The most important spiritual project of the Romanian nation, the publishing of Mihai Eminescu’s facsimiled manuscripts will soon be put into practice, Eugen Simion, the President of the National Foundation for Art and Culture announced on Tuesday, at the launching of seven volumes containing the “Manuscripts”.

“I hope that, on the same day of the year to come, I will have the pleasure to announce you: ‘we successfully finalised our most important spiritual project!’ “, Eugen Simion, the initiator of the daring project proudly declared.

Simion announced that the book was simultaneously and similarly launched at the Library of the Romania Academy, at subsidiaries of the Academy in Iasi, Cluj and Timisoara, and also in Venice, Rome, Gyula, Belgrade and Chisinau.

The former President of the Romanian Academy severely criticised “those who criticise Eminescu’s nationalism”, declaring that “on the contrary, those who curse Eminescu, such as Statie from Chisinau with his so-called Romanian-Moldavian Dictionary, or the historian who considered Eminescu a reactionary, should know that Eminescu was a Nationalist highly familiar with the European culture, and not a racist and a xenophobe”.

“Eminescu is considered by Romanians as the National poet, because he successfully presented the Romanian history, the ancient myths, and he depicted the issues of the Romanian society, the internal negative aspects as well as the threats coming from abroad”, Eugen Simion mentioned.

Eminescu’s manuscripts, kept by Titu Maiorescu in Eminescu’s famous case and donated to the Romanian Academy in 1902 by the author of the “Critical Notes” (Titu Maiorescu, editor’s note), consisted of 45 notebooks of about 14 000 pages, without a rigorous chronological order or a plan of themes. “The Notebooks” were read, studied, evaluated and published in several editions by several generations of critics, from Perpessicius and George Calinescu, up to Dimitrie Vatamaniuc or Petru Cretia. According to estimations made by historian Nicolae Iorga, they represent “a national monument”, based on the principle that “every phrase written by Eminescu is worth publishing.”

The Culture and Religious Denominations Minister, Adrian Iorgulescu announced on Tuesday, in a press realease, that he intends to suggest within a Government meeting that January 15 – Mihai Eminescu’s birthday – be declared the National Culture Day. Adrian Iorgulescu has previously circulated this idea in 2005 as well, on the poet’s anniversary, but he gave it up at that moment. On Tuesday, he restarted discussions on this matter.

Under these circumstances, Iorgulescu mentioned that every culture has a universal representative: Dante for Italians, Shakespeare for Englishmen, Goethe for Germans. And so must be Eminescu for Romanians. It is a day that must be highlighted in the calendar. Perhaps I will propose in a Government meeting that this day be celebrated as the National Culture Day. We already have a National Day; we should have a National Culture Day as well. And there is no better date than January 15”, the Culture Minister mentioned.