Bust of Lucian Blaga

Bust of Lucian Blaga
The monument in 2025.
Interactive map of Bust of Lucian Blaga
LocationClotilde Avenue, Estoril, Portugal
Coordinates38°42′15″N 9°23′51″W / 38.704048°N 9.397447°W / 38.704048; -9.397447
DesignerAurel Gheorghe Ardelean
TypeBust
Height3 m (9.8 ft)
Opening date2 June 2014
Dedicated toLucian Blaga

The bust of Lucian Blaga (Romanian pronunciation: [lu.tʃiˈan ˈbla.ɡa]; Portuguese: busto de Lucian Blaga; Romanian: bustul lui Lucian Blaga) is a monument in Estoril, Portugal, at the corner of Clotilde Avenue and Arcadas do Parque Street, in front of the Estroil Garden. It has the form a bust sculpture, placed on top of a pedestal, measuring 3 meters in total. The monument is dedicated to Lucian Blaga, a 20th-century philosopher, poet, playwright, novelist, and politician, who was the plenipotentiary minister of Romania to Portugal from 1938 to 1939. It was designed by Aurel Gheorghe Ardelean and unveiled on 2 June 2014.

History

The monument was proposed by Vasile Popovici, the ambassador of Romania to Portugal from 2006 to 2011. The sculpture was designed by Aurel Gheorghe Ardelean, and was unveiled in Estroil on 2 June 2014, by Titus Corlățean, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The monument was dedicated to Lucian Blaga, a 20th-century philosopher, poet, playwright, novelist, and politician, who was the plenipotentiary minister of Romania to Portugal from 1938 to 1939. Blaga resided in Estroil, in the nearby Hotel Palácio, for a month in 1938.[1][2]

On 28 June 2016, next to the bust of Blaga was also unveiled the sculpture titled Three Polish Emissaries by Karol Badyna, dedicated to three couriers of the Polish government-in-exile during the Second World War, Jan Karski, Jerzy Lerski, and Jan Nowak-Jeziorański.[3]

Description

The monument consists of a bust sculpture of Lucian Blaga, placed on top of a white stone pedestal.[1][2] It features the following Portuguese inscription:

Portuguese inscription

Lucian Blaga
Poeta e filósofo Romeno
Embaixador da Roménia
em Portugal entre 1938–1939

Translation:
English translation

Lucian Blaga
Romanian poet and philosopher
Ambassador of Romania to
Portugal from 1938 to 1939

Below, it also bears a quote from Blaga's poem Saudade in Portuguese, with the following inscription:

Portuguese inscription

Saudade
Há horas, há dias que ando a velar numa encosta amarela de Portugal.
Com a armadura perto de mim, recto com as minhas mãos cruzadas no peito.
Cantando plangente olharia sete anos para o céu com cordeiros lusitanos,
se não topasse com o meu assento o desassossego do moinho de vento.
Se, sorvido por um astro, eu não perecesse visto não visto, no azul celeste
Lucian Blaga

Translation:
English translation

Saudade
For hours, for days, I have been keeping watch on a yellow slope in Portugal.
With my armour close to me, with my hands crossed on my chest.
Singing plaintively, I would gaze for seven years at the sky with Lusitanian lambs,
if I didn't bump into the windmill's restlessness from my seat.
If, swallowed by a star, I did not perish seen unseen, in the celestial blue.
Lucian Blaga

In total, the monument is 3 m tall. It is placed at the corner of Clotilde Avenue and Arcadas do Parque Street, in front of the Estoril Garden, and near the Hotel Palácio, which housed Blaga for a month in 1938.[1][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Stefan Both (9 May 2023). "Poetul Lucian Blaga are monument la Estoril. A fost ambasador al României regale în Portugalia, în anii '30 FOTO" (in Romanian).
  2. 1 2 3 "Ministrul de Externe a dezvelit în Portugalia un monument dedicat lui Lucian Blaga". gds.ro (in Polish). 3 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "Monumento aos Emissários Polacos no Estoril". gov.pl (in Portuguese). 18 November 2022.
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