TRANSYLVANIAN BOOK FESTIVAL Pocket Guide 1
13–16TH SEPTEMBER 2018
‘every turn of the road offers fresh surprises’
Contents
Introduction and Welcome......................................3 Queen Marie of Romania.........................................5 The Churches...........................................................8 The Authors, Filmmakers and Musicians.............15 The Programme......................................................25 Acknowledgements................................................30 2 Bibliography............................................................32
Sponsors.................................................................34
The 2018 Festival
Transylvania is a most evocative place, three times the size of Belgium, and not unlike Switzerland, in that the last range of the Alps forms its eastern and southern border, and historically it contained a varied population – Germans in mediaeval and early-modern towns and villages, Hungarians ruling the countryside, the Szeklers to the east and Romanians mainly in the mountains, becoming the majority ethnic group by the mid 19th century. Tucked away from western Europe as it was until quite recently, it still has many features of an older Europe – peasant costumes, traditional music, agriculture as it used to be. The Prince of Wales has ancestors from this part of the world – the Rhedey family, who were once grand enough to marry into the House of Württemberg – and he has done a wonderful job of restoring the old villages, and raising awareness of this remarkable place. This year’s Festival has again a very good line-up. Dr Michael O’Sullivan has devoted the past few years to tracing the people and places whom Patrick Leigh Fermor encountered, and his new book is a piece of Hungarian social archaeology. Leigh Fermor’s Between the Woods and the Water (1986) is one of the great classics of travelwriting, an art in which the English excel. Dr Philip Mansell has written a new biography of Louis XIV, and discusses how France became involved with eastern-Hungarian rebellion against the Habsburgs. Dr (Baron) Tamás Barczay, a great-nephew of Miklós Bánffy, will discuss the background to his uncle’s extraordinary trilogy-novel, which Charles Moore has described as a rival to War and Peace (it has sold remarkably well in Britain). There are further contributions on history and biography which I shall greatly look forward to, being 100 years since the war that resulted in Transylvania joining Wallachia and Moldavia. Among these are Prof. Filip-Lucian Iorga on 1918 and Dr. Maria Berza on Queen Marie with Ion Florescu telling his family’s story in 1848. Lucy Abel Smith is to be congratulated on bringing it off, yet again, and good luck to her. Quite deservedly, it is on the list of to-be-visited events. Professor (Emeritus) Norman Stone September 2018 3
As mayor of Biertan, Copşa Mare and Richiş I am delighted to welcome you as guests to our beautiful valleys with their ancient churches and villages of recognised internatonal importance. This will be the third Transylvanian Book Festival and I am proud to say that the community has supported each one. Few other mayors can have their town hall at the foot of one of the great UNESCO sites in Central Europe. I look at Biertan church every day. I am also lucky enough to have supportive communities in both Copşa Mare and Richiş. Underlining the long tradition of music making and poetry in Richiş in the grand village hall, complete with stage, it gives me the opportunity of thanking all those who have supported the villages with new initiatives including our own Pro Richiş Charitable Trust. I would like at this point to remember the work of Miriam Eliad who died earlier this year. She was chairman. Also, for his role in the development of tourism in the village, Gerrit Timmerman. The community and the Book Festival will miss them both. I would like to thank the Mihai Eminescu Trust and the Horizon Foundation for all their restoration work in Richiş. And I would like to thank you, dear guests, for taking the time to come and see this beautiful region of Europe. May I end with offering best wishes for the success of the third Transylvanian Book Festival in Transylvania, and I am very proud that it is taking place within my jurisdiction. Bon appetite.
Mircea Mihai Dragomir, Primar
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Queen Marie of Romania, my great grandmother, remains an immensely admired and beloved figure of my family. She steps boldly off the pages of history. Her positive, powerful and practical influence was indisputable. A multi faceted and fascinating woman, her diaries and letters describe her struggle to gain an independent footing in the male - dominated Royal court of Romania. The daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and his wife, Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, and the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Marie was gifted with extraordinary beauty, a strong personality and great talent as an artist and a writer. Her humanitarian and diplomatic efforts for our country during World War I and subsequently during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference won her worldwide acclaim and affection. She overcame the political inflexibility of two, let’s say, “male chauvinist”, republican French statesmen: President Raymond Poincaré and Prime Minister René Clemenceau. She was the first woman to be elected a member of the Academie des Beaux Arts and she astonished the world by travelling with her children to two Muslim countries in the late 1920s: the Republic of Turkey and the Sultanate of Morocco. In 1926, she also “conquered” the United States of America with her charm, intelligence and political skills. Three hundred thousand New Yorkers thronged the streets of Manhattan to greet her, the ticker tapes raining down on her procession. And she addressed to the economic leaders of the States the following unusual plea: “Businessmen of the United States, come and invest in my country”. She was a consummate ambassador and a role model for women of all social backgrounds. Queen Marie was the Patron of the Romanian Red Cross, and gained much respect for her work as a nurse during the First World War. We find her in the trenches, or visiting the Front – she knew no fear of bullets or bombs. We find her in the hospitals among the wounded and the sick; she knew no fear of dirt or disease; and she was also the one who, at the Peace Conference at Versailles, used her wits and her charm to gain Romania its most cherished wish – national unity. Her presence at the Versailles conference only reinforced the report sent out of Bucharest in 1917 by a French correspondent: “There is only one man in Romania, and that is the Queen.”
Her Majesty the Custodian of the Romanian Crown
Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938)
Born on October 29, 1875 at Eastwell Park in Kent, Marie, the future Queen of Romania, was the eldest daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and the Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna. As a granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and the Tsar Alexander II of Russia, she descended from the highest royalty of Europe and inherited two old and impressive monarchic traditions. Endowed with an exceptional beauty, intelligence and charm, but also with strength, discipline and courage, she spent much time in her childhood with both her British grandmother and also at the Tsar’s Court, as well as a few happy years in Malta, where her father had been nominated the Commander of the British fleet in the Mediterranean. Her childhood ended in Malta, where she had the revelation of the importance of her family and of her own strength and destiny. She started to write her diaries, that she continued relentlessly in times of war and peace, until the last days of her life. By an unexpected twist of events, and the contribution of both Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and her own mother, the young Princess married, in January 1893, Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the future King of Romania, nephew of the ruling King, Carol I. Her first years in a totally foreign country were difficult for her. Very soon, her first son, Carol, was born, followed in time by five other brothers and sisters. In 1914, at the death of King Carol, Ferdinand becomes King of Romania. During the two years of Romania’s neutrality, Queen Marie succeeded, together with the Romanian politicians that shared her views, to convince the King to act as a Romanian and join the Entente countries. It is during the war and the years of defeat that Queen Marie’s exceptional personality particularly revealed. In those hard times she was the one that healed the wounded, fearless of any dangers, and took care at the same time of the disinherited. She strongly believed in the victory of her people, she had meanwhile identified with, and especially in the victory of the Allied countries. Her convictions resisted even when many had lost faith and hope. 6
It is then, in those years of despair of her country, that she wrote what would become after the war “The Country that I Love” - a description of beautiful places she loved most in Romania, issued every week and sent to the front as small brochures, in order to encourage the soldiers and remember them that they had what to fight for. It was, the Queen later wrote, “something within me which told me that my voice above all others was now necessary to them; we had become so small, so shivering, so helpless.” She participated in the Versailles post-war negotiations, strongly and convincingly defending her country. Queen Marie wrote several other books, first of all her invaluable diaries and memoirs she had never abandoned, not for a single day. She also wrote theatre plays and books for children. She painted, designed and even created with her own hands beautiful pieces of furniture and other objects, in an original, rich style, with Celtic influences. She decorated the Pelisor Castle in Sinaia, the new wing of the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, and the Bran Castle after the war. She encouraged the revival of the old traditional Romanian dresses and blouses, gracefully embroidered, she used to wear herself, as well as the ladies at the Court. She was, as Fernand Grech described her, “a Queen of a truly royal beauty, a proud woman, that added to the pearls of the Royal Crown the supreme diamond of intelligence.” Maria Berza Marie Berza’s participation in the festival has been sponsored by Antony Underwood in memory of Princess Mary Obolensky
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The Churches
The Saxon fortress churches are one of the glories of Europe. A roll call of fine examples surround Richiş, the home of the Transylvanian Book Festival; they include Biertan, Copşa Mare, Moşna, Alma Vii and the town of Mediaş. Apart from the latter, they retain their late medieval pattern and are surrounded by the lands originally given by the Hungarian Kings in the 12th century to promote commerce and agriculture. Saxons (originally from the Rhine-Moselle region) were given their own land as freemen, learning their skills from the Cistercians. The larger villages were divided into neighbourhoods, each donating a quota of hours and materials towards the upkeep of the church. The elected Priest, Priest House, School and Church were the heart of these communities. Being on trade routes brought Gothic and Early Renaissance forms into the Carpathians. The churches were fortified against the Ottoman threat and, indeed, local disorder. Within the walls was enough protection for the community and their needs.
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Biertan
The Churches
The present church was established between 1500 and 1525, just before the Reformation in Transylvania. It was the seat of the Lutheran Bishop from 1572 and for the next three hundred years. It was the birthplace of Lucas Unglerus who was the first incumbent. As with many Saxon churches the pre-Reformation altarpiece (1483-1515) was retained and is superb. This hall church has a fine net vault in the Middle European tradition. The choir stalls and a rare door of intarsia work are from the first quarter of the 16th century. Biertan is UNESCO listed. A Bacon tower, frescoed Catholic chapel (there was freedom of worship under the Princes of Transylvania) and marriage house are all intact within the walls. This valley, housing also SaroĹ&#x; and RichiĹ&#x;, was rich and attracted a high calibre of priests who were well travelled and important patrons themselves.
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Richiş
The Churches
It is said that the villagers evicted the monks at the Reformation. The village hall, where the Book Festival is being held, could have been built on the cloister garth. The building of the threeaisled basilica began in the second half of the 14th century and finished in 1451. Unusually, for Transylvania, the west door has a carved tympanum depicting the Centurian at the foot of the Cross. The interior too, is richly carved with foliage and ‘Green Men’ unusual in Transylvania. The presbytery door, as with Biertan, is from the workshop of Johannes Reychmuth in Sighişoara. The altar is late Baroque of 1775 and the fine organ dates from 1788. This organ is currently being restored by an Anglo-Romanian team and the dedication will take place at the end of September, after 6 years of work. Much of the fortifications were removed to build the school when the population expanded in the early 1900s. The church’s two Anatolian rugs are in Mediaş.
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CopĹ&#x;a Mare
The Churches The church in CopĹ&#x;a Mare, as with Biertan, stands above the village, and with the Priest House creates a picturesque group. First mentioned in 1283 the earliest part of the extant building is early 14th century. The aisles were demolished in the 16th century to build the defences. The original bell exists in the tower. The church has been the focus of an important restoration project.
MoĹ&#x;na This church has one of the most beautiful and sophisticated interiors in the valley looking to Bohemia and Upper Hungary (now Slovakia). The size of the citadel and the church speak volumes of past glory. The citadel, begun in 1520, is hugely dramatic. Two of the citadel towers have been restored, the Bacon Tower and the City Hall Tower, and can be used for entertaining. There is a plaque at the church entrance to commemorate the visit of HRH Prince of Wales. He was among the first to bring to public notice the fragility of the whole region when the vast majority of the Saxons left in the early 90s. The fine altar was sold to Cincu in 1722.
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Alma Vii
The Churches
The 14th century, singleaisled church stands on the tallest hill overlooking the village. Further defences and an encircling wall were added from the 16th century, cutting through an early cemetery. The unusual entry tower is of the early 17th century. The citadel is the subject of one of the most impressive restoration projects in the region. With international funding the whole has been overseen by the Mihai Eminescu Trust with a high standard of care given to materials and techniques. A small stage has been built within the walls.
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Mediaş
The Churches
A railway has been here since 1872 which gave the town a head start in importing manpower and goods into the Empire. A centre for education and gas, up until the 1980s it was known as the town where you could buy anything. The Saxons moved in after the Széklers around 1267. By 1444, the Franciscans thought it worth their while to move here too. Their monastery is presently the town museum. The walls were initiated by the great Renaissance Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus just before he died in 1490. They were being constructed until 1534. The Lutheran church of St Margaret is within the citadel. It has a fine interior begun in the 14th century and continued into the late 15th century giving a lopsided appearance. There is a good collection of Anatolian carpets and late medieval frescoes. The altarpiece, which is influenced by that of the Scots’ College in Vienna, is of c. 1485. Freedom of workship was key to the Transylvanian Reformation as the tiny Roman catholic chapel of St. Mary bears witness. The town also has a Greek/ Orthodox (Uniate), Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches and a fine Synagogue. The town square, the Piaţa Regele Ferdinand I, is grand and was the centre of commerce. The Schuller House, on the square at the foot of the citadel, was mentioned in documents in 1588 when the Diet convened here under the patronage of the elected Prince Sigismund Bathori. On the primo piano were the princely apartments, the whole built around a u-shaped inner courtyard of a type found all over Transylvania. 14
The Authors
The Authors
Tamás Barcsay
Saturday
Dr Tamás Barcsay was born in Budapest. Spent his early childhood on the family property at Gilau (Gyalu), Transylvania. Grew up in Toronto Canada. Holds degrees from the University of Toronto and a doctorate from the University of Oxford. Professor Emeritus of History at Ryerson University, Toronto. Senior Associate Member of St. Antonys College, Oxford 1987. Former Director and Programme Chairman of the Atlantic Council of Canada, Chairman of the Toronto Branch, Canadian Institute of International Affairs.
Friday
Maria Berza
Writer, literary translator, editor, cultural policy expert. M.A., University of Bucharest, Modern Languages Department. Professional background, selected: Vicepresident Pro Patrimonio Foundation, Europa Nostra expert, State Secretary, Romanian Ministry of Culture, expert and rapporteur for cultural policy of the Council of Europe, Executive Director Fulbright Commission Romania and previously Open Society Fund; editor. Published works: books/short stories in anthologies, translated from English, French, Spanish – literature, memoirs, history, history of civilization; prefaces, literary comments, articles, interviews. Rapporteur and participant in international conferences on cultural policy and cooperation. Member of the Writers’ Union of Romania since 1990.
Friday
Levent Boz
Levent works as a specialist at the Directorate General for Cultural Heritage and Museums, Turkey. His research interest focuses on oriental carpets and their interactions and influences. Currently he is writing his PhD thesis titled Ottoman & Safavid Carpets in Europe – Interaction and Competition. Levent completed his master’s thesis titled Anatolian Carpets in the Mediaş St. Margaret Church, Transylvania in 2013 and still continues his research on Ottoman carpets in Transylvania. He is also professionally involved in digital cultural heritage projects. 16
The Authors
Sunday
Marius-Mircea Crișan
Dr Marius-Mircea Crișan (PhD 2008 University of Turin, Italy) is Associate Professor at the Teacher Training Department, West University of Timișoara. He is the editor of the volume Dracula: An International Perspective, author of the books The Birth of the Dracula Myth: Bram Stoker’s Transylvania and The Impact of a Myth: Dracula and the Fictional Representation of the Romanian Space. He is a co-author of a number of collective volumes and organiser of several international conferences on fantastic literature and education.
Saturday
Ion Florescu
Ion Florescu is an Anglo-Romanian entrepreneur, journalist and historian. He has worked as a journalist covering international politics both in the US and the UK as well as for the London-based merchant bank Schroders. He was the CEO of the first investment bank to be set up in Romania. In 1997 set up his own private equity business and has been involved in the acquisition, management and sale of a number of Romanian businesses. He has recently contributed a number of articles for Historia, the Romanian historical magazine.
Friday
Filip-Lucian Iorga
Professor Filip-Lucian Iorga is a Romanian historian and writer, who studied in Bucharest and Paris. He is an expert of the Romanian Cultural Institute and a member of the Romanian Institute for Genealogy and Heraldry. He published 10 books focused on the history of Romanian aristocracy.
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The Authors
Philip Mansel
Saturday
Dr. Philip Mansel was born in London in 1951 and has lived in London, Paris, Beirut and Istanbul. He is a historian of France and the Middle East, focussing on courts and cities. His books include lives of Louis XVIII and the Austrian Field Marshal, the Prince de Ligne; Dressed to Rule, a study of the politics of clothes; Paris between Empires; and The Eagle in Splendour; Inside the Court of Napoleon. He has also written Constantinople, City of the World’s Desire; Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean; and, most recently, a history of Aleppo since 1516. Aleppo, the Rise and Fall of Syria’s Great Merchant City. His books have been translated into many languages. He writes for The Spectator, The Art Newspaper and the Times Literary Supplement. In 2012 he received the London Library Life in Literature award. He is currently writing a life of Louis XIV.
Arabella McIntyre Brown
Sunday
In 2008 British business journalist Arabella McIntyreBrown left Liverpool for a hermit’s life in a Carpathian mountain village. The book, A stake in Transylvania, explains why she moved and why she stayed.
Ramona Mitrică
Friday
Ramona Mitrică is director of a major Romanian film festival in London, has a publishing house publishing Romanian novels of suspense and crime, she runs an artistic consultancy firm and has a goal in which she strongly believes: to promote Romanian culture, to show the world that Romanians exist.
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The Authors
Saturday
Ruxandra Nemteanu
Dr Ruxandra Nemțeanu is a Bucharest architect, expert in historical monuments, licensed architect and holder of a Doctoral Degree (PhD) at ‘Ion Mincu’ University of Architecture and Urban Planning. She has authored over 50 architectural and historical studies related to historic monuments buildings, as well as the volume The Neo-Romanian-style Villa. An Expression of the Search for a Native Model in Individual Urban Dwelling. She is associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Spiru Haret University in Bucharest.
Sunday
Michael O’Sullivan
Michael O’Sullivan was introduced to Patrick Leigh Fermor’s writings in Vienna in the early 1980s. His book Patrick Leigh Fermor: Noble Encounters between Budapest and Transylvania is the first full-length study of the time the author spent in Hungary and Transylvania in 1934. He has lived in Vienna, Marrakesh, Budapest and Dublin and has been a foreign correspondent, broadcaster and biographer. He is currently writing a biography of the Hungarian author and statesman Miklós Bánffy.
Sunday
Alan Ogden
Alan first went to Romania in 1991 to induct government officials into the mysteries of privatisation. Seemingly trapped in a series of flying visits to Bucharest, he broke the mould in 1998 and set off from England in an ancient Land Rover to explore Romania proper. The outcome was a number of books including Winds of Sorrow and Moons and Aurochs, are the sum of all his journeys around the country. Still an indefatigable Romanian traveler, Alan produces the occasional samizdat such as A Romanian Romance: PLF in Romania 1934-39 and A Pocket Guide to Count Miklós Bánffy’s Transylvanian Trilogy. 19
The Authors
Mária Pakucs
Saturday
Dr Mária PAKUCS (PhD) is a researcher with the “Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History – Romanian Academy, in Bucharest. Her research interests focus on trade history in South-Eastern Europe in the sixteenth and seveteenth centuries, and on the social and urban history of early modern Transylvania. Her publications include a book based on the customs accounts of Sibiu: Sibiu-Hermannstadt. Oriental Trade in Sixteenth Century Transylvania, and an edition of the first town protocol book of Sibiu/Hermannstadt.
Presenter
Bronwen Riley
Bronwen Riley is a writer, publisher and historian with a special interest in the Classical world and in Romania – her life-long passion. She has lectured widely on Romanian history and culture and wrote her dissertation on a miracle-working icon in Oltenia. As series editor of the much-loved English Heritage Red Guides she published more than 80 guidebooks as well as other innovative titles in print and online, organising and presenting many literary events in conjunction with them. She is the author of several publications, including Transylvania (2008) and Journey to Britannia (2015).
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The Filmmakers Saturday
Dan Draghicescu
Since 1998, Dan has been involved in producing more than 400 TV advertising spots in Romania and abroad for key clients/brands, including the first online TV series produced locally, Viata in 3 in 2010. He spent twelve years in WPP (Grey and David Ogilvy) and for Centrade Saatchi & Saatchi and has focused on independent history film projects. In 2010 he established is own film production company PINK STRIPE Group and also started producing films. He challenged himself to follow his passion for movie making, and at the beginning of 2011, was the Executive Producer for a short movie: Transylvania Girl.
Saturday
John M. Florescu
For seventeen years, John Florescu served as the President and CEO of David Paradine Television Inc. He has produced more than 150 hours of television for such networks as CBS, HBO, PBS, Discovery-Times, Disney, A&E Network, The History Channel, BBC, and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He was Executive Producer for programs with six President of the United States, two former British Prime Ministers, and former leaders of the Soviet Union. In 201617, he produced a series of documentaries broadcasted internationally (“The King Who Tricked Hitler”). Mr. Florescu is currently in pre-production on a major documentary on Queen Marie of Romania.
Sunday
Dragoş Lumpan
Dragoş Lumpan graduated from the National University of Theater and Film, Film Faculty with M.F.A. in Cinematography in 2001 He has exhibited his work in many solo and group exhibitions worldwide and since 2003 has been a contributor to National Geographic. His photographs are held in both private and public collections and his latest, among many, ongoing project Last Transhumance has been developed over many years, culminating in a successful crowdfunding appeal. 21
The Musicians Frédéric Bager
Frédéric Bager (piano) is a recipient of the prestigious Swiss ‘Migros Foundation’ scholarship, and the only pianist to have won the Beethoven Prize at both the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music. He is now a scholar at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Ian Fountain. An in-demand song-accompanist, Frédéric has accompanied Dame Felicity Lott, and is currently undertaking a private course of study with Roger Vignoles. In 2010 he was a finalist in BBC Young Musician of the Year. George Cooke George Cooke (cello) has performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall and Holywell Music Room, and abroad at the festivals of Chigiana, Ischia and Santa Cecilia. He has broadcast as composer and performer for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and Belgian Radio 1. He completed his Masters at the Royal College of Music in 2015, after graduating with a first in Music from Oxford University, and studies with Alexander Chaushian. Jaymee Coonjobeeharry Jaymee Coonjobeeharry (flute) recently made his debut for London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a fellow at the Royal College of Music, plays in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and has a first class masters degree in Chemisty from Oxford University. His video of Flight of the Bumblebee for Classic FM has gained 135,000 views!
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Andra Clitan
The Artists Inspired by a Queen Andra Clitan has a wide ranging background in every field of the fashion industry. More importantly is perceptive to the importance of Romanian textile history and design. Like Queen Marie of Romania Andra Clitan takes inspiration from the rich archives of embroidery and costume in her native Romania and giving a new twist, designing clothes both beautiful and intensely wearable. In the 20th century Queen Marie was aware of the importance of history of this country with such rich ethnic mix in giving a sense of identity. Andra does the same creating individuality in the face of increasing global dominance.
Lilian Theil was born and educated in Brasov. Her education was then disrupted under communism. She restarted her art work creating images with recycled textiles and embroidery. The content of much of her textile hangings is an acutely observed reflection of her times seen with an unerring eye. One of her most revealing, is the triptych ‘the Twentieth Century’. She has produced a book of her works with Anselm Roth. Her thoughts then put into patchwork are revealed in imaginary conversations with her late husband. The book, translated into three languages, will be for sale during the festival.
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Anselm Roth
Lilian Theil
Your Guides
Lucy Abel Smith
Lucy Abel Smith is the founder of the Transylvanian Book Festival and an art historian who, for many years, has run specialist tours to Eastern Europe and the Balkans. She first came to Romania in the early 1980s as lecturer for the British Museum Society and now has a house in RichiĹ&#x;. She wrote Prague - A Guide in 1991 and has recently finished the second edition of her Blue Guide: Travels in Transylvania: The Greater Tarnava Valley.
Willy Schuster Born and raised in Transylvania, his father a Saxon and mother a Hungarian, Willy became a self-taught interpreter in Romanian. As pioneers of the organic farming scene in Romania, Willy and his wife, Lavinia, are well known both here and abroad. They welcome many tourists to their farm for meals or just for a farm tour, talks and/or cheese tastings. They make delicious rose petal jam.
Andrea Rost Andrea Rost lives in the beautiful town of SighiĹ&#x;oara where she is part of the Saxon community. Having previously worked as a guide across Romania, she has worked for the MET since 2005, coordinating tourism activities. She has interviewed Hans Schaas and written his memoirs.
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The Programme
Thursday 13th September
19.15 Transfers from villages to Biertan 19.30 Meet for dinner in the Unglerus Restaurant by kind invitation of the Mayor, Mircea Mihai Dragomir 21.30 Transfers back to the villages
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9.30
Friday 14th September Transfers from the villages to Richiş
10.00 Welcome by Lucy Abel Smith 10.10 Prof. Filip-Lucian Iorga – 1918 and its significance for Romania 10.50 Dr. Maria Berza – Queen Marie of Romania – The Country that she loved 11.30 Leave for Mediaş to look at the carpets in the church with Levent Boz 12.30 Lunch in Mediaş church hall 14.00 Concert in the Schuller House, Mediaş followed by transfers to villages for free time before returning to Richiş 17.00 Lillian Thiel – in conversation with Bronwen Riley and Andrea Rost, on ‘a patchwork of her life’ 17.30 Ramona Mitrica – The Lost Footsteps of Agent Victor 19.30 Drinks and dinner in Copşa Mare by kind invitation of Giovanna and Paolo Bassetti 21.30 Transfers back to the villages
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Saturday 15th September
9.30
Transfers from the villages to Richiş
10.00 Welcome by Bronwen Riley 10.20 Dr. Philip Mansel – The Sun King and the Prince of Transylvania: Louis XIV and Ferenc II Rakoczi 11.00 Dr. Tamás Barcsay (great-nephew of Miklós Bánffy) – Bánffy – A man of his time and out of his time 11.40 Dr. Mária Pakucs – Luxury, Trade and Politics between the Sublime Porte and Transylvania 12.15 Lunch in Moşna 13.30 Return to villages or optional excursions 17.10 Ion Florescu – From Hellenized Vlachs to European Revolutionaries: Story of a family 1648-1848 18.00 Dr. Ruxandra Nemteanu – National architecture after 1918 18.40 Gypsy music 19.30 Dinner in Richiş 20.30 Dan Draghicescu introduces the film ‘About Life’ of previously unseen footage from the life of King Michael of Romania and trailer for ‘The Life of Queen Marie’ 21.30 Transfers back to villages 28
9.30
Sunday 16th September Transfers from the villages to Richiş
10.00 Welcome by Bronwen Riley 10.20 Michael O’Sullivan – Patrick Leigh Fermor: Noble Encounters Between Budapest and Transylvania 11.00 Alan Ogden – The Vagabond and the Princess (the story of PLF’s affair with Princess Balasa Cantacuzino) 11.40 Arabella McIntyre Brown – Life in the Mountains – a Stake in Transylvania 12.15 The Mediaş choir give a concert of local songs by Georg Meyndt, (d. 1903 Richiş) 13.00 Lunch in the Priest House Garden or Hall Free afternoon 17.00 Dr. Marius Crișan – Dracula – An International Perspective 18.00 Concert with Frédéric Bager (piano), George Cooke (cello) and Jaymee Coonjobeeharry (flute) 19.30 Dinner in Richiş 20.30 Showing of film ‘The Last Transhumance’ by Dragoş Lumpan 22.00 Transfers back to villages 29
Acknowledgements
The fact that Richiş is hosting a third international book festival, means there is much to be thankful for and many to thank, as it is not only about books, but film, poetry, art and for the first time, fashion. Without an infrastructure we would be nowhere. Hans and Hannie Schaas and Wilhelm Untch have kept the church community going. The Timmermans have done more than anybody in keeping the village on the map and with the late Miriam Eliad and Wilhelm Untch, founded the charitable trust Pro Richiş Transilvania. The Mihai Eminescu Trust and the Horizon Foundation realised the importance of the village centre and have made a major contribution by their restoration. Friends and neighbours have contributed more than I would have expected including Ana Balasca for her translations. Grateful thanks to the Evanghelic Church for giving us the Saal to use and extending this hospitality to Mediaş. Food, wine and company play an important part. In Moşna, Pamella David and Marianne Rempler welcome us and in Richiş, Tony Timmerman, Donate Dam, Lavinia Layber, Nina Rafaela, Nadia Barbat, Nelucu Barbat and Gerta van der Tol add to the delights. Andreea-Raluca Almasan is manning the Tourist Office/Book Shop. Moritz Fried of Moritz Eis has supplied the ice cream for our ‘film nights’. My thanks to Oli Broom, Ion Florescu and Anna Buxton for all their encouragement and Antony Underwood for sponsoring Marie Berza in memory of Princess Mary Obolensky. Thanks to Bridgeman Images and The Artists’ Collecting Society, David Campbell at Everyman’s Library and Arcadia Books. We could not have succeeded had not our writers found the idea interesting and were prepared to have an adventure. Many websites gave us mentions, such as Tom Sawford’s action-packed blog on Paddy Leigh Fermor and Antonela Sofia Barbu’s F40+ blog. Serban Sorin of the Mediaş Rotary has been an invaluable contact as has Adela Vilau. For advice on musical matters and history my deepest thanks to Christian Mititelu, Ioana Raluca Voicu and the three musicians who gave a fund raising concert: George Cooke, Frédéric Bager and Jaymee Coonjobeharry. Jessica Douglas-Home made 30
Acknowledgements
the exhibition of Lilian Theil’s work possible and Andra Clitan has generously loaned outfits for our fashion exhibition. Giovanna and Paolo Bassetti have been lavish in their hospitality and sponsorship. My thanks to Professor Norman Stone for his foreword and to Her Majesty Margareta and Maria Berza for illuminating Queen Marie. Lighting and sound play such an important part in a festival like this and Dan Ursache and Raymond Manu of Stage Expert have been invaluable in their support, providing equipment and help from Bucharest. Volunteers are precious and thanks to Eliza Abel Smith, Mathew Guinness, Camilla Warner, Ned Sedgwick and Sharon Schuster. Dan Draghiscescu and film producer, John Florescu, have allowed the festival to show ‘About Life: King Michael of Romania’ and a trailer to the new film on the life of Queen Marie of Romania. My thanks to the sponsors have been more than generous in supporting writers including Annabel Barber of Blue Guides, and donors who wish to remain anon. Madalina Dinca of Open-Romania, has settled everyone into lodgings of their choice and arranged the transport. Janet Page as the UK team has dealt with everyone’s bookings and my ignorance of social media. Thanks goes to Laura Vesa of Discover Romania for having faith in the festival and suggesting contacts and to Ramona Cazacu and all those who have sent out posters printed by Ahmed Mohamed at Contrast Publicitate. Most of all, the generous endorsement and opening dinner given by Mircea Mihai Dragomir, the mayor of Biertan, makes a wonderful opening to our festival.
Köszönöm Mulţumesc Vielen Dank Thank you
Lucy Abel Smith, September 2018 31
Lucy Abel Smith
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Travels in Transylvania: the Greater Tarnava Valley. Second edition. Blue Guide 2018
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The Writing on the Wall, The Transylvanian Trilogy. Arcadia Books 2016 and Everyman’s Library 2013 The Phoenix Land. Arcadia Books
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Philip Mansel
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