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An exhibition called "Galati of Old," mounted by the Faculty of Letters of Dunarea de Jos University of Galati in collaboration with the AGERPRES National News Agency, opened on Monday at the university displaying photos from the AGERPRES picture library depicting the city's main attractions.
"On the 74th anniversary of higher education in Galati, we are meeting here for the opening of a unique exhibition under the partnership between the Faculty of Letters of Dunarea de Jos University and the AGERPRES National News Agency, a documentary exhibition called 'Galati of Old' that includes photographs taken by AGERPRES photojournalists from 1947 to 1998. They are documentary photographs because they highlight a city that had just emerged from a long series of catastrophes that culminated on August 25-26, 1944, when retreating German troops mined and blew up the entire historic centre of this city, and with the establishment of the communist regime, which brought fundamental changes, including to the city on the Danube, with the departure of a large part of the city's population of Jews, Greeks, and Armenians and the arrival of other people from the surrounding villages and counties once the construction of the steel plant begins," said Catalin Negoita, associated professor of the Faculty of Letters.
Attending the event, AGERPRES Director General Claudia Victoria Nicolae thanked the hosts for the unique idea of organising this exhibition, and also for the partnership between the university and the agency.
"Thank you for such a unique idea for the university and in its relationship with us. Indeed, 74 years of performance in education honour us as an agency, and we have managed to find together in the AGERPRES library pictures that honour you and the city. Above all, I believe that history, tradition shape our belonging in every place and at every moment. It is, after all, a symbiosis between image and words. While words build up, because we, journalists, use words, we are talking here about print journalists, from news agencies, pictures are added to round up, polish words, and above all pictures remain the most faithful proof of a history, especially at the AGERPRES National News Agency. The pictures in the AGERPRES library are untouched mechanically, the only interventions are light or shape, otherwise, as you can see, they were captured by our colleagues and I think this is the most valuable treasure that the agency has when it brings to light - for those interested, for those who belong to those places - every object, every building, every place, to remember history, the tradition of a place. I am glad that we started with this exhibition and I am convinced that the partnership will continue with other ideas. I congratulate you on 74 years of education," said Nicolae.
In his turn, Dunarea de Jos Rector Puiu Lucian Georgescu emphasised the need for a regular exchange of ideas between public organisations and the community, with such exhibitions being a bind.
"Thank you for the idea of such an exhibition, which combines the artistic grace of our Arts students with historical memories in unaltered images of decades of life in this city, where the university is a city within a city, but our city has no walls. There is a possibility for a regular exchange and we have a moral obligation to do it... This exhibition is connected to the 74th anniversary of the existence of our university," said Georgescu.
March 20 marked the 74th anniversary of the first use of the name university in official record (State Council Decree of March 20, 1974), which enshrined the union of the Polytechnic Institute with the Pedagogical Institute both existing in the city.
The exhibition is part of a travelling series made by AGERPRES on its 133rd anniversary. It is open to the public in the lobby of the university throughout April 21.
