May 18, 2024
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 18.05.2024, 13:00
MUSEUMS. The Night of the Museums event, now in its 20th edition, will take place in Romania throughout the day on Saturday, until late at night, simultaneously with several European countries. Museums, memorial houses, galleries, but also many other types of cultural institutions, creative spaces and studios, theaters, opera houses, philharmonics, historical monuments, hubs for artistic innovation, or arts festivals have announced their participation in the event. Hundreds of exhibitions, cultural interventions and artistic experiments, projections, urban installations, performances, workshops, street and interior animations, concerts or interactive tours will be presented. The Night of the Museums has become, in the last two decades, one of the strongest cultural brands and a real social phenomenon, with audience figures hovering around one million people, nationwide. This year, several museums in Bucharest and in the country have announced that they will not participate in the event, due to employee dissatisfaction with wages and working conditions. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu appealed to museographers not to boycott the “Night of the Museums” and stressed that all the issues raised can be solved through dialogue.
PENTECOST. On the Catholic Pentecost, pilgrims from all over the world are expected to participate in the events that will take place in several places in Romania, a predominantly Orthodox country. The procession at Şumuleu Ciuc (center-east) is considered the largest of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. The pilgrimage at Şumuleu Ciuc has at its center the miracle-working statue of the Virgin Mary, located in the Franciscan church. This well-known sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary was visited, in 2019, by Pope Francis, who officiated a service right from the altar where the Pentecost service is held. The Ministry of the Interior has announced that additional staff will ensure the safe movement of pilgrims. Police will also take care of maintaining the safety of railway traffic considering that, similar to previous years, the Hungarian railways provide two special train sets for the pilgrims who come mainly from Hungary. In the crossing points located on the border with Hungary, as well as at the airports of Timisoara (west), Târgu-Mureş (center), Cluj-Napoca (northwest), Sibiu (center) and Bacău (east), the necessary measures will be arranged for streamlining passenger traffic.
FESTIVAL. The 14th International Shakespeare Festival continues until May 26 in Craiova, southern Romania. More than 300 world-class theater performances, concerts, parades, workshops, book launches, installation and VR trips will cover the entire city of Craiova and its surroundings, in conventional spaces, but also in the most original and unexpected places. Shakespeare Village – a British village from 1600, rebuilt from scratch, on the Craiova Hippodrome, will be the venue for dozens of concerts and shows. Famous names from the world of international theater and performance creators can be found in the festival program, including Robert Wilson, Peter Brook, Declan Donnellan, Robert Lepage, Philip Pârr, Jesus Herrera, Christian Friedel.
NEW CALEDONIA. Three Romanian citizens have contacted the Embassy of Romania in Canberra and the Consulate General of Romania in Paris to signal their presence in New Caledonia, the French overseas territory which is currently under a state of emergency following massive protests and serious violations of public order, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced. The representatives of the Consulate General of Romania in Paris, whose consular constituency includes New Caledonia, have taken over the management of the situation and are permanently in touch with the three Romanian citizens, being prepared to provide assistance and consular protection, according to their competences. Also, the consular office cooperates with international partners to coordinate and provide support to the Romanian citizens, depending on the developments recorded at the local level.
TENNIS. The Romanian tennis player Gabriela Ruse (148 WTA) plays today against the first-seed American Emma Navarro (22 WTA), in the semifinals of the Trophee Clarins (WTA 125) tournament in Paris, with 100,000 euros in prize money. Ruse, who qualified from the qualifiers, defeated the French Alize Cornet (99 WTA) 6-1, 6-2 on Friday. Also today, the Romanian-Chinese pair Monica Niculescu/Lin Zhu play the doubles final, against the pair Asia Muhammad (USA)/Aldila Sutjiadi (Indonesia). (MI)
