Where I belong
HISTORY OF SLATINA
The town of Slatina was first mentioned on January 20, 1368 in an official document issued by Vladislav I Vlaicu, Prince of Wallachia. The document stated that merchants from the Transylvanian city of Braşov would not paycustoms when passing through Slatina. The word Slatina is of Slavic origin, stemming from Slam-tina, “salted land” or “salty water”; a small minority promotes the theory that the term originates in the latin “Salatina”.
ECONOMY
Alro Slatina, one of the biggest aluminum producing factories in Southeastern Europe, is located in the city. Other companies based in Slatina include ALPROM (which, like ALRO, is a subsidiary of MARCOGROUP), Altur (engine set manufacturer), Pirelli Tires Romania (tire-manufacturer), Cord Romania (steel cord for tires), and Benteler.
Romania is one of the large countries of Europe (the size of the United Kingdom or roughly half of France), with a population of approx. 22 million inhabitants. Along with the Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, Serbs, Turks and other minorities also live in the country. Most of them are of Greek-Orthodox religion, but there are also many Catholics, Protestants, Evangelical, Muslims and others.
There are many tourist attractions in Romania: some are unique in the world, as the enchanting monasteries of Bucovina with their churches entirely covered with 16th century frescoes on the outside walls, appearing among hills and woods as an illustrated Bible open on all the pages.
So is THE DANUBE DELTAis a wildlife enthusiast’s (especially a bird watcher’s) paradise.
The mighty Danube River flows 1,788 miles from its springs in Germany’s Black Forest to the Black Sea. Just before reaching the sea it forms the second largest and best preserved of Europe’s deltas: 2,200 square miles of rivers, canals, marshes, tree-fringed lakes and reed islands.
DECEBAL HEAD
Decebalus Rex – The Statue of Dacian king Decebalus is a 40-meter high statue and is the tallest rock sculpture from Europe. It is located on the Danube’s rocky bank.
THE SPHINX
It is believed the Sphinx, which stands 2,216 meters high, is a representation of the supreme divinity of an ancient people, the Pelasgi. They were a pre-Indo-European tribe who lived near the Aegean Sea, until the Greek tribes’migration up to Eland, Small Asia and Egypt.
Many historians believe the Egyptian Sphinx in Gizeh is a copy of the Sphinx on the Bucegi Platform because of its resemblance to Zeus. In support of this hypothesis, a resemblance has been acknowledged between the Bucegi Sphinx and a sculpture of Zeus, which was discovered in Italy and now is preserved at the Vatican. This bust presents Zeus’s traits in a barbarous, severe figure, characteristic of the Thracians. Also the fact that both sphinxes measure the same height is curious, as is the fact that all Egyptian deities have human bodies and animal heads, except for the Great Egyptian Sphinx, which has a lion’s body and a human head.
BABELE
Near the Romanian Sphinx on the Bucegi Platform, there also stands a group os stones known as “Babele”, or Old Women. The rocks look like giant mushrooms. The three formations are each 3.5 meters high and the diameters of the pedestals vary between 2 and 4 meters. Two of the caps are square, but the top on the third is elliptical. To maintain their connection with the sphinx, they were nicknamed “The Cyclopean Altars from the Caraiman”, and are devoted to Earth and sky, to sun and moon, and to Mars, the god of war and of agriculture. Their presence has produced many legends and theories. According to some researchers, the rocks were molded by water and wind and permanently maintained by the process of freezing and thawing. The alternation between grit stone and limestone in the platform also must be taken into account. Scientific proof cannot thoroughly explain these phenomena. For this reason, the legends continue and the rock formations have been connected with the supernatural.
THE SILENCE TABLE
The Table of Silence (Masa Tacerii) is made in limestone and it has the following dimensions: panel diameter 2, 15 meters, thick 0,43 m and the leg is 2 m in diameter and 0,45 m thick. According to the exegetes of the Brancusian art, the Table of Silence represents the table around which gather the soldiers before confronting their enemy. At the same time, the chairs stand for the time disposed in hourglasses. Some make an analogy with The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci. Next comes the Chairs Alley representing those who participate without any implication, waiting for the end.
THE KISS GATE (Poarta Sarutului) is the second element of the ensemble. Technically speaking, it is 5,13 m high, 5,45 m long and the pillars have 1,69 m width. This time, the material used was Banpotoc travertine and in order to achieve the Gate, Brancusi was helped by two stone carvers: Ion Alexandrescu from Bucharest and Golea from Dobrita. It’s significance is very simple: the Kiss Gate makes the transition to another life, and the motif on the pillars stands for the eyes looking inside.
THE ENDLESS COLUMN (Coloana fara Sfarsit) or the Column of Gratitude29,33 m high, is the third element of the ensemble, being situated at the eastern extremity of the axis forming the Alley of Heroes. The column is made out of 17 rhomboidal cast iron modules, measuring 1,80 m high each and about 860 kg, moulded in the Central Workshop from Petrosani. en asociación con
