The University of Bucharest, 160 years since its founding. Event dedicated to the personality, impact and role of Ana Davila in the Romanian society and education

Friday, January 12^th 2024, the University of Bucharest organized, in partnership with Șezătoarea București, an event dedicated to the personality, impact and role of Ana Davila in the Romanian society and education.

The debate, hosted at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work and moderated by Valentin Maier, researcher for the Museum of the University of Bucharest, debuted at 2 PM and lasted three hours. In this time, specialists in history, sociology and social work, cultural studies and ethnography from the University of Bucharest highlighted, from multiple perspectives, the educative-charitable activity of Ana Davila at the Elena Doamna Asylum, historical monument nowadays belonging to UB patrimony.

In the opening of the event, sociologist Marian Preda, Rector of the University of Bucharest, held the first speech and underlined the importance of Ana and Carol Davila’s generosity in developing the Elena Doamna Asylum.

Profoundly involved in the social work activity and the education of young girls, but also a promoter or the national costumes and traditional values, Ana Davila was the second wife of physicist Carol Davila and took over the administration and management of the asylum for orphan girls he established in 1860.

Personally, as a sociologist and rector of the University of Bucharest, I have been impressed by the social dimension of these forms of help. Carol Davila came to Romania to create the bases of the health system and was permanently preoccupied by the education of young orphans, and the Asylum was the institution he held very dear to his heart, transforming it into an elite school. At the same time, Ana Davila, who came from a family with a profound patriotic and charitable vocation, had an essential role in promoting the Romanian traditional values […] For that matter, for the same reasons, the University of Bucharest founded the Virtute et Sapientia Foundation, by means of which the UB Seed program annually supports 30 pupils coming from underprivileged environments. I believe we must rebuild in Romania this charitable spirit, generosity and social solidarity, said professor Marian Preda, Rector of the University of Bucharest.

In the first part of the event , Grațiela Buzic, PhD student at the Doctoral School of Literary and Cultural Studies of the University of Bucharest,  presented the image of Ana Davila from the perspective of the testimonies of her contemporaries, remarking that beauty, intelligence, kindness, philanthropy and patriotism are just some of the qualities of Ana Davila, as these are shown from various texts. For that matter, the women in the Golescu family share the same national ideal as the Golescu brothers and their friends. Unable to get involved in politics, they do however contribute decisively to the crystallization of the national conscience through activities that are traditionally attributed to women: the household industry (textiles, canvases, covers), the products of this activity becoming a real reference for identitarian ideas, traversing all social barriers, affirmed Grațiela Buzic.

Later in the conference, Victoria Bizon, founder of Șezătoarea București, highlighted the role of Ana Davila in promoting the Romanian popular costume and developing a culture of generosity and philanthropy.  

On the other hand, professor Laura Grünberg and PhD Theodora Văcărescu from the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of the University of Bucharest brought to the attention of the public the institution of commemoration, positioned between the care for the past and the need of models for the future. In this context, professor Grünberg and Văcărescu underlined the importance of the gender dimension of commemoration, presenting a series of gender disparities in the representation from the Romanian public space.

The second part of the event debuted with the presentation From queen Elisabeth to King Charles  II. The history of a popular costume created at the Elena Doamna Assylum, held by Bianca Șendrea, PhD student of the Doctoral School of History of the University of Bucharest. The national costume had several symbolic roles during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Thus, we can look at the national costume as a gift, museum piece, award, inheritance and, not lastly, as an object of transition. Ana and Carol Davila, two of the promoters of Romania and of Romanian culture, of patrimony goods, had a decisive role in promoting the local clothing tradition, succeeding to create and maintain, by attending international events, good connections with other royal families of Europe, remarked Bianca Șendrea.

It was then time for associate professor Andrei Florin Sora, teaching staff at the Faculty of History of the University of Bucharest, to speak, underlining the involvement of the Ana-Carol Davila couple in developing the Asylum of orphans, attracting attention to the fact that not in all cases there is a clear distinction between the activities of Ana and Carol Davila, the project becoming, progressively, a common one, assumed by both. For that matter, as Andrei Florin Sora notes, the Davila coupe were a catalyst, determining, in a way, public persons and institutions to get involved more in helping the poor.

The event ended with the presentation Ana and Carol Davila – social philanthropy and sanitary-medical reform sustained by Călin Cotoi, teaching staff at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of the University of Bucharest. I do not wish to create a detailed presentation of the life of the Davila couple, but I will concentrate on the medical, social and economic contexts that they take place in. I have, in a way, created a sort of “canvas” on which I try to capture the two on the background of the emerging of social modernity. Ana and Carol Davila represent, in my story, a sort of personifications of two fundamental tendencies of this modernity: the sanitary-medical reform and the emergence of the social issue, of social philanthropy. They symbolize and incarnate the beginning moments of the creation of the local social. I think that, without the deeper and more profound knowledge of Carol and Ana Davila, not just their personal connections, but also political, scientific and reformist connections that bond the two, we lack an essential perspective for understanding Romanian modernity, concluded professor Călin Cotoi.

Boarding house and elite school for orphan and poor girls, the Elena Doamna Asylum received its name in 1862, the year it was founded, after the name of ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza’s wife. For that matter, the story of the institution is directly connected to the friendship between Elena Cuza and Ana Davila. Mrs. Elena had the initiative to build an asylum which would host the orphans whom the Davila couple had brough into their home and to ensure their right to education. The institution was supported further on by Queen Elisabeth of Romania, who took particular care of it. After 1989, the building enters into the patrimony of the University of Bucharest and the Romanian Orthodox Church, after which, in 1997, UB becomes the sole administrator of the buildings of the Elena Doamna Asylum.

Starting 2019, the former Elena Doamna Asylum entered into an ample restoration process done by the National Investments Company. Worth approximately 85.000.000 lei, the investments will allow the students of the University of Bucharest to study in a patrimony building, in lecture classes, laboratories and modern amphitheaters which will at the same time keep the old aspect of the 19^th century. According to the architects, the staircases, the halls with their arches, the facade, the old ceilings will be restored and all of their initial architectural specifications will be kept.

The University of Bucharest organizes, in 2024, a series of events celebrating 160 years since its founding and 330 years of continuity of higher education in Bucharest since the founding, in 1694, of the Princely Academy by Constantin Brâncoveanu.

In 2024, the University of Bucharest will organize a series of events meant to celebrate the university’s 160th anniversary and 330 years of higher education continuity in Bucharest, since the founding, in 1694, of the Princely Academy of Bucharest by ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu.

With a history of 160 years and a constantly confirmed prestige, the University of Bucharest is nowadays a dynamic and inclusive academic space, focused on students and characterized by creativity, innovation and pragmatism.

Comprising 19 faculties, with 95 bachelor programs, 223 master’s programs, 23 doctoral schools on specific fields and an interdisciplinary doctoral school, over 50 centers and 9 research facilities, UB has established itself as an institution dedicated to achieving excellence in education and research, whose priority is preparing its students for life and professional activity.

Starting 2019, UB has been a part of CIVIS – A European Civic University alongside 10 other prestigious European universities: the University of Aix-Marseille, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Sapienza University of Rome, Stockholm University, “Eberhard Karls” University in Tübingen, University of Glasgow, University of Lausanne, the University “Paris Lodron” in Salzburg.