Gheorghe Lazăr
Gheorghe Lazăr(5 June 1779 – 17 September 1823), was aTransylvanianRomanianscholar and the founder of the firstRomanian languageschool inBucharest,in 1817.
Biography[edit]
Lazăr was born to a peasant family in Felek,Szeben County,Kingdom of Hungary,todayAvrig,Sibiu County,Romania. He studied in Nagyszeben (Sibiu), Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), andVienna,training intheology,but also interested in history and philosophy. The strong admiration he had forNapoleon I,as well as other radical opinions he expressed, prevented him from becoming a priest. He later had to flee forWallachia,where he worked as a tutor and engineer, drawing admiration fromboyarConstantin Bălăceanu,who was charged with the administration of schools throughout the Principality.
His school signified the break with a tradition of schooling inGreek(prevalent underPhanarioterule), and also marked a step towardssecularismin education. Lazăr was one of the first wave of Romanian Transylvanian teachers to shape schooling in both Wallachia andMoldaviathroughout the 19th century.
In 1821 he became gravely ill, and returned to his home village of Avrig, where he died.
Legacy[edit]
Today a great number of Romanian high schools are named in his honour. The most prestigious are:
- TheGheorghe Lazăr National Collegein Bucharest.
- TheGheorghe Lazăr National Collegein Sibiu, a school Gheorghe Lazăr himself attended in 1801–1802.
A commune (Gheorghe Lazăr) inIalomița Countywas named after him.
A statue of him was erected in Bucharest'sUniversity Square,standing in front of theUniversity of Bucharest.The one erected during thecommunist regimein Sibiu's main square, controversial because of itsSocialist Realiststyle, was removed and is due to be replaced with a more conventional portrait.
References[edit]
- (in Romanian)Dictionary of Romanian TheologiansArchived2008-01-18 at theWayback Machine
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