The statue of Ovid

The statue of Ovid. The oldest symbol, from the oldest area of old Constanța

The statue of Ovid, before the construction of the Great Mosque, between 1910-1913 (photo: Facebook / Constanta… of old)

The public square in the small seaside town was named, as was customary in Romania, Independence Square. Here were some Greek pubs, some handicraft constructions, being the meeting place of the inhabitants of different nations of the oldest city in Romania. It always represented the central area of the city, but it became its heart only in 1887, when, on a 4 meter pedestal, made of carved stone, was placed the statue of the poet exiled to Pontus, Publius Ovidius Naso.

One of the greatest classics of Latin literature, along with Horace and Virgil, Publius Ovidius Naso gave mankind a consistent work, remarkable for its fine style of humor and a fantasy rarely encountered more than two millennia ago.

The symbolic event of the erection of the statue of Ovid in Constanța, on August 18, 1887, when the work cast in bronze by the Italian sculptor Ettore Ferrari from Rome was erected on the pedestal, brought together many important faces of Romania at the end of the 19th century. The event was attended by Remus N. Opreanu, the first prefect of the county and the one who had the initiative to raise the statue, DA Sturdza, Prime Minister of Romania and Minister of Cults and Public Instruction, the mayor of Constanța, Mihail Koiciu and Parthenie, bishop of the Lower Danube .
A delegation of Sulmonese, coming from the great poet's hometown, attested, through its presence in Constanța, the Latin fraternity that sprang from this new symbol of the oldest city in Romania.

The statue was erected in the city center before the construction of the Port of Constanța, before connecting Dobrogea to the country through Anghel Saligny's bridge over the Danube, before the Romanian monarchy began erecting royal constructions from the sea, long before the city expanded and tourism infrastructure to take shape.

It was the first time that so many personalities came together in Romanian Constanța. Basically, the erection of the statue of Ovid on the pedestal represented the moment of the symbolic beginning of Constanța, which became Romanian land.

In 1887, not only a bronze statue was erected, 2.2 meters high, but a banner of Romanian Latinity was erected, a symbol that rises over the centuries of Ottoman rule and which clearly stated, through its symbolism, that Romanians I am a Latin people.

The statue of the great Publius Ovidius Naso was cast in bronze and shipped to Romania in 1884. Due to lack of funds, its placement in the city center was delayed three years, during which time the work of art lay in a warehouse in Cernavoda.

This proved that the seaside city had not yet entered the ranks of the old and rich Romanian cities, the funds needed to erect a statue in the center of the city being at that time a problem for the Constanta administration. A locality, then, still obscure, with small business and trade, without cultural institutions and without representatives to support its place in history and today.

The symbolic erection of the statue of Publius Ovidius Naso represented the very moment when Constanța began its development, slowly but surely asserting itself as one of the main cities of Romania, the main tourist areas on the Black Sea coast and the main historical centers and multiculturalism in Europe.

The statue of the poet exiled to Tomis, now the oldest piece left standing in Ovidiu Square, is a witness to the development of Constanța. The statue of Ovid was present at the construction of the largest mosque in Christian Europe, saw how buildings were erected, one by one, in the countless architectural styles of the Peninsula, watched the development of tourist infrastructure and heard the multitude of languages spoken in old Constanța .

First World War. Occupation of Dobrogea and demolition of the statue

photo: www.pinterest.com

Regarding the Independence Square, which became Ovidiu Square due to the habit of the citizens to call it so due to the central piece located in this area in 1887, it did not undergo very big changes until the beginning of the First World War. It remained the place where the most important places, hotels, theater and cinema halls, promenade space and business, political, literary and bohemian gatherings.

The statue of Ovid, until the autumn of 1916, looked to the north, in the middle of the square, a place 25-30 meters to the south compared to now, without moving and letting anyone want to see that Latinity in Dobrogea was a defining element.

An episode that interrupted the quiet story of this statue happened with the entry of Bulgarian-German troops in Dobrogea. Occupied on October 23, 1916 by foreign troops, Ovidiu Square was devastated. Representing a symbolic element for the history of the seaside, the statue of Ovid did not escape the fury of the First World War.

According to Petre Covacef, the Germans were the ones who organized and carried out the demolition of the statue of Ovid on the pedestal, the Bulgarian troops not being allowed by the Germans to approach Constanța, due to the dissensions between the two peoples. The Germans allegedly hired a Bulgarian carter to take the statue to Bulgaria, as a kind of war booty from a Dobroge that they had not obtained in 1878. However, the old Bulgarian died on his way to Ostrov and the statue stood for several years. years on the side of the road, overturned and abandoned.

Another story says that, when entering Constanţa, in the autumn of 1916, the statue was detached from the pedestal by Bulgarian soldiers and housed in the basement of the City Hall.

The two years of war, 1916-1918, are the only period after the Russo-Ottoman war when Dobrogea was occupied and no longer belonged to Romania. The statue of Ovid is a symbol of the "marriage" between it and Constanța, the only period in which the statue did not guard the city being precisely the one in which Romania was no longer present here. And, of course, there was also a stroke of luck of destiny because the bronze representation of the Roman poet was saved, compared to the wonderful monument of Independence on the hill in Tulcea, completely destroyed in the same fateful year, 1916, by Bulgarian soldiers.

The interwar at the seaside. Confirmation of the symbolic importance of the Statue of Ovid

photo: Facebook / Constanta… from the past

The Romanian interwar period, known as a period of flourishing and development of society, brought many changes in the old fortress of Tomis. With the development of infrastructure, the modernization of roads and the new western trends in technology brought to the shores of the Black Sea, the period between the two World Wars brings to Constanța one of the buildings symbol for the history of Dobrogea.

In 1921, in Ovidiu Square, the construction of the new City Hall was erected, designed in an exceptional neo-Romanian style. The new reconfiguration of the market space forced the statue to be moved in front of the new building, ie 25-30 meters below, towards the Carol I Mosque.

Along with the architectural restoration of the square and the relocation of the central area to the City Hall, the statue, the symbol of the city and of Latinity, is also moved to the gates of the Constanta administration. The architectural changes of Ovidiu Square in 1921 reconfigure both the geometry of the area and the symbolism of the Statue of Ovid.

As a guard of the City Hall and patron of the city, the statue of the poet is placed in a family environment, being placed in front of the Roman mosaic building, thermal baths and archaeological objects from the Roman period (funerary monuments, columns). The latter, all of them, surround Ovidiu Square today.

Positioned towards the East, the bronze representation of Publius Ovidius Naso is obliged to always look at the sea.

Pontus Euxinus, the turbulent and not at all friendly path that the great Latin poet crossed on his exile to Tomis, the road of exile of Publius Ovidius Naso in the first decade after Christ, from the Tuscan Elbe to Tomis, is the only view that the great poet is cursed to look at her forever.

The return of the statue to the sea coincided with the new maritime vision of Romania in the interwar period, Constanța becoming the largest port on the Black Sea and a city that began to pulsate with economic and financial life, becoming one of the most dynamic places in the country.

As an additional argument to the symbolic connection between Latin space and Romania, in 1925, in Sulmona, a copy of the statue of Ovid was unveiled, created by the same sculptor Ettore Ferrari.

Respect for local administrations for the symbol of Constanța

In 1940, the statue was polished and rehabilitated, adding on the pedestal an inscription, made by the stone sculptor Antonio Rutta, which recites the poet's lyrics from a text from "Sad":

"Under this stone lies Ovid, the singer
Gentle loves, killed by his talent,
Oh, you who pass by, if you've ever loved,
He prays for him: to have a good night's sleep. "

These verses represent the epitaph that Ovid would have wanted to have on his tombstone. Because the exact place where he is buried is not known, believing that it is somewhere at the gate of the old fortress Tomis, the people of Constanta, as a sign of respect and as a symbol of the great poet's eternity, decided to encrust these verses on the pedestal of the statue. l and more of their destinies.

The importance of this objective, which is confused with the modern history of Constanța, was marked, in 1957, by the celebrations of the bimillennium of the poet's birth, attended by representatives of the history, archeology and literature of Latin Europe. That is, from our sister countries: Italy, France, Spain, Portugal.

The event coincided with the inauguration of the Archaeological Museum of the Dobrogea region, located in the old City Hall building. As a thanks to the poet who mentioned for the first time in literature the geography, climate, port, occupations and habits of the population of Dobrogea 2000 years ago, in the Museum of National History and Archeology in Constanța was arranged a special room for the poet's memory.

Another sign of gratitude that Constanța brought to its spiritual patron is the bearing of its name of the largest University in Constanța and Dobrogea. Thus, Ovid became the symbol of the academic spirit by the sea.

Living in the city of Tomis, until the end of his life, among the Greeks, native Getae, Bessi, Sarmatians and Scythians, Publius Ovidius Naso managed to survive in history as a symbol of the Latinity of the area.

The relationship between Ovid and Constanța is eternal. The poet exiled to Tomis gave life to Constanța through his work, and Constanța, as a thank you, created the eternal representation of the great poet, honoring his memory.

The respect of the passing local administrations for the eternal symbol of Constanța, Publius Ovidius Naso, was reflected, throughout the history of modern Constanța, in the care for the statue in the heart of the city.

Over time, the statue was surrounded by thick pillars, joined by chains of solid links, which seemed to defend the statue and show Constanta's respect for what this symbol represents. But there were also periods, unfortunately, even in the democratic period of Constanța, in which both the statue and its surrounding area did not represent any interest for local administrations. Not being surrounded by anything, not being illuminated and highlighted, with a space that surrounded it abandoned and neglected, the statue of Ovid was struck countless times by indifference.

Today, Ovidiu Square tells the silent story of the history of Constanța and of the space between the Danube and the Sea. The buildings built in different architectural styles, the traces of the missing houses and those that can still be found in the square after more than a century, the statue of Ovid and the Museum of National History and Archeology, all these objectives are witnesses of the beautiful history of the area.

I learned all the information mentioned above from books a long time ago. Here, in the square, walking a few tens of minutes, admiring the opening of the area to the three horizons lost in the sea, I found no inscription, no sign and no information desk to draw the tourist's attention to the value of this zone. I also wanted to buy a small statue of the poet, as a souvenir, from anywhere in the old town. I have not found.

Today, Ovidiu Square passed from the city center to its outskirts. It is no longer a central meeting place or a place of inestimable value for all the people of Constanta. However, it remains known as the area where, even today, it is stubborn to stand and look out to sea at the statue of the great poet exiled to Tomis, Publius Ovidius Naso.

The statue can say a lot for those who know its story. However, for those who have not yet found out what this means for the history of Constanța today, there is no information at hand, no way to find out this story.

I did not find in Ovidiu Square and I did not find out here about the existence of any cultural event, festival or historical event that highlights, points and capitalizes on the fabulous history worn for 128 years by the stone of the pedestal and the bronze of the statue that depicts the one who clearly stands out in a top of the most important characters in the history of Constanța.

SOURCE: www.info-sud-est.ro