BETWEEN BUCUR’S CHURCH
AND NATIONAL LIBRARY
OR FROM SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL
TO COSMIC

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
design Florin Alexandru Stamcu
with the participation of Valentin Grigore-

In 4 March 2015 I saw the Crowned Moon
over Bucharest.

I tried to catch a better vision
and I found it with the Crowned Moon and Jupiter over the National Library,
on a plateau over the Dambovita River.

The new seat of the National Library
was inaugurated in 2012.

In fact, it was a happy idea
to transform a structure begun by the former communist regime
(that demolished an entire old district in that zone)
into a modern building.

The target being a major symbol of Romanian culture,
this materialized idea delighted me so much
that I tried to catch this building in different attractive moments:

-during a sunrise (right on 1 January 2015)…

-in dusk light, in daylight, or under a sunset (17 March 2016)…

-under a colored cumulonimbus cloud (26 April 2015)
and under the Moon (28 August 2015)…

-under a winter sunset (23 January 2016)…

-under Venus (8 March 2015)
and under Jupiter, Venus and the star Pollux (1 June 2015)…

-under a sunset with a small halo (8 February 2016)…

To the joy of the sky lovers,
in 14 May 2016 the National Library organized,
together with the Romanian Space Agency and the Science & Technique magazine,
an Astro-Fest dedicated to a jubilee,
35 years since a Romanian astronaut flew to and in the Cosmos,
a celebration for which the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy (SARM)
was a guest of honor.

That astronaut was Dumitru Prunariu
(who had flown for an East-European project led by the Soviet Union)
and here is a picture with him and Valentin Grigore (president of SARM),
taken by Ciprian Grigorescu.

And here are pictures by Valentin Grigore
with the SARM exhibition of astrophotography at that event,
which was made also by himself.

But… what is that small edifice close to the National Library,
beyond the Dambovita River?

It is even the church of Bucur the Shepherd,
the legendary founder of Bucharest (Bucuresti in Romanian)
in the 14th century!

Let’s get closer to see it
during the time of a sunset!

Or during the daylight,
near a solar reflection.

Let’s see it
right under a sunset.

And let’s see it during the evening time,
under the Moon Sickle,
or under the planet Venus,
or under the star Vega.

The vision becomes more generous
if we look at it from the other side.

Now let’s see it again during the evening time,
under the Full Mon,
or under the planet Jupiter,
or under the star Capella.

And let’s visit it,
being blessed by the Sun among blossoms!

Fascinated by the (both physical and spiritual) approach
between Bucur’s Chuch and the National Library,
I caught the last of them again in 28 March 2016,
this time under a superb concerto of clouds and sunrays,
framed from the distance by two other interesting modern buildings,
the Palace of Parliament and the Commerce Chamber,
until the Sun penetrated the scenery.

In fact, for me it was just a preparation for 14 May 2016,
the day of the Astro-Fest being also my birthday,
so that I’ll return to those unforgettable moments,
with the astronomical presentations of indefatigable Valentin Grigore
at the National Library…

Over there I had the chance to meet also
the most famous Romanian professional astronomer, Ovidiu Vaduvescu
(the leader of the EURONEAR project, who worked at great observatories
in Europe, Americas, South Africa, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean,
and uses to give names of Romanian astronomers
to the asteroids discovered by him and his team).

The sky itself spectacularly crowned the event,
with the Moon and Jupiter
hidden or liberated by clouds.

The Romanian National Library
Is a spiritual movement without rest
Coming from Bucur the Shepherd’s Church,
Big Bang for the city of Bucharest.

BETWEEN BUCUR’S CHURCH AND NATIONAL LIBRARY OR FROM SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL TO COSMIC

BETWEEN BUCUR’S CHURCH
AND NATIONAL LIBRARY
OR FROM SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL
TO COSMIC