Mihail Kogălniceanu

 

"The power and happiness of a state lies in the power and happiness of the people, that is, of the nation."

 

Mihail Kogălniceanu was the Prime Minister of Romania, one of the fathers of the Romanian Academy and the one who founded Literary Dacia. Known as one of the most important Pasoptists, politician, writer or great historian, Mihail Kogălniceanu was born in Iași in 1817 from a family with Romanian origins. His father was a descendant of the Kogalniceni family, Moldavian boyars, and his mother, Catinca, was a Romanian from Bessarabia.

 

Constantin Kogălniceanu, Mihail's great-grandfather, was recognized by the fact that, together with C. Macrovordat, he initiated a document that abrogated slavery in Moldova. Like his ancestors, Mihail Kogălniceanu, a convinced nationalist and one of the most educated people of his time, promoted the elimination of boyar ranks and proposed the secularization of monastic fortunes.

 

In Iași, the young Kogălniceanu is educated in primary school at the Trei Ierarhi monastery where he meets Vasile Alecsandri. From 1831, after studying at a private school with French influences, he studied foreign languages, geography and history at the French Institute in Miroslava. Then in 1834, together with the sons of Prince Michael Sturdza, he studied in Luneville, France, after which he also went by order of Sturdza to Berlin where he was taught by Humboldt. Before Kogălniceanu publishes his doctorate, Sturdza urges him to return to Iași where he becomes the voivode's deputy.

 

In his hometown, Iași, Kogălniceanu debuted in "Alăuta românească" with the writing "The Emperor and the Brahmin", and two years later he founded the magazine "Dacia Literară" in 1840. He became co-director of the National Theater together with Constantin Negruzzi and Vasile Alecsandri revolutionizing this institution through contemporary plays with actors professionally trained to be artists, not puppeteers.

 

In 1848, after participating in the revolution, he created a petition called "Wishes of the National Party of Moldova", and Prince Sturdza ordered the arrest of Kogalniceanu. This refugee in Bucovina for about two years, returns to Moldova where he is appointed by the new ruler Grigore Ghica as Director of Public Works. His political career increased considerably between 1855 and 1880, holding important positions in the state such as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister and representative of Romania in Paris. Mihail Kogălniceanu died in Paris in 1891, but was buried at the Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași.

 

The "Mihail Kogălniceanu" Memorial Museum is part of the National Museum Complex of Moldova and is a historical and architectural monument being built in 1936 in neoclassical style. It houses personal objects, documents, books belonging to the Romanian historian and politician Mihail Kogălniceanu and is open to the public from Tuesday to Sunday between 10 am and 5 pm.