A SARM CELEBRATION IN A REALM OF ART

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
-design Florin Alexandru Stancu
-special guest astrophotographer (President of SARM)
Valentin Grigore

This project begins with a photographic poem by Valentin Grigore,
who commemorated through it
420 years since a terrible battle,
in which Mihai Viteazul the Brave
defeated an Ottoman army in Calugareni (August 1595),
and liberated the city of Targoviste a few weeks later.

Thus, the first picture was taken in November 2015
in the central zone of Targoviste
(former Capital City of Wallachia or the Romanian Land),
including the statue of that great “voievod” and “domnitor”
(who defeated more Ottoman armies in the 1590s
and unified for the first time the three Romanian medieval countries,
Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldova)
under the Moon.

The next picture was taken in the vicinity,
with the Chindia Tower
(made in the 1440s by another hero in Romanian history,
“voievod” and “domnitor” Vlad Tepes Dracula,
who defeated in 1464 even the conqueror of Constantinople, Mehmed II,
in a night attack right near Targoviste;
later, Mihai Viteazul also used this tower for defensive scopes)
under the twilight.

In February 2016
the president of SARM climbed this tower
to take the last two pictures of his photographic poem,
including the Sun rising from the Carpathian Mountains,
and the Dealu (Hill) Monastery (made in the 1500s),
where the head of Mihai Viteazul was buried.

It is important to add that, astronomically,
Valentin Grigore caught in his work the Sun and the Moon,
which appears as two important “pieces” in the Wallachian coat of arms…

In my turn, I visited Targoviste in 14 February 2016
to participate at a special festivity of SARM,
and firstly I walked on one of the most beautiful streets in South-East Europe,
the Railroad Station Boulevard,
made in the 1890s with charming houses in Romanian traditional styles.

Then I took a look to a few old buildings
in the central zone…

…and I tried to catch the statue of Mihai Viteazul
with the Sun and the Moon, too.

After that I visited the Orthodox cathedral of the city
(founded in the 1500s,
mitropoly of entire Wallachia until 1620,
remade in the 1890s),
guided by the same astral ideas.

I passed between two other historical monuments,
the Stelea Monastery
(founded in the 16th century,
with the main church made in the 1640s by the Moldavian ruler Vasile Lupu)
and the Nicolae-Geartoglu Church
(founded in the 15th century and remade in the 19th century),
where Valentin Grigore awaited me.

Then, in a small car,
we passed beside the Chindia Tower and beside the Dealu Monastery,
arriving finally in a beautiful place among the Subcarpathian Hills,
named just the Valley of the Voivodes.

Here we stopped in the artistic realm of Ovidiu Petre Dumitrescu,
where SARM celebrated 48 years of life of his president,
or, astronomically translated,
48 rotations of the Earth around the Sun.

All in a space admirably arranged with art works by its master,
culminating with the Forger House,
in which Ovidiu had made an imaginary design of the Universe,
sustained by the Cosmic Tree.

Also here, inside, Valentin Grigore
showed us his last pictures taken from the Chindia Tower
in the first two months of 2016,
culminating with an amazing alignment of the planets
(Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter).

Dracula’s Tower Chindia
was used by Romanian “voievods” and “domnitors”
for watching out enemies in the past.

Now, sometimes, it is used by sky lovers
to watch heavenly bodies (that measure the people’s life)
departing and coming back so fast!

-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

In my turn,
admiring an iron coat of arms of Wallachia
and an agro-cosmic work
made by the same Ovidiu Dumitrescu,
I felt inspired to catch the Sun and the Moon again,
this time over a new scenery.

Ovidiu’s Column means
The earth’s regeneration
Magically connected to
The astral installation.

-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Then a group photo made by
the president of SARM
in Ovidiu Petre Dumitrescu’s Universe…

…and finally
Valentin Grigore’s autobiographic astro-photo-poem.

Travelling for 48 years with the ship of life
under the sky,
looking to the heights…

With love for Stars, Flowers, People
and Homeland.
Thank you!

-Valentin Grigore-