The exhibition will be presented at the University Square in Bucharest from 14 to 31 October. The official opening of the exhibition will take place on 14 October at 2 p.m.
The exhibition, designed by historians associated with the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, documents the complicated process through which this part of Europe regained its freedom from communist dictatorship. The exhibition is part of ‘Freedom Express’, a social and educational campaign organised by ENRS together with the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the ministries responsible for culture in Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.
The official opening of the exhibition will take place on 14 October at 2 p.m. at the University Square with the presence of Mrs Irina Cajal-Marin, Secretary of State within the Ministry of Culture, the Ambassadors of the member countries of the ENRS in Romania – His Excellency Werner Hans Lauk, the Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany in Romania, His Excellency Botond Zákonyi, the Ambassador of Hungary in Romania, His Excellency Marcin Wilczek, the Ambassador of the Polish Republic, His Excellency Ján Gabor, the Ambassador of Slovak Republic, and Prof. Jan Rydel, representative of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. The exhibition presented already in Berlin, Brussels, Warsaw, Budapest, and Vienna concentrates on the various ways in which civil liberties were limited in the former communist bloc and on attempts made to regain them. It focuses especially on the question of what connects and divides remembrance of the events that preceded the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.
Prof. Jan Rydel, chairman of the ENRS Steering Committee, explains: ‘The idea for this exhibition stems from the conviction that reflection on the 1989 transition in individual states becomes fuller and deeper when viewed in the pan-European context. Our aim is first and foremost to remind everyone of the processes that eventually led to the fall of communism in this part of Europe.’
The content of the exhibition reveals a story of the different faces of freedom. Individual parts of the exhibition are devoted to freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion and belief, economic freedom and other themes.
Mirosław Nizio, author of the exhibition’s architectural design, emphasises: “The geometrical setup of the pieces will make them fit perfectly with the landscape of city squares and arteries. It will create a zone within the city space designed for meeting the history. Archival photographs and texts are placed on illuminated cubes so the audience can view the exhibition also at night.”
The exhibition will stay in Bucharest till 31 October, and then continue its journey through Europe.