UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee will probably reject Romania’s request to include the Monumental Ensemble of Targu Jiu, created by famous sculptor Constantin Brancusi, on the World Heritage List.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which does the technical evaluations and issues recommendation reports for the World Heritage Committee, considers that the Romanian ensemble is not sufficiently well known to make it to the list.

“ICOMOS recommends that The Monumental Ensemble of Targu Jiu, Romania, should not be inscribed on the World Heritage List,” reads an ICOMOS report.

“The Monumental Ensemble of Targu Jiu has been well researched and is adequately protected and managed. The nominated serial property includes one of the notable works of monumental public sculpture of the 20th century, the Endless Column. However, the stone sculptural installations in Constantin Brancusi Park are much less widely renowned, both as works of monumental sculpture and as memorials,” according to ICOMOS.

“A nomination could possibly be justified if focused on the Endless Column only, as a work of monumental sculpture,” reads the report, which is available here.

The sculptural ensemble created by Constantin Brancusi at Targu Jiu is an homage to the Romanian heroes of the First World War. It includes three famous sculptures: the Table of Silence, the Kiss Gate and the Endless Column.

A total of 38 sites from all over the world are competing this year to make it to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, which catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity.

The list currently includes over 1,000 sites all over the world. Romania has seven sites on the list: the Danube Delta, the churches in Bucovina, the Dacian fortresses of the Orastie Mountains, Sighisoara’s historic center, the Horezu monastery, the wooden churches in Maramures, and the fortified churches in Transylvania.

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editor@romania-insider.com