Porumbăcean, Claudiu (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria istorie-etnografie-artă 34/2. (2018)
Virgiliu Z. Teodorescu: Odiseea monumentului din Satu Mare dedicat cinstirii memoriei luptătorului pentru Unirea cu ţara, Dr. Vasile Lucaciu
representative symbol with the massive monumental statue (4.50 /1.58 /1.90 m) and the bas-relief on the main face of the pedestal, that represents a Romanian soldier piercing a dragon with his spear, signifying the victory of good over evil. Both sculptural works were cast in bronze. Unfortunately its existence in Satu-Mare has been short lived due to the imposed provisions of the Vienna Diktat of the summer of 1940 through which the territory of north-western Romania was to be ceded to Horty-regime Hungary, by the will of those who wanted to change Europe’s map according to their own interests. In preventive act to save the components of the monument, they were evacuated initially to Lugoj and then to Alba Iulia where they were temporarily “stored” at the foot of the city fortress walls. This is where in the 1950-ies, being a student, I saw it lying on the ground waiting for a recovery from its hostile treatment. Soon I learned that irredentists considered further revenge was needed, and during the night a „commando” proceeded to overthrow the statue into a ditch where garbage would shortly cover it and thus remove its message. Subsequently an immediate intervention led to its move to the Union Museum in Alba Iulia. But its salvation came when the sculptor donated to the State his entire collection of artefacts made of durable material, as well as those who were only at the plaster casting stage. This led to a broad recovery action, bringing the monument to Bucharest and storing it on the ground in the yard of the Museum „Corneliu Medrea”. There it served as a constant reminder to situation. Initially the subject was discussed only discretely, but after the declaration of April 12,1964, a partially reparatory measure was take: to restore the Vasile LUCACIU monument in 1968 in Satu-Mare. It was placed on a new site, the previous space having been granted in previous decades to a symbol of veneration for the “occupying liberators”. The new placement on Boulevard Vasile Lucaciu was correlated with the placement on the same urban axe of the monument of the Romanian Soldier, erected in homage of the Fourth Army combatants who fought heavily in this area in October 1944for the liberation of the northern territory of Romania. It was several decades later, in 1992, that the Vasile Lucaciu monument returned to its initial location in the green area of Liberty Market, the place conferred to it by the authors of this honorific act. I had the privilege to be present at the solemn unveiling and, through my speech, to remind of those who, throughout all stages of this odyssey, were aware that the message of this symbol must be a mobilizing legacy for posterity, so that the UNION OF ALL ROMANIANS remains a perpetual concern for good safeguarding of the national territory and its inhabitants. It was also the occasion to evoke the creation of the valuable sculptor artist Corneliu Medrea who under “free speech” of some overzealous pens, was considered a “proletcultist”, thus being denied of its correct place in history both as a creator and as a trainer of a throng of succeeding sculptors. It is regrettable that the odyssey of this symbol is still going on even today. We are referring both to neglect in the maintenance of the ensemble (although the public has indicated to the administration the advanced deterioration of the pedestal), as well as the publications OFTEN wrongly representing the history of this her-Odiseea monumentului din Satu Mare dedicat cinstirii memoriei luptătorului... 236
