The decay of Baia Mare’s historical heritage…
The video above is filmed by me in the Peace Square (Piața Păcii) of Downtown Baia Mare. It’s the image of the decaying wall of the former Minorite Monastery (1692), continuing towards the Franciscan Church (1547), the oldest church in town. The building is in its current “under construction” state for more than 10 years, covered in a painted blanket that finally gives up, revealing the non-existent building renovation. Keep in mind that this is in the central part of the town – as a matter of fact it can’t be more central than this… Money is not an issue when the town and the surrounding county have as residents some of the richest people in the country…
This… is us…
This… is our true nature, our true face…
This.
Generations have worked so as to erect these buildings that stood the test of time for hundreds of years, including the two World Wars and the Romanian communist regime who enjoyed demolishing everything that was different and transform everyone and everything in – in Pink Floyd’s words – “bricks in a wall”. In the end, it’s the negligence and the indolence that gradually reduces these buildings to dust… When they will be sufficiently ruined, the local administration will simply demolish them and build on that place some unsophisticated modern buildings or perhaps create social housing for migrants… All the work, all the creativity, all the sacrifice – everything – will amount to Nothing.
Small nations don’t know who they are and do not value their heritage, their history, their uniqueness. Small people focus on the present time, on money and (social and financial) status. Small people have no future and don’t care about what they leave behind. Small people don’t care about their children or about the future generations. Small people have only themselves and an insatiable hunger for money and power. Art, aesthetics, style… are unfamiliar, unknown, weird concepts.
My life in Transylvania is intertwined with my passion for the Austrian-Hungarian style, both in aesthetical (architectural) terms and in behavioral (morality) terms. I am a Central-European at heart, a bridge between the East and the West; I understand both and I lived in both.
Romania is gradually becoming what it truly is: a gathering of people loosely linked by shallow values such as self-interest, primitive religious beliefs (or rather, superstitions) and the inability to come together in a timely manner. It is a failed nation living in a failed state. And it is painful because I belong to this cultural realm: this failure is my failure as well.
I no longer wish to show you images from my native country; finding beauty in ruins is something that hurts me too much. We are truly small people… and I had enough…
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See also my main article about Baia Mare – Rivulus Dominarum.
