The Act of Union of Bessarabia with Romania from 1918 and cultural heritage: impact, evolution, perspectives

Abstract

The union of Bessarabia with Romania, in 1918, also had a particular impact on education, economy, mentality, the development of visual and audiovisual arts and, of course, on the patrimony of the country. Now, the subject of the cultural heritage of the Republic of Moldova is frequently approached by historians, anthropologists, specialists in the field of arts studies. In this article, we set the objective to make a retrospective of the itinerary traveled by the cultural heritage of Bessarabia in these 105 years. The evolutionary processes to which this heritage was subjected over the years (in the interwar period, in the years of the Second World War, during the Soviet period and during the 32 years of independence of the Republic of Moldova) were investigated, the share of the treasure held in 1918 was determined, specifying what values we lost, what patrimony was stolen, destroyed especially during the Soviet period and what we have to restore, to rebuild for posterity. Since the idea of cultural heritage is very complex, in our approach we presented a synthesis of its evolution, bringing in this way a tribute to the Generation of the Union for the achievement of Greater Romania. The great act of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania, made in Chisinau, on March 27, 1918, remained as an act of courage. It’s up to us to keep it alive the memory of those who contributed to a real history lesson of 1918 and to join our efforts to safeguarding, valorizing and promoting our cultural heritage, which we value in order to pass it on to those who will continue our message and activity.

Keywords

• cultural patrimony
• union
• bessarabia
• romania
• impact
• legislation
• history
• ethnology
• art