Bucharest Days, 2023 edition, is taking place between September 20-24. The City Hall of the Capital, through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest, marks the 564th anniversary of the first documentary attestation of Bucharest by organizing the “Bucharest Days” project, a series of cultural events with free access to ARCUB – the Gabroveni Inn, in the Square George Enescu International Festival and within Open Streets – Bucharest, Urban Promenade.
The programme of the “Bucharest Days 2023” edition includes documentary, painting and photography exhibitions, dance events and a music concert, according to a release from the City Hall.
Documentary exhibition
The documentary exhibition invites the people of Bucharest to discover the story of the city of Bucharest in the middle of the 19th century in the historic center, in the historical monument building of the Gabroveni Inn, reconstructed through the existing plans and maps, as well as some archival images, as well as some 3D models.
“You will be able to relive in an authentic atmosphere from 1846: streets or imposing buildings that have survived to this day, places through which great historical figures have passed, crowded fairs, horse-drawn carriages and carriages, exciting events and histories are revealed through the plans and maps of the Bucharest of old,” explains Mihai Florea, museographer of the National History Museum of Romania, who curated the exhibition at ARCUB together with Ştefan Huţanu, architect and 3D designer.
The exhibition benefits from free access only between September 20-24, on the occasion of “Bucharest Days 2023” and is organized by the Capital City Hall, through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest, together with the Romanian History Museum and the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with Bucharest City Museum and Lavița Verde. The exhibition can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday, between 12.00 and 20.00.
Photo displays
Among the rare opportunities to (re)see Bucharest at the beginning of the 90s, the photography exhibitions signed by Dragoş Lumpan present works from the early period of the artist’s training, black-and-white photographs, made using the classic film development method.
If the works exhibited in “Blurred Times” bring to the fore photos taken at the beginning of 1992, with passers-by on Magheru Boulevard, near the Nottara Theater, the images of the exhibition “Photo Archive 1992-1993” form a collective portrait of Romania 30 years ago years, capturing a series of social, political and cultural events of the time.
The two exhibitions can be visited in the exhibition spaces in the Gabroveni Inn passage and have free access only during the “Bucharest Days” event, from September 20-24. The exhibitions are organized by the CALD Association and Lumina pe cale, in partnership with the Capital City Hall, through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest. The exhibitions can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday, between 12.00 and 20.00.
Premiere exhibition
The largest retrospective exhibition in Romania of the Israeli artist of Romanian origin Samy Briss, “MÉMOIRES” presents, for the first time to the Bucharest public, works of painting, sculpture, graphics from all stages of creation, including some of the works that were supposed to be part of the exhibition banned in Romania in 1959. They are completed by landmarks of personal and artistic life, also not exhibited in Romania: photos from the workshop, letters from important personalities of the international cultural world.
The exhibition opens to the public as part of the “Bucharest Days 2023” and is organized in partnership with the Capital City Hall, through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest, the Embassy of Israel in Romania, the French Cultural Institute and the Union of Visual Artists from Romania.
Painting exhibition
After going on display in the United States, Europe, Lebanon and Israel, the artist of Romanian origin Manuela Holban-Ioanid presents the solo exhibition “Gallant Allegories” at ARCUB – Hanul Gabroveni. From real characters (Casanova, Saskia, Maria Antoinette) to fictional characters (Meninele lui Velasquez, Salomea, Herod) from the world of art or the pages of history, the exhibition creates an atmosphere of gallant celebration, with carnival flair, behind which other stories are hidden , other realities, which the viewer is invited to discover.
“Gallant Allegories” includes works exhibited for the first time, but also works that appeared in exhibitions organized in Romania and Tel Aviv during 2022-2023. The exhibition is organized by the Capital City Hall, through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest.
“Stories from the Old Bucharest” concert
The atmosphere of Little Paris is evoked at “Bucharest Days 2023” by the concert “Stories from Old Bucharest” scheduled for Saturday, September 23, on the stage of the Enescu Festival Square.
From the famous tangos, foxtrots and swings heard mainly in the vaudeville and Revista theaters of the old Bucharest, to the classical and cafe-concert music, the show offers a foray into the fascinating life of the stories of an almost lost world and buried under layers of oblivion and which music reconstructs in an incomparable way.
The concert presents light Romanian music performed by Miruna Ionescu and Valentin Albeșteanu, accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Râmnicu Vâlcea “Ion Dumitrescu”, conducted by Tiberiu Dragoş Oprea, and Taraful de Oraş.
Night of the Dance #2
The 21st pedestrian weekend in the “Open Streets – Bucharest, Urban Promenade” series takes place in the context of the “Bucharest Days 2023” anniversary. Thus, on September 23, “Open Streets – Bucharest, Promenade” offers Bucharesters and tourists the second edition of “Night of Dance”, organized by Creator Media Team. After the success of this year’s first edition, organized at “Open Streets – Bucharest”, “Night of Dance” returns to Calea Victoriei and invites the public to celebrate the city through dance. Over 200 dancers from over 15 dance schools prepared three hours of flash-mobs, community dance and moments of interaction with passers-by.