1. ROMANIA

3. The cultural identity and
the ethnic structure
of the Romanian people

4. • The Romanian people was formed in the geographical
space between the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube
river and the west shore of the Black Sea from the 1st
century B.C. to the 5th century A.C., through the merging
of the native civilization of the Geto-Dacians with the
Roman civilization and the civilizations of the migratory
people: Slavic, Goth, Visigoth, Ostrogoth, Hun.

5. • Situated at the crossroads of the Western and
Eastern civilizations, the Romanian culture
accumulates in time different influences:
Slavic, Hungarian, Byzantine, Turkish, German
and English.

6. The elements of the cultural identity:
• the Romanian language
• literature
• folklore
• religion
• science and technique
• music, painting and sculpture

7. • The Romanian language belongs to the group of
Roman languages together with: Spanish,
Portuguese, French and Italian languages.
Other: Hungarian,
Turkish,
German, French,
English, etc.
• The Romanian language is spoken by 90% of the
population of the country.

8. Literature
• The first writing in Romanian language dates from the 16th
century, initially being used Slavonic letters.
• The most valuable literary works were written during the 19th and
the 20th century, when became known:
- The prose writers: Liviu Rebreanu, Mihail Sadoveanu, Ion Slavici,
- The poets: Mihai Eminescu, George Cosbuc, Lucian Blaga,
- The playwrights: Ion Luca Caragiale, Eugen Ionescu, Marin
Sorescu.
• In the 20th century, because of the Communist regime, some
writers like Mircea Eliade and Emil Cioran finished their work in
exile.

9. Folklore
• It sums up the Romanian spiritual creations.
• The folklore and its tradition are linked with
the main events of the Romanians’ life: birth,
wedding, death and religious celebrations:
Saint Andrew, Saint Nicholas, Christmas,
Easter, etc.

10. • The popular culture is specific to each
geographical region and is made up of the
popular literature, the folk music and dances,
the weavings, the popular costumes and
painting.

11. Religion
• The Romanians are a Christian people. The
process of Christianization was accomplished
from the 1st to the 6th century A.C.
• From the total of the population, 87% are
Christian orthodox, 6% belongs to reformed
cult and 5,4% are Catholics.
• Also, there are communities of Muslim and
Jewish.

12. The worship places
The Orthodox cult The Catholic cult
Putna Monastery Voronet Monastery ‘Saint Michael’ Cathedral, Cluj-Napoca
The reformed cult The Muslim cult The mosaic cult
The Black Chuch, Brasov The mosque from Constanta The Coral Temple, Bucuresti

13. Science and technique
• They made progress from the second half of the 19th
century after the foundation of the Romanian modern
state.
• There were distinguished:
- In aviation: Traian Vuia (the first man who flew with an
airplane harder than air, equipped with its own system
of take off, propulsion and landing), Aurel Vlaicu and
Henri Coanda (the inventor of the jet engine).
Traian Vuia

14. - In spelaeology: Emil Racovita laid
the foundation of this science.
- In medicine: Nicolae Paulescu
Emil Racovita
(discovered the insulin), Victor
Babes (accomplished studies in
microbiology) and Gheorghe
Marinescu (studied the neuron).
Victor Babes
Nicolae Paulescu

15. Music, painting and sculpture
• Composers:
Ciprian Porumbescu,
George Enescu,
“Ballad for violin and orchestra”
“The Romanian rhapsody”
• Painters:
Nicolae Grigorescu “The cart with oxen” “The girl with the red
kerchief”

16. Nicolae Tonitza “The forester’s girl” “The Garden from Valeni”
Stefan Luchian “The yellow chrysanthemums” “Anemone”

17. • In sculpture, Constantin Brancusi is the most
remarkable artist.
The kiss gate
Bird in space
The Column of Infinite

18. The ethnic structure of
the population

19. • According to the census achieved in 2002, the
population of Romania counts 21.680.974
inhabitants.
The ethnic structure of the population

20. The geographical repartition of the
national minorities
The Roma are evenly
Polish spread all over the
country.
Czech
Hungarian
Serbian German Italian
Croatian
Ukrainian
Russian
Turk
Tatar
Greek

21. • Over time, the national minorities have deeply
influenced the culture and the tradition of the
Romanian people.
Realized by the pupils of School number 1, Bicaz, Romania, for the Comenius Project “Different
cultures, common dreams”
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This presentation reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible
for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.