Russia donates EUR 100 to Romania’s campaign for Brancusi sculpture

The Russian Embassy in Bucharest has donated EUR 100 to the Romanian Government’s campaign to raise money for the famous sculpture Cumintenia Pamantului (Wisdom of the Earth) created by Constantin Brancusi. “The Embassy joins the action and makes a modest financial contribution to the fund created for this purpose,” wrote the Russian Embassy in Bucharest on its Facebook page. The Russian Embassy's gesture raised many negative comments on Facebook. A protest has been initiated calling Romanians to gather in front of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest and return the donation in 1 cent coins. Russia has a new ambassador in Romania since June this year, when President Vladimir Putin named Valeri Kuzmin, Russia's former ambassador to Chisinau, to take this position. Together with the announcement, the Russian Embassy launched a propaganda video showing that the Soviet army and the Romanian army had fought together for Europe’s independence and that the Soviet Union helped rebuild Romania’s economy after World War II. The video's message is that young Romanians should learn the real history, not the history created in a film studio.

The Russian Embassy’s video comes as a reaction to a video created by local advertising agency Papaya Advertising to support the Brancusi campaign. The black and white video, which hasn’t been approved by the Romanian Ministry of Culture as part of the official campaign, shows two children standing on the ground and watching the history train go by. A sequence shows the train carrying away Romania’s thesaurus to Russia while another one shows how the Soviet Union brought communism to Romania. The video’s message is that Romanians have a chance to save a part of their history by donating for the Brancusi sculpture.

On May 19, the Government started a campaign to raise EUR 6 million by end-September to buy the sculpture from its current owners. The Government has agreed to pay EUR 11 million for the sculpture, EUR 5 million of which will come from the state. The campaign ends on September 30. editor@romania-insider.com