Academy president:Let National Culture Day lead community towards universally significant Romanian spiritual values

National Culture Day must lead our community towards the Romanian spiritual values in line with the values of humanity, president of the Romanian Academy, Ioan-Aurel Pop, said on Wednesday in the opening of the festive session "European Synchronies of Romanian Culture" dedicated to the National Culture Day. 

"Entrepreneurial education, health and hygiene education, education on environmental protection, traffic on public roads, gender equality and what not other types of education are attained through the efforts of the family and the school. But being able to perceive [national poet] Eminescu and Goethe, the harmony of a Mozart symphony, of an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, the significance of an Ionic column, or of a Gothic ogival arch, correctly writing and speaking the language of Creanga, Voltaire, or Shakespeare is impossible without personal perseverance within the great strategy for mastering what we proudly call general culture," Pop told the event organized by the Romanian Academy in the Great Hall of the Athenaeum. 

The president of the Academy pointed out that school and organized education play a fundamental role, because they provide the general culture required in order to accede to freedom. 

"It's becoming increasingly clearer that the Europe of the future cannot be built by forced homogenization or by the destruction of nations, as aspired the communist ideology ever since the Communist Party Manifesto, but by cultivating the virtues of each nation in the context of the aforementioned common pool of knowledge. School and organized education play a fundamental role in this regard, because they provide the general culture needed to accede to freedom. Cultural sensitivity is difficult to acquire, but once attained, it can shield humanity, the communities against great misfortunes, offenses, misconducts, crimes, and even killings," Ioan-Aurel Pop said. 

He also remarked that "if we master general culture, we will no longer be governed by basic, gregarious instincts, but by moral values, by the virtues of knowledge, by trust in the good and future of humanity, and deceiving and manipulating the public opinion will become much harder." 

Also addressing the session were president of the Romanian Academy's Philology and Literature Department, Academician Eugen Simion, who gave the lecture titled "Nationals Facing Universality", Academician Nicolae Breban - who spoke about "Existence Through Culture", and Academician and vice-president of the forum, Razvan Theodorescu, who spoke "About a European Synchrony of old Romanian Culture". 

The event ended with a moment of poetry offered by actor Dorel Visan who recited from Mihai Eminescu. 

On display in the foyer of the Romanian Athenaeum was the photo-documentary exhibition "Eminescu 170" put together by the National Museum of Romanian Literature; three book collections of the Romanian Academy: "Romanian Civilization", "Basarabica" and "Sources Regarding the History of Romanians - Hurmuzaki Series" were also presented.