Head of Academy Ioan-Aurel Pop: Iorga - an institution; he is part of the generation that built greater Romania

 The President of the Romanian Academy, Ioan-Aurel Pop, on the occasion of a session devoted to Nicolae Iorga on Wednesday, said that Iorga is part of the generation of builders of the greater Romania and of European affirmation, leaving to posterity an intellectual work of "unprecedented amplitude." "Nicolae Iorga is indisputably part of the generation of builders of the greater Romania and of the European affirmation of our country, which can cause a lot of controversy. His immense work is unique. George Calinescu states that Iorga is massive viewed from afar, but minor in each of his activities taken separately. His critics found in him enough shortcomings, inaccuracies, unsustainable ideas, and even in his creation, that is, in historiography. An intellectual work of such unprecedented magnitude could not always be equal to itself and not always maintained at the highest level," said Pop, on the Day of the Romanian Academy, during the session organized online, where they paid homage to the great man of culture, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth. The President of the Romanian Academy highlighted the "exceptional" qualities of encyclopedist of Nicolae Iorga, who was "intellectual, professor, politician, fighter for the national cause, academician, minister, Prime Minister, patron of culture." Nicolae Iorga's multivalent personality, his innovative initiatives in many fields of history research, the original institutional projects and the efforts to promote the cultural heritage were detailed in the presentations of the vice-presidents of the Romanian Academy Victor Spinei and Razvan Theodorescu. The scientist's research on the history of the Pontic Basin, the founder of Romanian historiography, was brought back to attention as an integral part of the work by Octavian Cristea, PhD, head of the "Nicolae Iorga" Institute of History of the Romanian Academy. The homage session took place within the General Assembly of the Romanian Academy, organized on the occasion of the 155th anniversary since its establishment. *** Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940), a prominent member of the Romanian Academy, historian, prestigious medievalist, promoter of Southeast European studies, translator, writer, journalist, diplomat and politician remains an emblematic figure of Romanian culture. In his capacity as president of the Historical Section of the Academy, Iorga created a monumental work, integrating the historiography of the Romanian space in the universal one. *** On April 1, 1866, one of the first fundamental institutions for the consolidation of the modern Romanian state was established in Bucharest - the Romanian Literary Society, reorganized a year later into the Romanian Academic Society and transformed in 1879 into the Romanian Academy. Since its establishment, the Romanian Academy has remained the highest forum for scientific and cultural consecration of the country, which brings together personalities with notable achievements in all areas of the spirit. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Claudia Stanescu, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)