Tudor Arghezi’s Sunny Villa

Industrial site C
Industrial Site C
29, March, 2015
Danube Delta Summer Views
30, August, 2015

Tudor Arghezi’s Sunny Villa

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Gear:
Fujifilm mirrorless digital camera
Canon DSLR
90mm f2.8 Travenar-R
50mm f2.8 Edixa-Travenar-A
135mm f3.5 Edixa-Mat-Travenar

Location:
Bucharest, Romania

Once there, you forget about crowded streets, communist apartment blocks, sleek malls and all that. You forget and that's a good thing, because like many other major cities, Bucharest is becoming more and more suffocated by the modern urban life.

You walk around and you wonder about the trees, the flowers, about all the simple things that usually just aren't there in a crowded industrial neighborhood. Welcome to Martisor, the property of Romanian writer Tudor Arghezi (1880 - 1967).

Hidden from the main access point to the property, the villa is big, but simple and rather unimpressive from an architectural point of view. It was built in several stages during the 1930s, but high profile writer Tudor Arghezi had bought the place in 1926 when the land was still at the city's outskirts. What's amazing is that the property has the same rural feeling as it had many years ago.

Cherry trees and nut trees, even a beehive, you'll find a place to rest and put your thoughts in order. From certain angles, apartment blocks can be seen in the distance and there you have one constant reminder of how much the city has grown over time. Luckily, the property survived both the real estate boom of the 2000s and the chaotic development that followed.

Tudor Arghezi was both a successful writer and a celebrity during the 1920s and 1930s. Initially banned, but later rehabilitated by the Communist Regime, he enjoined a peaceful life at his property until the moment of his death in 1967. His dog has its own resting place on the property.

Near the main house, there is another building which used to be a typography. There, Arghezi was printing his own literary magazine, “Bilete de Papagal”. The building, which sometimes houses creative workshops for children, was under repairs at the time of our visit so we could only take a peek at it.

There are quite a few interesting places in Bucharest and Arghezi's property is among them. We liked it because it's simple, yet surprising and calm, in contrast with the agitated city that lurks around it.

Many thanks to the staff, who were eager to help us connect to the place.