Roumania Past and Present Part 3

CHAPTER IV.

TOPOGRAPHICAL, ETC.

The chief cities of Roumania--The capital, Bucarest--Ignorance concerning it--Conflicting accounts--Its true character--The 'sweet waters of the Dambovitza'--Dimensions of Bucarest--External aspect--The Chaussee, the ladies' mile of Bucarest--Streets, shops, and houses--The Academy--Its collections--Coins--Dacian, Roman, and other antiquities--Excellent physical laboratory--Professor Bacologlu--The Coltza laboratory--Dr. Bernath--The Cismegiu Garden--Shabby courts of justice--Other buildings--Churches--Railway stations--Fine hospitals--Dr.

Davila--The Colentina Hospital--The 'police des murs' and the morality of Bucarest--The 'Philanthropic' Hospital--The 'Coltza'--Its museums--Life in Bucarest--Hotels--The upper cla.s.ses--Places of amus.e.m.e.nt--Cost of land and houses for different cla.s.ses--Wages of artisans; of gipsies--Habits of the working-cla.s.ses--Cost of living, food, clothing, &c.--Native costumes made by the peasantry--Their beauty and variety--The poorest cla.s.s--Mamaliga--The gipsies--Their origin and history--Their slavery--Wilkinson's account of them in his day--Their emanc.i.p.ation and present condition--Laoutari or musicians--Their other occupations--Their religion--Fusion with the native Roumanians--Striking contrast between gipsies and natives--Lipovans--Roumanian love of bright colours--Pictorial advertis.e.m.e.nts--Amusing signboards--Absence of intellectual entertainments and occupations--Want of exchange and market buildings--Great advances since 1857--Edgar Quinet's account of Roumania in his day--'The Roumanian Company for erecting Public Edifices'--Funerals--Octroi duties--Their onerous character--A few words on the Jews--Bitter journalistic attacks upon them--Curtea d'Ardges--Its beautiful cathedral--The exterior--Fine tracery and ornaments--The interior--Legendary history--Negru Voda and Manole--Poem of Manole--Entombs his wife alive in the foundation--His fate--True history--Neagu Ba.s.sarab, its founder--John Radul--Quaint and interesting tablets concerning its history down to 1804--Subsequent history and present condition--(Note: Brief history of Christianity in Roumania--Atheism and indifference to religion).

I.

The chief cities or towns in Roumania are Bucarest, the capital, in the district of Ilfovu; Ja.s.sy or Iasi, the old capital of Moldavia, in that of the same name; Galatz or Galati, in Covurluiu; Curtea d'Ardges, in the district of that name; Braila or Ibrail, Craiova, Botosani, Ploiesti, and Pitesti. We have not named them exactly in the order of their size, as it is our intention to give some details of the first four only.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF BUCAREST, WITH THE MAIN STREETS AND BUILDINGS.

(_Reduced from Plan by Professor Zamphirolu._)

1. Filaret Railway Station.

2. Tirgovistea Railway Station.

3. Metropolitan Cathedral.

4. Palace.

5. National Theatre.

6. Council of Ministers.

7. Academy.

8. British Emba.s.sy.

9. Post and Telegraph Offices.

10. Church, Radu Voda.

11. Ministry of Finance.

12. Summer Palace (Cotroceni).

13. Asyle Helene.

14. Coltza Hospital.

15. Colentina Hospital.

16. Bank of Roumania.]

Of the capital, Bucarest, the reader will here find a general plan, in case he should at any time visit the city. To give any lengthened account of it, however, would be a mistake; for such a description would certainly be inaccurate a few years hence, as the city is undergoing great change and improvement from day to day. Still it is the heart of Roumania, the centre from which all progress emanates; and whilst we shall refer to some of its more valuable inst.i.tutions when we come to deal with national and social questions of general importance, we propose to dwell upon it for a brief s.p.a.ce.

Some of the questions that are asked concerning Bucarest, even by persons who believe themselves well-informed, are highly amusing. One friend, who is really a well-read man, asked us shortly after our visit whether it was not a great continuous 'Mabille,' and he looked very incredulous when we told him that, although we had walked through and through it, and had carefully looked at all the posters announcing amus.e.m.e.nts in various places, we had no recollection of seeing a dancing-garden amongst them, and that we believed none existed. Another friend, a highly educated professional man, was not quite sure whether Bucarest was north or south of the Danube; but it was a place, he knew, where the chief occupation was gambling. There may be some little truth in the latter statement, but gaming-tables are forbidden, and he need not go so far from home as that to see the law evaded.

But it is no wonder that strangers are puzzled to form a correct conception of Bucarest, and their perplexity is not likely to be relieved if they read the descriptions that have been given of the city and its inhabitants from time to time. Some writers have described it as an a.s.semblage of dilapidated houses standing in unpaved streets. Its upper cla.s.ses are represented as very polite depraved ladies and gentlemen, including a large proportion of the former who have been divorced three or four times, and are in the habit of entertaining simultaneously all their _ci-devant_ husbands in the presence and with the sanction of the 'man in possession.' The lower cla.s.ses comprise half-naked gipsies of both s.e.xes, with a considerable sprinkling of priests or 'popes,' eating bread and onions or mamaliga (the maize pudding of the ma.s.ses), or lounging on the doorsteps of the houses, or sauntering along the unpaved streets in charge of a lean pig. According to such writers the chief occupation of the Bucarester is getting divorced or being buried in state. Then there is the romantic school of authors who represent it as a city of palaces standing in their own grounds, with numerous beautiful Byzantine churches, pleasure-gardens in which plays are performed, or where the Laoutari or minstrels (gipsy bands) play wild and stirring music all day long. There are charming Roumanian belles, with flashing eyes and the sweetest of voices; dark-eyed gipsies, chaste as Diana and as fleet of foot; grave boyards, stately Turks (of whom, by the way, we never saw one whilst we were on Roumanian ground, although there were plenty, very much married indeed, on the Danube steamers); reverend abbots, with long black robes and flowing white beards; and nuns in unique costumes of dark cloth, with caps and hoods resembling a crusader's helmet. The truth, as usual, lies between these two opposite extremes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONK AND NUN.]

Bucarest, or Bucuresci, 'the city of joy,' as it is called by the Roumanians, is a large, irregular, straggling city of about 175,000 inhabitants, situated on a dirty little stream called the Dambovitza (as already stated, a tributary of the Ardges), concerning which some very famous verses have been written, proclaiming its waters to be so sweet that any one who drinks of them never desires to leave Bucarest. What its retentive properties may have been in former times we are not able to say, but we can quite imagine any person who ventures to drink of the water being incapable of leaving the city for ever afterwards.

However, the prosaic authorities are not greatly impressed by their national poetry in this instance. The river is being 'ca.n.a.lised,' or confined within stone embankments, and there is a plentiful supply of _apa dulce_ from another source, which exercises no controlling influence whatever upon the movements of the drinker. The greatest length of the city as the crow flies is about 3-1/10 miles, and its greatest breadth somewhat less, but many of the outlying parts resemble country roads rather than streets. Viewed from a distance, or from the hill upon which the metropolitan church stands, it has a most picturesque appearance, consisting of a vast number of churches, chiefly Byzantine, only a few of which are visible in our photograph, and many good-sized buildings. But what gives a peculiar charm to the city is that all these buildings appear to be placed in one vast garden, for there is hardly a single one without some trees in its immediate vicinity, and many of the larger houses really stand in gardens of considerable extent. This, too, is the cause of the city covering so large a s.p.a.ce in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. It is built with perplexing irregularity, as will be seen even from our superficial plan, where only the main streets are given; but the intermediate s.p.a.ces are filled with narrow, crooked, and ill-paved streets and lanes, their most disagreeable feature being that, in consequence of the soft yielding nature of the subsoil, the pavement gives way, and soon becomes inconveniently undulating. There are, however, several broad well-paved streets,[28] the chief being the Podu Mogosoi, as it is still called, although after the fall of Plevna it received the more dignified appellation of the Strada Victoriei; it runs through the centre of the city from an incipient boulevard--which promises one of these days to metamorphose the whole place--to a park or garden of considerable extent, where it is further continued through an alley of trees known as the Chaussee. This is the favourite drive of the Bucaresters, and at stated hours a rapid succession of vehicles pours out from various parts of the city to see and to be seen. These birjas, as the little open carriages (resembling a small _caleche_) are called, contain the moat motley a.s.semblage of sight-seers--amba.s.sadors, state officials, and well-to-do citizens of both s.e.xes in European dress; ladies of more humble rank in the national costume;[29] gipsies and poor workmen and women, who, one might imagine, would be better on foot, half-clad, and very considerably unwashed. In or about the Strada Victoriei are many of the princ.i.p.al buildings--the national theatre, the King's palace (a very modest structure at present undergoing improvements), the Ministry of Finance, and some fine hotels. The shops, which are mostly kept by Germans and French-men, are of a fair kind, though not equal to those of Vienna, Paris, or indeed of many smaller continental capitals.[30] The houses here, and everywhere in Bucarest, are built of brick, plastered white, and often very tastefully decorated externally with figures or foliage in terra cotta; but it is the cracking and falling off of this external coating, which occurs more readily in a place subject to great changes of temperature than in more equable temperate climes, that imparts to Bucarest the dilapidated appearance so often referred to by writers. This blemish is, however, likely soon to disappear; for the rise of a wealthy middle and trading cla.s.s, and the general increase of prosperity, will lead to the subst.i.tution of stone buildings for what can only be regarded as temporary structures.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUCAREST.

(FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANZ DUSCHEK.)]

Besides the 'Victoriei,' there are several other very good streets, one of which is the Lipscanii, which derives its name from the Leipzig traders who formerly lived there, and it is still only a shop street.

There are some small squares with central gardens, but the finest thoroughfare promises to be the Boulevard, which it is intended to carry round the city by connecting it with the wider roads. On this boulevard stands the Academy, a large cla.s.sical building with a fine facade of columns; and in a square opposite is the bronze equestrian statue of Michael the Brave, engraved in the second part of this treatise.

[Footnote 28: The middle pavement is composed of a very hard kind of brick called 'basalt,' which is very solid and durable.]

[Footnote 29: The national costume is worn by Indies of high position in the country, and on state occasions, but not as ordinary citizens'

dress; see the Queen's portrait, Chap. XV.]

[Footnote 30: It may be mentioned for the reader's guidance that French or German will serve him almost anywhere in Roumania.]

II.

The Academy is the centre of intellectual life in Bucarest. Temporarily the Senate meets there, but it also harbours many other inst.i.tutions.

First there is the National Library, with a collection of 30,000 volumes, most ably managed by M. Tocilesco, who is at the same time a well-known author, and professor of ancient history at the University.

Through his acquaintance with the literature of most European nations, his own historical and ethnological attainments, and his readiness to put these as well as the treasures of the library at the disposal of strangers, this gentleman cannot fail to raise his country in the estimation of those who pay it a visit. He is also the curator of the fine Archaeological Museum in the same building, which is very valuable to historians. It contains a complete series of Roumanian coins presented to the Academy by M. Stourdza; many Dacian, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Syrian relics; along with a smaller collection from the bronze, stone, and iron ages. Some of the Daco-Roman monuments and sarcophagi, found near the Oltu, have a special historical interest, and many of the more valuable objects, such as arms and ornaments of gold, bear runic inscriptions. Coming down to a later period, there are Albanian arms and costumes, mediaeval vestments and ornaments of the clergy, a magnificent carved oak screen of the seventeenth century, probably one of the finest in existence, and numerous other objects of interest to the antiquary.[31]

The natural history collection is poor, although local types are well represented; the gallery of paintings is small and good, the subjects being chiefly historical, with the addition of portraits of Heliade and other national heroes. The cla.s.ses of the University meet here, but, with one exception, the appliances for higher scientific education are very inferior. That exception is the physical laboratory, which would reflect credit upon any public inst.i.tution. It is contained in three or four large rooms, and comprises every modern physical appliance carefully protected from injury. Most of the instruments, which are of the first order, are made by Secretau of Paris, and a small engine and a Siemens-Halske magneto-electric machine were in course of erection during our visit. The selection of instruments and the order which pervades the whole bear practical testimony to the accomplishments of Professor M. Emanuel Bacologlu, of whose teaching power and wide-spread knowledge we heard nothing but praise on every side. The chemical laboratory is nothing more than a popular lecture hall, poor and disorderly in its arrangements, and quite unworthy of a national inst.i.tution. On the other hand there is a small but perfect chemical laboratory in the Coltza Hospital close by, where the lecturers, Dr.

Davila and his able a.s.sistant Dr. Bernath, give excellent instruction to the young medical students of the city. This is, however, far too small for its object, and we hope that the 'era of peace,' referred to in the speech from the throne last year, will enable the State to give greater efficiency to the instruction and appliances of the city. In any case, there is one practicable means of attaining this end which wilt be pointed out when we come to speak of the general education of the people.

[Footnote 31: Engravings of most of the objects here referred to will be found in M. Tocilesco's book, which, through his kindness, the writer has been enabled to deposit in the British Museum Library.]

III.

Under the same roof the geographical and other learned societies meet.

But we have said enough of this building, and must now pa.s.s on to a few more prominent edifices in the city. Besides the Chaussee and its surroundings, there is another large park or pleasure-garden in the centre of the city, called the Cismegiu, which contains ornamental waters, flower-beds, and fine alleys of trees, and is a favourite resort of the humbler cla.s.ses. In the immediate vicinity of this garden stand the Courts of Justice, and the greatest service we can render to the people of Bucarest is to advise visitors to give them a wide berth, or at least to content themselves with a look at the exterior. The interior of some portions at least vies, in filth and disorder, with the meanest of our police courts. The Government buildings are of a much higher order, and that of the Ministerial Council is very s.p.a.cious and well furnished. None of the numerous churches of Bucarest are really fine, excepting in their external appearance, which is often very picturesque.

They are all built of brick and plastered, many roofed with metal, and the paintings in them are very inferior, however interesting some of them may be historically. The finest is the cathedral, or metropolitan church, which stands upon a commanding eminence not far from the boulevard, and beside it are two poor buildings, in one of which the metropolitan resides, whilst in the other the Chamber of Deputies meets.

The church is comparatively recent, having been erected in 1656 and restored in 1859.

Bucarest has two railway stations, both situated at some distance from the centre of the city. One is the terminus of the railway from Giurgevo, situated on the Danube about two hours' ride distant; the other of the lines to Verciorova, Pesth, and Vienna, westward; Predeal and Kronstadt, Transylvania, to the north; and Galatz, Ja.s.sy, and Odessa to the north-east and east. Pa.s.sengers going to Constantinople travel by rail to Giurgevo, where they cross the Danube to Rustchuk, and thence proceed again by rail through Bulgaria to Varna, and on by steamer to Constantinople; but a line is in progress from Bucarest which will take them to the Black Sea through the Dobrudscha, namely, from Cernavoda to Constanta (Kustendjie), thence to the capital of Turkey by steamer.

Returning once more to the consideration of the public buildings, we have to refer to the hospitals, which are admirably managed by the 'Eforia Spitalelor,' the hospital board, as we should call it, and by its Director-General, Dr. Davila, whose work one encounters continually in Bucarest. There are seven hospitals or infirmaries, of which three at least are well worth a visit. The Colentina hospital makes up 200 beds, 130 for women and 70 for men. The wards are roomy, well ventilated and warmed, and the beds and bedding clean and comfortable. (The same cannot, however, be said of certain other arrangements.) There are ten women nurses, and we heard complaints of a want of volunteers there and elsewhere, which detracts from the humanitarian character of the work.

To the hospital a dispensary is attached, where from January 1 to September 8 last year, 10,791 persons had been relieved. A very repulsive feature in this hospital is the ward containing forty or fifty unfortunate women under the surveillance of the so-called 'Police des Murs,' who are very solicitous about the health of a few of these miserable creatures that live in a wretched lane in the city, whilst they allow the traffic to be carried on in some places as openly as it is in the Strand or Haymarket. Another hospital, which to the uninitiated is far more attractive than the Colentina, is the Philanthropic, a beautiful building of recent construction, containing wide pa.s.sages and very fine wards, and admirably fitted up with baths and all modern conveniences. The third is situated close to the academy, and is called the Coltza hospital. This was originally a monastery, at the entrance of which a statue, already referred to, has been erected to Michael Cantacuzene, the founder,[32] and it is said to have been converted into a hospital in 1715.