THE PHANARIOTS IN WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA

This book is not a product of imagination but of lengthy and intensive study. The Phanariots in Wallachia and Moldavia, a historical photograph album, has been recently published by Porphyria Publications. The author is Tudor Dinu, assistant professor of Modern Greek studies at the University of Bucharest.

Its 240 colour plates offer the reader the opportunity, possibly for the first time, to become acquainted with the full history of the Phanariots, the Orthodox aristocracy which ruled the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1709 and 1821, fostering the conditions for the resurgence of Christian culture in the Balkans and paving the way for the Revolution of 1821 and the formation of the modern Greek state. Up till now, what we knew about their appearance was only through later portraits of them, which in the majority of cases were inventions of the artist’s imagination. With this book, Professor Dinu provides a balanced and erudite representation of their life and work.

About the book

Professor Dinu has studied historical archives and votive paintings in more than 230 churches up and down Wallachia and Moldavia, vividly bringing to life the world of the Phanariots and the Romanian territories of the time.

In the pages of this aesthetically flawless album, we come across the faces of some of their history’s protagonists (potentates, important boyars, arch-priests) as well as minor rulers, soldiers, merchants, builders and small landowners, shepherds and lower-ranking ecclesiastics. It holds a mirror up to18th century society by depicting their everyday activities, down to their costumes, jewellery, armaments and hairstyles.

It is a book that deserves a place on any bookshelf, since the past is intimately connected with the present and the future.