Monumental art – Four personalities with statues in Cișmigiu Garden

Cișmigiu Garden, listed historic monument, has been under redevelopment for several years. Even so, the statues remain in place and accompany passers-by along the main alley, but also appear in more secluded spots.

Some of them have been vandalized – showing traces of graffiti and deterioration – and others have been carefully observed by visitors, but the lack of specifications raises questions about the importance of the person immortalized on the plinth.

Elena Pherekyde

One of the oldest statues in the park is that of Elena Pherekyde. Made by Romanian sculptor Oscar Späethe, it was erected in the eastern part of the park in 1921. The bust and plinth were carved in Carrara marble. The bas-relief, which depicts three separate figures, depicts Elena Pherekyde’s charitable work. Three decades ago the bust disappeared, it was restored and placed in 2017. Today the difference between the two segments can easily be seen.

Elena Pherekyde (1851 – 1919) was the daughter of Ion Marghiloman and the sister of Alexandru Marghiloman, a conservative and Germanphile politician and former Prime Minister of Romania. She was the president of the Obolul charitable society, which had a humanitarian activity subsidized by Charles Pherekyde, Elena’s husband, administrator of the Royal Estates and first president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

Mother Smara

Another statue represents Smaranda Gheorghiu (1857 – 1944), called Maica Smara, writer and educator. It was made in Rșchița marble by Mihail Onofrei and installed in 1945. The monument on the path by the lake also consists of a bust and a pedestal with a bronze bas-relief depicting two children reading.

Maica Smara, the name given to her by Mihai Eminescu and Veronica Micle, whom she met through her first husband, Professor George Gîrbea, also remained her literary pseudonym.
Smaranda Gheorghiu was a schoolteacher and publicist, a school inspector who came up with innovations such as the uniform and outdoor classes and, among other things, she was vice-president of the first International Congress of the Universal Union of Women in Paris, and in 1900 she was Romania’s representative at the first Peace Congress.
she published in Convorbiri Literare, Literatorul, Tribuna and Universul, and among her best-known writings are the verses “Spring is coming, spring is coming, it’s spreading all over the country, flowers in the fields, let’s gather them, children” (“The Schoolboy’s Song”).

Traian Demetrescu

The statue of the poet, prose writer and publicist Traian Demetrescu (Tradem), was made by Filip Marin, a pupil of Frederic Storck, and placed near the lake in Cișmigiu in 1939, after 34 years in the Romanian Athenaeum Garden.

The monument consists of a bust and a stone pedestal on which the sculptor has depicted a female figure offering flowers to the poet. The bust and the female figure are made of Carrara marble.

Theodor Serbănescu

The bust of Theodor Șerbănescu was also made by Filip Marin and was placed in the same year, 1939, in the Cșmigiu Garden, brought from in front of the Athenaeum.

Theodor Șerbănescu was a poet and translator, a member of the Junimea literary society and a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, but the sculptor decided to represent him as a military man.

He commanded the 10th Dorobanți Regiment from Brăila, and the bronze and stone statue emphasizes the distinctions he received for his involvement in the War of Independence, where he served as a staff officer at the Romanian Army’s General Headquarters.