Samoilă Mârza

Samoilă Mârza
Mârza at around 1918
Born	(1886-09-18)18 September 1886 Galtiu,Austria-Hungary
Died	9 December 1967(1967-12-09)(aged 81) Alba-Iulia,Socialist Republic of Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Occupation	Photographer
Known for	taking the only photographs of theGreat National Assembly of Alba Iulia

Crowd scene from the December 1, 1918Alba Iuliaassembly (detail)

Bust of Samoilă Mârza in his native village Galtiu

Samoilă Mârza(Romanian pronunciation:[samoˈiləˈmɨrza];18 September 1886 – 19 December 1967) was anAustro-Hungarian-bornRomanianphotographer. A native ofTransylvaniaregion and a veteran ofWorld War I,he is best known for taking the only photographs of theGreat National AssemblyofAlba Iuliathat proclaimed theUnion of Transylvania with Romaniaon 1 December 1918. The day is celebrated asRomania's national holiday,and, with time, Mârza's images acquired political and documentary significance.

Biography

Born to peasant parents Ștefan and Ana in Galtiu village,SântimbruCommune,Alba County,Mârza attended aGreek-Catholicprimary school in the village and high school inAlba Iulia.Between 1909 and 1911, his parents sent him as apprentice to a photographer inSibiu,where he learned the profession. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he was mobilized and sent into battle as a soldier in theAustro-Hungarian Army,where he served first on the Austrian front inGalicia,reaching as far north asRiga,before being transferred to theItalian Frontin 1916. As part of the army's topographic and photographic service for over three years, he took pictures of fighting soldiers and scenes of the war's devastation,likely making him the first Romanianwar photographer.

As the war drew to a close in late 1918, Mârza was inTrieste,whence he left forViennatogether with many other Transylvanian Romanian soldiers. He arrived there in early November, planning to head home. That month in the Austrian capital, he took three pictures depicting the blessing of the firsttricolor flagbelonging to theCentral National Romanian Council,in the presence of GeneralIoan Boieriu,of political leaderIuliu Maniuand the assembled troops. Together with several thousand soldiers, he returned to Transylvania from Vienna in order to participate at the Alba Iulia assembly. The road throughBudapestandAradwas blocked byHungarian forceshostile to the Council, so they went instead viaZagreb,BelgradeandTimișoara,whereSerbian forcesallowed them to pass provided they were disarmed.

TheGreat National Assemblyat Alba Iulia proclaimed theUnion of Transylvania with Romaniaon 1 December.That morning, Mârza took three pictures of his fellow villagers before heading for the city. Arriving with a delegation from Galtiu around 11 a.m. on a cloudy day, he carried his camera,then about fifteen years old,in a sheepskin bag, his tripod and glass plates on a bicycle. Not being accredited, he was not admitted into the hall where the act of union was signed, and the photographer hired for the occasion did not show up.(According to local legend, he was anethnic Hungarianwho did not wish to participate at the event.)Despite the bad weather and the difficulty of using the camera, Mârza managed to take five pictures of the assembly. Three showed the assembled crowds, and the other two the podium from which the act was read in public by the politicianAurel Vladand the Greek-Catholic BishopIuliu Hossu.These are the only pictures of the assembly.That day, he took fourteen pictures in all; he later explained that he was unable to take more because the glass plates were expensive and heavy, and the poor light required people to stand still for his shots.

At the beginning of 1919, he included the pictures in an album calledMarea Adunare de la Alba Iulia în chipuri( "The Great Assembly at Alba Iulia in Pictures" ), mentioned in the newspaperAlba Iuliaon 10 March. This album was presented by the Romanian delegation to theParis Peace Conferenceand during negotiations on theTreaty of Trianonas part of its attempt to justify the country's incorporation of Transylvania,stating the pictures indicatedethnic Romanians'self-determinationto unite with Romania.Other copies were sent to leading figures such asKing Ferdinand,Prime MinisterIon I. C. Brătianu,Maniu (by then president of theDirecting Council of Transylvania) and GeneralHenri Mathias Berthelot.The album met with appreciation, including fromNicolae Iorga,who made a note of receiving it in his diary.Copies of the pictures were also owned by numerous peasant households in the vicinity of Alba Iulia.

Mârza continued to travel around his county and further afield in Transylvania on his bicycle, photographing other patriotic events, including the 1919 visit of King Ferdinand to Alba Iulia,AbrudandCâmpeni;the October 1922 coronation of Ferdinand andQueen Marieat Alba Iulia; the 1924 celebrations atŢebeamarking the centenary ofAvram Iancu's birth; and the 1929 festivities at Alba Iulia marking a decade of union, where he was decorated by officials. His photographs included both dignitaries and ordinary people in traditional costumes, weddings, baptisms and traditional celebrations. In 1924, following an audience with Brătianu, he managed to obtain funding for continuing the painting at theAlba Iulia Orthodox Cathedral,which had been abandoned after the coronation in 1922.

In 1967, the head of theNational Museum of the Unionbought from Mârza the camera he used and the pictures he took at the assembly. The photographer noted that he had been forced to sell other pictures due to financial need, earning money from the special glass they were made of. He planned to design a new album for 1968 and with funds from the museum purchased a working camera that he intended to use at the upcoming semicentennial. However, he died at the end of 1967 and was buried in Alba Iulia. In 2003, a monument was erected over his grave, a bust of him unveiled in his native village, and a biography published.