With all the teaching done, I was graciously given another tour of Targu Mures. We took the bus towards the city center to save a bit of time.
Our first stop was by the National Theatre. Hard to get a good photo because there is a construction site in front of the building and we could not walk closely to the building.
Our path took us next by the now un-used synagogue building.
Our next destination was the Palace of Culture. This is truly of the most amazing buildings that I have visited during my time here in Central Europe.
One immediately is astounded by the decorations in the foyer. We walked upstairs to what some call the Hall of Mirrors. I think it should be called the Hall of Windows. One entire wall, exterior to the building, is entirely covered with stained glass windows. The subjects center on religious figures and every day peasant life.
Here is an example. Perhaps the photo is too small. It shows a driver with a horse-conveyed wagon carrying a log. This is a frequent scene is small villages in Central Europe.
This one shows the Devil causing temptation. I hope you can see the red figure in the central panel. Note: if you click on the picture it should enlarge so you can see the detail in the designs.
I also liked this one very much. To me it appears to be the Transylvanian Hills/Mountains in the central and right panels.
I was also intrigued with the chairs in this hall. They live up to the Hungarian principle of never making something plain if you can make it beautiful. One could see the principle being applied everywhere in this building. It is truly incredible.
We walked next up to the balcony for the auditorium. All the time we were admiring and enjoying the windows, we were given a concert. The orchestra was practicing and it was magical to see the windows with splendid music being played at the same time. You can see this is a beautiful space as well. We also enjoyed the art gallery in this building. Visiting here was indeed a treat.
We next admired the City Hall and I explained that the building decorations and tiles on the roof certainly had come from Pecs.
We walked next to the old Teleki Library. It is truly amazing to learn that individuals in Central Europe were attempting to gather knowledge before we even had a country! The physical building of this library started in 1799 to house books already collected. While looking I asked, "I wonder how much a book cost in relationship to the income people had at the time?" This turned out to be a good question. The library guide spoke fluent English and she told me one bought only the pages of the book. Then these were taken to a book binder. What the total expense turned out to be depended upon the choices at the book binder. She showed me one with painted parchment covers, others with leather covers of some sort, and also showed me books on which gold gilt had been added to the margins to every page. We are so casual about books. It is good to be reminded of how precious they were at one time. And I'm so glad that the old libraries I've seen this month have survived the ravages of warfare and diasaster.
In the same building I was also able to see a display that presented the work of Boylai Farkas and his son, Boylai Janos. They were both natives and residents of this city. Boylai Janos is responsible for creating geometry theories that led to the Theory of Relativity and also supporting many of our present day chemical and physics theories. Above is a desk that they used.
I've probably forgotten to mention some of the things I saw with the tour. I've been so very priviliged to come here and meet such great people who were willing to take the time to show me their city.
This day culminated with a farewell dinner. Ms. M and her boyfriend and brother all joined with me. We had two hours of amazing conversations ranging from social problems in Romania to factors in US culture. It is always a pleasure to have a conversation with high school students and young adults in Central Europe. They speak knowledgably about history, the IMF loans to their nations, and EU politics, while it seems we are obsessed with who is going to win American Idol -- at least that is all I see when I try to find news from the US!
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