May God Protect Us!

I am laying here, talking to you without making a sound, in the same place I was born, came of age and decayed, some meters away from the buzzling piazza of old Constanta. Once I had a saying in the people's finances. I was also admired for my exquisite collection of paintings, but most of all, I had a name, a powerful one.

Time shows no mercy to no one and we all know that, even you who pass by me everyday without even giving me or the others a glimpse. I understand you as I understood all of you who passed me by with an appetite for Turkish kebabs and for strolling down the quay of the Black Sea. But one day when the sun will bother you eyes, you will see that I am no longer of this world.

Some of you had taken notice of me and tried to show that you are Protecting me by leaving your traces all over my pale decrepit body. This is how you show your appreciation for the Beautiful Arts! I could laugh, but I am afraid to be shaken to the core and disappear sooner than expected.

I wanted to be part of your history and your lives. Many years I thought I am punished for being alive in that time between the two world wars and for rejoicing in the attention that your elders bestowed upon me. The irony is I got what I wanted and along with others of my time, I am part of your history and your lives, I am your conscience, your character, your interests.

We follow you everywhere, not just in old Constanta because, my darlings, we are walking next to each other.

Because you love the kitsch, I have scratches. Because you focus on the new, I am ignored with stitches saying I am Protected. Because you love the entertainment, I became the buffoon. You can only masticate Art when it lowers itself to you.

My dear powerful people of our days, us and your subjects may be decaying, but you never existed!

*The old part of Constanta, the biggest Romanian city situated on the coast of the Black Sea, hosts many buildings dating from the period between the two World Wars and before the First World War.

Among these are the Museum of National History and Archaeology, the House with Lions (lit. translation), the Casino situated on the quays and other private houses belonging to the Art Nouveau (and even Renascence, Swiss Baroque) architectural style.

Many of these are supposed to be renovated and on their walls or doors it is stated that they are protected by Romanian laws .

Unfortunately, this is just an empty statement and many scandals and shameful rumors are part of their story, nowadays. These buildings, the streets along with the ruins and objects belonging to the ancient Tomis (Constanta's original name), a settlement founded by Greek merchants, are vital for the touristic activities of the place. The general opinion is that the officials either leave them unattended or let others do the neglecting, placing poor people to live inside them until they fall apart. After that, they can be sold, by the rule of nepotism, to their close ones or to others, by the rule of the richest.