Irina Achim, L’archéologie roumaine à l’épreuve de l’histoire : le cas de Dobroudja pendant et après la Grande Guerre

Irina Achim - Institut d’Archéologie « Vasile Pârvan » de l’Académie Roumaine
TOME LX 2022
pp. 229-243
Online publication date: 
10/14/2023
Keywords: 
Great War; Dobrudja; Vasile Pârvan; National Museum of Antiquities in Bucharest; Romanian archaeology
Abstract: 

Since Romania entered the Great War in August 1916, the territory of Dobrudja, redrawn at the end of the Second Balkan War, was under military occupation until the autumn of 1918. Throughout this period, an important archaeological heritage, spread over several sites of the classical period (namely Tomis, Histria, Tropaeum Traiani, Callatis, Ulmetum), suffered the avatars of war. This contribution aims to present the situation of these archaeological sites and the destiny of their collections of antiquities during and after the war, based on documents from the archives of the National Museum of Antiquities in Bucharest (MNA). At the heart of the presentation is the figure of the scholar Vasile Pârvan, university professor and director of the MNA from 1910 to 1927. His efforts to organize Romanian archaeology on European bases and, at the same time, to do research in situ and to create the first museums and site collections in Dobrudja are considerable throughout his directorship. The file is enriched with testimonies taken from the memories of the time, more precisely those of Monsignor R. Netzhammer, Catholic archbishop in Bucharest, which offer valuable information on the fate of the cultural heritage of this Romanian province throughout the period of the war. Finally, the presentation will discuss the steps taken by Vasile Pârvan, more particularly between 1918 and 1923, for the recovery of the classical antiquities of Dobrudja which were transported beyond the Romanian borders during the war.

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