The statue of Mihai Eminescu

The other end of the cliff is guarded by the statue of Mihai Eminescu. The great Romanian poet, who spent a few days at the end of the 19th century in the attic of the “Regina” hotel, today, “Intim”, looks at the sea and is watched by tourists walking on the seafront of Constanta. The work is the work of Oscar Han and was inaugurated, with pomp, by St. Mary in 1934. The unveiling of the monument was attended by King Carol II, Grand Duke Mihai, Liberal Prime Minister Gheor-ghe Tătărescu, government officials, military and local. The work on the seafront of Constanța was not exempt from rumors in the public space, Oscar Han being, at that time, deputy of Mureş in the Romanian Parliament, elected in December 1933 on the lists of the National Liberal Party.

The statuary face of one of them is outlined on the base of the bust muses ancient inspirations of lyric - Terpsichore or Erato.^[2] Other commentators consider it Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, to whom the sculptor would have lent his face Veronica Micle.

In June 1882, Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889) landed on the shore Black Sea, living for ten days in the attic of the "Hôtel d'Angleterre" in Constanța. The site of this hotel, demolished in 1906, is now located Intimate Hotel, built in 1906-1909 on Nicolae Titulescu street no. 9, declared a historical monument, on the façade of which a memorial plaque is mounted,^[3] with the following content:

In this place was the "Hotel D'Angleterre", in the attic where lived for ten days in June 1882 Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889) the national poet of the Romanians.

The initiative to erect a monument of Eminescu in Constanța was taken by the teacher, the writer and the translator Zoe Verbiceanu and the lawyer, publicist and poet IN Roman, who had known Eminescu in his youth. The two formed, in 1931, a committee called "Pro-Eminescu", which carried out, for three years, a useful and rich activity to popularize the Eminescu work and to raise funds for the erection of the monument.^[3]

The inauguration of the statue took place at 13:15, on August 15, 1934, in the presence of the king. Carol II and his son, the crown prince mihait, who were in Constanța on the occasion of the Navy Day celebration. Admiral Bălănescu, Minister of Public Instruction Constantin Angelescu, Academician I. Bianu and the King gave speeches at the ceremony.^[4]

On the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the poet's birth, on the southern side of the set of columns that frame the statue, a bronze plaque was fixed in stone, with the effigy of the poet in high relief, under which the text is written:

IN MEMORY

THE POET OF THE SEA,
MIHAI EMINESCU
January 15, 1850 - June 15, 1889

THE MAKER OF THE LANGUAGE AND
CONSCIOUSNESS
ROMANIAN NATIONALS,
EVOCUATOR OF THE EARTH
Dobrogea
160 YEARS FROM BIRTH
JANUARY 15, 2010
CONSTANŢA COUNTY COUNCIL
CULTURAL LEAGUE FOR UNITY

ROMANIANS EVERYWHERE