GIULESTI FROM AN ANTIQUE CULTURE
TO A FOOTBALL CULTURE

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
design Florin Alexandru Stancu-

Many times I went by tram on the Grant Bridge
over the Bucharestian railroads.

On the left side, the Giulesti quarter appears
along with the Giulesti Way.

Although sometimes it is
confounded with the Giulesti Stadium (made in the 1930s)
of the Rapid Bucharest team,
or considered a modest edge quarter,
Giulesti has its own pillars of nobleness:
archaeologists discovered here traces from
the Giulesti-Boian culture (4th millennium BCE),
and the denomination comes from Giulea
(a Romanian variant of the Latin name Julius),
the owner of this territory in the 15th century.

On the morning of 14 September 2016
I incidentally passed through the zone
from where the Giulesti Way begins.

The sky was interesting
and invited me to take a few pictures.

Then I decided to make an incursion by tram on the Giulesti Way,
from the former water tower (made in the 1890s)
to the Pasteur Institute (founded in 1895
as the 3rd institute of microbiology in Europe,
and named after the famous French scientist Louis Pasteur),
passing near the Giulesti Stadium and the Giulesti Theatre.

When I came back I was more insistent,
and firstly I visited an Orthodox church with beautiful solar-stellar models,
made around 1900 and dedicated to Mother of God.

My second halt was for visiting another Orthodox church,
made around 1915 and dedicated to the Annunciation,
where, indeed, I remarked the Biblical event painted like a fireball.

Then I returned to the starting point
after I saw the Calvinist Cemetery (founded in 1837), its church,
and the Giulesti Hospital.

Over there,
a fine dance of sunbeams among the clouds
recompensed my excursion.

But the gravest problem in the Giulesti quarter is
the disastrous situation of Rapid Bucharest football team
(founded in 1923 and touching in its history
the final of the Central Europe Cup,
the quarter finals of the Cup of the Cups and of the UEFA Cup,
and winning the Balkan Cup and the European Railroads Cup).

Rapid Bucharest and its onlookers have always been
the most rebellious entity in Romanian football,
disturbing the political power almost all the time,
and being prosecuted
during the monarchical regime
(when a few players were arrested for “hooliganism”),
during the communist regime
(when Rapid was relegated to the second division a few times as punishment),
and during the post-communist regime
(when Rapid was deprived of 2 national titles,
ruined and sent to the 5th league).

Remaining optimistic on this aspect, at home I calculated that,
if from now on Rapid Bucharest wins all,
it can win the Champions League in 2022.

But for this, an important step had to be a victory in the 5th league
against Footbal Club Galaxia (Galaxy) Bucharest!

In this respect, in 2016 September 17
I saw the Moon (from our galaxy)
encouraging me
to continue to believe in Rapid Bucharest.

Then, on September 29
I saw the Sun (also from our galaxy)
shining near the Giulesti Stadium.

And in the first semester of 2017
Rapid Bucharest defeated FC Galaxy (9-5)
and promoted to the 4th league!

So that I translated these things
into the following verses:

The Sun cannot be stopped to shine
So let’s abandon any intrigue.
Someday Rapid of Giulesti must
Win the Champions League!

GIULESTI FROM AN ANTIQUE CULTURE TO A FOOTBALL CULTURE

GIULESTI FROM AN ANTIQUE CULTURE
TO A FOOTBALL CULTURE