The Dambovita County Council, The „Princely Court” National Museum Complex in Târgoviste, Brancovan Palaces at the Gates of Bucharest Cultural Center, „Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History of the Romanian Academy, The Romanian National Archives, „Grigore Gafencu” Research Center for the History of International Relations and Cultural Studies within Valahia University of Târgoviste, the Faculty of History and Geography within the “Ion Creangã” State Pedagogical University in Chisinãu and The Village Hall of Potlogi, in partnership with Columna Broadcasting Company, invite you to participate during 8-11 September 2016 at the International Symposium Brâncoveanu and His Epoch organized at the Brâncoveanu Palace in Potlogi (1698), the most impressive monument within the Brâncoveanu Ensemble.
The epoch of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu is one of the most representative in Romanian history and the contributions of the Princely Court constitute illuminating evidences of the persistent efforts employed in order to modernize the principality. Architecture, arts, printings, schools reached their climax in this period which marks, in Romanian history, the passage from the Middle Ages to Modernity. In parallel, the Prince developed a foreign policy characterized by complexity and flexibility, aimed at maintaining and consolidating Wallachia’s autonomy and even to integrate its Byzantine inheritance. Brâncoveanu reaffirmed, in this way, his Cantacuzine descent – a family which occupied for a period, starting with John VI Kantakouzenos (1347-1354) the imperial seat of Constantinople. Brâncoveanu’s foreign policy constitutes the core from which Romania’s modern foreign policy developed, a policy connected with the names of personalities such as Ion Ghica, Ion C. Brãtianu and Ioan I.C. Brãtianu or Nicolae Titulescu, while the (neo)Romanian architectural style developed by Ion Mincu is inspired greatly from Brâncoveanu’s spiritual heritage.
The destiny of the Romanian prince demonstrates both the complexity of his epoch and the limited possibilities of implementing independent policies and reforms. In spite of numerous writings and debates on Brâncoveanu, a series of aspects related to his epoch still remain in shadow. We therefore wish to bring Brâncoveanu’s personality and epoch to further debate in a larger context considering European and Oriental realities. On the other hand, thematic workshops and roundtables will be organized on topics related to Brâncoveanu’s spiritual inheritance (arts and architecture, books and printings, regional policies etc) and the need to revalue, maintain, preserve and restore edifices either built by Brâncoveanu or inspired by his architecture, edifices of great historical value, also including those currently in bad conditions or almost ruined. Special attention will be paid to the edifices in Vãcãre?ti or Doice?ti, villages situated near Târgovi?te, where a study visit will be organized. An inventory of the historical and spiritual inheritance of Brâncoveanu and of the modalities through which it can be passed on to future generations, as unaltered as possible, constitutes the basic aim of this manifestation.
Romanian and foreign researchers who can bring consistent new documents and interpretations to the topics of debate are invited to participate. In order to increase the impact of the debates, the papers presented at the symposion will be published in Valahian Journal of Historical Studies, journal indexed by numerous international databases (Ebsco, IndexCopernicus, CEEOL).

Panels:

Valahia in the European balance of forces in the era of Brancoveanu
The reign of Constantin Brancoveanu seen by foreign travelers
Aulic courtyards and traditions in the era of Brancoveanu
Boyar families in the era of Brancoveanu
Culture and art in the era Brancoveanu (secular and ecclesiastical foundations, architecture, art and artistic components, landscape art, book and printing, music)
Genealogy, heraldry and symbolism in Brancoveanu era
The imperial Byzantine model in the era of Brancoveanu
State-church relationship during the reign of Brancoveanu
Daily life during Brancoveanu
Brancoveanu period as reflected in the collective memory
Workshops:

The restoration of the Vacaresti Court assembly of Dambovita County
The restoration of the Doicesti Assembly and Church

The symposium proceedings will take place in Romanian and English. Please confirm your participation and send the application form by 15 July 2016 at silviu.miloiu (at) valahia.ro or sergiu_musteata (at) yahoo.com
The organizers will cover costs for meals, trips and the conference materials for the speakers. For foreign participants, travel arrangements will be made from the airport to Potlogi.