3.1 Introduction
Dobruja is a unique intercultural, spiritual and geographical landscape, an inspirational land, blessed over the ages by the dark depths of the Black Sea. Although
here was sentenced to exile the great poet Ovidius and the cold winds by the Black
Sea drove him to write the elegy entitled Triste, the uniqueness of Romanian
Dobruja unfold in a variety of unparalleled characteristics: one can think of the
Monument Trophaeum Traiani from Adamclisi and the ancient cities Capidava,
Tomis, Callatis, Enisala, Vicina, Troesmis, Ibida or Sacidava (Ganciu 2016); we
can mention the numerous monasteries (15 only in Tulcea county), the buried
Church from Istria, the tiny straw Churches from Ostrov (Ionescu 2014); one should
talk about the variety of cultures and religious denominations – 18 of the 20th
Romanian minorities live here and, also, in Dobrudja, one can find the only Muslim
village of Romania (the former Bas ¸pı ˆnar or Bas ¸punar, now called F^ ant^ ana Mare
found on the UNESCO world patrimony waiting list); one should recall the great
landform variety and another could talk about “Movile” Cave, unique in the world,
which presents an ecosystem which is independent of the Sun. (Worldwideromania
2016).
This land contributed with numerous scientific, cultural and religious personalities to universal and national knowledge. Among these, it is our honour to include a
brief scientific portrait of Professor Alexandru Bologa. It is as if this fascinating
realm by the sea transposes into culture and spirituality the exceptional geographical characteristics.
3.1.1 Black Sea, the Geostrategic Neighbour
Gheorghe Bra ˘tianu, a Romanian historian, member of an important cultural and
liberal statesmen family dedicated to the Black Sea a treaty entitled Marea Neagra ˘.
De la origini p^ ana ˘ la cucerirea otomana ˘ [The Black Sea: From the Origins, Until
the Ottoman Conquest]. Although it has been already written in in 1948, due to the
political vicissitudes that the author endured until the end of his life during
communism, the book was published for the first time only in 1988, toward the
end of the communist regime. There he explains the dual, contradictory at times and
intricate role of unity and division played by the Black Sea for the populations
developing around its shores. Black Sea became in times a theatre play for a
continuously developing play: universal history. Black Sea is a source of inspiration. In this respect, Gheorghe Bra ˘tianu wrote in his book regarding the Black Sea
as well about the symbolic, historical and international relations role of the Black
Sea. In this book the very destiny of Europe is viewed as progressing toward unity
and it is interpreted in correlation with the complex importance of the Black Sea, a
sea uniting like a magnet people, countries, cultures (Indo-European, Greek, Sarmatian, German, Geto-Dacian, Hun, Byzantine, Ottoman, Turkish, Romanian etc.)
42
E. Laza ˘r and H.A. S ¸ erban
Dobruja is a unique intercultural, spiritual and geographical landscape, an inspirational land, blessed over the ages by the dark depths of the Black Sea. Although
here was sentenced to exile the great poet Ovidius and the cold winds by the Black
Sea drove him to write the elegy entitled Triste, the uniqueness of Romanian
Dobruja unfold in a variety of unparalleled characteristics: one can think of the
Monument Trophaeum Traiani from Adamclisi and the ancient cities Capidava,
Tomis, Callatis, Enisala, Vicina, Troesmis, Ibida or Sacidava (Ganciu 2016); we
can mention the numerous monasteries (15 only in Tulcea county), the buried
Church from Istria, the tiny straw Churches from Ostrov (Ionescu 2014); one should
talk about the variety of cultures and religious denominations – 18 of the 20th
Romanian minorities live here and, also, in Dobrudja, one can find the only Muslim
village of Romania (the former Bas ¸pı ˆnar or Bas ¸punar, now called F^ ant^ ana Mare
found on the UNESCO world patrimony waiting list); one should recall the great
landform variety and another could talk about “Movile” Cave, unique in the world,
which presents an ecosystem which is independent of the Sun. (Worldwideromania
2016).
This land contributed with numerous scientific, cultural and religious personalities to universal and national knowledge. Among these, it is our honour to include a
brief scientific portrait of Professor Alexandru Bologa. It is as if this fascinating
realm by the sea transposes into culture and spirituality the exceptional geographical characteristics.
3.1.1 Black Sea, the Geostrategic Neighbour
Gheorghe Bra ˘tianu, a Romanian historian, member of an important cultural and
liberal statesmen family dedicated to the Black Sea a treaty entitled Marea Neagra ˘.
De la origini p^ ana ˘ la cucerirea otomana ˘ [The Black Sea: From the Origins, Until
the Ottoman Conquest]. Although it has been already written in in 1948, due to the
political vicissitudes that the author endured until the end of his life during
communism, the book was published for the first time only in 1988, toward the
end of the communist regime. There he explains the dual, contradictory at times and
intricate role of unity and division played by the Black Sea for the populations
developing around its shores. Black Sea became in times a theatre play for a
continuously developing play: universal history. Black Sea is a source of inspiration. In this respect, Gheorghe Bra ˘tianu wrote in his book regarding the Black Sea
as well about the symbolic, historical and international relations role of the Black
Sea. In this book the very destiny of Europe is viewed as progressing toward unity
and it is interpreted in correlation with the complex importance of the Black Sea, a
sea uniting like a magnet people, countries, cultures (Indo-European, Greek, Sarmatian, German, Geto-Dacian, Hun, Byzantine, Ottoman, Turkish, Romanian etc.)
42
E. Laza ˘r and H.A. S ¸ erban