The Brâncuși monuments at Târgu Jiu are up for nomination this year. Romania profits from the lifting of the moratorium on sites associated with memories of Recent Conflicts, so it can propose two sites in 2024. Finding the Brâncuși monuments in the ‘Sites of Memory’-group is a bit odd, as they are not mentioned in the two papers ICOMOS wrote on the subject. The sculptures were made to commemorate the locals that fell here during World War I, but whether they are actual sites of mourning connected to “negative memories” is doubtful. The information panels on site also do not attest to this and focus on them being works of art.

The proposal was discussed already in 2015 and got a “Reject” from ICOMOS, after which Romania withdrew the proposal. The Romanians regretted sending in “a superficial file full of spelling mistakes”. ICOMOS was critical about the selection of the monuments included in the series and saw only a possibility for the Endless Column as it is regarded as a notable example of 20th-century public sculpture. Splitting them up however would be odd in my opinion, as the group of sculptures is considered an Ensemble by all Art History sources that I found online.

For a visitor, it is important to realize that the monuments effectively are spread across two locations. The Endless Column stands in a residential neighborhood, while the Gate of the Kiss, Alley of the Chairs and the Table of Silence are smack in the city center of at Târgu Jiu. They are connected by a 1.6km long visual axis (Avenue of the Heroes) that is interrupted by the Cathedral halfway. The nomination for 2024 still seems to be one location only, so one linear location which then also includes the Cathedral and the street that connects the two?

Parking is much easier at the first component. You’ll find the almost 30m high tower standing in the middle of an open field like a modern-day obelisk, spiralling almost outside of sight into the sky. It symbolizes the endless sacrifice made by the soldiers. I think you can also see Brancusi’s background in woodcarving in it, or maybe that’s just how my imagination works after having seen a much smaller wooden version of it earlier this year at the MoMA in New York.  

The second component starts with the Gate of the Kiss (when you look from underneath it towards the city you’ll see the axis that deliberately is kept unobstructed). Going the other way, the Alley of the Chairs visually connects it with the Table of Silence. At both sites there are guards present; in the city park, they mostly warn visitors to not sit on the monuments.

I do believe outdoor art or landscape art has a place on the List and we need more of it (who wouldn't want to see a collection of Fernando Botero's outdoor sculptures?). The sculptural importance of Brancusi certainly is at the level of someone like Frank Lloyd Wright in architecture and this work is considered a masterpiece in his oeuvre. There are various theories about the symbolism of the sculptures, but hey, that’s art for you.