughout Romania, such as the Village Museum inMythology
Romanians have had, from time immemorial, a myriad of customs, tales, and poems about love, faith, kings, princesses, and witches. The ethnologists, poets, writers, and historians have tried in recent centuries to collect and to preserve tales, poems, ballads and have tried to describe as well as possible the customs and habits related to different events and times of the year. Customs related to certain times of year are the ''colinde'', Romanian Christmas carols, ''sorcova'' on New Year's Eve, or the ''Mărțișor'' custom on the first day of March, marking the spring. Other customs are presumably of pre-Christian Paganism, pagan origin, like the ''Paparuda'' rain enchanting custom in the summer, or the masked folk theatre or ''Ursul'' (the bear) and ''Capra'' (the goat) in winter. Perhaps the most successful collector of folk tales was the novelist and storyteller Ion Creangă, who in very picturesque language, shaped into their now-classic form stories like ''Harap Alb'' ("The White Moor") or ''Fata babei și fata moșului'' (roughly, "The old woman's daughter and the old man's daughter"). Also, the poetSpirituality and religion
Cuisine
Romanian script
Contribution of the minorities
Architecture and engineering
In the technical domain, one can note the achievements in the field of aviation made by Traian Vuia, Aurel Vlaicu, Aurel Persu, and Henri Coandă and also the works of George Constantinescu in the fields of engineering and Theory of sonics, sonics. Also, many achievements have been made in the architectural and engineering domain; thus,Media and television
Music
See also
* Languages of Romania * Literature of Romania * Architecture of Romania * Cinema of Romania * Famous Romanian people * Romanian humour * Byzantium after Byzantium, a cultural movement which sprung during the medieval Romanian history. * Sport in Romania * Culture of MoldovaReferences
External links
Sibiu International Theatre Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSfSH16tFXU