Works are always uncomfortable. Both tourists and citizens have to suffer inconveniences: noise, dust, blocked streets. It must be hard getting closer to one of the most popular monuments in Ávila to find it almost fenced.
Yet, even tourist cities need reparations to make citizens' life easier.
The small and beautiful Stavropoleos church is hidden behind the National History Museum, between higher buildings.
According to its story, it was founded by a Greek monk named Ioanichie, who settled down here.
It is built in the Brâncovenesc Style, a typical Romanian style from the 17th-19th centuries. It can be seen in its columns, pedestals, balcony and the carved ornaments showing plants and animals.
The church survived many earthquakes, starting with two very bad ones in 1802 and 1838, but now both the building itself and the surrounding area need major rehabilitation.
This is a building I like and I've showed you before, but only recently I found out what it was.
It's the former headquarters of the fierce "Direcţia a V-a"(The Fifth Direction), the most dreaded part of the "Security", the political police during Ceauşescu's regime. On top of these premises, ruined during the 1989 revolution, the Architects' Association built the new structure for their use.
I like the symbol of old and new, of progress supported by history, but most of all I hope that what the old building hosted will always be a skeleton.
Old towns with lots of history frequently need reparations. Nothing lasts forever. Even the best mansions suffer. New social necessities turn palaces into official buildings, museums, libraries. The ancient flavour remains in the walls but our towns change their faces from time to time.
Sometimes, the skeleton stays in front of our eyes for us to witness a part of our past.
Wood, iron, stone and the sky to cover our history
There's social history in these windows. Look at them carefully. The lowest one, without any decoration might belong to a servant's room or to a kitchen, the one in the first floor might be a secretarial room or even the library, the one in the middle with the coats of arms to its sides must belong to the lord of the house and the one at the top could be the a maid's room. The whole social scale history narrated thorough the windows.
In a cold sunny town closed balconies are very dear. They provide the old houses with light and heat. They were used to sit down and have coffee, read or sew. Today, they don't have the same use. They are just there, waiting for somebody to enter them and look at the cathedral.
Spring in my town is usually as short as teens love. There's even a joke: we say it comes on a Thursday and lasts for half an hour.
The first to announce it are the magnolias in the Cismigiu Garden, then suddenly weather becomes warm and trees burst into bloom. In no time at all we notice there's shadow on the park alleys because leaves grew already and the chestnut trees on the boulevard near my house have lit their chandeliers.
So we take out from the closet the summer clothes and ask each other nostalgically: "Have you noticed the short spring we had this year?"
Today was the "Mărţişor" day, everyone was buying and offering amulets that should announce the arrival of spring and bring good health and luck.
I'm offering all of you a virtual one.
Have a sunny season!
Irina
