Alexandru Sahia Memorial House

LOCATION

Manastirea

917170 Calarasi

DESCRIPTION

The museum is organized in the childhood home of the writer Alexandru Sahia (Stănescu), (1908-1937), a building inhabited until 1963 when it was sold by the writer's brother in order to establish the memorial house. The house was reopened for the public in 2002 after renovations that lasted for many years. The four reconstructed rooms contain an interior representative of the life of rural intellectuals from the first decades of the 20th century: furniture, towels and rugs, ceramics, kitchen and household utensils. The rest of the exhibition contains the writer's library, newspapers and magazines with whom the writer collaborated as well as documents and photographs illustrating his life.[1]

HISTORY

Alexandru Sahia was a Romanian communist journalist and short story author. Born in Mânăstirea, Călăraşi County, as the son of a landowner, he was enrolled in the Craiova Military College, which he deemed "oppressive". Sahia finished his secondary education in the Saint Sava National College in Bucharest, and started law studies at the University of Bucharest. He suffered from depression and, although he probably was already an atheist, became a novice in the Cernica Monastery in 1929. Surprisingly, he used this period of relative isolation to become acquainted with Marxism, which he found to be "the righteous sense of a great life".

In 1930, Sahia left the monastery and took a trip through the Middle East, adopting his new name — stemming from the Arabic sahiya for "truth".[2]

The decision to establish the communal museum was taken in 1965. The house was reopened for the public in 2002, after it was closed for renovation work which lasted for several years.

After graduating from primary classes in his native village, Alexandru Stănescu was enrolled at the Dimitrie Sturdza Military High School in Craiova, in 1920.

In 1926, while being a student, Alexandru Sahia made his literary debute with the sketch story Sculptorul Boamba, published in the "Şoimii" magazine, edited by Military High School Mihai Viteazul from Târgu-Mureş. He was enrolled there under the name of Alexander G. Stănescu. At Şoimii he signed his work with the pseudonym Al Manastireanu, after the name of his village, Mânăstirea in the Ilfov County. In 1927 he left the Military Highschool, and in 1928 he sustained his baccalaureate and enrolled at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest.

He was unable to adapt to the university life, so in 1929 He entered the monastic life and became a monk at Cernica Monastery. Less than a year after entering the monastery, he retired.

From 1931 until 1937 - the year of his death - Sahia was a newspaper publisher in popular newspapers and magazines of the day: Rampa, Facla, Morning, Today, Free Word, Truth and New Age.

In 1932 he founded two ephemeral publications, Bluze albastre and Veac nou. He wrote reports and, after a visit to the USSR in 1935, praised the Soviet achievements, an action appreciated by the Soviets, who needed to present a positive image of the Soviet Union overseas. He is the author of USSR Today, one of the few books written by Romanian writers about the USSR. One year before his death, Sahia joined the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). He died at 29 from an untreated case of tuberculosis. In 1946, after the political power change in Romania, the PCR turned him into a hero of the working class. The fact that he had died of tuberculosis allowed official biographers to write that he came from a family of poor peasants. In fact, he was the son of a wealthy farmer, a liberal in his commune.[3]

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SITE

The Memorial House contains period interiors representative of the life of rural intelligentsia from the early decades of the twentieth century.

VISITOR INFORMATION

The house can be seen after an appointment.

Address: Judeţ Călăraşi, Localitatea MĂNĂSTIREA, Comuna MĂNĂSTIREA,

Postal Code 917170
Phone: 0242.511.174

OTHER INFORMATION

The museum's profile is "Memorial - History of Literature".

CLASSIFICATION

Historical site

[1] Casa Memorială "Alexandru Sahia"

  http://ghidulmuzeelor.cimec.ro/id.asp?k=200&-Casa-Memoriala-Alexandru-Sahia-MANASTIREA-Calarasi

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandru_Sahia

[3] Casa memorială Alexandru Sahia

https://muzeulgumelnita.ro/muzee/casa-memoriala-alexandru-sahia-manastirea