Bucharest

View along a side street in Central Bucharest © Ricky Yates

I spent a further 24 hours in Bucharest following our Archdeaconry Synod meeting, not least because flying back to Prague on Monday afternoon was far cheaper than flying back on Sunday evening! I used the time exploring the city centre by bus and on foot, and I hope that these photographs will give readers of my blog, some impression of what Bucharest is like.

Looking at the photograph on the left, it would be very easy to think that it was taken in Paris or another French city, rather than in Bucharest. And many of the most attractive buildings dating from the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century do display a French architectural style. This is because of the strong French-Romanian links during this time period with many French architects working in Romania and Romanian architects training at French architectural schools.

Below are three more examples of attractive buildings in the French architectural style all located within Central Bucharest. As can be seen, they have each been renovated in recent times after many years of neglect during the communist era.

Romanian Atheneum, Bucharest © Ricky Yates
Central University Library, Bucharest © Ricky Yates
Military Officers Club, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

The French influence even extends to a small version of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe. The Romanian version pictured below, celebrates the re-unification of the country in 1918 at the end of the First World War. Alongside the photograph of Bucharest’s ‘Triumphal Arch’, is a view along another city centre side street which once more illustrates the influence of French nineteenth century architecture. However, the photograph also shows more recent Czech influence with the Staropramen Beer logo featuring on the sun awning and sign of the street-side bar-restaurant!

Triumphal Arch, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

Side street in Central Bucharest with a Staropramen Bar © Ricky Yates

However, as in Prague and the other capital cities of the former Warsaw Pact countries of Central and Eastern Europe, you cannot avoid seeing the impact of over forty years of Communist rule. Below is a photograph of Casa Presei Libere/Press House, a wonderful example of Stalinist-Baroque architecture, completed in 1956. During the period of Communist rule, all print media emanated from this building, hence it was always known informally as the ‘House of Lies’.

Casa Presei Libere/Press House, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

This building in the photograph below, is a large Communist era Conference Centre, built to facilitate the holding of Communist Party Congresses.

Communist era Conference Centre, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

The Communist Party leader of Romania from March 1965 until he was overthrown in the revolution of December 1989, was Nicolae Ceausescu. Following a visit to North Korea in the early 1970s, Ceausescu embarked upon an extraordinary scheme to refashion an entire section of Bucharest according to his own megalomaniacal vision. As part of the scheme, about one sixth of the capital’s buildings were demolished, many of considerable historicity including thirteen Churches.

The pinnacle of Ceausescu’s scheme was the construction of the second-largest building in the world (after the Pentagon in Washington), now known as the Palace of Parliament. Started in 1984 but never completed, it has 12 storeys and 3100 rooms and covers an area of 330,000 square metres.

Palace of Parliament, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

From the Palace of Parliament, a four kilometre-long boulevard was created, deliberately designed to be a few metres wider than the ChampsÉlysées in Paris. All this was done to satisfy the egotistical whims of Ceausescu and his wife Elena, around whom was built a major personality cult.

The boulevard leading from the Palace of Parliament, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

Ceausescu was overthrown in the revolution of December 1989. Still under the delusion that he was popular with the Romanian people despite a revolt in the western city of Timisoara, Ceausescu tried to address the crowds from the balcony of the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party on 21st December 1989. A few minutes into his speech, instead of cheers and applause, the crowd began to boo and heckle him. Unable to control the crowd, he withdrew from the balcony into the building.

The former headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Bucharest with the balcony from where Nicolae Ceausescu made his last speech © Ricky Yates

The crowd outside was broken up by military force using live ammunition which resulted in the death of many of the protesters. The following day, Ceausescu tried again to address the crowds who had once more gathered outside the building. This time, they responded by throwing rocks and missiles and eventually broke into the building, forcing him, together with his wife Elena, to flee by helicopter from the roof. A couple of days later, the couple were arrested, put on trial for two hours before an Extraordinary Military Tribunal, given death sentences and then shot by a three man firing squad.

Memorial to those killed in the December 1989 revolution outside the former Communist Party HQ © Ricky Yates

Fortunately, despite all that Ceausescu and his regime did to the city of Bucharest, many Orthodox Church buildings have survived. Here are two examples that I was briefly able to visit and photograph.

Cretulescu Church, Bucharest © Ricky Yates
Romanian Orthodox Church, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

And finally, here is a third example which, as you can see, is currently undergoing restoration work. This Church belongs to a Romanian Orthodox Convent and where several of us had the privilege of listening to a small group of young nuns sing Vespers on the evening of Sunday 25th September.

Romanian Orthodox Convent Church under restoration, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

Podgorica – Europe’s newest capital city

Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates
Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates

On the evening of Tuesday 20th October, we drove into Podgorica, the capital city of Montenegro having crossed the black or dark mountains that gives the country its name. The name Montenegro comes from the Italian for black or dark mountain and dates from the time of Venetian control of the Adriatic coast. Montenegrins themselves call their country Crna Gora which is black or dark mountain in Montenegrin!

There are some who would challenge the title I’ve given this blog post by saying that Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, is Europe’s newest capital city. However, Montenegro is internationally recognised, even by Serbia from whom it separated following a referendum in May 2006, and the country has since become a member of the United Nations. On the other hand, Kosovo is still only recognised by 64 counties worldwide though these do include the USA and the UK but obviously NOT Serbia.

A few kilometres south of the Serbian town of Novi Pazar, we joined the road that leads from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, via Pristina, heading westwards into Montenegro. Here once more I began retracing my journey of 35 years ago, but this time in the same direction as in April 1975. The mountainous scenery we passed through and the various viaducts and tunnels en-route were very much as I remembered them, but unfortunately, the fading light meant I didn’t get any photos to reproduce here. Sadly, some of the most scenic parts of our journey this time took place in complete darkness, the disadvantage of travelling in late October!

When travelling in 1975, I stayed overnight in Podgorica but I have no recollection whatsoever of the hotel in which I stayed or of the city itself. Actually, I stayed overnight in Titograd, the name by which Podgorica was known from 1946 until reverting to its original name in 1992. As we searched for somewhere to stay, a helpful policeman directed us to Hotel Keto, a modern hotel about ten minutes walk from the city centre. We booked in, deposited our belongings in our room and then walked into the city centre, eventually finding a pleasant bar-restaurant in which to eat.

Whilst the accommodation was perfectly good, I was greeted by two surprises when I came to settle my bill the following morning. The first was that the invoice declared that my place of residence was Sjeverna Irska which is Northern Ireland in Montenegrin. Bearing in mind that I have never set foot in Northern Ireland during the whole of my life, I found this a little odd. It no doubt arose out of the receptionist completely misreading my passport which states that I am a citizen of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’!

The second surprise was that, in addition to the amount agreed for bed and breakfast, there was a further charge for three drinks from the bar. When I queried this, pointing out that we had not drunk at the bar during our stay, the explanation was that it was the three cups of coffee we had drunk between us as part of our breakfast. Please therefore be aware that should you ever have cause to stay in the Hotel Kato in Podgorica, breakfast doesn’t include coffee!!!

Sadly, there is very little in the way of historic buildings in Podgorica as the city suffered severe structural damage during the Second World War. However, one of the most striking new buildings is the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. Begun in 1993, it is still under construction but it does make a most stunning addition to the skyline. Inside, floor mosaics were still being laid. But the outside is almost complete except that the front doors are yet to be hung. On the outside there are these two wonderful stone carvings shown below.

Stone carved illustration of Noah' Ark on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates
Stone carved illustration of Noah' Ark on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates

Stone carved Chi Rho symbol surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates
Stone carved Chi Rho symbol surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists on the exterior of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Podgorica © Ricky Yates

Some reflections on the Croat-Serb Conflict

Catholic Church in Karlovac with partially repaired war damage © Ricky Yates
Catholic Church in Karlovac with partially repaired war damage © Ricky Yates

I’m sorry for the two week delay in posting my final piece about our time in Croatia. Since being back in Prague we’ve had a succession of visitors which has left little time for blogging!

We spent the night of Monday 20th July, our last in Croatia, in the town of Karlovac. Although considerable work has been done to repair the damage caused to buildings in Karlovac during the 1991-95 conflicts that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, there still remains much to do.

The picture on the left is of part of the outside wall of a Roman Catholic Church attached to a Franciscan Monastery in the centre of the town. You can clearly see where holes caused by bullets and shrapnel have been filled in at lower levels whilst higher up, they remain un-repaired. Within the nave of this Church there were three modern stained-glass windows, presumably replacing ones damaged beyond repair during the fighting.

Orthodox Church Seminary & Admin Offices in Karlovac © Ricky Yates
Orthodox Church Seminary and Administrative Offices in Karlovac © Ricky Yates
Sign on Orthodox Church building in Karlovac © Ricky Yates
Sign on Orthodox Church building in Karlovac © Ricky Yates

However, on another street corner not very far away, was this completely boarded up building that had clearly also been badly damaged in the conflict. The plaque on wall offered a partial explanation in Croatian, English and German. Until the ‘Croatian War of Independence’, it had served as an Orthodox Seminary and the administrative headquarters for the Orthodox Church in the surrounding area. The sign acknowledged that the building had been badly damaged in the war, but offered no further explanation as to why nothing has been done to repair it since.

The explanation unfortunately lies in the division between West and East that took place in the history of the Christian Church more than a thousand years ago. The division between Rome and Constantinople, between Roman Catholic and Orthodox which in turn is, the division between Roman Catholic Croat and Orthodox Serb. As with the area around Knin, when the Croatian army regained full control of Karlovac and the surrounding area, the vast majority of the Serb Orthodox population were either driven out or chose to flee. There is therefore now very little of the Serbian Orthodox Church functioning in Croatia so far as I could ascertain.

Much as we both enjoyed our time in Croatia, I did feel that this situation is a very bad reflection on Christianity as whole, regardless of different traditions. Christians ought to be at the heart of the important work of reconciliation. Instead, it seems that the respective Churches have allowed themselves to be far too closely associated with ardent nationalism.

The Roman Catholic Church is remarkably strong in Croatia. But I very much sense that this is in part due to its close association with the resurgence of the Croatian national identity which has shown very little concern for any minorities. Likewise, the Serbian Orthodox Church has been very much at the heart of the rise of Serbian nationalism with once more, very little concern for non-Serbs. This phenomenon is unfortunately not unique to the former Yugoslavia. The Russian Orthodox Church, seeking to recover from its suppression during the Soviet Communist era, is now very strongly associated with the rise of Russian nationalism and shows very little tolerance for anyone of a different persuasion.

Of course, these are the reflections of an outsider on a two week visit. There may be groups of Christians on either side of the divide who are working to bring about reconciliation. I hope there are! For whilst many buildings have been or are in process of being repaired, many lives have be irreparably damaged. The Christian Church, regardless of tradition, ought to be playing its part in bringing healing to the lives of those on both sides of the Croat-Serb divide, who have suffered so much as a result of this conflict.