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The Table of Silence - Constantin Brancusi.

The Table of Silence, The Kiss Gate and The Endless Column - are the three sculptural components from Targu-Jiu, made by Constantin Brancusi, which represents a homage brought to the fallen soldiers during the World War 1. The initiative to realize this ensemble belonged to Aretiei Tatarascu, in 1937, the President of The National League of the Women from Gorj.
These three sculptural components are disposed on a 1275 meters axis, directed from west to the east in The Central Park.

The Table Of Silence is made of limestone, having the following dimensions: the diameter of the slab is of 2,15 meters having a thickness of 0,43 meters, and the foot has a diameter of 2 meters and the thickness of 0,45 meters. According to the exegetics of Brancusi’s art, The Table Of Silence represent the table the soldiers joined before facing the enemy. In the same time, the chairs represent the time disposed in sand glasses. Several people compare it with the The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Then it is Aleea Scaunelor representing those whom participate without getting involved, waiting for the end.

The Kiss Gate - Constantin Brancusi.

The Kiss Gate is the second component of the Ensemble. Technically speaking it has a height of 5,13 meters, a length of 5,45 meters and the columns have the side of 1,69 meters. This time the building material was travertine from Banpotoc, and for the Gate, Brancusi was helped by two stone masons, Ion Alexandrescu from Bucharest and Golea from Dobrita.
The significance is simple: through The Kiss Gate is the passage to another life and the motif on the columns represent the eyes which look inside.

The Endless Column - Constantin Brancusi.

The Endless Column (Coloana Infinitului) or The Column of Thanksgiving, high of 29,33 meters is the third component of the Ensemble, being situated at the eastern end of the axis which forms The Heroes Street. The Column is made of 17 rhombus-shaped modules made out of cast iron, having 1,80 meters height each and about 860 kg, made at the Central Departments from Petrosani.
The modules are fixed on a steel axis. The one whom ethnically coordinated the assembling of the Column was the engineer Stefan Georgescu-Gorjan.
On the other hand, The Endless Column is considered as Constantin Brancusi’s “spiritual will”.

Several exegetics of Brancusi’s art, consider it necessary to complete the image of the Ensemble, between The Kiss Gate and The Endless Column, with the river that runs near by, then the The Heroes Path which represents the roadof the “hero soldier’s soul” and The Church “The Saint Apostles”, the place where it is possible the purification and the passage to the naught.
The entire Ensemble from Targu-Jiu was inaugurated on 27th october 1938.

Unfortunately, during almost 25 years all three components were launched to the heath because of the fact that the political power at that time considered Brancusi an exponent of the bourgeois. Only at 7 years after his death, in 1964, the Ensemble’s process of restoration and care started.

After 1989, The Monumental Ensemble from Targu-Jiu was registered to the European Cultural Heritage List, next to Romanian Athenaeum, Histria Fortress and The Cantacuzino Palace.

The Memorial House Constantin Brancusi.

Biological references

Constantin Brancusi was born on 19 February 1879 in Hobita village. He attended the first school years to Pestisani and Bradiceni. Being a nimble spirit, at the age of 11 he runs away from home to Targu-Jiu.
After he was brought back home, he found another appropriate moment and ran away to Slatina, then to Craoiva, where he looked for job and got hired in several places. In 1984, at the age of 15 , he registered at the Craiova School of Crafts, which he graduated in 4 years, instead of 5.
After he graduated, he left to Bucharest where he enrolled in the Bucharest School of Fine Arts and was guided by Vladimir Hegel. In this period he accomplished works as Vitellius, The Portrait of Georgescu-Giorjan and The Ecorche (statue of a man with skin removed to reveal the muscles underneath), which for he received medals at several contests.
After he graduated School of Crafts, at the age of 24, in 1903, he left to Munchen, and then, on foot, to Paris. In the capital of France he worked 2 years until he got admitted to the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, in the workshop of Antonin Marcier. In this period he met Rodin.
In 1910 he starts to work at the cycle of the Birds and the cycle Miss Pogany, and in 1914 he had his first exhibition in new York. The period 1919-1939 was the most fruitful of his activity. During 20 years, he had many personal exhibitions and he participated at 57 collective exhibitions from several countries.
After turning 60, tired, Brancusi worked less, but his influence over the contemporary sculpture left a deep trace.
He died on 16 march 1957, at the age of 78 years, in Paris.